Better China-ROK relations

At a news conference on Jan 6, President of the Republic of Korea Park Geun-hye said that relations between her country and China have become closer than ever, and she expressed the hope that the two sides will remain committed to improving the well-being of the two peoples and realizing peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

Lawbreaking is never insignificant

On Saturday, a truck carrying apples overturned on a highway in Nanyang, Henan province, and people nearby rushed to pick up the apples scattered on the ground, instead of helping the driver. Within three hours, 20 tons of apples were snatched up by passers-by. A similar thing happened on Sunday, when villagers gathered beverages scattered in a truck accident on a highway in Sichuan province instead of lending a hand. These are not isolated incidents, such "looting" has been reported in other provinces recently.

Letters

A role model for the rich

From the Chinese Press

A leader like Sharon

Japan out to distort history

In the ongoing Sino-Japanese conflict, we have again heard people asking Japan to atone for its war crimes. Many years ago, one such plea came from John Rabe, a German who witnessed the 1937 Rape of Nanking (Nanjing) but later declined to testify at the Allied Tokyo Trials, saying that, "judgment must be spoken only by (the Japanese) own nation." Rabe's plea is touching, almost noble. But the Japanese nation (led by a succession of postwar prime ministers) is not the same as the German nation.

Cartoon

Delivering foreign aid without follies

The huge gap between the world's richest and poorest countries remains one of the great moral dilemmas for the West. It also presents one of the greatest challenges for development economics. Do we really know how to help countries overcome poverty?

Triumph of diplomacy

Calling Sunday's agreement between Iran and the P5+1 "an important step forward", US President Barack Obama emphasized that "now is the time to give diplomacy a chance to succeed". Yet he credited "unprecedented sanctions and tough diplomacy" for the development.

Good crisis management

On Saturday, the State Administration of Work Safety published the full text of its investigative report on the oil pipeline explosion in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Nov 22, which killed 62 people and left 136 injured. The report elaborates, among other things, what actually happened, the emergency response to the blast and those responsible for it.

Complicated regional situation

Editor's Note: At a recent symposium hosted by the National Institute of International Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, some Chinese scholars shared their views on China's security situation in 2013. Excerpts of their speeches are below:

Newspapers must change or die

Last year was not a good year for newspapers. As well as the declining advertising revenues the industry had to endure, some newspapers stopped publishing altogether. For instance, at the start of 2014, a famous metropolitan daily, Shanghai Evening Post stopped its operations. In light of this, whether the newspaper will die or not has once again entered into the spotlight.

Letters

Japan must respect history