Japan’s ambassador called for improved relations with China on Wednesday as the top U.S. intelligence official warned that territorial disputes and nationalist fervor are increasing the risk of conflict in East Asia.
Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae said people are afraid of the consequences of a deteriorating relationship between the two Asian powers, and appealed for a calming of “agitated remarks” from both sides.
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The European Union threatened to renew for another five years tariffs on screws and bolts from China, a step that would extend protection the Chinese government challenged at the World Trade Organization.
The EU said it would examine whether to reimpose the duties as high as 74.1 percent on imports from China of iron or steel fasteners, used for everything from automotive parts to furniture. The levies punish Chinese exporters including Gem-Year Industrial Co. (601002) for allegedly having sold the fasteners in Europe below cost, a practice known as dumping.
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The former mayor of the city of Nanjing was expelled Thursday from China’s ruling Communist Party, clearing the way for him to be prosecuted in a nationwide anti-corruption crackdown.
Ji Jianye, who also was Nanjing’s deputy party secretary, was stripped of party membership after he was found to have abused his position and improperly accepted money and gifts, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said his case will be handed to prosecutors.
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China’s factory activity posted a greater-than-expected decline in January, according to a final reading of a manufacturing index, adding another off-key note to the country’s economic prospects amid mounting global concern over slow growth, tighter U.S. monetary policy and emerging-market weakness.
The decline in a survey that tracks manufacturing activity, the first in six months, reflected fewer new orders, sharply lower employment and a marked fall in component costs and the prices manufacturers were able to command from customers.
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The Obama administration’s choice to be the next U.S. ambassador to China on Tuesday signaled a tougher public stance on simmering commercial and security disputes, pledging to tell Beijing, “Uh-uh, we won’t be taken advantage of.”
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said he will make it clear that the United States wants trade, engagement and cooperation with China but will stand firm on principles of human rights, intellectual property, free trade and freedom of navigation in the South China and East China seas.
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Less than two decades after China fired missiles into the sea off Taiwan, the first formal meeting between the two sides’ governments may pave the way for discussion of political ties after 65 years of division.
Wang Yu-chi, Taiwan’s minister of mainland affairs, said yesterday he will meet with his mainland counterpart Zhang Zhijun in the Chinese city of Nanjing on Feb. 11. The talks follow public recognition by President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou that closer economic links must be backed by moves to resolve a standoff over deeper differences that once threatened to spark war in East Asia.
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A Beijing-based U.S. reporter must leave China Thursday, as authorities continue to punish foreign news organizations for exposing the tremendous wealth amassed by close relatives of top Communist Party leaders.
Barring a last-minute, and highly unlikely, change of heart by the Chinese government, New York Times reporter Austin Ramzy will fly out of Beijing Thursday, the day his visa expires. Ramzy, 39, will become the second reporter for the newspaper in 13 months forced to leave mainland China.
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China Credit Trust Co. started repaying investors in a high-yield product whose threatened failure spurred concern of further defaults and contributed to a sell-off in emerging-market stocks and currencies.
Most clients in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing signed an agreement yesterday to transfer their rights in the 3-billion-yuan ($496 million) trust to unidentified buyers in exchange for an amount equal to the product’s face value, Chang Feng, a spokesman for an investor group, and Du Ronghai, another investor, told Bloomberg by phone. Investors were given until 5 p.m. today to accept the offer.
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In July 2011, days after South Sudan declared independence, I attended a workshop at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on the issue of China, US and Africa. I remember that the discussion went to which country and sector China and the US could cooperate on in Africa. “South Sudan” and “security” came out as the answer.
Unfortunately, merely two and half years after achieving independence, South Sudan, the youngest country in the world, has been caught in a web of violence and conflict since December 2013. The conflict was initially a power struggle between two factions within the ruling party South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) led by President Salva Kiir and former vice-president Riek Machar, but was quickly followed by fighting between the South Sudan government forces led by President Kiir and rebel forces loyal to Machar. More seriously, the conflict soon escalated into ethnic group killing between the majority Dinka group, which Kiir is from, and the second largest group, the Nuer, which Machar is from. So far, the conflict has claimed more than 1,000 lives and displaced nearly 200,000 people, and is bringing the country to the brink of the civil war and a failed state.
Given that China is the largest investor in South Sudan and Chinese oil enterprises have invested heavily in the petroleum industry in the country (China imported 70 percent of South Sudan’s crude oil in 2012, and Chinese petroleum enterprises have a 40 percent share in South Sudan’s petroleum pipeline), some foreign media outlets have claimed that China is the biggest victim of the South Sudan conflict and now in a predicament. The conflict is also a test for China’s non-interference policy.
