News » Society » Underpass explodes in Shenyang, casualties unclear
News » Society » Underpass explodes in Shenyang, casualties unclear |
- Underpass explodes in Shenyang, casualties unclear
- Car stolen with baby inside
- No sign of any regrets
- Officers on board for Peace-13
- Chocolate bars, cake not up to standard
- Lawmakers support reform of labor camp system
- Advisers begin annual session
- Stars stand out at Great Hall meeting
- Jail call for dairy industry's 'black sheep'
- Film director seeking to raise awareness of pollution
- Fourth space launch site ready in Hainan in 2015
- Expired vaccine given to cops, assistants
- BeiDou satellite system coverage global in 2020
- China PBOC Adviser Says Monetary Tightening Pressure Eased
- L’Oreal scents success despite slowed growth
- Have You Heard…
- China’s graft-fighting Xi tells party future is on the line
- CPPCC annual session opens
- Over 20 injured in Yunnan quake
- China's top political advisory body convenes annual session
| Underpass explodes in Shenyang, casualties unclear Posted: 03 Mar 2013 07:56 PM PST AN explosion hit an underground passage in front of a shopping mall in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, at around 9am today. Though it remains unknown about the casualties, the huge bomb, scattered windows, bloods stained on grounds showed no optimism, local news portal, www.nen.com.cn. The shock wave of the blast could be felt one kilometer away, local residents said. A witness wrote on Weibo.com that passersby were blown away. Firefighters have rushed to the scene near the Shenyang New World Department Store, and police have condoned off the Zhonghua Road. Traffic police at the scene suggested it a coal gas pipeline explosion, but a further probe is still under way, the report showed. |
| Posted: 03 Mar 2013 07:55 PM PST A private car with a two-month-old baby inside was stolen on street-side in Changchun, northeastern Jilin Province, about 7:20am today, China Central Television reported. |
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| Officers on board for Peace-13 Posted: 03 Mar 2013 09:20 AM PST Chinese naval officers are seen yesterday on a ship among a fleet sent to Karachi in Pakistan to join a multinational naval drill. The exercise, named Peace-13, is scheduled to start in the North Arabian Sea today and end on March 8. Navy from fourteen countries including China, Pakistan, the United States, Britain and Japan will take part in the exercise. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Chocolate bars, cake not up to standard Posted: 03 Mar 2013 09:14 AM PST Ikea chocolate cake, Kraft cheese, Shiseido sunscreen cream and Nestle Crunch chocolate bars were among substandard products destroyed or sent back by China's quality watchdog in its latest checks. The furniture retailer, still smarting from a horsemeat scandal that led to it withdrawing food products from its stories, had 1.87 tons of its almond chocolate cake imported from Sweden fail tests for containing an excessive level of coliform bacteria, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. They were imported by Ikea Shanghai in January but have now been destroyed. There was no one available for comment at Ikea Shanghai yesterday. A batch of cream cheese imported from the United States by Kraft Foods Shanghai was also destroyed because it had expired. However, Kraft Foods China said that the batch was imported as samples, not for sale, and the quantity - 41 kilograms - was very small. Some 2.7 tons of Nestle Crunch chocolate bars were found to contain sorbitol, a sweetener that can cause bowel problems in large amounts. The products, imported from Italy by the Shanghai Cortti Food Co, were destroyed. Cortti is not an authorized Nestle dealer, and the bars were not imported by Nestle China nor sold by the company on China's mainland, Nestle Shanghai said. A type of Shiseido sunscreen cream imported from Japan by the China Duty Free Group Co Ltd was destroyed for containing cadmium. Exposure to a large amount of cadmium can lead to poisoning. Inhalation may harm the respiratory system, liver and kidneys, and cause osteoporosis, doctors said. The products that failed were among 247 imported food and cosmetic items found to have quality-related problems in January. They included beverages, chocolate, biscuits, baby formula, cakes, snacks, tomato sauce and brandy. They had expired or had excessive bacteria, heavy metals, additives or banned substances, had registered high acid levels or had labeling problems. Zhang Xiaojing, a Shanghai consumer, said: "I have been used to all this, bacteria and excessive amounts of some substances, and now it seems that only poisonous cases would be a big deal." |
