Welcome to the China Daily News page. We hope you will find this page informational and a good resource for keeping abreast of life as we know it to be in the People's Republic of China. Here you will find the latest news on weather, politics, community and current events occurring in the rapidly changing country.
Please note that the following news reports are the research and opinion of the People's Daily Online news and not necessarily the thoughts and opinions of Great Wall China Adoption.
Government monitoring showed Saturday the sandstorm that has plagued much of northern China is likely to reach the Yangtze river basin and its south. According to the Center for Desertification Monitoring under the State Administration of Forestry, the sandstorm is moving southward to Henan and Shandong Provinces and the increasingly strong wind could blow it even to south of the Yangtze River basin. The sandstorm from northwestern China, packing strong winds and tons of sand, arrived in B ... - [read more]
About 100,000 fishermen living around the Poyang, China's largest freshwater lake, docked their vessels at midday Saturday for a three-month annual fishing ban. The seasonal ban, in place since 2002, is considered crucial to sustain the lake's ecology and fishing resources. Though he will be left without a job until June 20, Deng Shenghua, a fisherman in the eastern Jiangxi Province, said he would cooperate as usual. "I know it's important to ban fishing in the spring spawning season," ... - [read more]
Central China's Hunan Province said on Saturday rice on sale at its supermarkets was not genetically modified and refuted environmental group Greenpeace's accusation. The provincial agricultural department said in a statement that no pest-resistant genetically modified ingredients had been found in samples of all 32 brands of rice being sold on the local market. "Samples were taken from the Wal-Mart outlet on South Huangxing Road in the provincial capital Changsha, and several other stores ... - [read more]
Representatives of 46 cities that boast the best sceneries in China gathered here Saturday to launch an alliance to boost exchanges and cooperate more on promotion and marketing. As a non-profit organization, the alliance will integrate resources of its members on management, human resources, marketing, among others, to serve the interests of all the 46 cities, said Wang Yong, mayor of south China's seaside resort city Sanya and president of the alliance. Members of the China Alliance for ... - [read more]
Rescuers are working all-out Saturday for 10 workers who were trapped in a collapsed railway tunnel Friday in north China's Inner Mongolia Region. No progress had been reported as of 9:30 a.m., the emergency rescue headquarters said. The accident happened at about 2:35 p.m. Friday when workers were digging the tunnel in Zhuozi County of Ulanqab City, about 150 km from the regional capital Hohhot and 400 km from Beijing, said an unnamed official with the region's work safety administration ... - [read more]
China will give top priority to developing offshore wind power projects to boost its flourishing wind power industry in 2010, according to a senior energy official . The government would put large-scale offshore wind power concession projects out to tender, said Shi Lishan, deputy director of the New Energy and Renewable Energy Department of the National Energy Bureau at a recent seminar sponsored by Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association (CREIA). "We have formulated basic ideas and ... - [read more]
Vice President Xi Jinping arrived in Vladivostok on Saturday for a five-day official visit to Russia, the first leg of his four-nation European tour. The following is a chronology of major events in China-Russia relations since 1992: On Dec. 17-19, 1992: Russian President Boris Yeltsin paid his first visit to China. On May 25-29, 1994, Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin visited China. On Sept. 2-6, 1994, Chinese President Jiang Zemin paid a state visit to Russia and signed wi ... - [read more]
At the invitation of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping arrived here Saturday for an official visit to Russia. During his stay in Russia, Xi, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, will meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and Putin, who is also chairman of the ruling United Russia party, and State Duma Chairman Boris Gryzlov. They will exchange views on bilateral rel ... - [read more]
A delegation of the National People's Congress (NPC) left here Saturday morning for a goodwill visit to Vietnam and Laos. The delegation, headed by Yan Junqi, vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the NPC, China's top legislature, will also attend the 122nd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Bangkok, Thailand. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ... - [read more]
The 12th Greek International Exhibition on Education was launched in Athens on Friday with the participation of more than 250 exhibitors from 12 countries across the world, including China which takes part for second time with 23 stands. Holland is the honor country at the exhibition this year and the Dutch group Yuri Honing Trio entertained visitors at the Dutch stands. "Because by offering opportunities to our youth to live and study in foreign countries, we eventually enrich our cultur ... - [read more]
A Chinese scholar warned radical urbanization might harm farmers' welfare and create "urban slums." Prof. He Xuefeng, a sociologist with Huazhong University of Science and Technology based in central Hubei Province, told Xinhua that, if the country's urbanization moves too fast, the cities might not be ready to provide proper public service for newcomers, who have lost their farm lands at hometown. "In this scenario, these newcomers in town will be driven into urban slums. We have seen lo ... - [read more]
Chinese police seized 27.7 tonnes of drugs ranging from heroin to ketamine in 2009 as the country stepped up its fight against drug dealers, the National Narcotics Control Commission (NNCC) said Friday. Chinese police confiscated 5.8 tonnes of heroin, 1.3 tonnes of opium, 6.6 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as "ice", 5.3 tonnes of ketamine, 8.7 tonnes of marijuana and 1.06 million ecstacy pills last year, according to the annual report on drug control released by NNCC. C ... - [read more]
Severe drought has affected 51 million Chinese and left more than 16 million people and 11 million livestock with drinking water shortages, China's State Commission of Disaster Relief said Friday. About 4.348 million hectares of farmland were affected and 940,200hectares would yield no harvest, the commission said in a statement. Since autumn last year, southwest China, including Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chongqing Municipality, has receive ... - [read more]
