Digest

105 births in Siberian tiger park this year

This year, 105 Siberian tiger cubs, one of the world's most endangered animals, were born at a tiger park in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, park officials said on Dec 28.

Over the past decade, the Siberian Tiger Park, the world's largest Siberian tiger breeding and training center, began planned breeding of tigers.

"The number of artificially bred Siberian tigers in the park is not 'the more the better'," said Liu Dan, chief engineer at the park. "We have been strictly controlling their population to ensure the quality of the species."

More than 1,000 Siberian tigers live at the park. They have all undergone DNA tests to prevent "intermarriage" among them and training has made them efficient predators, Liu said.

Siberian tigers are among the world's 10 most endangered species and mostly live in northeast China and eastern Russia. China established the Siberian Tiger Park in 1986 with only eight Siberian tigers.

Embassy calls for action after alleged rape

The Chinese embassy in Indonesia urged local authorities on Dec 28 to thoroughly investigate a recent high-profile rape case involving a Chinese woman and two Indonesian airport security officers.

The head of the consular section of the Chinese embassy in Indonesia said they are deeply concerned and expressed strong indignation over the case.

"The Chinese embassy has been paying a lot of attention to the case, and has lodged solemn representations with the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the police and the airport authority. The Chinese embassy has demanded that the Indonesian side fully investigate this case, bring the criminals to justice and take effective measures to ensure the safety and security of Chinese citizens in Indonesia," the statement said.

A 26-year-old Chinese woman has accused two security officers from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport of drugging and raping her in a nearby hotel.

Local media reported that the woman was found weeping at the airport's Terminal 1 on Dec 23.

Xi gives full backing to Hong Kong system

President Xi Jinping threw his support behind the development of Hong Kong's political system on Dec 26, shortly after the end of a monthslong illegal protest calling for universal suffrage.

During a meeting with Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, Xi called for people in the city to unite for the interests of the nation and Hong Kong, to preserve stability and economic development.

The development of Hong Kong's political system should start from "local reality" and be conducted in an orderly manner based on the law, Xi said in Beijing, adding that it should also help to safeguard the nation's sovereignty, security and development.

The central government firmly supports the local government in pushing forward its development of the political system based on the Basic Law and decisions made by the country's top legislature, Xi said.

Leung, making his first trip to Beijing since the 79-day protests ended last week, visited to report on his work to the central government.

Car-hailing apps encounter roadblocks

Upgraded versions of car-hailing apps are facing problems in China, with transportation departments in many cities considering these services illegal.

The Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission has started to crack down on unlicensed car-hailing services provided via the Internet.

The commission said on Dec 24 it had seized 12 cars providing such services through Didi Zhuanche, which focuses on high-end travelers using the Didi Dache app. Five of the car owners were fined 10,000 yuan ($1,606), while seven others were under investigation.

Unlike the standard Dache car-hailing service, which connects passengers with professional taxi drivers, the upgraded Zhuanche service uses car owners who are not licensed to drive taxis.

The cost of the Zhuanche service is two to three times higher than regular taxi fares.

Yang Xiaoxi, deputy director of the commission, said the Didi Zhuanche service is illegal because all the cars are registered for private use and are not licensed for passenger transportation services.

"An unlicensed car service puts passengers' safety and rights at risk. It disturbs market order and increases the difficulties for us to do our work," Yang said.

New high-speed railway reaches Xinjiang

China tied the far-western region of Xinjiang closer to the rest of the country on Dec 26, opening a high-speed rail line between its capital, Urumqi, and Lanzhou, in neighboring Gansu province, nearly 1,800 kilometers away.

A bullet train departed from Lanzhou West Railway Station at 10:49 am, with female attendants in Uygur and other ethnic clothing serving 622 passengers.

The line, the first high-speed railway in China's remote and poor northwest, crosses through the high-altitude Qilian Mountain range, an ancient section of the Great Wall, and five zones that experience strong winds, slashing travel time between the two cities by half to less than 12 hours, China Central Television said.

Another train left Urumqi for Lanzhou two minutes later, according to the report.

The trains are designed to travel at a maximum speed of 250 kilometers per hour.

The line was one of several being opened in December, including one that cut train travel times between the commercial hubs of Shanghai and Guangzhou from 16 hours to seven.

Completion of another high-speed line linking Beijing and Lanzhou in 2017 will cut travel times between the Chinese capital and Urumqi from 41 hours to just 16.

Beijing mayor eyes 5% drop in PM2.5

Controlling air pollution will continue to be a priority for the Beijing municipal government in 2015, with a decline expected in the concentration of fine airborne particles, the city's mayor said in a report.

The average density of airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter that can penetrate the lungs and harm the health is expected to decrease by 5 percent in Beijing due to continuing efforts such as controlling coal burning and vehicles' discharge of pollutants, Mayor Wang Anshun said on Dec 24 while delivering a report on Beijing's economic and social development for 2014.

Emissions of carbon dioxide are expected to be cut by 2.5 percent in 2015, he said.

Density of PM2.5 for 2014 in Beijing was expected to be reduced to 85 micrograms per cubic meter, according to a plan released by the municipal government earlier in the year. The fine particles are a major contributor to Beijing's smog.

New system for GDP calculation established

China is accelerating statistical reform to launch a new unified system to calculate gross domestic product in the nation's regions.

The move is aimed at preventing inflated local figures contradicting central government calculations, the nation's top statistician said on Dec 25.

The central government will have the sole right to evaluate the GDP and growth rates of every province and municipality, said Ma Jiantang, director of the National Bureau of Statistics.

Ma made the comments at the annual National Statistics Work Conference in Beijing.

A draft of the reform has been sent to the State Council, awaiting approval that is expected to be given in the first half of next year.

Economists said that under the new system, total GDP and growth rates may show a different economic trend when compared with expectations under traditional methods.

Experts predict the new system is likely to take effect in 2016 the first year of the 13th Five-Year Plan.

China Daily

(China Daily European Weekly 01/02/2015 page3)