News » China » Railway linking China, ASEAN becomes operational

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• Railway linking China, ASEAN becomes operational
• Urbanization challenges farmland conservation
• China pays homage to late senior executive
• CPC Central Committee to hold 2nd plenum
• Consensus reached on Central China Economic Belt
• Vice Premier pledges support for China's SMEs
• China Focus: Urbanization challenges China's farmland conservation
• China pays homage to late senior executive
• Cambodian PM to visit China in April to strengthen bilateral ties
• Vice Premier pledges support for China's SMEs
• China's 2013 growth to reach 8.23 pct: report
• Warmer weather on the way for China
• CPC Central Committee to hold 2nd plenum
• Fire kills 8 in East China city
• Warmer weather on the way for China
• US court dismisses Chinese firm's claims against Obama
• Hu's Russia, South Africa visits to boost partnerships: FM
• Global orchid aficionados boost growers in coastal city
• Chinese liquor giants fined for price fixing
• Another H5N1 patient dies in SW China

Railway linking China, ASEAN becomes operational Posted: 23 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST KUNMING - A railway that links southwest China's Yunnan Province with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries became operational on Saturday after seven years of construction, local railway authorities said. The railway between Yuxi and Mengzi is part of the eastern line of the planned Pan-Asia Railway network. The 141-km railway has a designed maximum speed of 120 km per hour. It passes through 35 tunnels and crosses 61 bridges, which together account for 54.95 percent of the eastern line's total length. The eastern line also consists of Kunming-Yuxi Railway, which had been in operation, and the Mengzi-Hekou Railway that is under construction and scheduled to be operational end of next year. Upon the full completion of the eastern line, it will further open up China's southwest, improve transportation and boost economic development along the line, experts said. The Pan-Asia Railway network also consists of central and western lines and is an international railway project that will bring China closer with southeast Asia.

Urbanization challenges farmland conservation Posted: 23 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST BEIJING - Lijiang city in Southwest China's Yunnan province has what it takes to become a tourist attraction -- picturesque scenery and profound cultural heritage. Now, the newly-constructed railway station on a hillside is adding more to its fame. A stark departure from those in downtown areas, the construction plan once caused huge controversy. But now it has set a good example to other parts of China, in its efficient and innovative use of land. It is also an epitome of the country's critical and intense farmland protection situation, which has witnessed a tug-war between urbanization and agricultural use. Flat land, which abound in fertile arable land as well as towns and villages, accounts for only 4.2 percent of Lijiang. He Jiafeng, chief engineer of Lijiang's city planning authority, said that 37 percent of the city's arable flat land had been converted for construction use. "A scarcity of arable land forced the station to move to the hillside. We had no choice," said He. In fact, China as a nation has no other choices. Figures from the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) indicated that China only registered a per capita arable land of 1.35 mu (900 square meters), less than half the world's average level. From 1997 to 2011, the country incurred a decrease of 124 million mu farmland, while some 70 percent of the remaining 1.82 billion mu is medium and low-yield land, according to the ministry. In a country where food supply is of high significance, that drop in farmland is a dangerous signal. Chinese people consumed 520 million tons of grain in 2012, 2.7 percent of which was imported. "Farmland has been squeezed by both urbanization and rural construction, which has made it more difficult to protect," said land and resources minister Xu Shaoshi in a report delivered to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee in December. The minister also noted the dire need to prevent soil from being polluted as illegal discharge of industrial waste, accidental chemical spills and heavy metal pollution have posed a threat to soil output. Xu pledged to continue the rigorous basic farmland protection system and more efforts to curb worsening soil pollution. However, lawmakers have predicted an inevitable declining amount of farmland as a rigid demand for future urbanization and economic development looms large. Hao Yidong, a member of the NPC Standing Committee, suggested to promote Lijiang's land-saving practice on a larger scale nationwide. Lijiang hillside station has helped conserve thousands mu of fertile land, according to local authorities. In addition, there is a large potential of developing hilly areas for urban building, according to figures from Yunnan's provincial land and resources bureau, as highlands with an incline between eight and 25 degrees covers 47.3 percent of the total area of the province.