China's courts have been authorized to seize or freeze assets of convicted criminals under a judicial interpretation issued by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Friday. The interpretation, which takes effect from June 1, aimed to better execute the property penalties, or the collection of fines and forfeiture of assets, said Hu Yunteng, director of the SPC research office. Lack of clear procedural rules on the enforcement of penalties had led to a low enforcement rate, Hu said. Existing ... - [read more]
A delegation of the Communist Party of China (CPC) left here Saturday morning for a goodwill visit to Nepal, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The delegation, led by Zhao Leji, member of the CPC Central Committee and also secretary of the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee, is invited by the Nepal Communist Party (Unified Marxist-Leninist), the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, the Cambodia People's Party and Funcinpec Party and the Communist Party of Vietnam. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ... - [read more]
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping left here Saturday morning for an official visit to Russia, Belarus, Finland and Sweden. Xi, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, will attend the inauguration of the Year of Chinese Language in Russia, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Xi makes the trip from March 20 to 30, as guest of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is also chairman of the United Russia ... - [read more]
China's Vice Minister of Culture Zhao Shaohua and Australian Ambassador to China Geoff Raby Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on reciprocal years of culture (2010-2012) between China and Australia. The Year of Australian Culture in China, the opening ceremony of which is scheduled for June 8 in the National Center for the Performing Arts, lasts from June 2010 to June 2011. It will be a showcase of cooperation between China and Australia in the fields of art, music, performa ... - [read more]
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 ... - [read more]
China must strengthen trade ties with Russia, Belarus, Finland and Sweden, said Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng Friday, a day ahead of Vice President Xi Jinping's 11-day official visit to the four European countries. Gao told Xinhua that China had been Russia's biggest trading partner since February last year. Sino-Russian trade reached its peak in 2008, with trade volume hitting a record 58.8 billion U.S. dollars. However, the volume was dragged down by the global economic downturn las ... - [read more]
Chinese and Russian officials and experts have expressed optimism on further expansion of Sino-Russian ties on the eve of a visit here by Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday that Xi?s visit to Russia would further promote bilateral cooperation. Xi was invited by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to attend the inauguration of the Year of Chinese Language, and the opening ceremony of the second round of dialogue between the Chinese and ... - [read more]
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At least 10 people are trapped after a section of a railway tunnel in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region collapsed Friday, local authority said. The accident occurred at about 2:35 p.m. Friday when workers were digging a section of a tunnel in Zhuozi County of Ulanqab City, about 150 km from Hohhot, the regional capital, and 400 km from Beijing, said an unnamed official with the autonomous regional work safety supervision administration. The tunnel is part of a railway being built to link J ... - [read more]
China is ready to lift the comprehensive partnership of cooperation with Bangladesh to a new level, Chinese President Hu Jintao said Friday. In a meeting with visiting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Beijing, Hu expressed appreciation for the outstanding contributions that Hasina had made to enhancing friendship between the two countries. Hu said both countries were developing Asian countries that faced the common task of promoting social and economic development and improving ... - [read more]
Chinese President Hu Jintao received in Beijing Friday the credentials of six new foreign ambassadors to China. The ambassadors were Joyce Mwaka Chembe Musenge from Zambia, Ismail Ibrahim Houmed from Djibouti, Omar Ahmed Albitar from the United Arab Emirates, Marco Piccinini from Monaco, Bal Mohamed El Habib from Mauritania, and Frantisek Dlhopolcek from Slovakia. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ... - [read more]
China is ready to enhance practical cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Friday. In a meeting with visiting ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan, Yang said China would act on principles set forth in the framework of the free trade zone between the two sides. China unswervingly followed a policy of advancing cooperation of mutual benefit with ASEAN, he said. "China will maintain its support for the building of the ASEAN ... - [read more]
Senior Chinese leaders said Friday the general public had reaped practical benefits and the organization of grassroots Party committees was improved through an 18-month study campaign. In a meeting attended by members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, CPC leaders agreed the Scientific Outlook on Development study campaign was of far-reaching significance for boosting the cause of China's modernization drive and Party building. During the meeting, sen ... - [read more]
Three agreements signed by Chinese mainland and Taiwan negotiators to cooperate in farm produce quarantine, employment of fishermen, and to deal with different product quality standards are to take effect on Sunday, mainland sources said Friday. The three agreements were reached on Dec. 22 last year at talks between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), which handle cross-Strait issues on behalf of their resp ... - [read more]
Six people were trapped underground after a coal mine was flooded Friday morning in southwestern China's Guizhou Province, according to local government. The flooding accident happened at around 7:20 a.m. Friday at Kexing Coal Mine in Sayu Town of Anlong County, Southwestern Guizhou Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, when 30 people were working underground. Twenty-four people escaped unharmed, and the remaining six were trapped underground. Rescue work is under way and cause of the a ... - [read more]
Tibet will stage a show of the intangible cultural heritage in the Tianqiao Theater in Beijing on March 25-26, Tibet Business reported. The show is part of the National Display of Minority Intangible Cultural Heritage sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the State Ethnic Affairs Commission. The display aims to publicize and promote the minority intangible cultural heritage around the country. According to the report, ten national and provincial level intangible cultur ... - [read more]