Indeed, the conflict in South Sudan has threatened Chinese people’s personal safety and property . And Chinese oil enterprises have evacuated more than 400 Chinese oil workers from South Sudan to neighboring countries. Some oil production activities in conflict areas have been suspended, and economic losses caused by the suspension are yet to be estimated.
However, it should be pointed out that the conflict in South Sudan is also a big blow and setback for the US, which claimed that South Sudan’s referendum on independence in February 2011 was a success for the Obama administration’s new Sudan strategy announced in September 2010. The goal of the new strategy was not only South Sudan’s independence, which the US hoped would give it access to oil, but also to prevent the Islamic regime in Sudan from further expanding its influence in sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, when US military aircraft tried to evacuate American citizens caught in the recent conflict in South Sudan, three planes were hit by South Sudan rebel’s fire and four US soldiers wounded.
Moreover, South Sudan borders six neighboring countries including Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Central African Republic (CAR), Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Compared with other parts of Africa, the Horn of Africa, North and East Africa have suffered a lot from terrorist activity by extremist organizations and rebel forces. In recent years, the activities of Somalia’s al-Shabab terrorist group crossed the border of Somalia into Uganda and Kenya. Uganda and the DRC have suffered for years from rebel forces such as the Lord’s Resistance Army and the M23 rebel group. The CAR has also fallen into civil strife since the second half of 2013. So, if South Sudan falls into a full-scale civil war, it will spill over into neighboring countries and threaten regional peace and stability.
Therefore, ending the crisis in South Sudan will not only enhance benefits for Chinese economic interests, but will also be crucial for defending the US diplomatic reputation and strategic purpose in the region. Of course, most importantly, it will restart the national reconstruction process of South Sudan and maintain the peace and stability of the country and the entire region at large.
In resolving the South Sudan conflict, China, US and the international community as a whole should make a joint effort to call on both sides (South Sudan’s government and rebels) to exercise restraint and solve their dispute through dialogue and negotiation. China and the US should also actively support the mediation efforts of the African Union and the regional bloc of Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Actually, it is quite encouraging to see that both Chinese special envoy Ambassador Zhong Jianhua and the US special envoy Ambassador Donald Booth have all paid the visits to South Sudan within a short time, and tried very hard to mediate and broker a ceasefire the two sides. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also met separately with representatives of South Sudan’s warring sides in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa when he visited the country. During the meeting, he urged South Sudan’s warring sides to end the violence, to seek a reasonable and rational solution to their conflict, and to restore the rule of law and order.
As permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and the US have also worked together to facilitate a fast adoption of the UN resolution to temporarily increase the overall force levels of UNMISS (UN Mission in South Sudan) to support its protection of civilians and the provision of humanitarian assistance. The resolution reinforces the strength of UNMISS to 12,500 troops and 1,323 police from its previous mandate of over 6,800 troops and police.
With a strong push from the international community, South Sudan’s two warring sides eventually had direct peace talks in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa even though fighting continues. Although the two sides still have differences in opinion, the direct talks are a good beginning for achieving a political solution, as a consensus may be reached on stopping hostilities, releasing political prisoners, holding political dialogues and providing access for humanitarian aid. This will lay the foundation for further negotiations on possible power sharing. Since conflict and even war originated from the political struggle between the two factions in the ruling party, both the US and China should also work hard to find some political and institutional arrangement for guiding the peace talks.
In addition, China’s engagement in mediating South Sudan’s peace talks cannot be regarded as the abandon of its traditional “non-interference policy.” An article in People’s Daily on Jan. 13, 2014 summarized the issue by saying “Chinese diplomats have frequently taken part in negotiations to resolve burning regional and global issues because China is committed to shouldering more international responsibilities and protecting its interests abroad.” In my opinion, “Constructive engagement” is aimed at resolving problems and building peace, rather than “destructive interference.”
In short, restoring peace and stability in South Sudan is the common desire of China and the US, as well as the international community as a whole. With a joint effort from all stakeholders, the mission for resolving the conflict in South Sudan is possible.
Dr. He Wenping is a senior researcher at the Charhar Institute, and a researcher at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies, CASS.
Sen. Max Baucus is going before fellow senators for a confirmation hearing on his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to China.
Tuesday’s hearing by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be a switch for the six-term Democrat from Montana. As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Baucus is used to vetting nominees. On Tuesday he will be answering questions.
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Top officials in charge of relations between China and Taiwan have set a date for talks next month, in what is seen as a minor breakthrough for the two governments since they split in a civil war six decades ago.