| Lawmakers support reform of labor camp system Posted: 03 Mar 2013 09:12 AM PST AHEAD of the Chinese national legislature's annual session, which opens tomorrow, lawmakers have backed reform of controversial labor camps in which people can be sentenced to up to four years' "re-education" by police without trial. The labor camp system, known as laojiao, was "a disgrace to China's national image and required urgent reform," as it runs against the principles of lawful governance and justice which the country pursues, said Yang Weicheng, a deputy to the National People's Congress and a lawyer from Shandong Province. Deng Hui, an NPC deputy and law school dean from Jiangxi Province, said the labor camp system violated various laws, including the Law on Legislation and the Administrative Penalty Law. It was also a deviation from a human rights convention the Chinese government had signed, he said. "The reform of the labor camp system is imminent and inescapable," Deng said. The labor camp system was established in the 1950s to consolidate the newly founded People's Republic of China and rectify social order. It allows police to detain people, usually charged with minor offenses, for up to four years without an open trial. Although it has helped maintain social order over the past several decades, its downside has also emerged. As an extra-judicial penalty, it is prone to abuse by the police. It also runs counter to increasing legal awareness among the public and China's endeavor for the rule of law. An NPC deputy and legal expert from Fujian Province, Dai Zhongchuan, said: "To some degree, the labor camp system makes people live in fear. It's an unchecked and unsupervised measure that can deprive and limit people's freedom outside court, making it extremely liable to be abused by power." Calls for the system's reform have been running high for years. Several recent high-profile cases have put it even more under the spotlight. In one recent case, Tang Hui, a woman in central China's Hunan Province, was sentenced to internment in a labor camp after demanding tougher penalties for the seven men convicted of abducting, raping and prostituting her 11-year-old daughter. |
| Posted: 03 Mar 2013 09:11 AM PST The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body, convened its annual session in Beijing yesterday. About 2,200 members of the 12th CPPCC National Committee from different sectors across the country will discuss major issues concerning the country's development during the session, due to end on March 12. New leaders of the top advisory body will also be elected at the session. At the opening meeting in the Great Hall of the People, CPPCC Chairman Jia Qinglin delivered a report on the work of the committee's Standing Committee over the past five years. Jia said the CPPCC should "actively assist the Party and government in the work of getting the people to voice their demands, coordinating their interests, and safeguarding their rights and interests." The chairman said the top advisory body must "firmly stay focused on the themes of unity and democracy" to consolidate social harmony and vitality. An editorial in yesterday's People's Daily, the Party's flagship newspaper, said the Party should tolerate different opinions or even sharp criticism. It said that all democratic parties and CPPCC members should tell the truth, give forthright admonition and good suggestions to the Party, and be its outspoken and loyal friends. Jia said the political advisory body should maintain close contact with CPPCC National Committee members from Hong Kong and Macau to get them to play positive roles in building their special administrative regions. Exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan should be enhanced to cultivate more common interests for the peaceful growth of cross-strait relations, the chairman said. Founded in 1949, the CPPCC consists of elite figures from Chinese society willing to serve the think tank for the government and the country's legislative and judicial organs. |
| Stars stand out at Great Hall meeting Posted: 03 Mar 2013 09:11 AM PST FILM star Jackie Chan joined other celebrities at yesterday's meeting of China's top advisory body, among some 2,200 members making suggestions to the government. Nobel literature prizewinner Mo Yan and basketball star Yao Ming also attended the annual meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The 58-year-old Hong Kong actor, famous in the West for the "Rush Hour" series and "Police Story," kept a low profile outside the meeting. "I have no way of speaking now, we don't have enough time to elaborate," he told a scrum of reporters opposite Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Chan, wearing a black shirt and glasses, said merely that he was "very happy" before boarding a bus with Mo Yan. Towering basketball star Yao was hard to miss as he joined other members to pack into Beijing's cavernous Great Hall of the People alongside top Party and government leaders. The CPPCC members include prominent citizens such as scientists, business owners and artists. The members said they would suggest moves to raise farmers' incomes and promote scientific talent as well as administrative reforms to reduce corruption. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Jail call for dairy industry's 'black sheep' Posted: 03 Mar 2013 09:11 AM PST A LAWMAKER has urged strict legal supervision for China's dairy industry, suggesting that "black sheep" should be sent to prison. Zong Qinghou, a beverage magnate and also a deputy to the National People's Congress, was speaking following the detention of at least 45 people by Hong Kong authorities for violating new limits on the purchase of baby formula. "Taking Hong Kong as a mirror, we can see the inadequacy of lawmaking and law enforcement in food safety on the Chinese mainland," Zong said. From March 1, people leaving Hong Kong can take no more than two tins of infant formula with them. "Since Hong Kong can jail buyers of baby formula milk, why can't the mainland authorities adopt strict laws in this regard and send those black sheep to prison?" Zong said. Authorities say 99 percent of baby formula on the mainland meets quality standards. "Yet, so many people still rush to purchase milk powder from overseas, which shows that they still lack confidence in mainland's milk industry," said lawmaker Peng Weiping from east China's Anhui Province. In 2008, melamine-tainted formula caused the deaths of at least six infants on the Chinese mainland. Zong said legal supervision was the most fundamental way to rebuild public confidence in the mainland's dairy industry. |
| Film director seeking to raise awareness of pollution Posted: 03 Mar 2013 09:10 AM PST BESIDES posing health hazards, Beijing's notorious smog is taking its toll on people's spirits - at least according to a leading Chinese director. "Cornered by the terrible weather, I have nowhere to go," said film director Chen Kaige, a newly elected member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. "I am unable to focus on my artistic creation." Smog has shrouded many parts of the country since the beginning of 2013. Beijing experienced only five days with clear skies in January. Chen cited the death of a prized jujube tree two years ago as evidence of the worsening environment in Beijing. "If a tree dies like this, how can humans fare any better?" he said. Chen vowed to raise more awareness on environmental pollution in his new role as a political adviser. |
| Fourth space launch site ready in Hainan in 2015 Posted: 03 Mar 2013 08:00 AM PST CHINA'S fourth launch center, in the tropical island province of Hainan, will be ready for space launches in two years, a space program official said. The center, under construction since 2009, will be able to launch space station capsules and cargo ships, said Zhou Jianping, designer-in-chief of China's manned space program. The carrier rockets to be used at the Hainan center include Long March-7 and Long March-5. Construction of the Hainan Space Launch Center, with lowest latitude among the four, started in September 2009 in Wenchang City, on the province's northeast coast. The center will be mainly for launching synchronous satellites, heavy satellites, large space stations, and deep space probes. It is designed for up to 10-12 launches a year. China's three bases include the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the desert of the northwestern Gansu Province, the nation's only manned spacecraft launch center; the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern Shanxi Province, which can launch satellites into both medium and low orbits; and the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, mainly for powerful-thrust rockets and geostationary satellites in the southwest's Sichuan Province. They have seen over 100 launches. Long Lehao of the Chinese Academy of Engineering said rockets to be launched from Wenchang would consume less fuel to get into orbit because of its location. "A satellite launched from Wenchang will be able to extend its service life by three years as a result of the fuel saved from the shorter maneuver ... to geosynchronous orbit," Long said. |
| Expired vaccine given to cops, assistants Posted: 03 Mar 2013 08:00 AM PST HEALTH authorities in eastern China's Changzhou said they haven't detected adverse reactions among the 130 police officers and their assistants who were given expired measles vaccines. Everyone receiving the expired shots must submit to three days of medical observation and checks, and a local hospital has been designated to treat people with adverse reactions. No decision had been made yet on new vaccinations for the group. Changzhou's Wujin District Health Bureau has required all local facilities using vaccines check their stock to prevent similar accidents. The health bureau said investigation has begun and those responsible for the problem will be punished, China News Service said yesterday. The Wujin Disease Control and Prevention Center