IN BRIEF (Page 2)

'Connected by flesh even if bones broken'

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou shook hands on Nov 7 in Singapore in the first meeting between leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since 1949, opening up a historic page in cross-Straits relations.

"Today will be remembered in history," Xi said in opening remarks before a closed-door meeting with Ma.

"No force can pull us apart, because we are brothers who are still connected by our flesh even if our bones are broken, and we are one family," Xi told Ma.

Such a close bond has been testified by the 66-year history of the development of cross-Strait relations despite ordeals and long-term isolation from each other, he said.

Addressing the meeting in his opening remarks, Ma said the two sides should consolidate the consensus of the one-China principle and make contributions to the revival of the Chinese nation.

During the closed-door meeting, Xi made a four-point proposal on cross-Strait relations.

Xi calls for increased efforts on reform

President Xi Jinping has called for more reform and innovation ahead of the introduction of China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).

"Reform and development have achieved a high degree of integration," Xi said on Nov 9 at a meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform. "Further development needs to be based on reforms, while progress on reforms gives a strong impetus for development."

The meeting highlighted the importance of creating a network of high-standard free-trade areas, and stressed that the market should be allowed to play a decisive role in allocating resources.

A statement issued after the meeting said China would attach greater importance to the quality rather than quantity of foreign trade, with the aim of becoming an international trading powerhouse.

Imports drop prompts call for action

A sharp downturn in imports in the first 10 months of the year has highlighted the need to streamline regulations, experts said.

Imports from January to October fell by 15.2 percent year-on-year to 8.47 trillion yuan ($1.32 trillion; 1.23 trillion euros), while Chinese tourists' overseas consumption grew at an annual rate of 25 percent from 2005 to last year.

According to the General Administration of Customs, China's total foreign trade - imports and exports - declined for eight consecutive months and the trade surplus widened by 75.3 percent to 2.99 trillion yuan.

Experts called for more effective measures to boost the domestic market and imports.

Top universities 'lag overseas peers'

Peking University ranked first among Chinese universities in overseas Internet communication skills and influence, according to a recent report by Beijing Normal University.

A research team sampled 112 top universities in Project 211, which was initiated in 1995 by the Ministry of Education to help national key universities and colleges raise their research standards.

The rankings were based on a performance analysis using Google News, Google Trends, Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Chinese universities still fell behind their prestigious peers overseas. According to the research model, Peking's score, 162,533, was higher than the University of Amsterdam and the University of Tokyo, but much lower than Harvard.

Import of biomaterials to be simplified

Companies and research institutes in China are expected to enjoy simplified inspection and quarantine procedures for importing biological materials obtained from animals or plants next year, Li Jianwei, head of animal and plant quarantine for the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said on Nov 9.

The measure, part of a series of measures trailed in Beijing's Zhongguancun Life Science Park and Shanghai's Zhangjia Hi-Tech Park since late 2013, is expected to help the bioindustry become more competitive internationally.

The changes include reducing the time needed for approval of imported biological materials sourced from animals or plants from 20 working days to seven working days.

Recycling plant to help clear air

A recycling plant is to be built in Dingzhou, Hebei province, to collect plastic waste from other cities in the province, as well as Beijing and Tianjin. The plant will be completed in 2018.

The first phase, which covers an area of 313 hectares and will cost 10 billion yuan ($1.56 billion; 1.45 billion euros), is already in operation.

More than 200 small businesses now collect waste in local villages, and Beijing and Tianjin. The service will be expanded to include rubber, mechanical and electronic products and scrapped motor vehicles.

Contest gives expats a taste of farm life

Expatriates from three countries experienced Chinese farm life in Ningxiang county, Hunan province, on Nov 7 as they took part in a contest of skills to harvest rice using traditional methods.

Twenty people from Russia, South Africa and Pakistan took part in the challenge, using sickles, threshing machines and shoulder poles.

Galaye Ndiaye, from Cape Town, said he was impressed by the picturesque farmland.

Executive's death penalty overturned

After a two-year review, the Supreme People's Court has overturned the death sentence for Song Wendai, the former head of a state-owned enterprise, and ordered a retrial.

Song was tried two years ago, when it was alleged he had misappropriated 134 kilograms of gold, nearly 1,000 kg of silver and other precious metals and cash in addition to four real estate properties.

The top court rejected the death penalty on grounds that the facts were not clear and the evidence insufficient, Beijing Times reported. A date for the retrial has yet to be set.

Model fighter jet on display in Dubai

A model of China's latest stealth fighter was displayed at the Dubai Airshow, with its state-owned manufacturer hoping to sign lucrative contracts with wealthy buyers in the Middle East.