Political analysts said the talks between the heads of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office are an expected step for two economies that continue to grow closer. Though representatives from both governments have met before, the meeting slated for Feb. 11 would mark the first time the two sides have held formal talks involving officials in charge of cross-strait relations.
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China’s brand new moon rover is already saying farewell.
The diminutive lunar explorer, known as Jade Rabbit, or “Yutu” in Chinese, was about halfway through a three-month mission to study the moon’s crust when it suffered a potentially crippling breakdown, said state media.
The report, authored by China’s state-run Xinhua news, was written in the voice of the rover itself.
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An American-trained fund manager who returned to China to help invest the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves has left his government position, the Chinese state-run news media reported on Tuesday.
The government did not explain why Zhu Changhong, a highly respected fund manager, was no longer the chief investment officer at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in Beijing, the agency in charge of investing the nation’s $3.8 trillion in foreign exchange reserves.
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Hong Kong began culling 20,000 chickens and suspended imports of fresh poultry from mainland China for 21 days on Tuesday after the discovery of the H7N9 bird flu virus in a batch of live chicken from the southern province of Guangdong.
The government order took effect two days before celebrations begin for Chinese New Year, when poultry sellers generally anticipate a boom.
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China and Taiwan officials set a date for talks next month, the United Daily News reported today, paving the way for the first official government-to-government meetings since a civil war six decades ago.
The head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, Wang Yu-chi, will meet with the head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Zhang Zhijun, on Feb. 16 in the mainland city of Nanjing, the Taipei-based newspaper reported, citing an unidentified person. Nanjing was China’s capital before the civil war forced Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang Party to flee to Taiwan in 1949, ceding power to Mao Zedong’s Communists. Taiwan and the mainland have been governed separately since then, with the island’s constitution retaining the Republic of China’s name and territorial claims.
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China says its first lunar rover is experiencing mechanical problems, a rare setback for its burgeoning space program that in recent years has conducted space walks and placed a space station in orbit.
The six-wheeled Yutu vehicle began operating last month after making the first soft landing on the moon by a space probe in 37 years. It was designed to roam the lunar surface for three months while surveying for natural resources and sending back data, along with its stationary lander, Chang’e 3.
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Chinese steelmakers and power plants are being forced to shop around for higher-quality raw materials to meet tougher air pollution standards, a move that will be a boon for global mining giants that produce premium-grade iron ore and coal.
Beijing, under heavy public pressure to cut pollution after a series of hazardous smog crises in many major cities last year, has vowed to raise emission standards and shut polluters in big industrial sectors like steel, cement and power.
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A Chinese court sentenced a prominent legal activist to four years in prison Sunday in a case widely seen as a demonstration of the Communist Party leadership’s determination to quell any challenges to its hold on power.
The activist, Xu Zhiyong, was convicted of “gathering a crowd to disturb public order,” a charge that stemmed from his role organizing a grass-roots New Citizens Movement, which sought to give voice to public discontent over official corruption and social injustice.
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China Credit Trust Co. said it reached an agreement to restructure a high-yield product that sparked concern over the health of the nation’s $1.67 trillion trust industry and contributed to a global selloff in emerging-market assets.
The agreement includes a potential investment in the 3 billion-yuan ($496 million) product, Beijing-based China Credit Trust said on its website today, four days before payment is due. The two-line statement didn’t identify the source of funds, or say whether investors would get their money back.
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Xinjiang police on Sunday revealed details of a terrorist attack that took place on Friday in the northwestern region, involving 17 terrorist suspects.
Police investigation showed that the explosions which happened on Friday in the seat of Xinhe county, under Aksu Prefecture were organized, premeditated terrorist attacks.
According to the police, a man named Ibrahim Qahar had organized illegal religious activities and spread religious extremism since May last year. He headed a group of 17 terrorist suspects to make explosives in a rented house.
The group rode on three motorcycles to set up explosions at a hair salon and a vegetable market at about 6:40 p.m. on Friday.
Shortly after the explosions, the police responded and opened fire to fight back attacks by the group when they were making arrests.
Six suspects were gunned down and six others died in explosions they set off by themselves.
The police also arrested five people. One policeman was slightly injured and no bystander casualties were reported during the arrest actions.
The police seized some explosive devices and other devices used to commit criminal acts.
The China-US Asia-Pacific Consultations held in Beijing this week was inaugurated in 2011 in Honolulu, Hawaii, to reflect the commitment by the two nations’ leaders to build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship. The proper phrase for which is building a new type of major country relationship.
However, rhetoric and policies in Washington often do not reflect such a goal.
The words commonly used in Washington regarding China are how to manage China’s rise. Such a mindset is based on the premise that China is the villain, the aggressor and the problem, while the United States is the good cop, the defender and savior. The supposition is China needs to be lectured.
