By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
STOCKHOLM, Dec. 27(Greenpost)–China’s National People’s Congress has passed its anti-terrorism law.
The law has ten chapters explaining what is terrorism and how to identify it, how to counterattack it.
It also illustrated how to conduct international cooperation.
The law will be effective on Jan. 1, 2016.
The law was signed by President Xi Jinping.
According to the agreement, CGN, Guangxi Investment Group Co. Ltd., and Thailand’s Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Public Company Limited (RATCH), a subsidiary of the state-owned Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, will team up to establish a joint venture to develop, construct and operate the second phase of the nuclear power plant in Fangchenggang City.
The project is a pilot site for Hualong One nuclear power technology, the country’s third-generation nuclear reactor design, which was jointly designed by CGN and China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC).
Rum Herabat, chief executive officer of RATCH, said the project has the support of the Thai government. He said he hopes cooperation with China will help Thailand train talent and gain experience in nuclear power development.
The project will also serve as a bridgehead for China’s nuclear power technology to expand in the ASEAN market. Enditem
Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
“The Internet is already part of culture and we should learn to use it to promote global cultural exchanges,” he said.
As a speaker at the opening ceremony of WIC, Schwab found that he shared many ideas of Internet development with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“The most important one is that we should keep the Internet open and we have to work together on the global level,” he said, noting it needs the dedication of governments, businesses and individuals to shape the Internet in such a way that everybody has access and that the Internet can really serve as an engine and catalyst for economic development.
In his observation, the Fourth Industrial Revolution featuring technology such as artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing and nanotechnology is coming our way at an overwhelming speed.
Schwab said China has already established a foothold in many areas and looks set to continue. However, China must ensure the transition from low-end manufacturing to modern industry is successful to sustain this path.
“The ‘Internet Plus’ and ‘Made in China 2015’ [strategies] show that China is going right toward that direction,” Schwab added.
Schwab pointed out that a big task will be ensuring equal assess to the Internet. The digital divide is a problem both across the world and it must be addressed on a global level.
“China has good preconditions to bridge the digital divide and help other countries enhance information infrastructure,” said Schwab citing China’s huge population with Internet access and the current developments regarding 5G.
To cope with the challenges to governance brought about by the current technological shift, Schwab suggested a more agile approach to government-private-expert cooperation to create the optimal conditions for smart technology and service orientated design, both hallmarks of Industry 4.0, as the Fourth Industrial Revolution is also known.
Looking ahead, Schwab pictures a future where a sensor implanted in our body will help us control objects around us. Industry 4.0 will change the way we work, too, as we will no longer be held back by geographical limitations, the world will be our office.
“We will have richer social lives […] and most importantly a greener environment where we can breathe fresh air every day. It’s not fiction and its not far away,” Schwab said. Enditem
Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
BEIJING, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) — China is mulling over more efficient measures to eliminate excess capacities in the steel, electrolytic aluminum, cement and shipbuilding industries, making those industries face an unprecedented tide of bankruptcy, mergers and acquisitions.
The National Development and Reform Commission(NDRC) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology are making policies on the issue based on proactive long-term investigations, the Economic Information Daily quoted an unnamed source as saying.
Apart from controlling the launch of new projects and punishing those unapproved ones, the government will raise the industry thresholds in terms of energy consumption, environmental protection examinations, bank credit and an accountability system, to make the fittest survive.
The central government will also take local investment and employment into consideration when creating the withdrawal mechanism for excess capacities.
As Chinese economy transforms from an investment-pulled growth to an innovation, science and technology-driven one, the basic industries such as steel must adjust with it, said Xu Xiangchun, head of the information department of MySteel.
Currently, Chinese demand for steel is approaching the ceiling. As the economic restructuring further drags down steel demand and banks stop lending money to the sector, it is expected more and more steel mills will face a capital chain rupture, Xu added. Enditem
Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
“China is willing to discuss industrial capacity and investment cooperation with Kyrgyzstan,” said Premier Li Keqiang during talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart Temir Sariyev in Beijing.
