News » China » Chinese president's Russia, South Africa visits to boost partnerships: FM

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• Chinese president's Russia, South Africa visits to boost partnerships: FM
• NW China work safety official expelled from CPC
• China's mobile telecom market sees rapid growth
• Plane makes emergency landing in Jiangsu
• Australia plans to attract Chinese high school students
• Five-yr plan on environmental protection issued
• Environmental issues displayed in light way
• Higher education new priority in W China
• Chinese war correspondent finds Spanish saviors via microblog
• Tibet sees sharp poverty reduction in 2012
• China Focus: Chinese media lambaste U.S. hacking allegations
• China makes strong representations to Japan over Abe's comments
• Wuhan doctors on strike over X-ray radiation
• China cracks down on math score-based enrollment
• Report reveals pension welfare disparity in China
• Nation spends more on R&D
• Agricultural processing industry to get more support
• Power giant to spend $48b on grid construction
• China to boost trade with Namibia
• Dalian seeks views on coking coal futures contract

Chinese president's Russia, South Africa visits to boost partnerships: FM Posted: 22 Feb 2013 10:45 AM PST The Chinese president's upcoming visits to Russia and South Africa will further boost China's partnerships with the two countries, said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

NW China work safety official expelled from CPC Posted: 22 Feb 2013 10:43 AM PST A work safety official in northwest China's Shaanxi Province who was photographed smiling at the scene of a fatal bus crash last year has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and his case has been transferred to judicial authorities, local authorities said Friday.

China's mobile telecom market sees rapid growth Posted: 22 Feb 2013 06:48 AM PST China's mobile telecomm market witnessed rapid growth last year, as the country has begun to lead global technological advancements in this field, an official with the Ministry of Science and Technology said on Friday. The number of China's mobile phone users had jumped to 1.1 billion by the end of 2012 from 976 million at the beginning of the year, Zhao Yuhai, an official with the ministry in charge of boosting cutting-edge technologies, said at a news conference in Beijing. Also, 3G subscribers saw a dramatic expansion, with more than 107 million new users emerging in 2012, bringing the total number to 234 million users by the end of last year, he said. The number of people who regularly access the Internet via mobile devices was 420 million at the end of 2012, 64 million more than in 2011. Chinese people spent more than 60 billion yuan ($9.6 billion) on shopping through the Internet last year, five times more than in 2011. Market expansion was accompanied by technological leaps, Zhao said, noting that 64 experimental networks of TD-LTE - the Chinese 4G mobile telecom standard - have been set up by 29 service providers around the world and 14 commercial networks have been put into use by 13 of the providers. That means that China has become a world-class leader in the mobile telecom sector, he added.

Plane makes emergency landing in Jiangsu Posted: 22 Feb 2013 06:48 AM PST An airliner carrying 130 passengers had an engine malfunction and was forced to make an emergency landing at an airport in Jiangsu province on Monday, the Yangtse Evening Post reported on Friday. The left engine of a Boeing 737-800 of China United Airlines, scheduled to fly to Quzhou, Zhejiang province, from Beijing, stopped working at around 3 pm on Monday when the plane was about 80 kilometers away from Lianyungang in Jiangsu, the newspaper said. With only one engine working, the captain was able to land the plane on an airport in Lianyungang, it said. No casualties were reported, it added. The airline arranged another flight and gave 200 yuan ($32) in compensation to each passenger. zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn

Australia plans to attract Chinese high school students Posted: 22 Feb 2013 06:48 AM PST The Australian government is planning to attract Chinese junior-high graduates to its high schools, as Chinese students are starting their overseas studies younger than before. A poll by the China Education Xiaokang Index in August showed that 21 percent of Chinese people believe that the best time for someone to study abroad is during their high school years, while about 40 percent said it is during their undergraduate years. Previously, Chinese people believed that overseas studies should be reserved for postgraduates. "It's easier for students to enter Australian universities, if they attend high schools there," said Eliza Chui, education consul at the Australian consulate-general in Shanghai. "Their English skills will be better, and they will integrate in the local culture more easily and earlier," Chui said. Gao Zhicun, a professor at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, who got a doctoral degree in Australia, agreed. "Early ages are the best time to learn the language. The learning environment is important. I started late, but I believe that if parents can afford it, it's wise to start early," Gao said. During an international education exhibition in 2012, Chui noticed that more parents and students asked advice about high schools in Australia. In the past 10 years, Australia focused on promoting its higher-education institutions in China. "Anyone now can name a few big Australian universities," Chui said, adding that the country's high schools are not as well known in China. Australian universities were once the top choice for postgraduates. But that trend is not so evident now, so the country is focusing increasingly on high school students. Many Australian high schools, including 11 private schools and public schools from five states, will join an international education exhibition in 2013 in Beijing and Shenyang. According to the Ministry of Education, 330,970 Chinese people studied abroad in 2011, up 19.32 percent from the previous year. A survey on high school students abroad from September 2010 to April 2011, conducted by the MyCOS Institute, a consulting company, the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, and Sina education channel, showed that 50 percent of students who are interested in studying abroad since high school want to go to the United States, followed by Canada and Australia. luowangshu@chinadaily.com.cn

Five-yr plan on environmental protection issued Posted: 22 Feb 2013 06:48 AM PST The Ministry of Environmental Protection issued a Five-Year Plan (2011-15) for national standards on environmental protection on Friday. The ministry plans to finish enacting and revising 600 types of environmental standards and officially release 300 more by 2015. The standards will cater to the specific characteristics of the country's pollution and will also be brought in line with international levels gradually. They will cover mainly five aspects: water, air, soil, ecosystems, and sound and vibration, placing an emphasis on reducing the total amount of pollution, and prevention and control of heavy metals pollution and persistent organic pollutants. The ministry has also decided to launch a system to assess the standards' effects, planning to start the assessment of about 30 standards by 2015. The total number of environmental protection standards in 2010 was at about 1,300, with more than 500 released between 2005 and 2010. wuwencong@chinadaily.com.cn

Environmental issues displayed in light way Posted: 22 Feb 2013 06:48 AM PST The Center for Environmental Education and Communication has put on a show on Friday at a downtown Beijing shopping mall to promote environmental protection awareness. Featuring musicals, comedy sketches and song performances, the show was organized to raise awareness of environmental protection issues in an entertaining way. Volunteers distributed magazines and about 2,000 reusable shopping bags to passers-by during the event, and promoted general knowledge of energy-saving and pollution-reduction topics. "This is an innovation in the field of environmental-protection education," Jia Feng, head of the center, said during the event. "People tend to accept ideas about protecting the environment better through art works, shows and performances," Jia said. The center plans to mobilize more than 3,000 volunteers this year to promote environmental protection in schools, communities, companies, parks and shopping malls, he said. zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn

Higher education new priority in W China Posted: 22 Feb 2013 06:48 AM PST China will accelerate its higher-education development in western regions in the next decade, focusing on improving education quality, a Ministry of Education official said Feb 22. Zhang Daliang, a ministry official in charge of higher education, told a news conference that by 2020, higher education in western China will be closer to the average level of the whole country. To realize the goal, a plan will be unveiled soon that will include attracting faculty and strengthening the development of key disciplines. Zhang did not provide a timetable. In 2012, 6.52 million college students were studying in universities in western China's 12 provinces and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, a 40.29 percent increase from 2007, according to the ministry. Meanwhile, another 360,000 graduate students were studying in universities in those regions last year, it said. jinzhu@chinadaily.com.cn

Chinese war correspondent finds Spanish saviors via microblog Posted: 22 Feb 2013 05:40 AM PST A Chinese war correspondent is planning to meet three Spanish journalists who rescued him almost ten years ago during the Iraq War, after finding them through a microblog.

Tibet sees sharp poverty reduction in 2012 Posted: 22 Feb 2013 05:37 AM PST Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region saw its impoverished population decrease by 130,000 people last year, local authorities said Friday.

China Focus: Chinese media lambaste U.S. hacking allegations Posted: 22 Feb 2013 05:34 AM PST The Chinese media have been outraged by allegations from the United States of hacking activities by China, lambasting the U.S. for groundless finger-pointing.

