IN BRIEF (Page 2)

China offers scholarship to Kenyan students

The Chinese embassy in Kenya on Nov 14 provided 20 scholarships worth $20,000 for needy university students to enable them to pursue a range of humanities and science courses. Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa said the scholarships for underprivileged but bright students were at the heart of the blossoming China-Kenya cooperation in education and skills transfer. Liu said Science, education and humanities exchanges had become pillars of China-Kenya relations, adding that Kenya had become a training hub for Chinese language and culture.

Female helicopter pilots trained for combat

Five women are training to become the People's Liberation Army's first female combat helicopter pilots. The PLA announced that Yun Lu, Pu Yuting, Zhou Jiao, Wang Wenjuan and Liaohuang Xiaochuan all flew fixed-wing aircraft for the Air Force before they were selected for training by the Army aviation unit in 2014. The five have completed many training courses and will soon be combat-ready, according to a news release from the PLA. The women have overcome many difficulties, such as having to forget old operational practices for fixed-wing planes, and have done exercises to build their physical strength, it said.

China donates aid materials to Tanzania

China on Nov 15 handed over aid materials worth around $160,000 to the Tanzania Red Cross Society to strengthen its disaster readiness. Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Lu Youqing said at the handing-over ceremony that the TRCS had played an important role in disaster management and contributed to the social development of the country and wellbeing of its people. The materials donated include an ambulance, computers, gasoline, water pumps, tents and mosquito nets.

Restoration big part of ecology guideline

China will combine efforts in environmental protection and ecological restoration to ensure greener, more sustainable development, under the country's newly approved guideline for environmental protection, part of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20). The guideline, released on Nov 16, was approved at the State Council's executive meeting. It makes clear that equally strong efforts are required both in environmental protection and ecological restoration.

Most-wanted fugitive back after 13 years

China's most-wanted fugitive, Yang Xiuzhu, who fled overseas 13 years ago, returned to Beijing on Nov 6 in what is considered an important achievement in China's anti-graft efforts. Yang, 70, former deputy director of the construction department of Zhejiang province, has been accused of embezzling 250 million yuan ($36.3 million; 34 million euros; 29.2 million), according to the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Yang fled overseas in 2003 and had been to many countries, including Singapore, France and the United States, to avoid punishment. She took an American Airlines flight to Beijing from Dallas and was arrested upon her arrival at the airport.

China, US begin disaster-relief drill

China and the United States started a humanitarian aid and disaster-relief drill on Nov 16 in Kunming. The three-day drill involves 134 military personnel from China and 89 from the US, employing helicopters, pontoon bridges, engineering units and medical aid equipment. The drill will simulate a rescue mission in response to a strong earthquake in a fictional plateau country.

Ningxia's environment performance criticized

The Ningxia Hui autonomous region has been found with illegal construction projects in nature reserves and insufficient implementation of pollution controls, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Nov 16. Ningxia is the fifth provincial region to be inspected by a team sent by the central government. A total of 57 polluting companies have been shut down, while another 179 companies have been required to improve their equipment to control pollution. Eight people have been detained and 105 officials have been held accountable, inspectors said. In the autonomous region, 149 illegal construction projects have been found inside the nine national-level nature reserves since 2013.

Online platform helps find missing children

More than 90 percent of the missing children whose details were shared on an innovative web platform over the past six months have been located, the Ministry of Public Security announced on Nov 16. The Tuanyuan platform, or Reunion, sends notifications via several social media apps to people in and around an area where a child has vanished. Since May 15, when the program was launched, police have entered the details of 286 children into the system. So far, 260 of them have been accounted for, the ministry said at a media gathering in Beijing.

Premier says jobs, stability are priority

Stability, especially of the job market, is the economic priority of the Chinese government amid uncertainties overseas, Premier Li Keqiang said during a seminar to solicit ideas on improving economic development and living standards. Li said the priority would be emphasized through the remainder of the year and the beginning of next, according to a statement released on Nov 15. Li called for steady growth and acceleration in reform during what was the first high-level meeting on the economic situation after the US presidential election. The seminar, held on Nov 14 in Beijing, was attended by academics, researchers, business executives and other experts.

Opportunities await Xi on Latin American visit

President Xi Jinping left Beijing on Nov 16 for a three-stop South American tour that will deepen cooperation with Ecuador, Peru and Chile, despite global economic headwinds, analysts said. During his visits, Xi will discuss cooperation in multiple areas, including e-commerce, production capacity, industrial parks and infrastructure, according to the Foreign Ministry. Xi will also attend the 24th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru, on Nov 19 and 20.

Xi, Trump discuss China-US cooperation

President Xi Jinping said on Nov 14 that "there are a lot of things" China and the United States can cooperate on. He made this remark in a phone call congratulating Donald Trump on his US presidential election victory. "Facts have shown that cooperation is the only correct choice for China and the United States," Xi told Trump, noting that the past 37 years of diplomatic relations have brought concrete benefits to the people of the two countries, and facilitated global peace and stability. "During the call, the leaders established a clear sense of mutual respect for one another," a statement from Trump's presidential transition office says. "President-elect Trump stated that he believes the two leaders will have one of the strongest relationships for both countries moving forward."