Sariyev is paying an official visit to China. He just attended the two-day 14th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) prime ministers’ meeting in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou.
He said Kyrgyzstan is ready to align its development strategy with China and actively promote cooperation on industrial capacity.
Li voiced the willingness of providing technology and production equipment to Kyrgyzstan, in a bid to help the country speed up its industrialization and independent development.
He urged the two sides to push forward cooperation in infrastructure construction and called for early resumption of the working group meeting on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway project.
He hoped the two sides to advance the construction of big cooperative projects, including the north-south highway in Kyrgyzstan and a highway around the Lake Issyk Kul.
The premier also supported the two countries to speed up construction on cross-border transportation passageway and set up port cooperation mechanism.
In the context of complicated international and regional security situation, Li said China and Kyrgyzstan should strengthen law-enforcement and security cooperation to cope with the threat of terrorism.
As Kyrgyzstan will host the 15th SCO prime ministers’ meeting, Li said China will work with Kyrgyzstan to bolster the organizing matters of the SCO and the pragmatic cooperation among SCO members.
Sariyev welcomed China’s investment in transportation, energy and social infrastructure.
He said Kyrgyzstan is willing to work with China to push forward infrastructure construction cooperation and carry out the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway project as soon as possible.
After their talks, the two prime ministers signed a joint communique between their governments.
In the communique, the two sides agreed to promote pragmatic cooperation within the framework of joint construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt.
The two sides decided to enhance financial cooperation and accelerate settlement in local currency.
The two sides will strengthen cooperation on expanding the export of Kyrgyz agricultural products to China and will hold consultation on Chinese market access of Kyrgyz meat products.
In the document, the two countries vowed to enhance information sharing and jointly fight the “Three Evil Forces” of terrorism, separatism, and extremism, including the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM).
The two countries also agreed to enhance coordination within the framework of United Nations, the SCO and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). Enditem
BANGKOK, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) — Chinese State Councilor Wang Yong concluded a visit to Thailand on Sunday, during which he co-chaired a bilateral meeting on economic cooperation, and attended the launching ceremony of a China-Thailand railway project.
During his five-day stay in Thailand, Wang met with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and presented to him a congratulatory message from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the commencement of the China-Thai railway project.
The launch of the railway project, which has been pushed forward by Chinese and Thai leaders, is not only a gift for the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, but also a new landmark for their strategic cooperation, Wang said.
On Thursday, Wang co-chaired the 4th Meeting of the China-Thailand Joint Committee on Trade, Investment and Economic Cooperation with Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkit Chatusiphithak.
During the meeting, both sides exchanged views on strengthening the alignment of the two countries’ development strategies, and expanding cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, industrial capacity, infrastructure, tourism, finance, information and communication, as well as space technology.
On Saturday afternoon, the Chinese state councilor attended the launching ceremony of the China-Thailand railway cooperation project with Thai Deputy Prime Minister Prajin Jantong in central Thailand’s Ayutthaya province.
The ceremony was held at Chiang Rak Noi Station in Ayutthaya, where the future Operations Control Center of the railway project will be located.
The two countries are collaborating in building Thailand’s first standard-gauge double-track railway line, which uses 1.435-meter standard gauge with trains operating at top speeds of 160-180 kph.
During his visit, Wang also held talks with Thai Deputy Premier Prawit Wongsuwan, attended and addressed the Thai-Chinese Business Forum with Somkit, and inspected the Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone, which is located in east Thailand’s Rayong province. Enditem
Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
By 2020, China’s GDP per capita could reach 12,615 U.S. dollars, a substantial increase on the current level of 7,800 U.S. dollars, Economic Information Daily quoted Lin as saying Monday.
Lin attributed his forecast to domestic demand rather than exports, noting that consumption and investment will be key to realizing these goals.
In his logic, consumption growth is based on increased revenue, and revenue relies on labor efficiency, which requires technological renovation and industrial upgrading, both of which depend on investment.
China is rich in investment resources given the Chinese government’s debt ratio stands at 56 percent of GDP, much lower than developed countries, whose debt ratio usually well higher than 100 percent, Lin said.