in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, received a report on Wednesday saying two police officers in Wujin District Public Security Bureau were believed to have symptoms of measles. Under measles prevention and control guidelines, all those under 40 years old in the bureau should receive emergency measles vaccinations. The Mahang Health Center went to the bureau to offer measles shots on Friday, when a total of 550 police officers and assistants received the shots. During the procedure, a police officer found the vaccines had expired after reading the expiration date on the package. The vaccines used for the emergency injections came from two suppliers: Shanghai Institute of Biological Products with the expiration dated on November 8, 2013, and Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products with expiration dated on November 22, 2012. There were 65 expired vaccines and 130 officers and police assistants got the expired shots, the health bureau said. Expired measles shots can cause a poor or failed immunity against measles, the health officials said. Adverse reactions include fever, rash and pain at the injection site, but no serious complications. Measles is a highly contagious viral disease. It is transmitted via droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of infected persons. Symptoms include high fever, runny nose, bloodshot eyes and a rash. There is no specific treatment for measles and most people recover in a few weeks. But, particularly in malnourished children and people with lower immunity, measles can cause complications like blindness, encephalitis and pneumonia. |
| BeiDou satellite system coverage global in 2020 Posted: 03 Mar 2013 08:00 AM PST CHINA'S homegrown navigation system, BeiDou, is expected to achieve full-scale global coverage by around 2020, a leading scientist said yesterday. The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, or BDS, will be able to provide highly accurate and reliable positioning, navigation and timing service with the aid of a constellation of 35 satellites, said Ye Peijian, chief commander of Chang'e-3, China's lunar probe mission. "So far, China has successfully launched 16 navigation satellites and four other experimental ones for BDS," Ye said. China started to build up its own space-based positioning, navigation and timing system in 2000 by launching the first satellite for an experimental version of the BeiDou. BeiDou has since started providing licensed services for China's government and military users in transport, weather forecasts, fishing, forestry, telecommunications, hydrological monitoring and mapping. However, it is estimated that more than 95 percent of navigation terminals sold in China are GPS terminals. To compete with foreign rivals, the BeiDou terminal can communicate with the ground station by sending and receiving short messages of 120 Chinese characters each, in addition to the navigation and timing functions that the world's other major navigation systems provide. BeiDou aims to take 70 to 80 percent of the now GPS-dominated domestic market by 2020, a spokesman for the system said in December. |
| China PBOC Adviser Says Monetary Tightening Pressure Eased Posted: 03 Mar 2013 08:07 AM PST  Source: Bloomberg News Pressure on China to tighten monetary policy is easing as inflation will be "relatively low" this month due to slowing food-price gains, People's Bank of China adviser Song Guoqing said. The People's Bank of China drained cash from the financial system in each of the two weeks after a Lunar New Year holiday ended Feb. 15, prompting speculation that it was tightening amid concerns that inflation was accelerating and real-estate price gains were excessive. The State Council stepped up efforts to cool the property market on March 1, ahead of an annual meeting of the legislature that will see Li Keqiang take over from Wen Jiabao as premier. The measures "will lead to downside risks to property prices and investment but the effectiveness of the policy depends on whether the money supply will be tightened as well," Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong, said in a March 1 note. Monetary policy will probably tighten "in the next several months," which will slow economic growth, he said. Inflationary Pressure "Low inflation" is still the main objective for China's monetary policy, said Song, a Peking University professor who studied economics at the University of Chicago and was appointed a central bank adviser in March 2012. Yi Gang, a deputy governor, said today the PBOC is "fully confident" of controlling inflation this year. While the nation faces "some" inflationary pressure, the consumer-price index will rise about 3 percent in 2013, Yi told reporters today at the start of the annual meeting of the nation's top advisory body. That compares with 2.6 percent last year. Housing Minister Jiang Weixin said he was confident the government will be able to