"Look, after running this software, the Windows interfaces of the Han language have all transferred into those of the Tibetan language," Purbu Tenzin, a 28-year-old Tibetan man, showed the function of a set of language-transferring software. As a computer teacher in Tibet University, Tenzin took part in a project to develop a set of software in the Tibetan language in a move to boost information development, as well as the Tibetan ethnic culture in Tibetan-inhabited areas. &$
An ever-increasing number of Chinese students are returning home after studies abroad, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security reported on March 19. A total of 497,400 overseas Chinese students have returned to China between 1978 and 2009, of which, more than 100,000 Chinese students returned in 2009, up 56 percent from the previous year, according to the ministry. So far, China has built more than 150 pioneer parks to accommodate 8,000 businesses and more than 20,000 returning ... - [read more]
Pakistan and China enjoy a profound traditional friendship and more efforts are needed to consolidate and deepen the friendship, said Masood Khan, ambassador of Pakistan to China at the seminar on Pakistan-China relations in the 21st century held in Beijing on March 18, 2010. ?Pakistan-China relations are strong and resilient thanks to the wisdom and foresight of our leaders and skilful management of these relations over the decades?, Khan added. Hu Zhengyue, Assistance foreign ministe ... - [read more]
A delegation of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament, left here Friday for an official goodwill visit to Tunisia, Egypt and Malaysia. The delegation was led by &$&$Wang Zhaoguo&$&$, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the &$&$Communist Party of China&$read more]
Chinese President Hu Jintao has appointed a new ambassador in line with the decision by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature. Zhang Yesui was appointed ambassador to the United States, replacing Zhou Wenzhong. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ... - [read more]
According to statistics released by the China Tourism Academy on March 18, China's outbound travel consumption reached 42 billion U.S. dollars in 2009, up 16 percent from the previous year. Tourism saw its first trade deficit since 1982, when it exceeded 2 billion U.S. dollars. In 2010, the deficit is expected to widen to 5 billion U.S. dollars. ? According to Dai Bin, vice director of the China Tourism Academy, China's outbound tourists reached 48 million in 2009, an increase of roughly 4 p ... - [read more]
China Aluminum Corp (CHALCO?announced it will set up a joint venture with Rio Tinto to develop the world-class iron ore deposit located at Simandou in the western African Republic of Guinea. The annual production capacity of this project is expected to exceed 70 million tons. &$&$By People's Daily Online&$&$ ... - [read more]
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) warned that China's soaring demand for iron ore is causing a greater reliance on imports. Last year, China purchased nearly 70 percent of its iron ore overseas, a 13 percent increase from 2008, and the import share of world iron ore trade has been amount to 75 percent. Currently, imported iron ore prices have spiked and continue to trend upward. One of the three major international iron ore suppliers, Vale of Brazil, proposed to i ... - [read more]
The Liaoning section of the Harbin-Dalian high-speed passenger railway project, the largest transportation infrastructure project in northeastern China, will first begin operation in 2011. The construction of the highly-anticipated Beijing-Shenyang high-speed passenger railway line will start July 2010 at the earliest, said Cheng Zhenggao, governor of Liaoning province, March 17 at the stone-laying ceremony of the Shenyang-Dandong passenger railway line. The construction of the Harbin-Dal ... - [read more]
China's government Friday said it was sending an envoy to the United States to try to ease trade frictions with American politicians have lately crowed about Chinese currency's valuation. However, Beijing has cautioned that pressure from US side could complicate talks, according to a report filed by The Reuters Friday. The announcement, and comments by China's commerce ministry, appeared aimed at lowering the temperature in an increasingly heated dispute, with U.S. senators threatening to sl ... - [read more]
The minimum wage in south China's Guangdong Province will be raised by 21.1 percent on average from May 1 in a bid to attract job seekers, said local authorities Thursday. The minimum wage of both cooperate employees and part-time workers will be raised to mitigate the labor shortage faced by some companies in Guangdong, said Guangdong Provincial Human Resources and Social Security Department in a statement. Different cities will adjust their minimum wage levels according to the actual con ... - [read more]
China's current severe drought could aggravate inflation, driving commodity prices even higher. A few days ago, the National Development and Reform Commission published the February CPI. Last month, CPI rose 2.7 percent, close to the warning level of 3 percent. This reminds us that in China, the threat of inflation is still present. The CPI index covers many prices related to daily life, and the price of food may be the most important. According to the report, the decrease of rice pr ... - [read more]
A man stabbed a Mcdonald's employee Friday at the fast food restaurant in Shanghai's Xuhui district, police said. The accident occurred at 5:00 a.m., when the man was quarreling with the staff. Shanghai police were still hunting the man as of 10:00 a.m.. The victim was rushed to hospital but died later. Police are still investigating the case. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ... - [read more]
Gabonese Defense Minister Angelique Ngoma Thursday conferred national and military medals as well as honor certificates on the first Chinese military medical team to the country. At an awards ceremony, the Gabonese military expressed its thanks to the team, praising the staff's rich experience, hard work and harmonious cooperation with Gabonese colleagues. The team had conducted many difficult operations on patients and saved many lives. The Gabonese military expressed the hope that mor ... - [read more]
China defended itself against Britain's latest annual review on human rights, calling the accusation a "political show." The statement came on March 18 at a regular press conference given by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang. The 192-page report, released on March 17 immediately following British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's visit to China, named China as one of 22 countries with serious issues regarding human rights. "China is making progress on human rights and the ... - [read more]