“China’s private savings are as high as 50 percent of national GDP,” said Lin, adding that the country also has foreign exchange reserves of 3.5 trillion U.S. dollars. Enditem
Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Meanwhile, major capacity cooperation projects will make significant progresses with several overseas demonstration bases to be established and a batch of internationally competitive enterprises to be fostered, said the report.
According to the report, the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, made surveys on more than 60 countries and finally fixed the 45 countries for production capacity cooperation with China’s surrounding countries as “main axle”, Africa, the Middle East and the Central and Eastern European countries as “west wing” and Latin American countries as “east wing”.
The equipment “going out” projects will be promoted in electric power, railway, iron and steel, nonferrous metals, building materials, chemical, textile, automobile, telecommunications, engineering machinery, aerospace, shipbuilding and marine engineering fields. Enditem
Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Medvedev and Xi Jinping shake hands. Photo by Li Tao/ Xinhua.
Xi made the remarks during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Wuzhen in east China’s Zhejiang Province.
Hailing achievements of bilateral cooperation in 2015, Xi said that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to adhere to the policies on deepening China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, no matter how global and regional situation change.
China and Russia are also committed to efforts to promote their common development as well as to safeguard international justice and world peace and stability, according to Xi.
Both countries are facing a key period of economic mode transformation and structural adjustment, Xi said, calling on the sides to work together on the alignment between China’s Silk Road Economic Belt construction and Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
Russian and Chinese held talks in Wuzhen. Photo by Li Xueren/Xinhua
The two countries should jointly explore new ideas and new measures to expand cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, agriculture, infrastructure construction, people-to-people exchanges and local-level ties, said Xi.
Medvedev said the Russian side is pleased with the high-level development of Russia-China ties, and is happy to see the constant growth of bilateral economic, cultural cooperation.
Russia is dedicated to the strategic docking of the EEU and the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, he said, vowing to deepen cooperation with China in infrastructure, energy, finance, investment, information networks and other fields.
Russia is also willing to enhance communication and coordination with China on international affairs, strengthen cooperation with China under the frameworks of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), said the prime minister.
Xi and Medvedev are in Wuzhen to attend the second World Internet Conference, a multilateral event which begins on Wednesday. Xi will deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony.
Earlier on Tuesday, Medvedev attended the 14th SCO prime ministers’ meeting in Zhengzhou, central China’s Henan Province. Enditem
Source Xinhua
Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
By Xuefei Chen Axelsson
STOCKHOLM, Dec. 19(Greenpost)–Klas Eklund, Chairman of the Swedish Housing Crisis Committee, SEB bank senior economist has said that Sweden has faced a shortage of houses leading to a shortage crisis.
“It is definitely a crisis in a sense that there are not enough housing, We have had a great inflow of refugee from middle east, asylum seekers. And a combination of lack of construction and low mobility on real estate market means we have an urgent crisis of houses today,” said Eklund.
He made a presentation again at a seminar held by Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Stockholm recently. Leading the Swedish Housing Crisis Committee, they published a report about housing situation in Sweden in June 2014. The report had been presented to the government, but it seemed not enough attention or action to be given.
According to his report, Sweden has been building houses and the number of houses have been doubled. However, the demand is increasing drastically due to the rapid influx of refugees.
“We have a lack of housing and that housing prices are pushed up rapidly . Some people even believe there is a crash, I don’t believe in that, but there is numerous kinds of problems. Very high prices in the cities, and a huge influx of immigrants and too low constructions,” said Eklund.
Being asked about what measures can be taken or what kind of suggestions he has made, Eklund said:
“I think a number of things have to be done, we havet to stimulate construction and make it easier by easing up the regulatory process which is common in Swedish municipalities. I also think you have to change the tax system. Now the sales tax is very high and there is so low mobility in the market. Further more when it comes to rental apartment, there is a regulation, ceiling for rents, which means it is not profitable to build rental apartments. Not profitable enough,” said Eklund.
China is famous for building faster. When being asked if Chinese developers can help ease the situation, Eklund said he is happy to see them to come and try.