control home prices, the Shanghai Securities News reported on its website yesterday. Jiang, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, spoke in Beijing on the eve of that advisory body's annual meeting. The legislature, the National People's Congress, will begin its session on March 5. Recovery Peaked China's economy expanded 7.9 percent in the final three months of 2012 from a year earlier, the first pickup in two years. The pace may accelerate to 8.2 percent in the three months through March, according to the median estimate of 23 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News in February. Nomura's Zhang predicts expansion of gross domestic product will ease to 7.3 percent in the second half. Purchasing managers indexes released over the past week indicate the economy's recovery from a seven-quarter slowdown may have peaked. A services industries gauge for February fell to 54.5 from 56.2 the previous month, the slowest expansion since September, according to a report today from the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. The federation's manufacturing PMI released March 1 fell to 50.1, the weakest level in five months, while a separate gauge from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics dropped to a four- month low of 50.4. Readings above 50 indicate expansion while those below that number signal a contraction. Property Curbs Moderating inflation is "good news for growth," Song told a forum. He estimated first-quarter economic expansion will accelerate to 8.3 percent "mainly because the comparative base in the first quarter of last year is very low." The property tightening measures were announced too late to affect expansion for the period, he said. GDP climbed 8.1 percent in the first three months of 2012 from a year earlier, down from 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2011, according to previously released data from the National Bureau of Statistics. The nation must be alert to changes in price-gain expectations and to imported inflation, the central bank said in a quarterly monetary policy report released Feb. 6. An economic recovery and expansion in demand may pass through to the consumer-price index in a "relatively fast manner," and monetary easing in major developed economies may push up commodity prices, the central bank said. Consumer inflation eased to 2 percent in January from a year earlier after a 2.5 percent increase the previous month, government data show. UBS AG estimated February's rate was 3.3 percent while Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. forecast 3 percent, as the Lunar New Year holiday pushed up food prices, according to reports last week.   |
| L’Oreal scents success despite slowed growth Posted: 03 Mar 2013 08:04 AM PST  Source: By Xu Junqian in Shanghai (China Daily) L'Oreal, the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company, has recorded its 12th consecutive year of double-digit growth in China, reaping 12.05 billion yuan ($1.91 billion) in revenue in 2012. Alexis Perakis-Valat, CEO of L'Oreal China, attributed the drop in growth rate to the general cosmetics market in China, which has been increasing less rapidly and to the "big base" the French company has achieved since arriving in 1997. "We are very happy to close 2012 with a year of solid and healthy growth," said Perakis-Valat. "And we are very confident and ambitious of continuing to grow faster than the market." He said growth in China is happening, and will continue to do so, particularly in lower-tier cities, and in cosmetics and men's skincare. A global beauty survey by Elle magazine in January found Asian women are among the biggest spenders on cosmetics, especially those between the ages of 25 and 34. For example, 46 percent of Chinese mainland women use moisture masks several times a week, more than anywhere else in the world. But they use half as many lipsticks as their counterparts in Hong Kong. "There is still a lot of education to do about wearing cosmetics and UV blocks," Perakis-Valat said. Other cosmetics and beauty companies have also been eying the China market and been making significant moves. Procter & Gamble, for example, has launched four new brands in China in recent months, while Estee Lauder is planning to introduce a new brand, Osiao, to the country, exclusively tailored for Asian skins. At the same time, the central government is introducing policies to support Chinese cosmetics and beauty product makers. The market share of international cosmetics and beauty companies in China has been dropping, from around 60 percent in 2009 to less than 45 percent in 2012, according to statistics from Nielsen. But this is not the case for L'Oreal, which now has 14 percent of the market share in China. "L'Oreal was able to grow faster than the market and to gain market share again," said Perakis-Valat, adding that growth was across all four divisions of the company – consumer, luxury and professional products and active cosmetics. The company, which operates a portfolio of 20 cosmetics brands in China including Lancome, Kiehl's and Yue-Sai, is looking to introduce more brands into the world's second-largest market for cosmetics, after the United States. Several weeks ago, L'Oreal China brought to first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, a sonic facial cleanser from Clarisonic, a US brand acquired by the French company at the end of 2011. "We will keep launching game-changing products of this kind in China," he added.   |