The Google case has given the US an opportunity to re-adopt its hard-line approach, and move away from the "smart" diplomacy it had used against China of late, experts tracking the issue said on Thursday. Calling the affair "politicized", the experts also suggested that the government take steps to ensure that a monopoly situation does not prevail in the search engine market. They were referring to the perceived gains Baidu, Google's arch rival in China, would make in case the US search gian ... - [read more]
Deng Fenxian and her husband are busy digging a hole these days to build a water cellar to fight a severe drought in the southwest of the country. Overnight, building water cellars instead of finding water topped the agendas of all the 149 families in Heinitang village, Fuyuan county of Yunnan Province, after the local government said it would later try to fill them. A water cellar looks like a 3-meter-deep jar half buried in the ground, which can meet a family-of-three's needs for water f ... - [read more]
Death toll from work safety accidents in China dropped 15.2 percent year on year to 10,854 in the first two months this year, according to China's work safety authority. Total number of work safety accidents in January and February was down 9.6 percent year on year to 63,552, with 312 major accidents killing 1,248 people, said the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) Thursday. The number of coal mine accidents declined 9 percent in the first two month, reducing death toll by 14.2 per ... - [read more]
More than 400 engineers and workers are digging wells in southwest China's Guizhou Province to seek drinking water for people and livestock amid a prolonged drought, local authority said Thursday. Workers started to drill early this month and seven wells had been completed as of Monday, producing more than 6,000 tonnes of water a day for more than 40,000 people, said He Yumin, publicity officer with the Guizhou provincial geological and mining bureau. He said 154 more wells would be excava ... - [read more]
A house fire has killed two Chinese and injured two others later Thursday in South Korea's north central province of ChungCheongbuk-Do, the consulate office of the Chinese Embassy to South Korea said Friday. The fire broke out at around 23:16 p.m. Thursday local time in a residential building housing 12 Chinese people in Jincheon-Gun, ChungCheongbuk-Do. Two of them died at the scene while two others were injured, the embassy said. So far, the cause of the fire remains unclear. The Chine ... - [read more]
South African Pavilion Director for Shanghai Expo 2010, Schoemen du Plesiss, depicted the design for South Africa's pavilion in Shanghai Expo 2010 as magnificent with numerously glamorous African culture, red wine, dancing and advanced technological products by corporations from South Africa. "South Africa will be participating for the first time as an individual country and we have 2000 square meters pavilion in which we will show South Africa in a wonderful way with modern design while reta ... - [read more]
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Belarus will bring fresh momentum to the development of the two countries' relations, Anatoly Tozik, Belarusian Ambassador to China, said at a press conference in Beijing Thursday. Xi would meet with President Alexander Kukashenko and the leaders of the government and the parliament of Belarus, and the two sides would exchange opinions on issues, including the deepening cooperation in politics, trade, economy and investment, as well as mut ... - [read more]
China and Bangladesh Thursday agreed to set up closer ties of comprehensive cooperative partnership. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and visiting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reached the agreement after their talks in Beijing. Wen said the two nations always supported each other in major issues concerning national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. This year marks the 35th anniversary of China-Bangladesh diplomatic ties. Wen said China would work with the countr ... - [read more]
A Singapore scholar said Thursday that both the Singapore and Chinese governments had responded well to the global financial crisis. Professor Neo Boon Siong, of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) of National University of Singapore, said, "In dealing with global financial crisis, both governments follow market economy principles, but are not shy of intervention." Both governments were intelligent about when and how to intervene in the market, he told a symposium held by the ... - [read more]
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen reiterated on Thursday that China's development will benefit the region and the developing countries. Hun Sen made the remarks when he held talks Thursday afternoon with Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, who is paying a visit to the country. Expressing his congratulation to the great achievements made by China in recent years in social and economic fields, Hun Sen said that "China's development is not only conducive to China itself, but also beneficial to ... - [read more]
The Dalai Lama delivered a speech at a political rally held in Dharamsala March 10, calling the slaughter of PLA soldiers and Tibetans in 1959 a "peaceful resistance against violence," and accused the Chinese government of destroying Tibet, while expressing his gratitude for the support from political and spiritual leaders headed by the U.S. President. These frequently repeated political lies under the cover of religion have disgusted everyone. The same day U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi als ... - [read more]
Sweden?s Uppsala BIO and Uppsala Innovation Centre, UIC, have recently signed a cooperation agreement with Shanghai Zhangjiang Biotech & Pharmaceutical Base Development Company (ZJBPB) for Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Science Park, according to a statement issued by UIC, which is located in the north of Stockholm. The cooperation aims at supporting innovation companies within life science, in Uppsala and in Shanghai, to establish on the Chinese and European markets respectively, the statemen ... - [read more]
Up to now, 2.1 million Tibetans accounting for 73% of the total population have used the electricity in Tibet, according to Tibet Power Co., Ltd. Since the Fourth Forum on Tibet Work , the electricity industry in Tibet has made considerable progress with power capacity increasing from 0.36 million kilowatts to 0.72 million kilowatts and the generating volume up to 1.687 billion kilowatts. At the same time, the "Electricity access to every household" project was carrying on well in rural ar ... - [read more]
