IN BRIEF (Page 3)

Diplomacy

China, UK set to resume dialogue

China and Britain will resume high-level visits and dialogue soon, the Chinese ambassador to the UK said.

"The prospect of China-UK relations is good after going through some difficulties over the past year," Ambassador Liu Xiaoming told China Daily on Sept 25.

The countries are preparing for high-level talks, including the China-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue, cultural and educational exchanges and a summit meeting, Liu said.

His words came on the sidelines of a reception for the 64th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, held by the embassy in London.

"China and the UK have maintained cooperation in many fields," Liu said, adding that bilateral relations have returned to normal after being affected by the Dalai Lama issue over the past year.

China is the UK's second-largest trading partner outside the EU. Bilateral trade is expected to hit $100 billion by 2015.

Since the beginning of last year, Chinese investment in Britain has totaled more than $12 billion and the two central banks signed a currency swap agreement worth 20 billion British pounds ($32.11 billion).

Education

Schools nationwide to receive supervisors

Supervisors will be appointed to all primary and secondary schools across China by the end of the year, a move that officials said will improve the regulation of education for children.

The Ministry of Education announced on Sept 23 that China's 300,000 public primary and secondary schools will have a supervisor to oversee the work of staff, instruct teachers and handle complaints from parents.

Supervisors will be appointed by local education authorities and each one will look after about five schools, visiting them at least once a month. They will monitor various aspects of performance, including school management, student recruitment, fees, curriculum design, campus environment, student workloads, teaching quality and ethics.

They will also respond to complaints or accusations from parents, write reports and come up with solutions to any problems encountered, the ministry said.

The names, photographs, contact details and responsibilities of supervisors will be displayed near the entrance to each school, ensuring that parents can contact them easily.

Guidelines for pupils backed by 90 percent

The Ministry of Education has ended the collection of suggestions for 10 guidelines to reduce school pupils' workloads, having received 1,209 comments since Sept 5.

Most of the guidelines were backed by more than 90 percent of people, with nearly 70 percent supporting the controversial idea to reduce homework. It is the second time the 10 guidelines have been open for public comments and suggestions. The ministry said it will consider and integrate the suggestions before a final version of the guidelines is implemented.

Communications

Nation signs 12 deals with Venezuela

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has used his new Sina Weibo account to proudly record every achievement of his first trip to China since being elected.

The achievements, ranging from multibillion-dollar oil deals to agricultural deals, were signed on Sept 22 by companies and government agencies from the two countries as President Xi Jinping hosted Maduro for a state visit in Beijing.

The main goal of the trip is to consolidate and expand the strategic partnership between Venezuela and China that former president Hugo Chavez began with Chinese leaders, Maduro told Xi.

Wealth

Ultra rich population 'shrinks in China'

The number of ultra wealthy people has risen much faster in the West than in emerging markets during the past year, a report says.

Almost 10,000 people in Europe and North America have joined the world's ultra wealthy population - meaning they have at least $30 million in net assets - this year while the number of such individuals in the likes of China and Brazil has fallen.

The findings, compiled by UBS AG and Wealth-X, go against expectations that growth in the wealthy populations of fast-growing economies in Asia and Latin America is outstripping those of old money countries such as the US, Britain and Switzerland.

The number of ultra wealthy people in China has fallen 5.1 percent in the past year, and the number in Brazil has fallen 13.5 percent.

However, bankers say the findings do not necessarily mean there is not a large wealthy population developing in these countries, but are more a sign that rich people in these markets are mainly entrepreneurs still focused on building up their businesses.

"When the domestic economies are doing well they tend to put the money into their businesses rather than in their private banks," said Joseph Poon, head of UBS Wealth Management's Southeast Asian ultra high net worth business.

Taken as a whole, the number of ultra high net worth individuals in Asia rose 5.4 percent to 44,505.

Tourism

Tougher penalties to hit travel agencies

Travel agencies organizing overseas trips and group guides who buy fake admission tickets face stricter penalties, according to the China National Tourism Administration .

The moves follow an incident in which a group of Chinese tourists tried to use fake tickets to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris.

In a notice issued to tourism agencies and overseers on Sept 25, the NTA demanded that they tighten management of tour groups.

They were told "to prevent any similar cases (to the Louvre incident) from happening again, guarantee the legal rights and interests of Chinese tourists and safeguard the image of China's tourism industry". The number of Chinese outbound tourists doubled from 2007 to nearly 83.2 million in 2012, according to the NTA.

While urging agencies to buy tickets through authentic channels, the notification also vowed to impose stricter penalties on those agencies or guides who continued to purchase fake tickets.

Pandas go on display during national holiday

All panda cubs born this year will be on display at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding during the upcoming National Day holiday.

Huang Xiangming, chief of the animal management division of the panda base, said pandas from the base, including one in the United States and another in Spain, gave birth to 20 cubs from July 10 to August 30.

"Seventeen cubs are alive," he said. "The base will display the remaining 14 from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm daily during the weeklong National Day holiday which starts on October 1."

From 10:30 to 11:30 am on the first five days of the holiday, eight Chinese martial arts masters will shadow-box at the base.

From 1 pm to 2:30 pm on the first five days of the holiday, staff members will lecture on the condition, habits and plight of pandas.

Bureaucracy

Fast-track process sees more NGOs

The number of civil organizations in China grew 8.1 percent last year, thanks in part to a simpler registration policy.

It was decided during the National People's Congress in March that four types of NGOs industrial associations, charities, community services and organizations dedicated to the promotion of technology would be allowed to register without a government backer.

That helped push the number of Chinese civil organizations to 499,000 last year, according to the report on Chinese Civil Organizations released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Sept 17.

Academics regard the new rules as an indication of the new leadership's vision of the State's relationship with society, and of its intention to extend the roles played by NGOs and individuals.

According to the report, private non-enterprise organizations, which account for a large number of civil societies, witnessed a significant increase of 10.1 percent last year. More than three-quarters of them specialize in education, social services and healthcare.

China Daily

(China Daily European Weekly 09/27/2013 page3)