China pays homage to late senior executive Posted: 23 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST   File photo of Sun Bo [Photo/cnpc.com.cn] BEIJING - A senior executive of China's largest oil and gas producer who died in December was honored for his contribution to the country's oil exploration, the national trade union said. The all All-China Federation of Trade Unions announced Saturday to award Sun Bo, the former vice-president of China National Petroleum Corporation, the national labor medal and called on workers across the nation to learn from Sun and work hard to contribute to the building of a moderately prosperous society. Sun committed himself to China's overseas oil projects for most of his career before he died aged 52 from a sudden cerebral hemorrhage in December.

CPC Central Committee to hold 2nd plenum Posted: 23 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST BEIJING - The Second Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will be held here from February 26 to February 28, according to a decision by members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Saturday. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting. A draft on institutional restructuring and function transformation of the State Council was discussed during the meeting. It was agreed that efforts will be made to achieve simpler and decentralized administration as well as push forward institutional reform. Members agreed that institutional reform of the State Council should be carried out in an "active yet prudent, step by step manner, with priority given to function transformation." Participants vowed to attach greater importance to the transformation of government functions. They said more efforts should be made to improve administrative efficiency and the socialist market economic system. They also discussed the list of candidates for the country's next administration, which will be recommended to the upcoming first session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, as well as the candidate list for the leadership of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, China's top political advisory body, which will be recommended to the coming first session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee. The issues regarding institutional restructuring and function transformation of the State Council as well as the candidate lists were adopted as agenda items for the Second Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee. Participants also discussed the government work report which the State Council will present to the upcoming NPC meeting for deliberation. They concluded that in the five years since the first meeting of the 11th NPC in 2008, the Chinese people, under the CPC's leadership, have effectively coped with the impact of the international financial crisis, enhanced the country's overall strength and made remarkable progress in its modernization. This year, participants said, China will focus on improving the quality and efficiency of its economic growth, further its reform and opening-up, boost innovation, so as to achieve sustainable and healthy development of the economy and social harmony.

Consensus reached on Central China Economic Belt Posted: 23 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST WUHAN - Mayors of four provincial capital cities in Central China on Saturday signed a strategic partnership agreement vowing a coordinated effort in building the Central China Economic Belt. According to the Wuhan Consensus, the cities of Changsha, Hefei, Nanchang and Wuhan will be committed in seeking a regional development strategy, and push for industrial cooperation and infrastructure construction that can meet the common interests. The four cities, all located along the middle reaches of China's longest river the Yangtze, will take part in regular meetings in order to carry out regional cooperation. Agreements were also signed by representatives from 11 government departments ranging from transport, technology, commerce to health from the four cities for sharing resources and boosting personnel exchanges and cross-province medical bill settlements. "With the Concensus, the four cities each with its distinct competitive industries are expected to take a lead in boosting the overall economic growth in the central China economic circle," said Fan Hengshan, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission, at the agreement signing ceremony in Wuhan. The belt is dubbed the country's fourth economic powerhouse. The three other economic circles are the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and the Bohai Bay area encircling Beijing and Tianjin municipalities and Hebei province. The new economic belt covers an area of 440,000 square km encompassing Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi and Hubei provinces, with a cluster of 40 cities boasting a total population of 160 million. Tang Liangzhi, mayor of Wuhan, said the Central China Economic Belt has strong industrial development potential. Each of the four provincial capitals saw their GDP growth rate exceed the national average of 7.8 percent last year. Wuhan is known as one of China's iron and steel production bases and has booming machinery manufacturing and photoelectron industries. Changsha is famous for its culture industry and engineering machinery sector. Hefei is aimed at building itself as China's leading electric appliance production base. Finally, Nanchang is the country's traditional aircraft production base.

