BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday published a regulation to enforce environmental evaluation on new projects from October, in an effort to prevent pollution or ecological destruction from the beginning. According to the regulation, approved on Aug. 12 by the State Council, the Cabinet, environmental evaluations are required before the planning of development projects being approved. Under the regulation, environmental evaluation of city-level projects will be conducted by local environmental authorities while provincial projects must be evaluated by environmental authorities under the State Council. The regulation covers all development activities, from land use and the development of rivers or oceans, to development projects related to industrial, agricultural, husbandry, and forestry sectors as well as energy, water conservation, transportation, urban construction, tourism, and exploration of natural resources.
BEIJING, Aug. 21 -- China Mobile Thursday reported its first drop in net profit since 1999 because of rising competition from rivals China Telecom and China Unicom and its weak 3G performance. The world's biggest telco posted a net profit of 30.1 billion yuan (US.42 billion) in the second quarter, compared with 30.6 billion yuan a year ago. Analysts had previously forecast a net profit of 31.4 billion yuan for the period. "A macro-economic slowdown, a rising mobile communications penetration rate and changes in the competitive environment of the telecommunications industry in China have posed challenges to the development of the business in the first half," China Mobile said in a statement. In the first six months, China Mobile posted a net profit of 55.3 billion yuan, a 1.4 percent annual growth. Its revenue totaled 212.9 billion yuan, an 8.9 percent rise from a year ago. China Mobile's monthly average revenue per user, a key index of the industry to monitor a telco's profitability, was 75 yuan in the first half, about 10 percent less than a year ago. China Mobile added 35.87 million users in the first half to total 493 million by the end of June. The telco had 957,000 3G users since it started a trial 3G service in April. In the first half, China Mobile took 66 percent of the total new additional mobile users, compared with 85 percent a year ago, due to the "changed competitive landscape," the company said. "The gap between China Mobile and other rivals will become narrow but it will still dominate the market for about two years," said Wu Wenzhao, a telecommunications analyst of Analysys International. In January, China issued 3G licenses to China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.
BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Industrial enterprises in 22 Chinese provinces, regions and municipalities generated 1.11 trillion yuan (163 billion U.S. dollars) of profit in the first seven months, down 17.3 percent from the same period last year, according to the latest official figures. The decline is 3.8 percentage points lower than that in the first six months, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement Friday. The revenues gathered by the industrial companies' core businesses reached 21.4 trillion yuan in the first seven months, up 0.9 percent from last year. The growth rate is 0.5 percentage points higher than that in the first six months. Of the 39 industrial sectors, 14 achieved a rebound in profit growth, nine recorded a slow-down in profit declines and four turned slumping profit to rebounding profit. The 22 regions refer to China's provinces, regions and municipalities minus Beijing, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hunan, Guangdong, Anhui, Hainan, Chongqing, Yunnan and Tibet Autonomous Region. The NBS used to publicize national industrial profit every two months, but began to issue the information monthly to improve monitoring frequency on economy this year. Only 22 provinces, regions or municipalities now provide monthly industrial profit data.
BUDAPEST, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai has expressed optimism in having a better future in ties with China upon the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Bajnai described China as a reliable international partner in a recent interview with Xinhua, saying that Hungary was one of the first to establish diplomatic ties with the fledgling country. Having visited China in November 2008, he said he has been deeply impressed with the country's dynamic development. "The high-standard professional exchange of views with Chinese negotiation partners in the central and local governments and withbusiness leaders have already yielded concrete results in the Hungarian-Chinese economic relations, to the benefit of both countries," said the prime minister. He welcomed the forthcoming visit of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, saying the visit will offer an opportunity for the two sides to talk about "further significant advances in bilateral economic cooperation." The past decade has witnessed a 17-fold rise in trade between Hungary and China, he said, adding that there had also been extensive growth in their cultural, educational, scientific and tourism cooperation. Noting that China is one of Hungary's most significant Asian trade partners and Hungary one of China's most prominent in central and eastern Europe, Bajnai said further improvement of the relations with China has been a priority of the Hungarian foreign policy. "Mutual investment and technological cooperation are important not only because they are profitable for businesses of both countries, but also because in hard economic times they create jobs, " he said. He noted that China has been doing a splendid job in facing up to the challenges of the world economic depression. Hungary also did everything in its power to alleviate its impact, he said. Both countries should "take full advantage of their cooperation in continuing to combat the crisis," he said. Referring to the 60 years China has gone through, Bajnai said China's development, especially in the past three decades, has set an example for the world. "My personal opinion is that China's greatest achievement has been its huge economic advances, which made it possible to significantly raise the living standards of the 1.3 billion Chinese people," he said.
