BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world's biggest lender by market value, posted a profit after tax of 66.7 billion yuan (9.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year, up 2.8 percent over the same period last year. The increase was mainly attributed to gains on incomes from the bank's intermediate business, including investment banking business and fund dealing commission, which grew 17 percent from ayear earlier to stand at 28.3 billion yuan, according to the bank's half-year report released Thursday. Outstanding loans amounted to 5.44 trillion yuan by the end of June, jumping 18.9 percent from the beginning of this year in response to the country's economic stimulus plan. The non-performing rate was 1.81 percent by June, 0.48 percentage points lower than at the beginning of 2009, as outstanding bad loans decreased 5.8 billion yuan after the bank intensified risks control. At the end of June 2009, the bank's deposits increased 1.69 trillion yuan from the beginning of the year, leaving its outstanding deposits exceeding 10 trillion yuan. The total assets of ICBC stood at 11.4 trillion yuan by the end of June, up 17.2 percent from the end of last year. Earnings per share for the bank amounted to 0.2 yuan and the bank's stock advanced 3.26 percent to end at 4.75 yuan in Shanghai Stock Exchange Thursday. ICBC was simultaneously listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong in October 2006.
BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's limits on the use of plastic bags cut crude oil consumption by 3 million tonnes per year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Since June 1, 2008, all Chinese retailers, including supermarkets, department stores and groceries, no longer provided free plastic shopping bags. In addition, China banned ultra-thin plastic bags, or those thinner than 0.025 mm. China is trying to cut the use of plastic bags in a bid to reduce energy consumption and polluting emissions. The plastic bag limits could save about 2.4 million to 3.0 million tonnes of crude oil every year and cut 7.6 million to 9.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year, the NDRC said. The NDRC said it would further implement the regulations and inspect execution of the ban nationwide. Retailers who did not list shopping bags on the receipts or continued to provide free plastic shopping bags would be fined from 5,000 yuan (732.06 U.S. dollars) to 10,000 yuan, according to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- China's Central Military Commission (CMC) conferred the rank of general on three senior military officers here on Monday, bringing the total number of generals to 174. CMC Chairman Hu Jintao awarded the officers certificates of command at the promotion ceremony. An order for the promotion was announced by CMC Vice-Chairman Guo Boxiong. The senior officers are deputy chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Ma Xiaotian, political commissar of the PLA's Academy of Military Sciences Liu Yuan, and political commissar of Chengdu Military Area Command Zhang Haiyang. China's Central Military Commission (CMC) Chairman Hu Jintao (C) poses with newly-promoted generals, namely Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Ma Xiaotian (2nd L), Political Commissar of PLA's Academy of Military Sciences Liu Yuan (1st R), and Political Commissar of the Chengdu Military Area Command Zhang Haiyang (1st L) in Beijing, capital of China, July 20, 2009. CMC conferred the rank of general on the three senior military officers here on Monday. China began to confer military ranks to military and police officers in 1955, when Chairman Mao Zedong promoted 10 senior officers to the rank of marshal, a rank which was later abolished. Premier Zhou Enlai then issued a decree conferring the rank of general on 55 officers in 1955 and one each in 1956 and 1958. Only one veteran of the revolution that founded the People's Republic of China who was among the first group of generals is still alive: 104-year-old Lu Zhengcao, former vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. In 1965, the CMC abolished the system of military ranks and then resumed it in 1988. Since then, 118 senior military and police officers have been promoted to the rank of full general. Hong Xuezhi, who became a member of the CMC in 1988, was the only officer to receive the honor twice in 1955 and 1988. The PLA recognizes 10 military ranks for officers in active service: general, lieutenant general and major general; senior colonel, colonel, lieutenant colonel and major; captain, first lieutenant and second lieutenant.