” I am happy to see them to come and try. I definitely welcome them. There is already a lack of construction workers. I think a lot of politicians and decision-makers would welcome Chinese construction workers. But the problem is the Swedish labor market which has a very high minimium wages and it is very strict. Rent control and building permit. Process from planning to construction takes very long time,” he warned.
Olle Zetterberg, CEO of Stockholm Business Region agrees with Eklund.
“I think he is totally right. Housing crisis here in Stockholm and other major cities is the major threat to our otherwise good economy. We have a very good growth rate. The problem is if we can house so many people. We have so many refugees coming to Sweden, we have to house them. They can’t stay in tents for a long time,” said Zetterberg.
He said the problem is shortage of housing.
“We have to do a lot of things, financial regulation, tax change. It is not a quick fix, it is a long term issue, ” Zetterberg said.
He held that changes must be done at national and governmental level. People in the parliament and government have to do more to change the tax, change the rules and make it easy to move or to build. The current regulations are so easy to stop people from building.
He also thinks it is not bad if there are Chinese bidders coming to build. He also complained that the workers rules are too strict for companies to hire people.
Hans Lind, professor in economics at Swedish Royal Institute of Technology or KTH said that is definite that there is a shortage of housing in Sweden. The question is whether it should be built by the municipalities or by private developers.
Lennart Weiss from Veidekke, a Norweigian builder said he was very disappointed at the non-action by government.
He agreed with Eklund’s proposal and called on the government, no matter it is the red-green ruling parties or the blue alliance opposition to join hands to solve the housing shortage problem.
“Sweden has a tradition that various parties can make compromise in key issues and find a better solution,” Weiss said.
Swedish population is expected to surpass the ten million record due to the influx of refugees late this year.
About 100 people from various real estate related companies, universities, banks and parties and government attended the seminar.
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STOCKHOLM, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) — Artemisinin, the most effective drug that combat malaria today is “a gift from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to the world”, said Tu Youyou, in her presentation at Nobel Lectures in Physiology or Medicine in Stockholm on Monday.
In the half-hour-long lecture at Karolinska Institutet in central Stockholm with full participation of a thousand audience, Tu detailed a vivid story in the 1970s of how a group of Chinese researchers despite various challenges successfully developed a cure to treat malaria.
Tu won 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria, artemisinin.
Drawn from valuable research experiences in developing artemisinin, Tu believes “Chinese medicine and pharmacology are a great treasure-house”, which “should be explored and raised to a higher level.”
“Since ‘tasting hundred herbs by Shen Nong’, China has accumulated substantial experience in clinical practice, integrated and summarized medical application of most nature resource over the last thousands of years through Chinese medicine,” Tu said.
“Adopting, exploring, developing and advancing these practices would allow us to discover more novel medicines beneficial to the world healthcare,” Tu stressed.
“The sun along the mountain bows; The Yellow River seawards flows; You will enjoy a grander sight; By climbing to a greater height!” Tu quoted a poem from China’s Tang Dynasty in her speech.
“Let’s reach to a greater height to appreciate Chinese culture and find the beauty and treasure in the territory of traditional Chinese medicine!” She said.
“I enjoyed it very much, it’s fascinating story when she recalled how she went back to TCM and found this method that’s so very important for mankind,” Lars Heikensten of the Nobel Foundation told Xinhua, “it’s truly enjoyable moment.”
Despite Tu presented in Chinese and had her English version in PPT on background screen, Jan Lindsten, emeritus professor and former Secretary-General of Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, understood and enjoyed very well.
“She made a very mature comparison between modern pharmacology and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which I think is extremely important and well worth to pursue in future to find treasure from TCM in developing new drugs,” Lindsten told Xinhua.
“I am quite sure we will have future medicine comes from nature!” Birgitta Rigler, head of the Rehabilitation Clinic in Dandryd’s Hospital in Stockholm, told Xinhua.
