BEIJING, March 22 -- The cities of Chengdu and Chongqing are famous for their different kinds of hot pots and there are endless arguments about which one is more delicious or spicier. It will only take 56 minutes by train for people from Chengdu to eat hot pot in Chongqing when the high-speed railway linking the two cities is completed in a few years. Construction is slated to start this year.The "one hour circle" is part of the plan for the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone, and the overall development project will be approved by the central government this year, according to this year's sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The two cities will generate more synergies in the future.Migrant workers from Qinghai province pick cotton in a field in Hami, in neighboring Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Xinjiang is the country's biggest cotton producing center.The State Council, China's cabinet, has sparked a new wave of regional development by laying out a dozen regional development plans with policy or financial support since last year.The Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta have acted as leading engines in the development of China's prosperous coastal areas. China is keen on fostering more driving forces to boost central and western regions to catch up.In January, the Wanjiang River Urban Belt in Anhui province was positioned as a national-level industrial transfer demonstration zone, and Hainan province was targeted to be transformed into an international tourist destination last December.Other western regions such as the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Tibet autonomous region have also become recent hot subjects for investment. Similarly, development plans for the two regions are being formulated and are very likely to be released this year or next.
BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao Tuesday paid his final respects to renowned educator and social activist Sun Qimeng as his body was taken away to be cremated at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing.Sun died in Beijing on March 2. He was 100. Chinese President Hu Jintao shakes hands with a relative of renowned Chinese educator and social activist Sun Qimeng at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing, capital of China, March 9, 2010. Sun died in Beijing on March 2 and his body was cremated on Tuesday. Top legislator Wu bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao and Sun's friends joined Hu in the farewell ceremony.Other senior leaders, including top political advisor Jia Qinglin, senior leader Li Changchun, vice president Xi Jinping, vice premier Li Keqiang, senior leader He Guoqiang, and senior leader Zhou Yongkang also expressed their condolences.Sun was vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the seventh and eighth National People's Congresses and honorary chairman of the seventh and eighth China Democratic National Construction Association Central Committee.Sun graduated in 1929 from the Politics Department of Soochow University in Suzhou city, and joined the Communist Party of China in 1950.He has made outstanding contributions to vocational education in China as well as to the country's development of social democracy and the legal system, said an official statement.
BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- China said on Monday protectionism of the United States has "seriously affected" their trade ties and urged it to stop abusing trade remedy measures.The Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian made the comments on the ministry's website in response to recent U.S. decisions to impose anti-dumping duties on electric blankets and wire trays from China and an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into Chinese steel drill pipes."Since the outbreak of the financial crisis, the U.S. trade protectionism has been apparently on the rise, and China has become the biggest victim of U.S. abuse of trade relief measures", said Yao.Yao said a recent accusation by a senior U.S. commerce official that China has set barriers against foreign investment was "totally contrary to the facts."China is the third largest export market of the U.S., and has been the fastest growing one for years. U.S. exports to China reached 77.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2009, driving down the U.S.-China trade deficit by 16 percent, he said."Absorbing foreign investment is part of China's basic state policy of opening-up," said Yao. "China has always been making efforts to provide a more open and more optimized investment environment for domestic and foreign investors.""Some countries themselves resort to trade protectionism, but turn around and accuse others. This is not only unreasonable but also not good for its own economic recovery," he said.
BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Overseas media have widely reported China's measures to maintain social and economic development, after the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opened Wednesday.The session outlined plans to keep the steady and fast development of economy, narrow the gap between city and country, and adjust income distribution pattern.The AP said that CPPCC National Committee Chairman Jia Qinglin said in a work report "2010 is a crucial year for China to respond to the impact of the global financial crisis and maintain steady and rapid economic development."The annual session of China's legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), which opens Friday, was expected to "give a full airing to hot-button issues such as soaring real estate prices in many Chinese cities," it said.The Chinese government, which released a budget and work plan for the year, was expected to boost spending on education, pensions and medical care, continuing a push begun in the past decade to strengthen a tattered social safety net, it said.The annual plenary sessions of the NPC and the CPPCC National Committee are known as China's "two sessions."The AFP said China opened its annual parliamentary season Wednesday with a call from the Chinese leadership to keep up economic growth, maintain social stability and tackle a yawning urban-rural income gap.The two gatherings were the Chinese leadership's chance to showcase its efforts to tackle the key challenges facing the country, and economic concerns looked set to top that list, it said.Online, The Wall Street Journal Asia Edition said in an article the NPC's annual session would kick off Friday and this year's theme "naturally" was the economy.In a talk with China's netizens last week, Premier Wen Jiabao said "while it is the government's responsibility to expand the 'pie' of national wealth, it is the government's conscience to distribute it in an adequate manner," the article said.The Yonhap news agency said the Chinese government was speeding up its economic transformation after the global financial crisis because it realised it could not overcome future crises with its current economic structure dominated by cheap exports. China should keep a balanced development of service sectors and agriculture, and nurture the domestic market, it said. Economic transformation would be one of the hot topics of this year's NPC, it said.Yonhap said, although the Chinese economy was gradually recovering, China faced some serious problems, such as the widening urban-rural gap.China recently focused on migrant workers, eyeing the new generation of migrant workers born in the 1990s, and would discuss the making of the medium- and long-term layout for migrant workers.The Wall Street Journal said, while the 2009 NPC was obsessed with attaining an 8 percent growth rate, the priority for this year's session was to ensure a more equitable distribution of national income.A commentary on the website of Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao said that, from the perspective of China's economic development, it was in accordance with the needs of expanding China's consumption and transforming its economic growth mode for the country to gradually annul the dualistic structure between city and countryside, promote urbanization, scrap social welfare policies that discriminated against farmers, and ensure farmers' equal rights with urban dwellers.One of the major reasons for the long-term inequality between city and countryside was China didn't have a big enough "pie" to ensure the fair distribution of interests, it said.Canada's leading public policy magazine Policy Options said in a commentary that the Chinese leadership was paying more and more attention to the demands of the poor in remote regions.From the list of the central government's financial expenditures, it could be found that the government would heavily invest on infrastructure development and maintenance, medical reforms, poverty reduction and education, it said.
ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- China will lose no time in implementing the "eight new measures" to strengthen China-Africa cooperation in the next three years, said China's Minister of Commerce Chen Deming on Tuesday. The fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Nov. 8-9. At the meeting, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced eight new measures the Chinese government will take to strengthen China-Africa cooperation in the next three years. The success of the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting has opened a new page for China-Africa cooperation, Chen said during his talks with Erastus Mwencha, deputy chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU). China will focus on improving African people's well-being, strengthening Africa's agriculture and infrastructure and expanding cooperation in human resources development, he said. China will support Africa to increase its capacity for independent development, and join hands with Africa in tackling such challenges as the global financial crisis and climate change, in a bid to promote China-Africa friendly cooperation and Africa's economic and social development, said the Chinese minister. Chen appreciated the AU's efforts to further Africa's integration process and develop China-Africa cooperation, saying China will continue to strengthen all-round cooperation with the AU, and support the AU to play a bigger role in regional and international affairs. For his part, Mwencha said Africa and China respect each other and treat each other on an equal footing, adding that bilateral ties have stood the test of the time. He believed the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting will further promote the development of cooperation between Africa and China. China's eight new measures to enhance cooperation with Africa are consistent to Africa's practical needs, said the AU official. Mwencha said the AU Commission is willing to play a bigger role in implementing the eight new measures and enhance dialogue between Africa and China. Chen arrived here on Monday for a working visit, which will also take him to Mozambique and Tanzania.
BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Singapore-flagged tanker Pramoni, hijacked off the Somali coast last month, was escorted by a Chinese vessel to the safe waters on Friday, said the Chinese Foreign Ministry."At the request of the Singaporian side, the Chinese 'Chaohu' navy ship successfully conducted the escort mission," said a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry Friday night."All crew onboard the Singapore-flagged chemical tanker are safe and sound and emotionally stable," the statement said, without specifying the route or length of the escort mission.The cargo ship, with five Chinese sailors among the 24 crew onboard, was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Jan. 1."The Chinese escort mission provided the released vessel with necessary supplies and medical assistance," the statement said.Pramoni's captain thanked the captain and crew of the Chinese vessel helping with the escort.China sent its first escort mission to the Gulf of Aden off Somalia in early 2009. Its fourth mission is now part of a multinational coalition of warships patrolling the pirate-infested area.
