News » China » Chinese army urged to ensure stability of Xinjiang

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• Chinese army urged to ensure stability of Xinjiang
• Chinese premier arrives in Uruguay for official visit
• Newly elected Pakistani PM vows to further enhance ties with China
• 490 world top companies invest in China
• China plans 7000-meter submersible dive
• Zhang Dejiang elected CPC chief of Chongqing
• Shanghai tightens restrictions on home purchase
• Senior CPC leader He Guoqiang meets with Putin
• China, Thailand pledge closer military ties
• Shanghai tightens restrictions on home purchase
• China arrests foreigner for allegedly robbing cabbies
• China urges Vietnam to correct erroneous maritime law
• Driver's inaction blamed for crash killing 17
• Truck explosion in C China kills 3
• China arrests suspected foreign robber
• China urges Vietnam to correct erroneous maritime law
• China adds more trains for holiday travel rush
• Dynamic Duanwu Festival underway in Hangzhou
• China adds more trains for holiday travel rush
• China to adopt progressive water pricing

Chinese army urged to ensure stability of Xinjiang Posted: 22 Jun 2012 12:53 PM PDT A high-ranking military offical has asked China's military and armed police to ensure stability in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region during a recent trip to the country's westernmost region.

Chinese premier arrives in Uruguay for official visit Posted: 22 Jun 2012 12:42 PM PDT Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Montevideo on Friday for an official visit to the South American state of Uruguay.

Newly elected Pakistani PM vows to further enhance ties with China Posted: 22 Jun 2012 12:40 PM PDT The newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Friday vowed to further enhance ties with China while addressing the National Assembly, the top legislature in the country.

490 world top companies invest in China Posted: 22 Jun 2012 10:03 AM PDT Updated: 2012-06-22 21:30 ( Xinhua) BEIJING - A senior commerce official said Friday that so far, 490 out of the world top 500 companies have invested in China and established more than 1,600 R&D centers and regional headquarters. Transnational corporations have kept investing more in China since the country adopted the policy of opening up to the outside world in the late 1970s. The companies have been playing an increasingly important role in boosting the nation's economic development, Gao Hucheng, a vice commerce minister, said at a meeting. Foreign-invested firms have reaped great benefits from this huge market. Sales of these companies exceeded 33 trillion yuan ($5.24 trillion) in China in 2010 alone, Gao said, adding that the nation has become a safe haven and a main source of income for many foreign-invested firms during the international financial crisis. Meanwhile, China has stepped up its investment in other parts of the world. By the end of 2011, China's outbound direct investment topped $380 billion. There were more than 18,000 Chinese-funded companies operating in 178 countries and regions at the end of last year, with total assets reaching approximately $1.6 trillion, Gao said.

China plans 7000-meter submersible dive Posted: 22 Jun 2012 10:03 AM PDT Updated: 2012-06-22 21:12 ( Xinhua) China's manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong aims to dive to a depth of 7,000 meters in the Mariana Trench on June 25 after already surpassing the record for the nation's deepest descent. The Jiaolong reached depths of 6,671, 6,965 and 6,963 meters in its three dives from June 15 to 22, well surpassing the previous record of 5,188 meters last July. Jiaolong, China's manned deep-sea submersible, finishes its second dive into the Mariana Trench on June 19, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua] In the Jiaolong's third dive, which started at 7 am local time Friday (2100 GMT Thursday) and lasted about 10 hours, the vessel with a crew of three tried six bottom maneuvers and worked for more than three hours on the sea floor. The crew also collected three samples each of water and sediment and took numerous photos of the trench's sea life. Problems remain with the submirsible's adjustable ballast system, however, and must be corrected before the fourth dive, mission headquarters said. The Xiangyanghong 09, the vessel's oceanographic mother ship, arrived at the designated dive zone in the western Pacific Ocean on June 11.

Zhang Dejiang elected CPC chief of Chongqing Posted: 22 Jun 2012 10:03 AM PDT Updated: 2012-06-22 20:21 ( Xinhua) CHONGQING - Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang was elected secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Friday at the end of the committee's five-day congress. Zhang, born in November 1946, is a native of Tai'an, Liaoning province. He has been a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee since 2002 and served as a vice-premier since 2008. Zhang is a graduate of the Economics Department of the Kim Il Sung Comprehensive University in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He has steadily risen up the ranks, taking top Party posts in Jilin, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces between 1995 and 2007. Zhang replaced Bo Xilai to become Chongqing's top official in March after Bo came under suspicion of being involved in serious disciplinary violations. Bo's membership of the CPC's Central Committee and its Political Bureau has been suspended. The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has filed his case for investigation.