“Chemical industry may be faster in developing new drugs, but perhaps nature-based things are more durable,” she said. Enditem
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) — It would be unwise, especially during an economic slowdown, for China to solely rely on the service sector, as it belittles the significance, and potential, of its industry.
While it is true that the service sector is outperforming industry in terms of the share of GDP, industry remains the backbone of the economy.
After all, services are dependent on the development of the industrial and agricultural sectors. To underestimate this relationship would result in an unsustainable economic model.
Manufacturing, especially the processing trade, was the main fuel firing China’s rapid expansion for the past decades.
Given the size of the economy, over-dependence on exports and credit expansion is no longer tenable. China needs to shift to a more consumption- and service-driven growth model to sustain growth, albeit at a slower rate, over the next decade and beyond.
The aim of such a transition, however, is to make the traditional industrial sector more competitive, rather than less significant.
To this end, programs such as “China Manufacturing 2025” and “Internet Plus,” aim to support the upgrading of the industrial sector by focusing on modernization and innovation, and to rebrand China from “the factory of the world” to a premier industrial power.
While the need to maintain its industrial might is influenced by its own development story, there are untold number of lessons to be drawn from developed nations.
The United States is one such example. Once the world’s largest industrial producer, in the 1980s it started to out-source manufacturing. The service sector not only flourished but actually replaced manufacturing as the backbone of the economy, eventually accounting for as much as 70 percent of the economy. Without the support of a real economy, it was only a matter of time before the bubble burst, triggering the 2008 mortgage crisis that spiralled into the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression.
The United States is now trying to claw back the lost advantages of its industrial sector. This time, however, by focusing on innovation it aims to create a stronger sector that is able to compete globally.
Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers, once said, “not only the wealth, but the independence and security of a country, appear to be materially connected with the prosperity of manufacturers.” That judgement still holds true for today’s China. Enditem
BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) — To ensure a medium-high level of economic growth for the next five years, China has moved to foster new growth engines as old ones lose steam.
China’s exports dropped by 3.7 percent in November, the fifth straight month of decline, to 1.25 trillion yuan (195 million U.S. dollars), customs data showed Tuesday.
In recent years, old growth engines, including exports and investment, lost momentum partly due to weak demand at home and overseas. The country’s quarterly GDP growth slowed to a six-year low of 6.9 percent in the third quarter of this year.
In the next five years, the country’s annual growth rate should be no less than 6.5 percent to realize the goal of doubling the GDP and per capita income of 2010 by 2020.
To attain that goal, the government must cultivate new growth engines to bolster growth in the next five years.
EMERGING INDUSTRIES
As traditional industries including steel, coal and cement sectors are facing excessive capacity, China is moving to tap the potential of new industries with bright prospects.
A proposal for formulating the country’s 13th five-year plan unveiled last month said that China will step up researches on core technology concerning the new generation of telecommunications, new energy, new material and aviation, and support the development of new industries, including energy conservation, biotechnology and information technology sectors.
In Changzhou, a city in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, there are more than 50 companies producing graphene, a new material that widely used in high-end equipment manufacturing, forming a national level production base for the material. Products made by Changzhou Tanyuan Technology Co. are used in smartphones. The company’s sales have risen from 6 million yuan to more than 200 million yuan in only three years.
Qi Chengyuan, head of the high-tech division of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said China will turn new strategic industries into major driving forces for economic growth in the next five years.
The country should form five new pillar industries that each have a potential of becoming a 10 trillion yuan industry, including information technology, bioindustry, green industry, high-end equipment and material, as well as the creative industry, Qi said.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION
New impetus must also come from the government’s emphasis on mass entrepreneurship and innovation.
In the first three quarters, China’s newly registered companies rose 19.3 percent to 3.16 million, as the country pushed for easier registration to promote innovation.
Innovation is the most important impetus for China’s growth, according to the proposal for formulating the 13th five-year plan.
A good example is the strong growth in Shenzhen, a national demonstration zone for independent innovation. In the first 10 months, the proportion of R&D investment in Shenzhen’s regional GDP was more than 4 percent, nearly doubles the national average.