Vice Premier pledges support for China's SMEs Posted: 23 Feb 2013 08:12 AM PST Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang talks to a worker during his visit to a company in Tianjin, Feb 23, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]  TIANJIN - Development support will be provided to China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang has pledged. During his two-day inspection tour in the northern port city of Tianjin that ended on Friday, Zhang called for favorable policies and market environment, as well as better social services and publicity for SMEs. Zhang said he believes the development of SMEs and private businesses will help the country achieve common prosperity and build itself into a moderately prosperous society. "SMEs are an important force to build socialism with Chinese characteristics. We must... unswervingly encourage, support and guide the development of non-public sectors of the economy," he said. Zhang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, urged efforts to remove development hurdles for SMEs and advocated entrepreneurship. The official stressed the importance of the restructuring of SMEs' development pattern and wider accessibility of public services and technologies in their development. "We must... speed up the restructuring of SMEs' development pattern, greatly improve the quality and efficiency of their development, and ensure more jobs are created, practical benefits harvested, the social security network improved and living standards raised through SMEs' development," he said.

China Focus: Urbanization challenges China's farmland conservation Posted: 23 Feb 2013 05:22 AM PST Lijiang City in southwest China's Yunnan Province has what it takes to become a tourist attraction -- picturesque scenery and profound cultural heritage. Now, the newly-constructed railway station on a hillside is adding more to its fame. ' A stark departure from those in downtown areas, the construction plan once caused huge controversy. But now it has set a good example to other parts of China, in its efficient and innovative use of land.

China pays homage to late senior executive Posted: 23 Feb 2013 04:22 AM PST A senior executive of China's largest oil and gas producer who died in December was honored for his contribution to the country's oil exploration, the national trade union said.

Cambodian PM to visit China in April to strengthen bilateral ties Posted: 23 Feb 2013 02:31 AM PST Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Saturday that he will pay an official visit to Beijing in April in order to meet with new Chinese leadership.

Vice Premier pledges support for China's SMEs Posted: 23 Feb 2013 12:22 AM PST Development support will be provided to China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Vice Premier Zhang Dejianghas pledged.

China's 2013 growth to reach 8.23 pct: report Posted: 23 Feb 2013 12:22 AM PST Economic growth is expected to pick up 0.43 percentage points from last year to reach 8.23 percent in 2013, according to a report released Saturday.

Warmer weather on the way for China Posted: 22 Feb 2013 11:22 PM PST China will experience higher temperatures across the country over the next few days, the Central Meteorological Center said Saturday.

CPC Central Committee to hold 2nd plenum Posted: 23 Feb 2013 12:24 AM PST The Second Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China(CPC) will be held here from Feb. 26 to Feb. 28, according to a decision reached at a meeting on Saturday by members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Fire kills 8 in East China city Posted: 23 Feb 2013 01:05 AM PST HANGZHOU - A fire that broke out early Saturday morning in Wenling city, East China's Zhejiang province, has killed eight people. Among the deceased were two children. Five of the six adults who died were migrant workers from outside the province. The city's fire department said the blaze, which occurred at 2:59 am, burnt over an area of 129 square meters in three residential houses in Zeguo township. The fire was eventually contained at 4 am. Fire fighters rescued 17 people. One of them was severely injured, while the others only sustained minor injuries. Investigators found that the three houses, all owned by a local named Li Faming, were being leased. Police have detained Chen as part of its investigation in to the blaze. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Warmer weather on the way for China Posted: 23 Feb 2013 01:05 AM PST BEIJING - China will experience higher temperatures across the country over the next few days, the Central Meteorological Center said Saturday. Temperatures will be 1 to 3 degrees Celsius higher than last year in most regions except some areas in Northeast China from Saturday to Tuesday, the center said. But a strong cold front will bring sharp temperature drops to central and eastern regions starting Thursday, the center said. On Saturday and Sunday, moderate and heavy snow will fall in southwestern parts of Tibetan autonomous region, with its borders expecting snowstorms, it said. The center forecast rainfall in regions along Yangtze and Huaihe rivers, as well as some northern regions, including Xinjiang Uygur and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions, over the coming ten days.