"It is the preferential policy of the Central Government that has helped to improve our living standard," said Sonam Wangdu, a 63-year-old Tibetan man in Cawarong Township of Nyingchi Prefecture, southeastern Tibet. Wangdu lives in a two-storey house with his family members, and raises herds of sheep in the yard. Cawarong Township is a remote area deep in snowy mountains in most of a year. "Before the democratic reform was launched in Tibet in 1959, I was a son of a serf family. Old Tibe ... - [read more]
Alibaba.com, China's biggest business-to-business web group, started operations in Brazil on Thursday, which it said showed huge potential for growth, reported the AFP. The Hong Kong-based company, which is partnered in the venture with another firm from the same territory, Ludatrade Technologies, presented its activities at a news conference in Sao Paulo. Alibaba's sales director, Timothy Leung, said Internet penetration and a blossoming emerging-market economy made Brazil ripe for the Ch ... - [read more]
The highest-ranking former official of China's Ministry of Commerce ever to stand trial stood in the dock Thursday to be charged with accepting bribes. Former senior inspector Guo Jingyi, 44, is alleged to have accepted bribes valued at 7.65 million yuan (1.12 million U.S. dollars) -- 6 million yuan in cash and 1.65 million yuan in properties, a court official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Guo entered the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, predecessor of the Minis ... - [read more]
Exchanges in religion and culture across Taiwan Strait would get a boost in the future, said Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) here Thursday. Chiang made the remarks while hosting a 16-member delegation led by Wang Fuqing, vice president of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS). "Both ARATS and SEF should adjust their work by gradually expanding into other diverse fields such as culture, education and health ins ... - [read more]
A high-ranking official in south China's Hainan Province pledged Thursday that they would make great efforts to improve local tourism market. Vice Governor Tan Li told a press conference for the Boao International Tourism Forum, scheduled to open Saturday in Sanya, a tourist resort in Hainan. "It's a fact that Hainan drew criticism over its high hotel room prices during the Spring Festival, and that the hotel room prices did jump too much," said Tan. Some five-star hotel room prices sto ... - [read more]
Health authorities in north China's Shanxi Province announced Thursday the preliminary result of an investigation into a media report alleging defective vaccines had killed or sickened 78 children in the region. Investigators from Shanxi Provincial Health Department have found the families of 10 out of the 78 children reported by a Beijing-based newspaper, China Economic Times, Wednesday, Li Gui, chief of disease prevention and control section of the department, told Xinhua in an exclusive in ... - [read more]
U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Thursday said the U.S.- China relationship is mature and stable enough to weather differences between the two countries. Huntsman made the remarks in his speech, "2010: The Year of Decision," at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing. The ambassador thought 2010 would be "the most important year in the history of the Sino-U.S. relations," as the two sides had to take action and make real progress on pressing global challenges like economic reco ... - [read more]
China on Thursday voiced its support for the liberalization of global trade and opposition to trade protectionism in all its forms in order to pave the way for the economic recovery in the world at large. The statement came as Li Baodong, the permanent Chinese representative to the United Nations, was taking the floor at the Special High-Level Meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council with the Bretton Woods Institutes, namely the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the World T ... - [read more]
China on Thursday called upon the international community to render more support and provide more assistance to Afghanistan, and voiced its support for a leading coordination role by the United Nations in the reconstruction of the south Asian country. The appeal came as Li Baodong, the permanent Chinese representative to the United Nations, was speaking to a UN Security Council meeting on the current situation of Afghanistan. The international community must keep focused on Afghanistan, wh ... - [read more]
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Thursday discussed with Yu Myung Hwan, his counterpart from the Republic of Korea (ROK), the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and the six-party process, according to a press release issued after the talks. The statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said they touched on regional and international issues of common concern during the talks, but it gave no further details on those issues. The two senior officials also voiced their willingness to work tog ... - [read more]
&$&$US envoy says 'important talks' will be held soon&$&$ The top US envoy to China on Thursday expressed confidence that the two countries will find a solution to the yuan exchange rate. "I think in due time, it will be resolved to the satisfaction of both parties," Ambassador Jon Huntsman told an audience of students at the prestigious Tsinghua University. The two sides are expected to hold "important negotiations" over the exchange rate in the coming weeks, he said, adding tha ... - [read more]
Nearly 93 percent of workers intend to switch jobs in the near future, a new survey suggests. Chinahr.com, a human resources provider, quizzed 5,000 people on the popular sohu.com portal and found that those who have worked between one and five years at their current jobs made up 84 percent of those eyeing new pastures, while novices with less than one year's experience in their positions made up 9 percent. Chinahr.com predicted that this month would mark the peak of job-swapping as emplo ... - [read more]
If women hold up half the sky, Tian Jinzhen apparently holds up more than her share. The 43-year-old peasant woman bid her husband and two kids a sad farewell shortly after the Spring Festival family reunion, choked back her tears and returned to her toil. Her daily work involves collecting firewood deep in the mountains, attending to domestic chores, taking care of her parents in-laws, growing nearly 2 hectares of tobacco, corn and rice, and managing the women's association in her home vi ... - [read more]
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has said his country is ready to learn from China's rapid growth in key areas of developments. Obasanjo made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua on Wednesday when he visited Chinese Consulate General in Lagos, the country's commercial hub. The ex-president said his visit was to wish the Chinese people a happy New Year and voice his support for the forthcoming Shanghai World Expo in China."We will continue to learn from China, because you people ... - [read more]