The validity of such a proposition is unfounded. It is true that China has been learning a great deal from the rest of the world, including the US, Europe and Japan, over the past 35 years of economic reform and opening-up. But to tell China that it needs to be managed certainly does not give enough respect to China, let alone treat China as an equal.
Despite all the tensions China has with some of its neighbors over maritime territorial and historical issues in recent years, China remains a key trade partner, if not the largest, for most of these countries. Therefore, it has as large a stake as anyone else not to let the situation get out of control.
To assume China’s rise is destined to be disruptive to the world is just fiction. Looking back over the last 35 years, China has done nothing anywhere near as damaging to the world as the US has with its meddling in various countries and its invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. The world is still living with the consequences of the US’ actions and will continue to do so for years, even decades, to come.
What is known is that China’s rise has contributed greatly to the economic prosperity of not just the Chinese people, but people all over the world, including people in the US.
With the false assumption that China is a bad guy and needs to be managed, it is no surprise that containment is embedded in many of the US’ policies.
It is not the kind of containment that the US adopted to deal with the Soviet Union, because China and the US have become so interdependent economically that adopting that containment policy would inflict equal calamity on the US itself.
Some in the US have coined the word “congagement” to describe the US’ strategy of engaging China economically but containing China through military and political means in a bid to curtail China’s growing influence. Some have called it unconventional containment.
Whatever it is called, this kind of thinking was behind the US’ rebalancing to Asia strategy four years ago.
At a seminar on the US-Australian alliance held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Wednesday, 37 percent of the audience said the US’ rebalancing strategy was well designed but poorly implemented, while 39 percent said it was poorly designed.
What underscores such a strategy is the US wants primacy in both the Asia-Pacific region and the whole world, despite the emergence of an increasingly multipolar world. Many in the US are simply not prepared for a world in which their country will not be No 1 forever.
It is good to see that China and the US are exploring more practical cooperation in a bid to boost mutual trust, as indicated in a joint statement issued after their consultations.
But if Washington stopped seeing China as the bad guy and dropped its outdated thinking that it needs to manage China, it would dramatically reduce the possibility of confrontation and increase the opportunity for a win-win relationship between the two nations.
Chen Weihua, based in Washington DC, is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
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China announced Friday that President Xi Jinping will head a new National Security Commission that analysts say will tighten his control of the military, domestic security and foreign policy, and attempt to enhance coordination over sometimes competing bureaucracies.
The commission was among the most significant of a package of ambitious reforms unveiled by President Xi at a key Communist Party meeting in November. Friday’s announcement provides some of the first, if still scant, details on how the commission will function.
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China’s banking regulator ordered its regional offices to increase scrutiny of credit risks in the coal-mining industry, said two people with knowledge of the matter, signaling government concern about possible defaults.
The China Banking Regulatory Commission also told its local branches to closely monitor risks from trust and wealth-management products, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the matter isn’t public. The commission issues such alerts for matters that it judges may pose significant risks to banks, the people said.
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China needs to work with its neighbors to cool rising tensions over its claims to territory in surrounding seas, a top U.S. diplomat said Thursday, adding the U.S. has a strong interest in seeing such matters handled peacefully.
Deputy Secretary of State William Burns stressed during talks in Beijing that no country should take unilateral action to assert its claims, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said in a statement.
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Members of the Chinese elite, including some of the country’s most politically connected figures, have set up a large number of offshore companies that allow them to conceal billions of dollars abroad, according to a report released Wednesday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a Washington-based group that works with a number of news organizations around the world.
The report’s authors say it is based on leaked documents concerning tens of thousands of tax-haven clients. The report names more than a dozen of China’s wealthiest citizens, as well as relatives of top officials, including those of the country’s president, Xi Jinping; the former prime minister Wen Jiabao; and descendants of the governing Communist Party’s revolutionary founders.
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China will allow big emitters to use offset credits from nitrous dioxide (N2O) destruction to meet domestic climate targets, giving its nod to a type of project that has been banned in other carbon markets.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) published on Wednesday a list of more than 120 new types of projects eligible to earn carbon credits that can be sold to power generators and manufacturers facing emission caps under China’s fledgling carbon markets.
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The Chinese units of the Big Four accounting firms should be suspended from auditing U.S.-traded companies for six months, a judge ruled, a move that could complicate the audits of dozens of Chinese companies and some U.S.-based multinationals.
The audit firms, plus a fifth China-based accounting firm, broke U.S. law when they refused to turn over documents about some of their clients to the Securities and Exchange Commission to aid the commission in investigating those U.S.-traded Chinese companies for possible fraud, ruled Cameron Elliot, an SEC administrative law judge.
