BizChina

A fight is brewing between two of China's biggest property developers as they wrestle for control of a prime commercial real-estate site in the heart of Shanghai.

Beijing-based Soho China Ltd. and Shanghai's Fosun International Ltd. signaled they may square off in court as a property market downturn forces weaker players to sell off prime properties to raise cash—and in turn serves up bargains for those companies with deeper pockets.

Soho set the stage for the battle on Thursday when it announced it was paying four billion yuan, or US$632 million, to buy 50% of a Shanghai commercial project from two struggling developers who were partners with Soho rival Fosun on the project.

The State Council, or China's Cabinet, said Friday the government will accelerate the development of the next-generation Internet industry in the next few years and boost the sector's role in stimulating the economy.

China aims to put the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)-based network into small-scale commercial pilot use and form a mature business model by the end of 2013, according to a statement released after an executive meeting of the State Council presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

From 2014 to 2015, the country will deploy and commercialize the IPv6-based network on a large scale and achieve the interconnection between IPv4 and IPv6-based operations, the statement said.

During that period, a group of international competitive research institutions and enterprises in the next-generation Internet sector will be established, it said.

More than 250 million Internet users have registered on Sina Weibo, China's twitter-style Internet service, said Charles Chao, President and CEO of Sina Corparation at a teleconference Wednesday morning.

Sina Weibo, launched by SINA Corporation on 14 August 2009, is one of the most popular sites in China.

One of China's leading internet service portals, qq.com, launched its Olympic strategy plan on Thursday, announcing 10 video programs during the London Olympic Games next year.

The company said for the London Olympic Games, which will be held from July 27 to Aug 12, it will send about 100 journalists to the event while about 400 editors will be in Beijing to enhance the coverage. The programs will be updated continually during the 16-day event.

"We worked out the Olympic plan based on the needs of our customers," said Chen Juhong, editor-in-chief of qq.com.