US court dismisses Chinese firm's claims against Obama Posted: 23 Feb 2013 01:05 AM PST A federal judge in Washington on Friday dismissed most of the claims brought by a small Chinese firm against US President Barack Obama for squashing its bid to build wind farms close to a naval training site. Experts had predicted the lawsuit had little chance to succeed because of the president's broad powers to protect national security. Ralls Corp, a company owned by two Chinese nationals, was installing wind turbines close to the training site in Oregon, which, according to the facility's website, is used to test unmanned drones - a highly sensitive and prized US technology. Obama issued an order instructing Ralls to sell off the four planned wind farms due to national security risks, the first time since 1990 that a US president has formally blocked a business transaction or required a sale on such grounds.   In its suit filed in US District Court in Washington in September, Ralls said the president had exceeded his authority and that the US had provided no evidence or explanation of what the alleged national security risks were. In Friday's ruling, US District Judge Amy Jackson said the court did not have jurisdiction to hear challenges to Obama's order that Ralls end its plans because such an order is not subject to judicial review. The court did say Ralls could move forward with its challenge to how the statute at issue was implemented in this case. Ralls has argued that the due process clause of the US Constitution entitles it to hear the reasons for the president's decision. The court noted that "it is not ruling that the due process claim has merit - simply that it is bound" to decide the claim. Tim Tingkang Xia, an attorney for Ralls, said they "look forward to litigating this matter on the merits and vindicating the rule of law." The US Department of Justice was not immediately available to comment. Obama's order followed a recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency group headed by the Treasury secretary that evaluates the national security risks of foreign investments in US companies or operations.    The case is Ralls Corporation v. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, US District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 12-01513.

Hu's Russia, South Africa visits to boost partnerships: FM Posted: 23 Feb 2013 01:05 AM PST MOSCOW - 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. Yang is currently on an official visit to Russia. Before arriving in Moscow, he also visited South Africa where a BRICS summit is to be held in late March. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov escorts Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi during their meeting in Moscow on Feb 22, 2013. [Photo/Agencies] Over recent years, China-Russia relations have witnessed positive, healthy and stable growth under the guidance of the two countries' leaders, said Yang in a recent interview with Chinese media. China and Russia share a strong political relationship, as well as a full-fledged mechanism for high-level exchanges and cooperation in other fields, which has given birth to many important achievements, he said. At a meeting with Yang on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was looking forward to the forthcoming state visit by the Chinese president, and expected that the visit would boost future development of the China-Russia partnership. During Yang's stay in Moscow, he also met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. The two men agreed that their two countries should maintain intensive high-level contact, expand consensus, deepen humanistic cooperation, and further strengthen bilateral coordination in international and regional affairs. Previous Page 1 2 Next Page Previous Page 1 2 Next Page