The city’s economic growth stood at 8.7 percent in the first three quarters, higher than the country’s growth of 6.9 percent in the same period.
The Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. has set up 16 overseas R&D institutions and owns a total of 76,687 patents, said its CEO Ren Zhengfei.
The company realized a sales volume of 288 billion yuan last year. Ren forecast that the company will more than double that sales figure by 2019 on the back of constant innovation.
Song Weiguo, researcher with the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development, said that technological innovation will provide greater impetus for growth in the next five years.
REFORMS ON SUPPLY SIDE
Structural reforms on the supply side will lend more steam to sustainable growth, President Xi Jinping said last month at a meeting of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs.
Xu Lin, head of the NDRC’s planning division, said reforms on the supply side, which means sustainable growth instead of short-term demand management, is necessary for cultivating new growth impetus.
An important aspect of supply side reforms is government efforts to streamlining administrative approvals and delegating power to lower levels.
From early 2013 to the end of September 2015, the central government has canceled or delegated 586 kinds of administrative approval.
In the economic and technological development zone of Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the bureau in charge of administrative approvals cut the red tape and reduced the time needed for getting an approval from more than 300 days to 20 days.
On the supply side, China should maintain structural tax reductions to boost the service and advanced manufacturing sectors and support small enterprises, and push forward entrepreneurship and innovation, Premier Li Keqiang said earlier this month.
China will keep cutting red tape to foster emerging industries and speed up the overhaul in traditional industries to improve efficiency, Li said.
With new impetus from China’s reform pushes, the country will be able to realize an average annual growth of 6.5 percent in the next five years, said Yu Bin, researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council. Enditem
BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) — Nearly 20 provincial governments in China have rolled out their local development plans for the 13th Five Year Plan period from 2016 to 2020, with their focus on the “Belt and Road” construction, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Friday.
Under their development plans, they attach great importance to infrastructure construction in transportation industry and construction of industrial parks.
— Focus on transport infrastructure
Chinese local governments will give priority to transport infrastructure when promoting the “Belt and Road” initiative.
For example, Shaanxi province will be guide by construction of a logistics center to build a seamless transport network in 2016-2020. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region also said in its proposal to the 13th Five Year plan that it will build a convenient and efficient railway network, expressway network, water transport network, airline network and information network with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and neighboring provinces.
It is worth noting that in the land transportation field, the China-Europe express railway will play an increasingly important role in “going global” of Chinese goods.
As a core area of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Fujian province plans to build important airline hubs for Southeast Asia and advance construction of a regional port-shipping system and communication network facilities, to smoothly connect the land channel of the Silk Road Economic Belt and form a passage to sea for central and western China’s opening-up.
Jilin province in its 13th Five Year plan noted that it will actively explore the Arctic Ocean ship routes linking the Europe and the U.S.A., steadily operate international rail and water transportation lines linking Japan and South Korea, and further expand its outward transport lines.
Meanwhile, Tianjin will make full use of its unique geographic location advantages to vigorously promote port and maritime strategic cooperation. It will develop cross-border logistics through three land ports, like the Khorgos Port and develop maritime transport through intensive ship routes and shipping flights.
Zhejiang province announced to promote construction of a marine economic development demonstration zone and Zhoushan Islands New Area, and build a port economic circle covering the Yangtze River Delta, influencing the Yangtze River economic belt and serving the “Belt and Road” initiative.
In addition, Gansu province decided to invest more than 800 billion yuan from this year to build more than 70,000 km of roads and railways in six years.
— Efforts in industrial park construction
Industrial park construction is also a focus in the 13th Five Year plans of the provinces.
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said that it will accelerate construction of core areas in the Silk Road Economic Belt, develop high-level open economy, and quicken the pace to build the Kashgar and Khorgos economic development zones and comprehensive bonded zones.
Because of the “Belt and Road” initiative, ALaShankou has invested a lot in infrastructure, promoting rapid development of its comprehensive bonded zone, said Pan Zeming, deputy director of the ALaShankou Comprehensive Bonded Zone.
