BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government was taking such measures as deferring payment of social security funds in its latest efforts to reduce burdens of companies nationwide and foster stable employment situation, officials said here on Sunday. In a notice jointly issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS), Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation, troubled enterprises will be allowed to delay payment of social security funds in 2009 with the deferment period less than six months, MHRSS officials said. Companies which are unable to pay social security funds are eligible to delay payment after authorization from the provincial governments, it said. No overdue fine will be imposed on these companies. The notice also said the insurance rates for medical, work injury, unemployment and maternity will be allowed to temporarily cut back next year in some regions after authorization from the provincial governments. The pension insurance rate, however, should not be lowered. China's social security system is made up of five parts: pension insurance, medical insurance, work injury insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance. The notice also encouraged troubled companies to conduct in-company training for employees and to apply necessary financial support from local governments. In addition, troubled enterprises which refuse to lay off workers or dismiss fewer workers will be allowed to use unemployment insurance funds to pay social security subsidies, it said.
BEIJING, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao sent a congratulatory message to a UN meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People to be held Tuesday at the UN headquarters in New York. Wen extended warm congratulations to the opening of the meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on behalf of the Chinese government. The Palestinian issue is the core of the Mideast problem. China staunchly supports the restoration of the legal rights of the Palestinian people as well as the Mideast peace process, the message said. China hopes that Palestine and Israel would stick to the path of peaceful negotiations on the basis of related UN resolutions and the "Land for Peace" principle to establish an independent Palestinian state at an early date, so as to realize peaceful coexistence between the Israeli and Palestinian states, it said. To resolve the Palestinian issue at an early date is the aspiration of the people in the Mideast as well as the common expectation of the international community, it said. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China will continue to support the United Nations in playing an important role in solving the Mideast problem and pushing forward the settlement of the Palestinian issue, said the message. The Chinese government will also work with the international community to make unremitting contributions to peace, stability and development in the Mideast, it added.
Li Changchun (C), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visits a publishing showpiece exhibition in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 6, 2008. Li attended on Saturday night a publishing showpiece exhibition and a concert in celebration of 30 years' reform and opening-up. BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese official Li Changchun attended on Saturday night a publishing showpiece exhibition and a concert in celebration of 30 years' reform and opening-up. The exhibition and the concert were held by China Publishing Group Corporation. Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said during his visit that the company should strive to become a modernized publishing group with international competitiveness and influence. Li Changchun (front, R), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, shakes hands with performers after a concert in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 6, 2008. Li attended on Saturday night a publishing showpiece exhibition and a concert in celebration of 30 years' reform and opening-up. More than 100 showpieces of books, newspapers and electronic publications were shown in the exhibition. Liu Yunshan, member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and head of the CPC Central Committee Publicity Department, also attended the event.
BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Two TV rivals should have locked horns on Lunar New Year's Eve, but the alternative to the traditional China Central Television (CCTV) New Year gala, the "Shanzhai" show was just not available for most people in China. Lao Meng, a Beijing-based wedding photographer who initiated a homemade gala focusing on performances by ordinary people, made the "Shanzhai" show - an "alternative" pastiche of CCTV's traditional gala. He called it "a real show by and for ordinary people." The "Shanzhai" show which had claimed to be for college students and migrant workers who could not return home for the holiday, turned out to be only available on the Macao Asia Satellite TV (MASTV) and its website. Most families in the country cannot get satellite TV channels, and the MASTV website page could not be opened from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., when the show was on. Lao Meng told Xinhua he did not know why, "maybe too many people were logging on to the website." Lao Meng also said the show on MASTV was actually a recorded broadcast. Unlike all CCTV gala's performers who performed live, Lao Meng and his performers were having a party to celebrate their "Shanzhai" gala in an indoor hall in Beijing on New Year's Eve. Chen Jun, a magazine editor in Shanghai, said he was disappointed to not have access to the "Shanzhai" show. "It was much all mouth and no trousers. I think it has let many people down," Chen said. The "Shanzhai" gala had won wide support on the Internet and much media attention from home and abroad, as it claimed to make a show for common people and to challenge CCTV's gala.
BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- After successfully carrying out its first escort mission, the Chinese Navy prepares to cover another 11 domestic merchant vessels planning to travel around Somalia this week. "We will actively provide information and necessary rescue services for those merchant ships passing through the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters," said He Jianzhong, spokesman with Ministry of Transport (MOT). A ship of China Ocean Shipping Group Company (COSCO) sails in the Gulf of Aden under the escort of a Chinese naval fleet (not seen in the picture) Jan. 6, 2009. The Chinese naval fleet arrived Tuesday in the waters of the Gulf of Aden off Somalia to carry out the first escort mission against pirates. Four Chinese ships, including one from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, were escorted by the fleet. A governmental spokesman said on Tuesday that the naval task force will protect a total of 15 Chinese merchant ships between Tuesday and Saturday. Consisting of two destroyers and one supply ship, the naval fleet arrived in waters off Somali coast on Tuesday after a voyage of more than 4,400 nautical miles. It set sail on Dec. 26. Soon after its arrival, the fleet conducted its first escort service for four Chinese merchant vessels, including one from Hong Kong. The ship's cargo, origins and destinations were not released. Under command of the fleet's flagship DDG-169 Wuhuan destroyer, the four merchant vessels sailed in a line formation and passed through the warship's patrolling area. Surging piracy off the Somali coast has increasingly threatened internationals shipping. A total of 1,265 Chinese merchant ships passed through the Gulf of Aden last year. Seven were attacked by pirates. One Chinese fishing ship, Tian Yu 8, and its 18 crew members were hijacked on Nov. 14, 2008. They are still being held by pirates. The MOT announced Chinese merchant ships may ask for protection by applying to the China Shipowners' Association (CSA) and China Maritime Search and Rescue Center (CMSRC). According to the commander of the Chinese Naval expedition, Real-Admiral Du Jingchen, the main task for the warships is to dispel pirates with their presence. "We have started our escort mission and will conduct careful deployment and close contact with the vessels to secure their safety by strictly abiding by the U.N. resolutions and international laws," said Real-Admiral Du. The fleet is carrying about 800 crew members including 70 soldiers from the Navy's special forces along with weapons such as missiles, canons and helicopters. For the first phase of the escort mission, the fleet will patrol the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters for about three months, followed by possible replacement warships as needed.
BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese emergency chartered flights are expected to fly back home almost all the more than 3,000 mainland tourists stuck in riot-hit Thailand by Dec. 1. Four Chinese mainland carriers have sent nine planes to retrieve the tourists after Bangkok's international airport closed because of a protest. Some 2,000 tourists had returned back home by noon, and another more than 800 would fly back late Sunday night or early Monday morning, according to the airlines. A China Eastern Airbus-300 arrives at the Utapao Airport near Pattaya, about 150 km east of Bangkok, capital of Thailand, Nov. 29, 2008. Chinese aviation authorities were sending 5 planes on Saturday to Thailand to bring home the remaining stranded Chinese tourists after the closure of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok China Southern Airlines, the nation's largest carrier by fleet size, said late Sunday night it will sent another plane to take back the remaining tourists on Monday. Around 246 passengers landed in Shanghai at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday. This was the first return flight from Thailand, though delayed for several hours because of unstable situation at the airport.