Shanghai tightens restrictions on home purchase Posted: 22 Jun 2012 10:03 AM PDT BEIJING - Authorities in East China's Shanghai city have shut another door for house buyers seeking loopholes in local restrictions on home purchase in a move to tighten controls on the property sector, a Chinese newspaper reported Friday. People without registered permanent residence permits in Shanghai have been forbidden to buy houses in the city even if they pay social insurance premiums at the required amount but not over the required period of time, the Beijing-based China Securities Journal reported. For non-registered permanent residents to qualify as a legitimate home buyer in Shanghai, one needs to provide certification of paying individual income taxes or social insurance premiums there for an aggregated period of at least one year within the past two years. However, some buyers who did not pay insurance premiums for that long simply supplemented the required amount to the already paid premiums and were able to make purchases, creating a grey area in the regulation, the report said. Such acts were no longer allowed from June 15, the newspaper said, quoting sources from local property transaction centers and the Shanghai housing regulatory bureau. The move followed a ban last July on similar circumvention activities on the individual income tax requirement and came amid government efforts to cool speculation on a relax of property controls. Since 2010, China has implemented a raft of measures to rein in runaway house prices, including restrictions on home buyers, higher down-payments, property tax trials and the construction of low-income housing. As China's economy slowed, there have been growing concerns that, if China's housing prices fall too much and too soon, it may hurt the country's overall growth. However, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development reiterated earlier this week that the country will steadfastly continue with its property market regulation policies. The country's central bank and the China Banking Regulatory Commission both clarified last week that they had made no changes on the home lending policies and risk-weighting for individual mortgage loans. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said last week media reports were purely fabricated quoting NDRC sources as saying loosening the grip on the property sector was "a second card to save the market." New home prices in several major Chinese cities continued to fall in May, but more cities saw slight price increases from the previous month, official data showed. In May, 55 of a statistical pool of 70 major cities saw year-on-year drops in new home prices, expanding from 46 in April this year. However, six cities, up from three in April, saw prices rise month-on-month, according to official statistics.

Senior CPC leader He Guoqiang meets with Putin Posted: 22 Jun 2012 05:23 AM PDT Visiting senior leader of the Communist Party of China, He Guoqiang, has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg to boost bilateral ties. He Guoqiang has been attending the 16th St. Petersburg International Forum.

China, Thailand pledge closer military ties Posted: 22 Jun 2012 04:23 AM PDT China and Thailand agreed here Friday that the two sides would work together to continuously strengthen their military ties.

Shanghai tightens restrictions on home purchase Posted: 22 Jun 2012 04:22 AM PDT Authorities in east China's Shanghai city have shut another door for house buyers seeking loopholes in local restrictions on home purchase in a move to tighten controls on the property sector, a Chinese newspaper reported Friday.

China arrests foreigner for allegedly robbing cabbies Posted: 22 Jun 2012 04:21 AM PDT Police have arrested a foreigner for allegedly robbing taxi drivers at knife point in the southern Chinese city of Foshan, local officials said Friday.

China urges Vietnam to correct erroneous maritime law Posted: 22 Jun 2012 04:06 AM PDT The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, on Friday urged Vietnam to correct an erroneous maritime law it passed on Thursday.

Driver's inaction blamed for crash killing 17 Posted: 22 Jun 2012 05:09 AM PDT Updated: 2012-06-22 19:37 ( Xinhua) FUZHOU - An initial probe into a deadly road crash in East China this week revealed that the driver did not take any action to stop the long-distance coach plunging into a deep ravine, killing 17 people, police investigators said Friday. The coach, traveling on an expressway viaduct at night and in rain, first hit the barrier and then "rode" on it, sliding more than 20 meters before falling into the 30-meter deep ravine in Fujian province on Wednesday, investigators said. A bus fell into a ravine while traveling on an expressway viaduct in rain, in East China's Fujian province, June 20, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua] It appeared that the driver did not hit the brake and allowed the coach to slide free for a long distance before plunging, said Zhou Shaohong, a traffic police officer of Ningde city who took part in the probe. "It is shocking that the driver did not do anything after the coach hit the barrier," said Song Qingzhu, an official with the provincial highway safety bureau. The driver was killed in the accident. Zhou said the initial probe indicated that the driver and the transport company were responsible for the crash. The investigation will continue, he said. The sleeper coach was on its way from the city of Xiamen in Fujian to Wuxi in Jiangsu province. It was operated by Xiamen Fangyang Passenger Transport Co Ltd and was carrying 45 passengers at the time. Three people remain critically injured, officials said. China's road accidents cause about 70,000 deaths and 300,000 injuries each year, according to the Ministry of Public Security, blaming most accidents on speeding, fatigue, drunk driving and poor road conditions.