In its 13th Five Year plan, Fujian province made it clear to promote construction of important commodity export bases, commodity markets and commerce and trade parks and explore mutual establishment of industrial parks with Southeast Asian countries.
Chongqing municipality pointed out that it will actively participate in construction of overseas industrial agglomerations and economic and trade cooperation zones.
Shaanxi province said it will encourage and support competent enterprises to go abroad for transnational operation and strategic acquisitions and build Shaanxi industrial parks overseas especially in Central Asia and Africa. Meanwhile, it will also build economic cooperation zones and high-tech industrial parks to attract investments of the transnational companies and globally leading enterprises and persuade them to build regional headquarters and branches in Shaanxi.
“Industrial park is an important method for “going global” of Chinese enterprises. It is a new form for Chinese enterprises to build “Belt and Road” and also a way to change simple cargo transportation”, said Hu Zheng, chief representative of the Central Asia Representative Office of the China Merchants Group.
Since the beginning of the year, China has quickened its pace of building industrial parks along the “Belt and Road” countries.
Data of the Ministry of Commerce shows that so far, China has already built 118 economic and trade cooperation zones in 50 countries, of which 77 zones are located in 23 countries along the “Belt and Road”. Enditem
BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) — With China’s 13th Five-year Plan beginning next year, the focus of reform will start with addressing the quality of ordinary people’s lives.
At the latest meeting of the central leading group for comprehensively deepening reform on Wednesday, the leadership decided to implement the five development ideas put forward at the plenary session of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in late October: innovation, coordination, sharing, environmental protection and openness.
At the beginning of the 13th Five-year Plan, efforts need to be “focused on building a moderately prosperous society,” said a statement issued after Wednesday’s meeting.
The group approved several reform measures, one of which is that unregistered citizens are to be given household registration permits known as “hukou,” a crucial document entitling them to social welfare.
China has around 13 million unregistered people, one percent of the entire population. They include orphans and second children born illegally during the period of strict enforcement of the one-child policy, the homeless and those who have yet to apply for one or who have simply lost theirs. Those parents who violated family planning policy often refrained from getting hukou for their children to avoid fines.0 “It is a basic legal right for Chinese citizens to register for hukou. It is also a premise for participation in social affairs, to enjoy rights and fulfill duties,” the statement said.
Wan Haiyuan with an institute of macro-economics of the National Development and Reform Commission said the difficulty lies not in hukou itself, but in related matters such as healthcare, health insurance and education.
In China, various social benefits such as medical insurance and access to basic education are based on this permit and are supposed to be in line with long-term places of work and residence.
Many people without household registration have moved to cities and become tramps. According to Wan, their birth certificates might have been lost and authorities must address this issue. Those who have come to China to seek asylum should also be taken into consideration, as they are permanent residents, despite their lack of Chinese nationality.
Education is also central to plans for the next five years, said Zhang Li, director of the Ministry of Education’s development center. The reform meeting statement declared that education should advance innovation-driven development and serve the objectives of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Zhang added the statement showed that opening up in education should take the concepts and experience of developed countries as reference.
The meeting decided to integrate basic medical insurance for urban employees and the new rural cooperative medical scheme, creating a unified basic health insurance system.
Currently China has three separate medical insurance schemes — basic medical insurance for urban employees; the new rural cooperative medical scheme; and basic medical insurance for city dwellers not covered by the first two schemes, mainly the young or unemployed.
The three schemes have been perceived as unequal for a long time, as the benefits in urban areas are much greater than those in rural parts of the country.
“Even members in one family may have different health insurance,” said Meng Qingyue, a professor in health economics with the Peking University. “The integration of different medical insurance schemes is a must for achieving equal access to basic health care for every one.”
Another measure is the reform of government’s “power list.” Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC in late 2012, administrative powers have been streamlined and delegated, with hundreds of items abandoned.
Ma Qingyu of the Chinese Academy of Governance said the power and responsibility list system can clarify responsibilities of different departments and prevent them from shirking their responsibilities or taking responsibilities that are not rightfully theirs.
“It will make the border between public powers and private rights more clear,” said Ma. Enditem