China makes strong representations to Japan over Abe's comments Posted: 22 Feb 2013 04:29 AM PST China on Friday made strong representations to Japan over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's comments that characterized Beijing as having a "deeply ingrained" need to challenge neighbors over territory. • Japan: US media misquotes Abe on China words

Wuhan doctors on strike over X-ray radiation Posted: 22 Feb 2013 03:18 AM PST Some hospital workers in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province reportedly went on strike after three gynecologists developed thyroid cancer, which they believed was caused by their frequent exposure to X-rays.

China cracks down on math score-based enrollment Posted: 22 Feb 2013 03:53 AM PST The government is working to prevent schools from recruiting students based on their math scores in order to relieve some of the study burden for students, the Ministry of Education said Friday.

Report reveals pension welfare disparity in China Posted: 22 Feb 2013 02:14 AM PST Chinese concerns about the inadequate and unbalanced pension distribution in the country have been revealed in government think tank survey.

Nation spends more on R&D Posted: 22 Feb 2013 05:52 AM PST China's research and development spending as a proportion of the nation's GDP increased to 1.97 percent in 2012, 0.44 percentage point higher than four years ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. It said China's spending on R&D surpassed 1 trillion yuan ($160 billion) in 2012, almost twice the figure in 2009. The amount was 17.9 percent higher than in 2011. In 2008, it was 461.6 billion yuan, which accounted for 1.53 percent of that year's GDP. The bureau added that China's scientific innovation accounted for 51.7 percent of the nation's economic growth, up from 48.8 percent in 2008.

Agricultural processing industry to get more support Posted: 22 Feb 2013 05:52 AM PST The agricultural processing industry will benefit from more policy support, including fiscal support, as a vital step in the country's industrialization and urbanization process, the Shanghai Securities Journal reported on Friday. The Ministry of Finance and other ministries are studying ways to implement policies to lower the tax burden for the agricultural processing industry, the paper said. Finance and tax authorities said last year they would allow value-added tax deductions in some sectors of the agricultural processing industry, adding that the policy would be gradually expanded to other sectors of the industry. In addition, the establishment of a "modern agriculture demonstration plot" will also be fast-tracked, as well as financial support for brand building, the report said.

Power giant to spend $48b on grid construction Posted: 22 Feb 2013 05:52 AM PST State Grid Corp, the country's largest power utility, said on Thursday that it will spend more than 300 billion yuan ($48 billion) on grid construction this year and double its investment in extra-high voltage projects. The company plans to get approval and start construction of seven extra-high voltage power transmission lines in 2013, according to its corporate social responsibility report. It also plans to invest 52 billion yuan in extra-high voltage projects this year, around 26 billion yuan more than it invested last year. In 2012, the company's total investment in grid projects was 305.4 billion yuan. State Grid promised it will make efforts to improve grid construction in rural areas and reduce large-scale blackouts. It will install more than 30 million smart meters to improve service quality. By the end of 2015, the company's extra-high voltage and cross-region power transmission capacities will reach 210 million kilowatts, the company said. dujuan@chinadaiy.com.cn

China to boost trade with Namibia Posted: 22 Feb 2013 05:52 AM PST China is keen to improve bilateral trade with Namibia and import more non-resource products from the African country, Commerce Minister Chen Deming said during a meeting with Namibian Prime Minister Hage Geingob on Tuesday. China will urge more labor-intensive manufacturing companies to invest in Namibia to help the country reduce unemployment through vocational training, Chen said. He also suggested the establishment of industrial parks and economic zones to give convenience for Chinese companies to invest in Namibia.

Dalian seeks views on coking coal futures contract Posted: 22 Feb 2013 05:52 AM PST The Dalian Commodity Exchange published a notice on Thursday seeking views regarding the introduction of a coking coal futures contract, which means the exchange is speeding plans to introduce the product. Media reports said earlier that the move - which would be the world's first coking coal futures contract - would help steel makers, coal and coke producers hedge key steel making raw material, and is likely to be introduced this year. The lot size is expected to be 60 tons, and the exchange will limit daily moves in the futures to 4 percent of the previous close. Investors will have to pay 5 percent of the contracts as a margin deposit. China is the world's largest coking coal consumer. Between 15 and 20 percent of the country's annual 550 million metric tons consumption of the material is imported.

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