Truck explosion in C China kills 3 Posted: 22 Jun 2012 05:09 AM PDT Updated: 2012-06-22 19:36 ( Xinhua) ZAOYANG, Hubei - A truck exploded while traveling on an expressway in Hubei province on Friday, killing at least three people and injuring four others, local police have reported. The powerful blast caused a 5-meter-wide and 3.5-meter-deep hole in the road and damaged farm houses near the roadside. Pieces of the truck were blow 100 meters away in the explosion, according to witnesses. The driver was among the killed. An old couple were injured after the explosion damaged the farmhouse they were in and have been sent to hospital, police said. Investigators said they have yet to determine the cause of the explosion, though the truck was licenced to transport explosives.

China arrests suspected foreign robber Posted: 22 Jun 2012 05:09 AM PDT Updated: 2012-06-22 18:39 ( Xinhua) GUANGZHOU - Police have arrested a foreigner for allegedly robbing taxi drivers at knife point in the southern Chinese city of Foshan, local officials said Friday. Six robberies against taxi drivers were reported in Foshan from June 12-17. The suspects were allegedly two "dark-skinned foreigners," police said, citing victims' accounts. The pair, tall and masculine compared to local Chinese, usually attacked taxi drivers at night, using knives to rob them of cash and mobile phones, police said, adding that the reported loss was around 11,000 yuan ($1,732 ). Police did not reveal the nationality of the apprehended suspect, but local media said he was a 33-year-old Nigerian. A knife and meat cleaver were confiscated from him during the arrest. Foshan is among the bustling towns in south China's Guangdong province, the country's manufacturing belt and a trading hub that hosts a larger proportions of foreigners, including the Africans, than most Chinese regions. Earlier this week, the death of a Nigerian man in a police office in the provincial capital Guangzhou sparked a rally of about 100 Africans. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Thursday said the government will conduct an investigation into the death and help the Nigerian side appropriately handle the case.

China urges Vietnam to correct erroneous maritime law Posted: 22 Jun 2012 05:09 AM PDT Updated: 2012-06-22 18:38 ( Xinhua) BEIJING - The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, on Friday urged Vietnam to correct an erroneous maritime law it passed on Thursday. The Foreign Affairs Committee of the NPC expressed its position concerning the recent passing of the Vietnamese Law of the Sea in a letter to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Vietnamese National Assembly. The Vietnamese National Assembly passed the Vietnamese Law of the Sea to include China's Xisha Islands and Nansha Islands in the South China Sea within Vietnam's sovereignty and jurisdiction. The NPC expressed its firm opposition to the move and urged the Vietnamese National Assembly "to correct the erroneous practice immediately." "The move by the Vietnamese National Assembly is a serious violation of China's territorial sovereignty and is illegal and invalid. It violates the consensus reached by both leaders, as well as the principles of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea," the NPC Foreign Affairs Committee said in the letter. "The NPC Foreign Affairs Committee hopes the Vietnamese National Assembly to honestly respect China's territorial sovereignty and correct the wrongful practice so as to safeguard the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as well as the friendly relations between China's NPC and the Vietnamese National Assembly," the letter said. The NPC also reaffirmed in the letter that China has indisputable sovereignty over the Xisha islands, Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. Related Stories Vietnam's maritime claim 'will harm ties' 2012-06-22 07:55 China opposes Vietnam claim to islands 2012-06-21 18:46

China adds more trains for holiday travel rush Posted: 22 Jun 2012 05:09 AM PDT Updated: 2012-06-22 17:15 ( Xinhua) BEIJING - China's Ministry of Railways said Friday it has put more trains on to ease transportation pressure during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday from June 22-24. The ministry added 196 provisional passenger trains for the travel rush Thursday, one day ahead of the holiday, 70 more than the eve of last year's holiday, it said in a statement. China's railways are expected to carry 6.75 million passengers on Friday, the travel peak of this holiday, up 4.7 percent from the holiday travel peak last year, the ministry has said. It estimated a daily average passenger flow of 6.1 million from June 21 to 24, up 5 percent from that during last year's holiday travel rush. The Dragon Boat Festival, also called Duanwu Festival, is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar. The festival commemorates the famous ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan. Chinese people prepare and eat zongzi, or leaf-packed glutinous rice dumplings, drink wine and race dragon boats on the day. The festival falls on June 23 this year.

Dynamic Duanwu Festival underway in Hangzhou Posted: 22 Jun 2012 02:56 AM PDT The fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which falls on June 23 this year, is the date of the traditional Duanwu Festival celebrated by Chinese at home and abroad with a feast of glutinous rice delicacies called zongzi and the colorful intensity of dragon boat races.

China adds more trains for holiday travel rush Posted: 22 Jun 2012 02:54 AM PDT China's Ministry of Railways said Friday it has put more trains on to ease transportation pressure during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday from June 22-24.

China to adopt progressive water pricing Posted: 22 Jun 2012 12:08 AM PDT China will steadily introduce a progressive pricing scheme for water use before 2015, according to a latest government water conservancy plan.