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DAVOS – Energy transition would not complete in an easy way, and the public should be ready for higher energy price, said Total CEO Christophe de Margerie on Wednesday.
“This transition will be long and slow,” said de Margerie in a written address posted on the website of the ongoing World Economic Forum 2014 Annual Meeting, adding that fossil energies accounted for 80 percent of the world’s current energy mix.
“Even if we decided to do it, it would be physically impossible to ‘decarbonize’ our societies overnight,” he said.
The CEO of the French company said global energy demand was expected to increase 30 percent between 2010 and 2035, a more diversified energy mix, which combined carbon energy and an increasing share of renewable ones, would be needed in order to meet the demand.
Total forecasted that oil and gas would still account for half of global energy mix in 2035. Carbon energy would then be replaced by gas and sustainable energies. Gas would be the second most consumed energy due to its abundance, low carbon emission and high flexibility, and would be used to fill in gaps in supply from the renewables during the transition period.
According to him, massive investment would be required in conventional energy production as more innovation are needed to overcome technological and environmental constraints.
Transition to the renewables, however, would also be costly due to current subsidization policies, which would taper when the renewables arrive at technical and economic maturity.
In its energy roadmap 2050, the European Commission estimated that the price of electricity would increase in Europe until 2030 and decrease from there on, said de Margerie.
“It appears important to us to awaken public opinion to the fact that this transition will necessarily come at a cost and will, at least in the short term, involve a price increase,” he said.
China’s fiscal revenue climbed 10.1 percent year on year in 2013 to reach 12.91 trillion yuan (2.11 trillion U.S. dollars), the Ministry of Finance said Thursday.
The growth pace, however, slowed from the 12.8 percent reported in 2012 and 24.8 percent registered in 2011.
Of the total fiscal revenue, tax revenues reached 11.05 trillion yuan, up 9.8 percent from one year earlier, but growth was down 2.3 percentage points from the 2012 level.
Revenues from domestic value-added tax gained 9 percent last year to 2.88 trillion yuan, while those from domestic consumption tax increased 4.5 percent to 823 billion yuan, the ministry said.
Corporate income tax revenue rose 14 percent year on year to 2.24 trillion yuan.
The country’s fiscal expenditures rose 10.9 percent from one year earlier to 13.97 trillion yuan, the ministry said.
This brought the national fiscal deficit for the year to 1.06 trillion yuan, or 1.86 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2013, according to calculations based on preliminary data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The deficit figures were better than expected when the country’s economic growth last year slowed to the lowest rate in 14 years.
The government had budgeted for an annual deficit of 1.2 trillion yuan, or about 2 percent of the GDP, in 2013.
The manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, a gauge to indicate the sector’s operating conditions, is expected to retreat to 49.6 in January from 50.5 in December, in a six-month low, the British bank HSBC reported on Thursday.
A PMI sub-index to show the output situation slightly slipped to a three-month low of 51.3 in January, compared with 51.4 in December.
Any PMI reading that is below 50 means contraction in the manufacturing industry, while above 50 indicates expansion.
Qu Hongbin, chief economist in China and the co-head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC, said the marginal contraction of January’s preliminary HSBC PMI figure was mainly dragged down by cooling domestic demand conditions.
“This implies softening growth momentum for manufacturing sectors, which has already weighed on employment growth,” he said.
Qu suggested the policy tilt towards supporting growth to avoid repeating growth deceleration seen in the first half of 2013 amid relatively moderate inflation.
This estimate of January’s PMI is typically based on about 85 to 90 percent of total PMI survey responses for the HSBC each month and is designed to provide an accurate indication of the final PMI data.
The official PMI data will be released on Feb 1 and the HSBC will report its final PMI data on 30 January.
China’s central government has given the nod to 12 free trade zones (FTZs) following the one in Shanghai, amid a spurt of nationwide enthusiasm for such schemes.
Tianjin Municipality and Guangdong Province have been green-lit to set up FTZs, a source with knowledge of the approval told Xinhua-run Economic Information Daily on Wednesday, refusing to leak the remaining 10.
After consent from the cabinet, a group of central government departments will conduct a joint survey of the proposed zones, and hammer out specific establishment plans in a process that may last more than a year, said the source.
So far, Tianjin and Guangdong have completed the survey part, which the other 10 have just started, according to the source.
Provincial regions including Zhejiang, Shandong, Liaoning, Henan, Fujian, Sichuan, Guangxi and Yunnan, and cities including Suzhou, Wuxi and Hefei have all said that filing FTZ applications is high up their 2014 priority list.