| Posted: 03 Mar 2013 08:01 AM PST Have You Heard…   |
| China’s graft-fighting Xi tells party future is on the line Posted: 03 Mar 2013 08:11 AM PST  Source: Reuters By Ben Blanchard and Benjamin Kang Lim (Reuters) – China's ruling Communist Party will only be able to mark its 100th birthday in eight years time if officials can learn from the selfless sages of the past, party chief Xi Jinping said in remarks published on Sunday, taking another swipe at corruption. The Communist Party marks the 100th anniversary of its founding in 2021, one year before the second of Xi's two five-year term ends and he steps down as party chief. "Only if the capabilities of all party members unceasingly continue to strengthen, can the goal of 'two 100 years' and 'the dream' of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people be realized," Xi said in a speech marking the 80th anniversary of the Central Party School, which trains rising officials. "Two 100 years" refers to both the party and the People's Republic of China lasting at least a century each. The People's Republic turns 100 in 2049. The Communists swept to power and founded the republic in 1949 after winning a civil war and forcing Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang, or Nationalist, troops to flee to Taiwan, which Beijing still claims as its own. The concept of "two 100 years" has been alluded to in state media over the past few weeks, but this is the first time Xi explicitly mentioned it in his speech on Friday, which was carried in whole by the People's Daily, the party mouthpiece. Xi has warned in the past that corruption threatens the party's very survival and launched a campaign to prevent waste and graft. He also banned the 2.3 million-strong People's Liberation Army from binge drinking and told it to be combat- ready. The Chinese leader peppered his latest speech with references to aphorisms from virtuous officials and philosophers from ancient China, including Confucian philosopher Mencius (372 to 289 BC) and Zhuge Liang (181 to 234 AD), a statesman and strategist lauded to this day for his wisdom and devotion to his monarch. "Spare no effort in the performance of one's duty until the end of one's days … I will do whatever it takes to serve my country even at the cost of my own life, regardless of fortune or misfortune to myself," he added, quoting two classical texts. But party members must also not forget the teachings of Karl Marx and late Chairman Mao Zedong, Xi said. SURVIVAL Stability and survival remain the Communist Party's watchwords as the world's second-largest economy grapples with an upsurge of protests and social tensions over growing inequality, environmental degradation and graft. Ensuring the party makes it to its 100th anniversary and does not go down as just a footnote in China's long history is one of Xi's key challenges. "Even the Nationalist Party is over 100 years," one source with ties to China's leadership told Reuters, referring to Taiwan's ruling party and onetime rival to the Communists in running all of China which was founded in 1912. "If the Communist Party cannot reach 100, it would only be a dot in China's 5,000-year history," the source said, requesting anonymity to avoid any repercussions. "The Communist Party turning 100 will be Xi's most important (set) event during his 10-year rule."   |
| Posted: 03 Mar 2013 08:13 AM PST  Source: china.org.cn The First Session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, started in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday afternoon. Nearly 2,200 CPPCC national political advisors, from across the country, will discuss major issues concerning the country's development during the annual session. They are also expected to elect the new leadership of the CPPCC National Committee. CPPCC National Committee Chairman Jia Qinglin delivered a report on the work of the CPPCC National Committee's Standing Committee over the past five years at the opening meeting. Jia said China had overcome "severe challenges" and made "extraordinary achievements" in reform, opening up and socialist modernization over the past five years, and the CPPCC had carried on, made innovations in, and consolidated and developed its cause. The CPPCC fully played its role in coordinating relations, pooling strengths, making suggestions and proposals to the central