IN BRIEF

Efforts to rope in foreign experts

The government plans to attract 500 to 1,000 high-end non-Chinese foreign professionals from other countries in 10 years to spur innovation and promote scientific research.

The One Thousand Foreign Experts Project, launched late last year, has attracted 214 candidates from countries including the US, Japan and Germany, said Yi Fanping, deputy director of a work team under the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs that oversees the project.The first application phase of the project started in November after requests were submitted from 214 universities, research institutions and corporate units nationwide that want foreign talent.

Property

Tax on vacant homes considered

Political advisers in South China's Hainan province have urged authorities to levy taxes on vacant homes in popular travel destinations to discourage speculation and cool the island's overheated property market.

The vacancy rate among residential buildings in Hainan has become alarmingly high because many non-residents have flooded the property market to buy winter vacation homes and investment properties, said Wang Yiwu, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Hainan Committee, on Feb 11.

Development

Province to relocate 1.5m poor

The government of Southwest China's Guizhou province plans to spend 18 billion yuan ($2.85 billion, 2.18 billion euros) to relocate 1.5 million people living in mountainous areas as part of its efforts to end chronic poverty in the region.

Ethnic minorities account for about 39 percent of the population in Guizhou, and the region is eight years behind the national average development level, according to official statistics.

Zhao Kezhi, governor of Guizhou told a news conference in Beijing on Feb 13 that the local government has initiated a pilot relocation project for the first batch of 100,000 people this year.

Environment

Desalination gaining ground

Seawater desalination capacity in China will be increased over the next five years to ease water shortages in coastal areas and islands and to improve drinking-water safety in some central and western regions, the government said on Feb 13. With 20 cities expected to be using desalinated seawater by 2015, capacity is projected to rise to between 2.2 million and 2.6 million cubic meters a day by that time.

Health

Medical standards to be raised

The State Council has worked out a five-year plan to raise standards and improve quality in the medicinal sector, including Western and traditional Chinese medicine, and generic drugs.

Standards for medical equipment and apparatus will also be raised under the plan issued amid public concerns and complaints about the quality of healthcare products in China.