World Expo visitors can have customized postcards of themselves made at a post office next to the Shanghai Expo site during the event, according to Shanghai Post. The post office, which opened Thursday, will open from 7:00 to 24:00 during the six-month event from May 1 to Oct. 31. Visitors could take photos inside the Expo, and ask any service stand of the Shanghai World Expo Post Office to deliver the pictures to the post office, where they could be made into postcards, said Chen Xiaolu, ... - [read more]
China's fifth Gulf of Aden mission took over the escort of merchant vessels through the pirate-infested waters in a handover ceremony from the fourth mission late Wednesday local time. The ceremony was held on the missile frigate FFG-525 Ma'anshan after the two escort flotillas finished escorting 26 Chinese and foreign ships. During the handover, documents and equipment were transferred and the new command was briefed on the features of piracy and merchant vessel escort patterns. Qiu Y ... - [read more]
China on Thursday refuted Britain's latest annual report on human rights, calling the report "an ideological political show." "China's human rights cause is progressing continuously and it is obvious to any person without prejudice," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular press conference. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband launched the 2009 Annual Report on Human Rights Wednesday afternoon in the wake of his visit to China this week. The 192-page report named China as on ... - [read more]
Senior Chinese leader Li Changchun on Thursday met with Japanese tea master Genshitsu Sen. Li, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, appreciated Sen's commitment to developing China-Japan friendship, particularly in tea-related cultural exchanges. Sen, the 15th Grand Master of Japan's Urasenke Chado, or the way of tea, had made more than a hundred visits to China since his first trip to Beijing in the late 1970s. Li s ... - [read more]
China does not want the Rio Tinto case to be politicalized and negatively affect China-Australia relations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Thursday. Qin's remarks came after Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's comment Monday that the "world will be watching" the trial. The trial of Australian national Stern Hu and three Chinese colleagues will open in Shanghai Monday. Chinese authorities arrested the four Rio Tinto employees on charges of stealing state secrets last ... - [read more]
China on Thursday defended its exchange rate policy, saying the value of its currency, the renminbi (RMB), was not the major cause of the U.S. trade deficit with China. "It is unfair and harmful to continuously depreciate a country's own currency and ask other countries to revalue their currencies in the meantime," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular press conference. Pressure on China to realign its currency has been growing in the United States. A group of U.S. senators ... - [read more]
A 5-magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan Thursday, said the local weather bureau. The quake occurred at 5:01 p.m. about 26.3 km southeast of Suao in the northeastern Ilan county, with its epicenter 31.5 km underground, according to the bureau. The tremor was felt in Taipei. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ... - [read more]
China on Thursday reiterated its call for diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue, urging all parties to move toward a negotiated solution to the long-standing issue. "A peaceful solution through diplomatic means is the best way and complies with the interests of all parties," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a regular news briefing. "China is in close contact with the relevant parties and strives to promote peaceful negotiations," said Qin. He Yafei, ... - [read more]
Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong met here Thursday with visiting Serbian Minister of Culture Nebojsa Bradic. Liu said advancing bilateral cultural exchanges and cooperation was of great significance to the development of the China-Serbia ties. Invited by China's Ministry of Culture, Bradic was here to attend the Serbian cultural festival to run from March 18 to 23 in Beijing and Tianjin. &$&$Source: Xinhua&$&$ ... - [read more]
China's medium-sized Huaxia Bank said Thursday Deutsche Bank AG became its largest shareholder after wrapping up an acquisition of the Chinese lender's shareholder Sal Oppenheim Jr& Cie.S.C.A. The Deutsche Bank's stake in Huaxia Bank now amounts to 17.12 percent, with a total of 855 million shares, after the buyout of the Luxembourg-based private bank Sal Oppenheim Jr & Cie.S.C.A., which held a 3.43 percent stake, said the Huaxia Bank said in a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. ... - [read more]
A teenager who previously claimed to have been poisoned after drinking a can of Sprite, has confessed that he poisoned himself on Jan. 17, said Beijing police Thursday after a two-month investigation. A 13-year-old boy surnamed Wang from Tongzhou district of Beijing admitted Wednesday that he ate mercury from a broken thermometer out of curiosity, Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said in a statement. Wang was afraid that his parents would scold him so he put the remaining mercury ... - [read more]
South China's Hainan Province aims to become China's golf capital and one of the world's major tourist destinations for golf players and enthusiasts, officials said Thursday at a seminar of 2010 Boao International Tourism Forum. "China encourages well-planned environment-friendly development of golf tourism, especially in Hainan, the country's only tropical island province," said Du Jiang, deputy head of the National Tourism Administration. China's golf tourism industry is still in the beg ... - [read more]
Senior Chinese legislator Chen Changzhi met with a delegation from the Georgian Parliament here Thursday afternoon. Chen, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), met with Minashvili Akaki, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Parliament of Georgia, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. China and Georgia have seen smooth development of bilateral relations since they established official links in 1992. Georgian Foreign Minister ... - [read more]
If Sun Yat-sen knew, he would cry. Recently, the news that Wuhan will spend over 20 billion yuan preparing a ceremony to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution caused controversy among residents. Not long ago, Tianjin declared that it would spend 5.1 billion yuan constructing a "British-style cultural zone," and Nanjing declared it would spend 19.5 million yuan to bring back the bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen. The fact that some local governments are willing to spend such huge ... - [read more]