BEIJING, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will mainly redress production overcapacity in six sectors, said Chen Bin, director of the Department of Industry of the NDRC, Thursday. The six sectors include steel, cement, plate glass, coal-chemical industry, polycrystalline silicon and windpower equipment. The NDRC also warns of obvious production overcapacity in sectors like electrolytic aluminum, ship manufacturing and soybean oil extraction, said Chen during an on-line interview on www.gov.cn., the website of China's central government. He said China would fight serious overcapacity in sectors like steel industry and offer guidance for new-born industries like windpower equipment to avoid low level repetitive construction. China has achieved preliminary progresses in fighting the global economic downturn, but the foundation for economic recovery is not stable yet and overcapacity might lead to bankruptcy, unemployment and bad bank loans if it was not checked in time, he said.
BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) central leadership vowed Friday to enhance intra-Party democracy by improving Party congress and election systems. Less than two weeks ahead of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the 17th CPC Central Committee made a consensus at its fourth plenary session which ended Friday, calling for bettering the democratic decision-making mechanism within the Party in order to maintain the CPC's centralization and unity. After the four-day close-door meeting, the CPC Central Committee agreed in a communique upon pushing forward intra-Party democracy, which allows broad representation of Party-wide wills and propositions, and, subsequently, drives people's democracy. Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said at the 17th CPC National Congress on Oct. 15, 2007, "We will expand intra-Party democracy to develop people's democracy and increase intra-Party harmony to promote social harmony." Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, delivers a work report at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, which was held from Sept. 15 to 18 in Beijing, China"The realization of intra-Party democracy must rely on the guarantee of all Party members' democratic rights to know, to participate, to vote and to supervise all internal affairs of the Party," Hu, also Chinese president, said at another occasion months ago. Yu Keping, a prominent theorist who serves as deputy director of the CPC Central Compilation and Translation Bureau, said people's democracy was the ultimate goal of China's democratic politics, whereas the Party's internal democracy spearheads to achieve the ultimate goal. Political scientists said the CPC's stance of institutionalizing itself towards a more transparent and democratic ruling party reflects its increasing preparedness for the new situation, which was summarized by the latest communique as "long-term, complicated and draconian tests" for the CPC's ruling capability, the reform and open-up policy, adoption of a market economy and adaptation to outside circumstances. Wang Changjiang, a scholar at the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC, said "the new situation" might be a combination of diversified problems, such as the economic downturn, mass incidents and ethnic issues. Wang's alert coincided with the sober-minded perspective of the CPC central leadership, which says in the communique that "it has never been so onerous and pressing that the Party must effectively manage and discipline itself." One solution to those challenges is to beef up teams of "high-caliber cadres" through democratic, open, competitive and merit-based selection channels. The communique said the Party should encourage best people to stand out from peers to take key Party or governmental posts. Xu Yaotong, a researcher at the China National School of Administration, said direct election of officials, which was a foundation of intra-Party democracy, could start from the county level. Some provinces, such as southwestern Sichuan and eastern Jiangsu, have tried out direct elections, in which grassroots candidates ran for township-level Party leadership. With the idea of improving the Party congress system, the CPC is expected to try to mandate more power to delegates to various levels of congresses, who hold equal voting rights, regardless of official status, for decisions at Party congresses. The ruling CPC is the largest political contingent in China, with about 76 million members growing rapidly from 4.4 million in 1949 when the PRC was founded.
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CHENGDU, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said that reconstruction work of earthquake-shattered areas in Sichuan Province must still overcome challenges before it can be judged a complete success. Wen made the remarks while visiting the quake zone from Thursday to Saturday. It was his eighth visit to the region since the May 12 earthquake last year that left almost 90,000 people dead or missing. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R4, front) sits with villagers in a house built after the May 12 massive earthquake, in Lianghua Village, Liangshui Town of Qingchuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Sept. 24, 2009. Wen visited the areas hit by the quake in Sichuan before the National Day, to inspect and direct the reconstruction work of earthquake-shattered areasWen encouraged officials and the public to continue reconstruction work in ways that put people and their livelihoods first. In the three days, Wen visited epi-center Wenchuan County, Beichuan County, and Qingchuan County. Reconstruction of 1.24 million permanent rural residences, about 97 percent of the total number of houses in need of rebuilding, has so far been completed. Almost 3,000 schools are under reconstruction, about 87 percent of the total in need. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L2, front) shakes hands with a worker at Dongfang Steam Turbine Works in Hanwang Township of Mianzhu City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Sept. 25, 2009. An estimated 97.6 percent of the damaged enterprises with annual prime operating revenues above 5 million yuan (732,000 U.S. dollars) had resumed production. Wen urged local officials to ensure people made homeless by the quake move into permanent houses as soon as possible, especially impoverished farmers. However, quality and safety should always come first, he said. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao lays flowers at the Donghekou Earthquake Relics in Qingchuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Sept. 24, 2009Governments at all levels should work to resolve issues generating social problems and enhance security checks to guarantee social harmony and stability, Wen said. He said local governments should more strictly supervise the use of donations and respect the will of donors and their right to know about the distribution of their donations. Authorities at all levels should work to restore public services as quickly as possible, improve infrastructure construction, and avoid further geological disasters, Wen said. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (1st L) visits Donghekou Village, Hongguang Town of Qingchuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Sept. 24, 2009.