Among the exhibits presented by Aviation Industry Corp of China at the show, which opened on Nov 8, the J-31 Gyrfalcon fifth-generation fighter was the star, and some nations have expressed interest, the company said on Nov 9.

It is the first time the aircraft has been part of an overseas show, indicating that China's military aviation industry is reaching out from its traditional market and stepping into the high-end suppliers' club, AVIC said.

Autism incidence higher than expected

Four in every 1,000 children aged 6 to 12 in China have autism, according to a national study. Experts said the incidence was higher than expected.

The investigation figures did not include children who stay at home or those in special schools, as they had already been diagnosed as autistic patients, said Wang Yi, vice-president of the Children's Hospital at Fudan University, which led the study.

Chinese pays $170m for Modigliani nude

Chinese collector Liu Yiqian bought Amedeo Modigliani's signature portrait of a nude woman for $170.4 million on Nov 9 at Christie's in New York, setting a record for the Italian artist's works.

Liu, founder of Long Museum in Shanghai, won the bidding after more than 10 rounds for Modigliani's 1917 Reclining Nude. The price, according to Christie's, was the second-highest ever paid for an artwork sold at auction. It was also the most a Chinese buyer has ever paid for a Western artwork.

Overseas operations turning profits for firms

More than half of Chinese companies' overseas businesses make a profit, with about one-fourth making a loss, according to a United Nations report on the sustainable development of Chinese enterprises overseas.

The result in the report, which was jointly released by the UN Development Programme and two think tanks under China's Ministry of Commerce and State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, are based on a survey of 250 enterprises, of which about 36 percent were state-owned.

Telefraud suspects to face prosecution

More than 250 Chinese accused of being involved in international telefraud operations were repatriated on Nov 10, the Ministry of Public Security said.

The suspects arrived from Indonesia and Cambodia on chartered flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou and will stand trial. The alleged telecom fraud occurred in more than 20 provinces and regions nationwide, and included 4,000 major crimes in Hong Kong, the ministry said.

IPOs set to resume amid rebound

China's Securities Regulatory Commission said on Nov 6 it will resume initial public offerings by companies after halting the system in July to stem a dramatic market slide.

The move came after the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rebounded by 20 percent from the low in August after a rout that wiped out $5 trillion in market value.

'Zombie' firms may get help to shut down

China is considering policies to help "zombie" companies withdraw from business to improve the efficiency of state-owned and private enterprises.

Zombie companies generate money but are unable to pay off debts and cannot survive without outside support.

Allowing them to go out of business is a long-term issue and the government wants to take the opportunity to establish an exit mechanism for unprofitable enterprises, said Feng Fei, vice-minister of industry and information technology.

Economists have suggested a mechanism be formulated next year.

Online media receive reporting credentials

China granted press credentials to employees of news websites on Nov 6, giving interview and reporting rights to online media for the first time.

The Cyberspace Administration of China and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued press cards to 594 reporters from 14 "major central news portals", including the Chinese government portal, the websites of People's Daily and Xinhua News Agency, and the portal for the Tibet autonomous region. Employees of commercial news portals such as Sina and Sohu were not included.

Affordable housing target for 2015 met

China has surpassed the annual target set for its affordable housing program in 2015, data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development showed on Nov 10.

Construction on 7.47 million affordable homes had already begun by the end of October, exceeding the 7.4 million units planned for the whole year. By the end of October, construction of 6.88 million homes was "nearly completed", the ministry said.

Mobile Internet users hit 875 million

The number of people in China using mobile Internet has surpassed 875 million, according to a China Center for Information Industry Development report on Nov 10.

China has the world's largest population of mobile Internet users and the market value is expected to exceed 2.3 trillion yuan ($361 billion) by year-end and hit more than 3 trillion yuan next year, the report said.

Chinese scientist shares US physics prize

Chinese physicist Wang Yifang received the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in the United States on Nov 9, sharing the award with four other scientists.

It was the first time a Chinese scientist has received the prize, China Central Television reported.

Wang, 52, is the director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of High Energy Physics. He was recognized for his contribution to the Daya Bay neutrino experiment, which can provide clues to the origins of the universe. The five laureates will share the $3 million (2.7 million euros) prize.

CCTV airs show for reporters' day

China Central Television, the state broadcaster, aired a special show, Good Journalists Tell Good Stories, to celebrate the 16th Journalists' Day on Nov 8.

The show ended a national speech contest in which 10 speakers were chosen from 131 journalists nationwide to tell their stories. The All-China Journalists' Association and Party and government publicity departments sponsored the event.

China Daily-Xinhua

(China Daily European Weekly 11/13/2015 page2)