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BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities will standardize all the primary school buses to ensure safety of pupils when they commute between home and school.The school buses refer to those that are able to carry more than 10 children. The set of standards, the first of its kind in the country, require the school buses to bear unified tag, according to the Beijing News on Friday.The tag features two school children on two separate pages of an unfolded book.According to the standards, school buses should have seat belts for each seat and there should be one seat or more for caretakers.Double-deck bus and articulated bus are not allowed to serve as primary school buses for safety concern.The standards also require the bus makers to install a device to record the driving speed, time and mileage of the vehicle.The standards, jointly issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and the Standardization Administration, will come into force on July 1.
BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan will pay a three-day visit to the United States from March 24 to strengthen economic and trade cooperation, said a statement posted on the official website of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) Friday.The visit was aimed at expanding bilateral trade and promoting the healthy and stable development of the Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations, the statement said.Zhong would also negotiate with the U.S. administration over Sino-U.S. trade issues in an effort to increase mutual understanding, and defuse trade frictions, the statement said."Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations are mutually beneficial," said He Ning, director general of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs of the MOC."China believes any economic and trade issues, including the RMB (Chinese currency) exchange rate, can be resolved through dialogue."But we should avoid politicizing economic and trade issues," He told journalists Friday in Beijing.He said commodities trade figures only mirrored flows of the products, but it could not truly reveal the beneficiaries.Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said earlier this month that half of China's exports came from the processing trade, in which imported components were assembled at factories in China and 60 percent were made by foreign-funded companies or joint ventures with foreign partners.MOC spokesman Yao Jian said Tuesday China welcomed more U.S. high-tech exports, and was willing to promote more balanced Sino-U.S. trade. En
SINGAPORE, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said on Tuesday that China will become even more important globally and Singapore must find opportunities to ride on China's growth.Speaking at the Business China spring reception on Tuesday night, Goh said that China has over the past year weathered the global economic downturn with exceptional resilience.Despite shrinking external demand and rising unemployment, China's timely and bold policy responses have enabled its economy to grow at a sizzling 8.7 percent last year, he said, adding that China is now reinforcing its role as the engine for growth in Asia, if not the world.Goh said that the city state recognized China's potential early, soon after China began to open up its economy in 1978.Because of the early efforts made by the Singapore government and Singaporeans, China is today the city state's third largest trading partner and top investment destination, Goh said.As for riding on China's growth, Goh said that the Singapore government will help its companies gain an even stronger foothold in China, and continue to catalyze business opportunities in China.The seven provincial-level business councils, as well as other high-level dialogues and platforms, help open opportunities for companies, reinforce the Singapore brand name and increase its mindshare in China, Goh said.
HONG KONG, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Plans of extensive and comprehensive inspection of roughly 4,000 buildings aged 50 years and over will be carried out in a month, said the website of the HK Special Administrative Regional government on Saturday after a building collapse incident."This is a comprehensive check across the territory of all the buildings of this age, which we believed are more or less of similar construction, which is reinforced concrete framed construction," said Secretary for Development, Carrie Lam, after inspecting the scene of the building collapse case in Ma Tau Wai Road Saturday.A five-story apartment building of more than 50 years old in Hung Hom, Hong Kong's Kowloon district, collapsed suddenly around 1:30 p.m. local time ( 0530 GMT) Friday afternoon. Four people were confirmed dead and two others injured."we are going to set up 40 teams of professional and technical staff to go out to various parts of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories to inspect these 4,000 buildings. The target is to complete these comprehensive inspection within a month. We will then follow up with the needed remedial action," she added.Carrie Lam also mentioned she was going to introduce into the Legislative Council a new piece of legislation concerning mandatory inspection of Hong Kong's buildings over 30 years old and also mandatory inspection of windows for buildings aged 10 years and over.