leadership, and serving the overall interests of the country, Jia said. He said the CPPCC had made important contributions to the country's development in various fields such as scientific development, social stability, China's reunification and foreign exchanges. Top Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli attended the opening meeting. Political advisors will have their agenda filled over the coming nine days, as they will discuss a report on government work, to be delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao, a plan on the restructuring of central departments under the State Council, and reports on the work of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, according to Lyu Xinhua, spokesman for the session.   |
| Over 20 injured in Yunnan quake Posted: 03 Mar 2013 01:30 AM PST More than 20 people were injured when a 5.5-magnitude earthquake hit southwest China's Yunnan Province this afternoon, local authorities have reported. Latest statistics showed more than 2,500 houses were damaged and 700 others collapsed, but no human fatalities have been reported yet, said the provincial earthquake bureau. The quake hit Eryuan County, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture at 1:41pm, with its epicenter 9 km deep. The Yunnan provincial earthquake bureau has sent a team to the quake-hit area. |
| China's top political advisory body convenes annual session Posted: 03 Mar 2013 01:24 AM PST THE National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, started its annual session in Beijing today. About 2,200 members of the 12th CPPCC National Committee from different sectors across the country will discuss major issues concerning the country's development during the session, scheduled to conclude on March 12. New leaders of the top advisory body will be elected at the session. At the opening meeting in the Great Hall of the People, CPPCC National Committee Chairman Jia Qinglin delivered a report on the work of the CPPCC National Committee's Standing Committee over the past five years. Jia said China had overcome "severe challenges" and made "extraordinary achievements" in reform, opening up and socialist modernization over the past five years, and the CPPCC had carried on, made innovations in, and consolidated and developed its cause. The CPPCC fully played its role in coordinating relations, pooling strengths, making suggestions and proposals to the central leadership, and serving the overall interests of the country, Jia said. He said the CPPCC had made important contributions to the country's development in various fields such as scientific development, social stability, China's reunification and foreign exchanges. The CPPCC should better play its role as an important channel for promoting consultative democracy by enriching the forms of consultation and improving the consultative system, he said. "We should actively assist the Party and government in the work of getting the people to voice their demands, coordinating their interests, and safeguarding their rights and interests," Jia said in his report. He said the political advisory body should maintain a close contact with CPPCC National Committee members from Hong Kong and Macao to get them to play positive roles in building their special administrative regions. Exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan should be enhanced to cultivate more common interests for peaceful growth of cross-Straits relations, Jia said. He also noted that the CPPCC should help deepen China's relations with other countries through new channels and high-level visits. While reviewing the achievements made by the CPPCC over the past five years, Jia said the political advisory body had "written a new chapter in its history". Jia said the CPPCC, always focusing on the central task of economic development, made a large number of high-quality comments and suggestions on issues pertaining to economic and social development. The CPPCC also actively participated in social development and management and gave impetus to cultural reform and development, Jia said. Over the past five years, a total of 28,930 proposals had been submitted by the CPPCC National Committee members, and 26,583 of them had been handled as of Feb. 20, according to Wan Gang, vice chairman of the 11th CPPCC National Committee. Top Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli attended the opening meeting. Founded in 1949, the CPPCC consists of elite figures of the Chinese society who are willing to serve the think tank for the government and for the country's legislative and judicial organs. As an open forum where the ruling CPC, non-Communist parties and people without party affiliation discuss state affairs freely and on an equal footing, the CPPCC has been the manifestation of China's socialist democracy. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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