“China sets no limits on FTZ numbers and no timetables on building them, as long as they meet the requirements of an FTZ,” added the source.
Huo Jianguo, head of a research institute with China’s Commerce Ministry, said the emerging FTZs could be testing grounds for further opening-up policies, and serve as the bright spot of the country’s economic development.
Last September, China established the Shanghai FTZ, the first of its kind, as a national strategic trial to further tap market forces and push market-oriented trade and investment reforms.
A low vaccination rate and multiple active virus strains have led to a more serious flu control situation in China this winter, a disease control expert warned on Thursday.
Compared with previous years, the flu virus is much more active, especially in south China, said Feng Zijian, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Beijing reported its first flu-related death this year on Thursday, saying a 73-year-old person died of H1N1 flu. The person was also suffering other diseases, said the city’s Center for Diseases Control and Prevention.
According to Feng, health departments have detected three major strains of the flu virus: H1, H3 and Influenza B.
In past years, usually only one strain prevailed, but this winter all three strains are active, adding difficulty to both prevention and treatment, Feng said.
The best way to prevent the flu is vaccination, but China’s vaccination rate remains at 2 to 3 percent of the population each year, lagging far behind 27 percent in the United States, noted Feng.
The main reason for the low vaccination rate is a general lack of awareness among the public about the dangers of the flu, as well as concerns about the safety of domestic vaccines, according to Feng.
In the winter of 2011-2012, 142 out of every 100,000 Chinese people were hospitalized because of flu, and 12 out of every 100,000 deaths in north China were caused by the flu.
The country has also reported over 40 cases of human H7N9 avian influenza infection so far this year.
China’s leading group for overall reform on Wednesday convened its first meeting, which approved the working rules of the group as well as the working rules and members of six sub-groups.
Xi Jinping, Chinese president and leader of the group, presided over the meeting, which was also attended by deputy group leaders Li Keqiang, Liu Yunshan and Zhang Gaoli, all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
The leading group for overall reform was established upon a decision passed at a key meeting, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in November last year, a measure to promote the country’s comprehensive deepening of reforms.
Attendees of the meeting on Wednesday deliberated on and passed the working rules of the leading group, the general office, and sub-groups for reforms in six areas, including the economy and ecological civilization, democracy and law, cultural system, social system, system of Party building, and discipline inspection system.
Xi said at the meeting that the responsibility of the leading group is to implement all reform measures put forward at the Plenary Session. He urged attendees to understand the spirit of the session, which serves as the basis of decision making.
A series of reforms have already been put in place after the Plenary Session, including the axing of the reeducation through labor system, an easing of the one-child policy, and reform of the industrial and commercial registration system.
However, Xi said, some problems exist in implementing the spirit of the Plenary Session, calling for adequate understanding of the difficulty, complexity and urgency of reforms, as deeper and deeper interest group will be affected as reforms go further.
He urged the leading group to study different situations, firmly grasp the reform in the right way, and take a firm stand on fundamental issues. He also called for participation by the people.
The Chinese president urged sub-groups and the general office to closely coordinate with other departments, make projects for reforms, monitor and guide the implementation of reforms, and study major issues.
Other members of the leading group, and officials responsible for departments of the central authority also attended the meeting.
Chinese naval vessels including an island landing ship began drills Monday in the South China Sea, where China and several other nations are locked in territorial disputes.
Two destroyers and China’s largest amphibious landing craft started the exercises after sailing from the naval base on the southern island province of Hainan, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The ships also boast three helicopters and a company of marines.
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China is building its second aircraft carrier, which is expected to take six years, and the country aims to have at least four such ships, Chinese and Hong Kong media reports said on Sunday.
After two decades of double-digit increases in the military budget, China’s admirals plan to develop a full blue-water navy capable of defending growing economic interests as well as disputed territory in the South and East China Seas.
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Outsourcing manufacturing to China may have resulted in less pollution in some parts of the United States, but other regions have lesser air quality because of U.S.-bound Chinese products, a new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds.
“Pollution from China is having an effect in the U.S., and we need to recognize how that is affecting both our background ozone levels and also particulates that are reaching the West Coast,” said study co-author Don Wuebbles, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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The history of East Asia in modern times has been shaped by the wildly contrasting fortunes of China and Japan. Now both are on a roll.
That should be good news for a region that’s become the engine for global growth. In reality, though, it has set off a dangerous competition between the two giants, who together constitute more than two thirds of Asia’s economy.
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China’s stocks rose, spurring the benchmark index’s biggest gains in a week, after the central bank eased the cash shortage in the financial system and phone-equipment maker ZTE Corp. returned to profit.
Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co. climbed 1 percent after the People’s Bank of China expanded a lending facility to include smaller lenders. Haitong Securities Co. jumped the most in seven weeks on speculation initial public offerings will boost profits. Zhejiang Wolwo Bio-Pharmaceutical Co. soared in its debut in Shenzhen as seven out of eight companies that began trading today rallied 45 percent. ZTE, the second-biggest phone-equipment maker, rose the most in almost three weeks.
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China called on the Philippines on Friday to meet it halfway on new Chinese fishing rules in the disputed South China Sea, adding that Beijing was always willing to make efforts to resolve such issues via talks.
China imposed fishing restrictions from the beginning of year, requiring foreign fishing vessels to obtain approval before entering the waters.
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China’s first initial public offering in over a year, a listing of an industrial valve maker, popped on its debut Friday.
Despite pricing its IPO on the high side of its fair value, China’s Neway Valve (Suzhou) Co., which raised 1.46 billion yuan ($241 million) in China’s first IPO since the end of a freeze last month, surged 43% on its first day of trade. It ended trade on the Shanghai Stock Exchange at 25.34 yuan a share, up from its IPO price of 17.66 yuan each, driven by pent-up investor demand for new shares.
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Smog hit hazardous levels in China’s steel-producing Hebei region for the second day as state-controlled media announced plans to fine local governments that don’t meet pollution-control targets.
A concentration of PM2.5, the pollutants that pose the greatest risk to human health, reached 443 micrograms per cubic meter in Shijiazhuang and 758 in Xingtai as of 12 p.m., data from the China National Environment Monitoring Center showed. That’s more than 17 times levels of 24-hour exposure recommended by the World Health Organization.
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China’s central bank told financial institutions on Friday that they had an obligation to report transactions and accounts suspected of links to terror activities, as Beijing steps up a campaign to clamp down on suspected militants in the far west.
China says it faces a threat from extremist Islamist groups in the restive Xinjiang region who have links abroad, though rights groups say the country overplays the risk to justify its harsh control of the strategically vital area.
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Washington is applying double standards by developing new technology to attack foreign databases — even if the computers are not connected to the Internet — while playing up cyberthreats from others, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks in response to a New York Times report published on Tuesday that gave details of the US spyware, which reportedly set the Chinese military as a major target.
“For some time, the relevant country has on one hand played up the cyberthreats from other countries, and on the other hand used various methods to implement cyber surveillance endangering the sovereignty, security and public privacy of other countries,” Hong said.
He said China and Russia have proposed to the United Nations the setting up of a global standard on information security.
The spokesman called on the US to “work with the international community to create international regulations and build a peaceful, safe, open and cooperative cyberspace”.
“The United States is the country which has made the most accusations about cyberattacks from other countries, but it, indeed, conducted the most surveillance on others,” said Fan Jishe, a expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Washington has long accused the Chinese military of attacking and spying on US computers, without providing strong proof. The blame turned ironic when US National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden exposed the country’s massive cyber spying program around the globe last year, with China listed among its major targets.
The New York Time’s report on Tuesday said the NSA has embedded software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world to carry out surveillance.
The article, citing NSA documents, computer experts and US officials, said the agency has used a technology since at least 2008, which relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers, to conduct surveillance.
The equipment can also launch cyberattacks.
The agency calls the effort an “active defense”, said the report.
Fan noted that the US not only tapped countries like Cold War rivals Russia and China, but also spied on its allies in Europe.
The NSA has used the technology to monitor foreign militaries, drug cartels, trade institutions inside the European Union and sometime US partners against terrorism such as Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan, the New York Times reported.
Li Qinggong, deputy secretary-general of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies, said US spies using radio waves to collect information from computers that are not linked to the Internet have to be in close proximity to receive the information.
He warned that “any people trying to take such actions around a Chinese government or Chinese army complex” would be breaking Chinese law.
Cherian Samuel, a cybersecurity expert at New Delhi’s Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses, said, “If it had been any other country doing this kind of thing, the US would have come down on them like a ton of bricks with punitive sanctions,” according to the Associated Press.
James Andrew Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told the New York Times, “What’s new here is the scale and the sophistication of the intelligence agency’s ability to get into computers and networks to which no one has ever had access before.
“Some of these capabilities have been around for a while, but the combination of learning how to penetrate systems to insert software and learning how to do that using radio frequencies has given the US a window it’s never had before.”
By Li Xiaokun and Zhao Yanrong ( China Daily )
Spurred by the news that it has entered the second-round bidding for Forbes Media LLC, Hong Kong-listed Fosun International saw its share price hit a six-year high to close on Thursday at HK$8.55 ($1.10).