HONG KONG, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China has made great progress in gender equality and empowering women in the past 60 years, well on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, said a senior UN official on Saturday at the Asia Pacific Women Forum held in Hong Kong. Khalid Malik, the United Nations Resident Coordinator and the UN Development Program resident representative in China, quoted Chairman Mao Zedong's famous remarks "Women holding up half of the sky" to review China's good will and determination in promoting gender equality. He noted that the People's Republic of China has witnessed important progress since its founding nearly 60 years ago, with gender equality as the country's basic national policy and one of the core elements to pursue a harmonious society. Six years away from the deadline of MDGs, China is now well on track for further progress to meet the goal in promoting gender equality, said Malik. "There is almost no gender disparity to Chinese women's access to a living market, and there is much that the Asia-Pacific region can learn from China's lessons," he said. The eight MDGs, set by world leaders at a UN summit meeting in 2000, also include relieving poverty, popularizing primary education, reducing child mortality and ensuring environmental sustainability. As the Asia-Pacific region emerges stronger than any other one from the undergoing global financial crisis, he also believed the women in the region have a real prospect in redefining and strengthening their role in economy and society amid "a time of great changes". "Women are the driving force to overcome poverty and hunger, fight illiteracy, prevent the spread of diseases and promote stability," he said. More efforts were needed yet, Malik added. He urged both China and the whole region to eliminate even more bias towards empowering women and to bring the gender equality to a whole new level on the foundation of all the progress that has been made so far.
BEIJING, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Most parts of China saw limited rainfall through Saturday as people could get view of a bright full moon in clear meteorological conditions at the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival. Only the southwestern and part of the northwestern regions saw some rainfalls, but starting Sunday, weather in those regions will also clear up for the locals to get view of the full moon, according to China Meteorological Administration. In the coming three days, parts of the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region expect a weak rainfall with strong wind. Temperature will drop 4-8 degrees Celsius after the cold front moves over the region. Meanwhile, parts of the northeastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang Province will also see some weak rainfalls in the next three days. The Administration also warns of twin typhoons Parma and Melor churning in the Pacific Ocean. Typhoon Parma which now is bearing down on the Philippines expects to bring gales and major rainfalls along China's southeastern regions in its course during the coming three days.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- China stressed on Monday the importance of following "capacity to pay" principle while the United Nations considers the scale for determining member states' dues to the organization's budget. Liu Zhenmin, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, made the statement to the meeting of the Fifth Committee of the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly on the scale for determining member states' dues to the organization's budget in 2010-2012. "China stands ready to make an even greater contribution to the UN on the basis of capacity to pay, as our economy continues to grow," he said. But, despite its rapid economic development and impressive gross domestic product figures, China was the country with the largest population, which still faced enormous challenges at home, Liu said. In 2008, China's per capita gross domestic product stood at 3,000 U.S. dollars, ranked around the 100th place in the world and still a far cry from the average per capita Gross National Income (GNI) of 7,119 U.S. dollars (the threshold), he said. "By the standard of the World Bank which considers those living on less than .25 a day as poor, China's poverty population will total 250 million, the second largest in the world," he said. "Economic development, poverty eradication and the realization of modernization remain daunting challenges for China," Liu said. "The evaluation of China's capacity to pay should not be conducted without taking into account China's specificities."