Global orchid aficionados boost growers in coastal city Posted: 23 Feb 2013 01:05 AM PST Zhang Enci in his orchid garden in Zhangzhou, Fujian province. [Wang Chao / China Daily] Whoever decided to give the name narcissus to a flower that many of us call a daffodil obviously did not have a marketing degree. The orchid, on the other hand, does not carry the baggage of an association with a personality disorder. Indeed in China the orchid enjoys a revered place with bamboo, the chrysanthemum and the plum blossom as one of The Four Gentlemen of its art. Not only that, but the orchid is said to represent the qualities of quietness, friendship, integrity and an indifference to fame. On top of that, the flower is regarded as particularly delicate and susceptible to early death, and anyone with an orchid or two at home is considered not only to have good taste, but also to be endowed with traits of patience and longsuffering. All of that means that when the flower industry of Zhangzhou markets its orchids, it has a huge head start, and the city is reaping the financial rewards of that. Thanks to the ingrained orchid culture, Chinese orchids have a multitude of admirers and willing buyers worldwide, in particular Chinese people living in Europe and the United States. Zhang Enci, secretary-general of the Zhangzhou Orchid Association, said most of its overseas sales emanate from orchid trading websites. Orchid aficionados place orders on the sites, and take delivery by express mail. Helping to sate this floral fascination are 213 hectares of orchid plantations in Zhangzhou, cultivating more than 1,000 species of orchids, yielding 60 million pots every year, the local government said. About 5 percent of the annual output of 1 billion yuan ($160 million) is generated by exports, major destinations including Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States. Orchid cultivation in Zhangzhou dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), when orchids were mostly indigenous flowers growing in the mountains. In the wild, the leaves were slimmer and blossoms were smaller, but after centuries of human selection and growing they became more colorful and bright. Liu Jianyun owns three Chinese orchid gardens in the city, covering 3.5 hectares. He said he grows more than 200,000 pots of orchids, valued at about 7 million yuan, a year. Every year he sells 60 percent and saves the rest for seedlings. It takes an orchid plant two years to mature, and the average price for a pot is 40 yuan. But Liu said that even experts such as him have to make provision for a loss of 15 percent of the plants as many of them fail to make it to maturity. Liu's plantation is among 62 large orchid plantations in Zhangzhou, anything larger than 1.5 hectares regarded as fitting in that category. There are also 25 joint-venture gardens and 1,700 self-employed businesses. The industry is said to employ 12,000 people. Many of the gardens have been passed down from generation to generation, and a common talking point for the owners is what is regarded as a golden age for the industry nine years ago. That year a single pot of a particular species fetched 10 million yuan and as buying a Chinese orchid became akin to buying an expensive car they were dubbed Benchi lanhua (the Mercedez-Benz orchid). But those days seem to be over, because precious species are easily reproduced by tissue cultures today, and the most expensive species costs less than 10,000 yuan. "As cultivation technology matured, the price of orchids returned to normal," Zhang said. "Making an instant fortune selling these flowers has become hard to do, and we have to focus on quality and marketing." Although the city is one of the country's biggest orchid producers, Zhang said, exports are small, partly because of a lack of logistics for fresh flowers. At the risk of dehydration and death en route, the delicate flower demands transport to overseas destinations by air. "But air freight is outrageously expensive in China," Zhang said. "That helps explain why overseas buyers are still largely limited to hard-bitten orchid lovers rather than everyday households." So in addition to Chinese communities in Japan, the US and Europe, Zhangzhou sells its orchids to nearby provinces. As the flower blossoms for 20 days during winter, it is seen as a harbinger of spring, and the great bulk of sales take place during Spring Festival. One species that is particularly popular at the moment is the butterfly orchid, which is widespread in Southeast Asia, North America and North Africa. These orchids, colorful and bright, are particularly popular in Europe and the US, while Chinese orchids, simple and elegant, seem to appeal more to Asian tastes. Hong Gerui, manager of Zhangzhou Jetting Biotechnology Co, said exports to Western countries have grown rapidly in recent years. The company is one of China's top five orchid producers and has customers worldwide. Hong said European customers buy about 50,000 young plants from the company a month, as do Japanese customers. Each plant sells for 5 or 6 yuan. "Zhangzhou's climate is optimal for butterfly orchids, and as we have been growing this variety for more than 10 years, we have experience and skills our European counterparts don't have." The plants produced here are much cheaper than those cultivated in Europe, he said.

Chinese liquor giants fined for price fixing Posted: 22 Feb 2013 10:22 PM PST Chinese top two liquor makers Kweichew Moutai and Wu Liangye were fined a total of 449 million yuan (71.41 million U.S dollars) for price fixing, according to local price regulators.

Another H5N1 patient dies in SW China Posted: 22 Feb 2013 11:41 PM PST The second of two people confirmed by the Ministry of Health to have contracted avian influenza H5N1 died in a hospital in southwest China's Guizhou province on Friday, according to health authorities.

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