广州白癜风新世纪医院价位
BRUSSELS, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The NATO secretary general on Monday praised the Chinese navy's anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia and indicated NATO's willingness to work with China on the issue. "I am applauding what is a rather unique position of the Chinese navy participating in the anti-piracy (campaign)," Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Chinese journalists at a NATO New Year reception. "I do not exclude, at a certain stage, that when the United Nations would create a sort of roof under which these whole anti-piracy operations take place, NATO and China will meet under that roof," he said. A soldier of Chinese navy special force watches a seabird flying over him on destroyer "Wuhan", flagship of the Chinese naval fleet for an escort mission against piracy off Somali coast, in the Gulf of Aden, on Jan. 18, 2009. The Chinese naval fleet including two destroyers and a supply ship set off on Dec. 26, 2008 for waters off Somalia. The deployment of two warships in the Gulf of Aden was the Chinese Navy's first expeditionary military mission. "I welcome the engagement of China... It is a very important contribution to anti-piracy operations," the secretary general said. NATO deployed four warships off Somalia in October to escort World Food Program food shipments to Somalia and to patrol the seas to deter piracy. Its mission ended in December. But the alliance is considering a long-term strategy on the piracy issue and stands ready to consider further requests for the use of its naval assets in this regard.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday called on the international community to continue to strengthen multilateral counter-terrorism cooperation within the UN framework. China's UN Ambassador Zhang Yesui made the appeal at the thematic debate of the UN Security Council on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorists. "Recently, a series of alarming acts of terror occurred in such places as Mumbai, resulting in heavy casualties of innocent people. The Chinese delegation expresses its deep condolences to the victims," Zhang told the council. "These cruel realities remind us once again that terrorism still remains a potent threat to peace and security of international community," he said. The Security Council, as the core of the international collective security machinery, should play an important role in international fight against terrorism, he said. "Terrorism is the common threat facing the international community and it is imperative to continue to step up the multilateral counter terrorism cooperation within the UN framework," he said. China believes that all UN bodies should pay attention to both stepping up counter-terrorism measures and removing the root causes that give rise to terrorism, he said. "The member states are the real owners in the implementation of all UN counter-terrorism resolutions," the Chinese envoy said. "Their will and capacity in counter-terrorism determines the implementation of those resolutions." "However, limited resources and inadequate counter-terrorism capacities have led to the inability of many countries, especially the developing countries to honor fully their counter-terrorism obligations, and thus limited seriously the international community's achievements in the struggle against terrorism," he stressed. China hopes that the international community will pay greater attention to the capacity-building in counter-terrorism and invest more resources to help the developing countries with counter-terrorism assistance that meets their actual needs and help them improve expeditiously capabilities so that the effective implementation of all UN counter-terrorism resolutions will have a firm basis, he added.
BEIJING, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin said Friday people in the non-public sector of the economy has become a major force in the reform and open-up drive while urging them to make more contribution to growth as the country faces economic hardship. In a congratulatory letter to a forum held to mark and review the development of private economy in the last 30 years, Jia said the private sector has made important contributions to the country's economic achievements, innovation capabilities, job creation and the "go global" strategy. The chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee called on people in the private sector to respond to the call of the Communist Party of China and unite as one to face the formidable challenge posed by the global financial crisis. Privately-owned enterprises should tap the potential of domestic demand while continuing to implement the "go global" strategy and expand international market, Jia said. Privately-owned enterprises should also assume their social responsibility to create as many jobs as possible while helping the Chinese economy achieve a sound and fast growth, he added.
SHIJIAZHUANG, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- The trial at a court here in Hebei Province of four executives of the Sanlu Group, the major dairy at the center of China's tainted milk scandal, ended without an immediate verdict at 10:10 p.m. on Wednesday. The trial opened at 8 a.m. Prosecutors accused Tian Wenhua, Sanlu's former board chairwoman and general manager, and three other executives of producing and selling fake or sub-standard products. Sanlu Group Co., Ltd., represented by its trade union chairman Ran Weiguang, was also a defendant. The three other executives are former deputy general managers Wang Yuliang and Hang Zhiqi, and Wu Jusheng, a former executive in charge of the milk procurement division. All four defendants were arrested on Sept. 26. At the end of the trial, Ran, on behalf of Sanlu, offered apologies to children sickened by the tainted milk and their families. The verdict will be announced at an unspecified future date.