President casts vote for new lawmakers

President Xi Jinping cast his ballot at a voting booth in Beijing on Nov 15 to elect new lawmakers for the local people's congress in his district, of 9 million voters in the capital elected more than 15,000 lawmakers. The president says county and township-level elections are a major political event for the country, requiring adherence to the Party's leadership, and democratic spirit, and acting in accordance with laws to ensure the people's right to vote and the right to be elected. He called for zero tolerance for any violations of regulations or laws.

Revision to streamline parole rules

The top court has issued a revision to the regulation governing commutation of sentences and parole, specifying circumstances to prevent the unjust reduction of prison time. The revision, announced by the Supreme People's Court on Nov 15, will take effect on Jan 1. The new regulation has 42 provisions based on the 29 clauses of the previous version, which was issued in 2012. It clarifies eligibility for remission and details about applying the rules of the Criminal Law. A person sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve should serve at least 15 years of prison time after a commutation, according to the regulation.

Growth shows recovery on track for 2016

The Chinese economy continued to show signs of steady recovery in October, and analysts said it is expected to remain stable in the fourth quarter, with the year's GDP growth set to exceed the minimum target of 6.5 percent. Fixed-asset investment growth rose to 8.3 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months, quickening by 0.1 percentage point compared with the year-to-date average through September, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Nov 14. Industrial output rose by 6.1 percent in October, unchanged from the previous month, and retail sales growth cooled to a five-month low of 10 percent from 10.7 percent in September.

Professor wins post at Paris academy

Dong Qiang, chairman of the Department of French Language and Literature at Peking University, has been elected as a correspondent, or tenured foreign associate member, by France's Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, the first Chinese associate member of the Paris academy. Dong is a noted scholar, translator and literary historian and is an expert on Chinese and French culture. He has been engaged in promoting Sino-French cultural communication for decades. He has published more than 30 books, including translations of The Analects of Confucius and Kundera's The Art of the Novel, promoting cultural communication between China and France.

Choppers to boost rescue services, tourism

Tibet autonomous region will introduce domestically manufactured helicopters to improve rescue services in remote areas and develop tourism. Tibet Development Investment Group, a company whose sole investors are the Tibetan government and Aviation Industry Corp of China, the country's main aircraft producer, signed an agreement to establish a company by the end of this year and introduce civilian choppers to the Tibetan Plateau. The new company, Tibet Xueyu General Aviation Co, is expected to be registered with capital of between 50 million yuan ($7.3 million; 6.8 million euros; 5.8 million) and 100 million yuan, although a source with the joint venture, who asked not to be named, told China Daily that details of the plan are not available yet.

New agencies to aid anti-graft fight

The city of Beijing will integrate all anti-corruption resources to strengthen intra-Party supervision in a more effective way, its Party chief Guo Jinlong says. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection says new supervision committees will be formed in Beijing, and in Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces, aimed at better combating corruption, and the program might be expanded nationwide. The committees will be independent from local government to prevent interference, with their elected by local legislators and headed by the provincial Party chief, according to a China Daily interview with an insider who declined to be named.

UN staff officers get training course

A training course for UN peacekeeping officers organized by the Ministry of National Defense started on Nov 14. The course enrolled 39 participants from 22 countries, including China, Pakistan, New Zealand and Mexico. The two-week course is being conducted in English and includes topics such as international law, human rights and crisis management.

Company sends tortoise into near-space

A flying machine carrying a special "passenger" - a tortoise - reached an altitude of 12,000 meters on its maiden flight in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Luan Lin, co-founder of Kuang-Chi Group, which invented the device, said her team had expected Traveler II to reach 20,000 meters. However, problems with communication and remote control began when it reached 12,000 meters over Bostan Lake, and the team had to give up. Luan said the setback would not dampen the team's enthusiasm for inventing vehicles for near-space travel.

New railway to link Beijing, Hebei

Jingtang Intercity Railway Co has gained approval from the National Development and Reform Commission to build 148.7-kilometer rail line with a total investment of 44.9 billion yuan ($6.6 billion; 6.2 billion euros; 5.3 billion), according to a statement posted on the commission's website. The high-speed rail project will connect Beijing's Tongzhou district - the new home for most city government agencies - with the industrial city of Tangshan in neighboring Hebei province. The railway is expected to be completed by 2020.

Book gifts for rail passengers

A bookseller in Chongqing municipality has been leaving novels on trains and at stations to inspire more commuters to read, after seeing British actress Emma Watson take part in a similar project in London. Author and bookstore owner Jiang Lin, 29, randomly placed 40 works along the city's light-rail system on Nov 13. Those who find a book can read it in public or take it home, but they are encouraged to leave it again on public transportation once they have finished with it, Jiang says. All 40 books were chosen from Jiang's store.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/18/2016 page2)