Forbes Media, which publishes Forbes magazine and forbes.com, has been seeking a potential buyer since last November. A total of 18 bids were made for the media group. Six competitors are on the shortlist now, including two Chinese companies, Fosun and G2 Whale Capital Group, the Financial Times reported.
The preliminary offers of the six bidders range from $350 million to $475 million. Deutsche Bank is authorized to run the auction process, added the report.
According to a source quoted by the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post, there are two factors that will lead Fosun International to outbid other rivals.
“One is the profit growth rate of Forbes Media can maintain 10 to 20 percent and the other is the media group can make some breakthroughs in the mainland market,” said the source, adding that the second target is hard to achieve because they cannot issue serial publications in the mainland market without getting a CN number (equivalent of the International Standard Serial Number).
But Fosun International, a conglomerate that seeks diversification of its investments, has built a stable cooperation with Forbes Media.
In April 2009, the Shanghai-based investment group joined hands with Forbes Media to issue the Chinese-version Forbes magazine in the mainland market. Without a CN number, they can only give copies away free of charge.
But Fosun has rapidly reversed the loss-making situation of Forbes in the mainland market and even posted a profit of “millions of yuan” in the third year, which resulted from running the profitable Forbes forum.
Experts said the deal could be complicated for Fosun because traditional print media is fading in the digital media boom.
Public information shows the family-controlled Forbes Media was founded in 1917 and is currently controlled by the heirs of Bertie Charles Forbes. Apart from publishing the international business magazine and compiling the renowned Forbes rich-list, it also operates a conference business.
In 2006, an investment group, Elevation Partners, whose backers include rock star U2′s Bono, bought about half of the company’s stake.
“Fosun is stepping into various industries including real estate, retail and insurance. Now, the media business will become a new investment territory of the conglomerate,” said Qi Xiaozhai, director of the Shanghai Commercial Economic Research Center.
Fosun International could not be reached for comment by deadline time on Thursday.
Investors are enthusiastic about Fosun’s possible deal. Its Hong Kong shares have been rising for five days in a row to their highest point in the past six years.
Analysts said Fosun’s recent bullish performance comes not only from the bidding for Forbes.
On Tuesday, Fosun International filed a positive profit alert to the Hong Kong Stock exchange. Guo Guangchang, the chairman, wrote in the statement: “For the year ending 31 December, 2013, profit is expected to increase remarkably in comparison with that of the same period of the previous year.”
Just one week ago, Fosun outbid US investment fund Apollo Global Management LLC to acquire an 80 percent stake in state-owned Caixa Seguros e Saude SGPS SA, Portugal’s largest insurance group, which is owned by state bank Caixa Geral de Depositos SA.
Industry observers said the deal brings Fosun a step closer to building an investment conglomerate with its core business based on insurance.
By Wang Ying in Shanghai (China Daily)
China on Friday announced a regulation for freezing terrorist assets to cut off funds for terrorist activities as part of the country’s efforts to fight terrorism.
The regulation, jointly issued by the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of State Security, comes into force with immediate effect, according to a statement on the central bank website.
China has flight-tested a hypersonic missile delivery vehicle in a move that was scientific in nature and not targeted at any country, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.
A Chinese military build-up has raised regional jitters. Many countries in Asia have welcomed a stated U.S. intention to shift more attention and military assets back to the region. They are beefing up military spending and ties with Washington.
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China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries increased $12.2 billion to a record $1.317 trillion in November, data released on the Treasury Department’s website showed.
The figures, scheduled for release at 9 a.m. tomorrow in Washington, were inadvertently posted on the Treasury’s website. Japan’s holdings rose $12 billion to $1.186 trillion, the figures showed.
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China took reporters on Thursday on an unusual trip to a camp which housed Western prisoners of the Japanese in World War Two, a further sign of Beijing broadening efforts to drive a wedge between the West and Japan over its wartime past.
The visit comes as tensions between Asia’s two largest economies rise to a fever pitch, and China works to convince the world of its viewpoint that Japan’s war-era militarism is directly linked to its current military buildup.
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The party secretary of state-owned conglomerate China Poly Group Corp. has been removed from his post, the body that manages public companies said.
Chen Hongsheng was relieved of his position as Communist Party chief at the company, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said on its website yesterday without giving a reason. He was replaced by current chairman Xu Niansha, it said.
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The latest data released by China on Wednesday shows that the country’s rapid growth in money supply has continued. Mr. Zhou and his colleagues at the Chinese central bank have only begun the difficult and dangerous task of reining it in — a task that still lies ahead of the United States Federal Reserve as it begins its own gradual taper this year.
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