Cambodian and Chinese senior officials agreed on Thursday to further strengthen friendship and cooperation relations to bring more benefits to the peoples of the two countries. The common view was reached when visiting Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu held talks with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Office of the Council of Ministers Sok An on Thursday. During the meeting, Hui highly valued the relations between China and Cambodia, saying that China and Cambodia "are goo ... - [read more]
As participant of Shanghai Expo this year, the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) unveiled its pavilion model on March 18, 2010 in Beijing. &$
In the wake of the death of 13 captive Siberian tigers in a northeast China zoo, legal experts have posted online a proposal for a "law against animal abuse" to solicit opinions. The proposal, posted online Wednesday, would be revised after the experts considered the public's responses and then in April, it would be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said Chang Jiwen with law institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who participated in the draft ... - [read more]
by Liang Shanggang Cooperation between China and Ethiopia brings practical and tangible results to Ethiopians, Adugna Jabessa, the Ethiopian minister of Ministry of Water Resources, has told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. Over the past 40 years, especially since the current Ethiopian government took office, the cooperation with China has developed from strength to strength, he said on Wednesday. The Ethiopian government has come to realize that the Chinese government has been givin ... - [read more]
The death toll from a partial collapse of an unfinished building Sunday in southwest China's Guizhou Province has risen to nine, the rescue headquarters said Thursday. A mold supporting structure in the corridor between two halls at the International Conference and Exhibition Center in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou, collapsed at around 11:30 a.m., burying 28 workers working at the area, said a spokesman for the rescue headquarters. The death toll rose by two as one body was found in debris a ... - [read more]
The government released a draft of a proposed act which expands protections for animals on March 17. The new "Animal Anti-cruelty Act" includes some new items not present in another draft released in September 2009, such as banning the mistreatment of animals by starvation, and forbidding the slaughter of animals in the presence of youths. The draft will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress next week, said Chang Jiwen, head of the drafting team and director ... - [read more]
Hua Jianmin, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, met in Beijing on Thursday with a delegation from the Transport and Communications Committee of Finland's Parliament. The delegation was headed by Martti Korhonen, chairman of the Committee. The two sides exchanged views on enhancing contacts between the two legislative bodies and promoting the state-to-state relations. &$&$Source:Xinhua&$&$ ... - [read more]
China has indisputable sovereign rights over the Diaoyu Islands and adjacent islets, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing Thursday. Qin said the Diaoyu Islands and adjacent islets have been an inalienable part of China's territory since ancient times. Qin made the remarks in response to a question about Japan's latest claim over the islands. Japanese Foreign Minister Okada Katsuya said on Tuesday that Japan had sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands. Okada made the c ... - [read more]
Visiting Chairman of the Standing Committee of Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress Qiangba Puncog held talks with Australian Speaker of the House of Representatives Harry Jenkins and President of the Senate John Hogg Canberra on Wednesday. Qiangba Puncog, leading a Chinese National People's Congress delegation, said thanks to consistent efforts and support from both Australia and China, Sino-Australian relations keep gaining momentum for growth and enjoy a promising prospect, whi ... - [read more]
Four members of mineral trader Rio Tinto's staff, namely Stern Hu, Wang Yong, Ge Minqiang, Liu Caikui, detained last year for stealing commercial secrets and taking bribes, will face trial next Monday, according to documents released by Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court yesterday. Zhai Jian, Ge Minqiang's counsel, confirmed that he and Ge have received the notice of trial. If found guilty, the four will face a maximum penalty of seven years' jail and a fine for stealing commercial ... - [read more]
There is a growing anxiety among Chinese college students that, upon graduation, they will be unable to find high-paying jobs and find themselves unable to escape the ranks of the "ant tribe," a term used to describe a new class of Chinese youth. They are called this because they are industrious like ants and they live in crowded conditions. "If you choose to stay in Beijing after graduation, and say, you earn 4,000 to 5,000 yuan every month and buy a house inside the sixth ring road by ... - [read more]
Six workers were killed and two were injured after a construction platform in a power plant collapsed Wednesday in Guangdong Province. A 20-meter-high working platform of Huaneng Haimen Power Plant in Shantou City collapsed at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, landing on eight workers on a lower platform about 17 meters above the ground, according to an official with the city's emergency response office. Four of the workers died at the scene and two died on the way to hospital. The other two workers w ... - [read more]
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe' s Zanu-PF party has rebuffed Western media's assertions that China is not a true friend of Africa but one that is bent on exploiting its vast natural resources. Party national chairman Simon Khaya-Moyo told Xinhua on Wednesday that China's relations with Africa were founded on mutual trust, equality and a win-win situation. "Those Western countries criticizing the relations know that China is a powerful nation which is about to overtake the United States ... - [read more]
On March 10 of every year, the Dalai Lama usually makes shocking statements to attract international attention. This year, he clearly voiced his support for the East Turkistan Independence Movement for the first time. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that there was nothing new in the Dalai Lama's statement, and foreign media groups also kept silent about it. In fact, looking at the Dalai Lama's recent activities and reactions from the outside world, we can find that the ... - [read more]
A 106-member team of Chinese soldiers left in Lanzhou Thursday for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for an eight-month UN peace-keeping operation there. They formed the first batch of China's 11th peace-keeping team to DRC since 2003. They will be joined by a second batch of 114 soldiers who are scheduled to depart on March 28. The 11th team, all from the Lanzhou Military Area Command, comprises military engineers and medical staff. They will carry out landmine detection, maintenance ... - [read more]