BEIJING, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday urged young Chinese and Africans to remember the traditional friendship and work together to promote Sino-African relations. "I hope young people from China and African countries will learn from each other and help each other, treat differences with an open mind, and contribute your wisdom and strength to building the strategic China-Africa partnership," Wen said. He made the remarks while addressing the opening ceremony of the third China-Africa Youth Festival and a farewell ceremony for young Chinese volunteers departing for Africa. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R, front) shakes hands with an African young man attending the opening ceremony of the third China-Africa Youth Festival in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 14, 2009. Wen on Friday attended the opening ceremony of the third China-Africa Youth Festival and a farewell ceremony for young Chinese volunteers departing for Africa. The festival, originally proposed by Wen at the second China-Africa Cooperation Ministerial Conference in Ethiopia in December 2003, has become a platform for China-Africa exchanges. "Young people bear the hope of a nation and they also shoulder the future of a friendly China-Africa relationship," Wen said, expressing his hope young people would fulfill their historic responsibilities and create better conditions for friendship development. The Chinese government decided in 2006 to send 300 young volunteers to Africa to work in medical, agricultural, sports and educational field. Wen encouraged the volunteers to serve the African people with their knowledge and skills, win their friendship and trust, and learn from them. More than 750 guests, including youth delegates from 49 African countries, attended the ceremony.
BEIJING, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- The People's Liberation Army (PLA) should study and practice the Scientific Outlook on Development in a practical way, Chinese President Hu Jintao said in an written instruction to the PLA recently. Hu, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), made the instruction as PLA held a meeting here from Wednesday to Friday on its third stage of in-depth study and practice of the Scientific Outlook on Development. It should be based on the grassroots situation and provide specific guidance; it should give prominence to practice and focus on solving real problems, the instruction said. It should obtain actual effects and ensure all tasks of the army be completed, the instruction said. CMC vice-chairmen Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihong and other senior military officials attended the meeting.
石家庄骨头闭合
PINGYAO, Shanxi, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- A photo exhibition exclusively dedicated to Canadian surgeon Henry Norman Bethune opened Saturday at the Pingyao International Photography Festival in north China's Shanxi Province. Bethune is a household name in China, a country where he saved numerous lives and sacrificed his own in 1939 during China's War of Resistance Against Japanese aggression. "He is noble-minded and pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people," Chairman Mao wrote in his article In Memory of Norman Bethune. The exhibition consists of 41 photos of Dr. Bethune living and working in China, some of which had never been shown before. "As Canadians, we are all proud to be associated with this visionary adventurer and deeply touched by the respect and recognition shown to him here in China," said Canadian Ambassador to China, David Mulroney. Most of the pictures were provided by Wang Yan, daughter of ShaFei, who was a forefather of China's news photography and a close friend of Bethune. "I remember that I was touched when I first read about Bethune in my school days and now it feels like looking at the pictures of an old friend who has just passed away," said visitor Wu Jun. "Many people love Bethune for they have learnt his deeds and spirit in Chairman Mao's article while my affection for him comes from his friendship with my father," Wang said. "Bethune was my father's mentor as he exemplified the essence of communism." Upon his death Bethune left his Kodak Retina camera to Sha Fei. Bethune also healed Japanese soldiers, took pictures of them, which were sent back to Japan. "He wished the Japanese people would protest against the war when they saw how their sons were suffering on battlefield. He was a true humanist," Wang said. Just before he died, Bethune wrote in a letter, saying that the last two years (those he spent in China) have been the most significant, the most meaningful years of his life.
BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to strengthen international judicial cooperation with other countries, including the United States, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Justice said. The unnamed spokesperson made the statement while commenting on the case of two former Bank of China (BOC) managers in southern Guangdong Province, who were convicted in a U.S. court last year of embezzlement and money laundering, the Legal Daily reported Friday. "China welcomed the verdict by the U.S. court," which sentenced Xu Chaofan and Xu Guojun, two former managers of the BOC Guangdong Kaiping Branch, and their wives, to prison terms of eight to 25 years, the spokesperson said. Xu Chaofan was sentenced to 25 years in jail and Xu Guojun to 22 years. Their wives were each sentenced to eight years in prison. All four were further sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay 482 million U.S. dollars in restitution. The four were found guilty of a racketeering conspiracy that began in 1991 and continued until October 2004. Prosecutors said the defendants laundered stolen money through Hong Kong, Canada and the U.S., including 3 million U.S. dollars deposited at several Las Vegas casinos. The case was one of the biggest of its kind since the founding of New China in 1949. It has, however, reinforced the positive development of Sino-U.S. judicial cooperation and provided experience in dealing with organized economic crime. "Fleeing suspects are doomed to be punished by law," said the spokesperson. International judicial cooperation, an effective way of fighting crime, would contribute to the crackdown on trans-national crimes, he said. Professor Huang Feng of the Beijing Normal University's Criminal Law Research Institute said Xu's sentencing in the U.S. provided "an alternative to extradition" as the two countries had not signed an extradition treaty. Fleeing suspects could still be convicted abroad, though they currently could not be repatriated, Huang said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in May the two guilty couples should be repatriated or extradited to China as soon as possible.
URUMQI, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- A senior government official said Friday the situation in Urumqi, the capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, was under control after local residents had taken to the streets over two days to protest against hypodermic syringe attacks. There were no major protests in the city Friday, a day after massive protests that left five people dead Thursday, said Executive Deputy Mayor Zhang Hong. Deputy Mayor of Urumqi Zhang Hong speaks during a news conference in Urumqi, capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sept. 4, 2009. Zhang Hong said on Friday the situation was basically under control in the citySmall crowds gathered "in a few locations" Friday, but soon dispersed and nobody was killed, said Zhang. Syringe attacks carried out since Aug. 20 have resulted in panic and resentment from the public, the official said. Suspects were caught Wednesday when attacking members of the public. They were beaten by a angry crowd and one was seriously injured. People gather on a street in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sept. 4, 2009. Police were exerting efforts to control the situation in Urumqi on Friday. Five people have been confirmed dead and 14 others injured and hospitalized following Thursday's protests, Zhang said. Of the five dead, two had been confirmed as innocent civilians, while police are trying to identify the remaining three. He said investigations showed those carrying out the syringe attacks were from the Uygur ethnic group while the attacked included Han Chinese and other ethnic groups. Residents go around at a market on Meiqi Lane in Urumqi, capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sept. 4, 2009. By Thursday, local hospitals had dealt with 531 victims of hypodermic syringe stabbings, 106 of whom showed obvious signs of needle attacks. Zhang said the attacks were premeditated and organized to create terror in society. "The 'three forces' (separatism, terrorism and extremism) at home and abroad are not willing to see ethnic unity and their failure when the July 5 violence died down quickly," he said. "So they are using 'soft violence' to disrupt social order and instigate ethnic hatred." China's Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu arrived in Urumqi Friday to direct work to defuse ongoing unrest in the city. Meng, also a State Councillor, urged local governments and Communist Party of China (CPC) committees at all levels in Xinjiang "to restore social order as soon as possible." "Maintaining stability is the central task of overriding importance in Xinjiang at the present time," he said in a meeting with local officials. Meng said the spate of syringe attacks, which were premeditated, masterminded and conducted by law-breakers and instigated by ethnic separatist forces, were a continuation of the July 5 riot in the city which left 197 people dead. He said the separatists' purpose was to undermine ethnic unity.