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina arrived in Beijing Wednesday evening to start a five-day official visit to China. During Hasina's visit, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Wu Bangguo are expected to meet her. Premier Wen Jiabao will hold talks with her. Besides Beijing, Hasina will also visit Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province. &$&$Source:Xinhua&$&$ ... - [read more]
Chinese workers have completed a tunnel beneath a border river with Russia, the most significant part of the crude oil pipeline project linking the two countries. More than 80 workers had been drilling the 1,090-meter tunnel beneath the Heilong River since Sept. 1, 2009, said Li Changcai, director of the construction team of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The tunnel, considered the most difficult part of the entire pipeline project, had taken experts from both sides about two ... - [read more]
China respected the universality of human rights and believed all human rights were "universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated," He Yafei, China's new ambassador to the UN Office in Geneva, said on Wednesday. "The principle of universality has been included in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments," He told Xinhua in an interview. "China has ratified more than 20 international human rights instruments, inclu ... - [read more]
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that the Obama administration is devoted to a positive, cooperative and comprehensive U.S.-China relationship. President Barack Obama and his administration attached importance and were devoted to the development of a positive, cooperative and comprehensive U.S.-China relationship, Clinton said during a meeting with new Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yesui. The United States was ready to make joint efforts with China to promote bilateral co ... - [read more]
BEIJING - Middle class families in the most prosperous regions in China are finding the least happiness in life because of the high stress of daily life, a survey has found. Despite good health, better education and higher incomes, the middle class is discovering that economic pressures and little time to spend with family members are major sources of annoyance, according to a recent survey by insurance company Manulife-Sinochem. "The middle class is a 'sandwiched class', being worse off ... - [read more]
BEIJING: The mainland agreed on Wednesday to discuss the issue of military security and mutual trust across the Taiwan Straits. "We maintain that (both sides) can contact and make exchanges on military issues and discuss the establishment of military security and a mutual trust mechanism at a proper time," Yang Yi, spokesman of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, told a press conference. "Related work should be done step by step, starting from the easy ones." Yang made the remark ... - [read more]
It's still not the time to talk about sanctions against Iran as the door of diplomacy is still open on finding a compromise over its nuclear program, He Yafei, China's ambassador to the United Nations Office in Geneva, said on Wednesday. "I think the door of compromise through negotiations, the door of diplomacy, is not closed," He told reporters. "We need to do our best, to exhaust every avenue before we decide on whether we should have new additional sanction measures, " He said. The ... - [read more]
"China is not throwing its weight amid China-Africa cooperation, though China's influence is getting stronger as an emerging power," a senior Tanzanian media official said on Wednesday. Mkumbwa Ally, Deputy Managing Editor of Tanzania Standard Newspapers which published the official Daily News and Sunday News among others, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua. "The cooperation between China and Africa including Tanzania is based on mutual-benefit, that's not the 'Power ma ... - [read more]
A stronger RMB would not be a tonic for the U.S. economy or manufacturing and it would be a huge mistake to raise tariffs on imports from China to force a change in the yuan, says a U.S. trade expert on Tuesday. Daniel Griswold is director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a non-profit public policy research foundation headquartered in Washington, D.C. He is also the author of a new book, Mad about Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization. The ... - [read more]
The released Chinese nationals who were kidnapped in Cameroon days ago arrived in Cameroon's port city Limbe late on Wednesday and the seven are all in good condition. The Chinese nationals left the Bakassi peninsula by boat where they were released. Limbe is the port city of Cameroon in the Atlantic Ocean. The Seven Chinese nationals on board two fishing boats owned by China's Dalian Beihai Fishing Company were abducted early Friday morning by gunmen off the Bakassi peninsula. An "Afri ... - [read more]
Visiting Chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region's (TAR) People's Congress Xiangbapingcuo held talk with Speaker of the House of Representatives Harry Jenkins and President of the Senate John Hogg here on Wednesday. Xiangbapingcuo said thanks to consistent efforts and support from both Australia and China, Sino-Australian relations keep gaining momentum for growth and enjoy a promising prospect, which enabled vigorous exchanges between the People's Congress and Parliament in recent years. "I w ... - [read more]
A leader from the Communist Party of China(CPC) Wednesday called on China and Hungary to cement cooperation and strengthen relations between China and the European Union (EU). &$
The Chinese government is to conduct a inspection of how law enforcement agencies protect women's rights in six regions. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) agreed at a meeting Wednesday that teams would be dispatched to Tianjin Municipality, and the provinces of Jilin, Shandong, Anhui, Guangxi and Shaanxi from March to April. "It is an important task to protect women's legal rights and implement the basic state policy of equality of men and women in order to bui ... - [read more]
Recently, a report named "The White Paper on the Happiness of Middle Class Families" has been issued. According to the report, the indexes of happiness in Jiangsu, Sichuan, Fujian and Chongqing are the highest, and nearly half of respondents are not satisfied with their lives. However, in the cities with most developed economy in China such as Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai and Zhejiang province, the indexes are surprisingly the lowest. Therefore, such cities have been called "not happy enough citi ... - [read more]
