What's the buzz

Does southern China need a heating system? As the cold weather continues to freeze the south of the country, people are calling on the government to introduce northern China's central heating model to southern China, especially the vast areas along the Yangtze River. However, there are those who say it would be too difficult and too expensive and would only waste energy. What's your opinion? China Daily's mobile phone news readers share their views:

Letters

Cooperation good for both

Put housing prices in order

The developments in China's real estate sector over the past decade indicate that it has been largely swayed by government policies. So to get an idea how the real estate market will perform and whether housing prices will rise or fall in 2013, we should understand the government's housing regulations and the extent to which it will tolerate price rise, instead of only analyzing supply-demand relations.

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The world seventeen years from now

What will the world look like about two decades from now? Obviously, nobody knows, but some things are more likely than others. Companies and governments have to make informed guesses, because some of their investments today will last longer than 20 years. In December, the United States National Intelligence Council published its guess: Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds.

Migrant parents' college bid a no-win war

An eerie lull has descended as disgruntled migrant parents mull their next move after their latest high-profile campaign hardly improved the chances of their children going to a good college.

Multipolar not bipolar world

Now China is the world's second-largest economy, some have argued a bipolar world is more likely than a multipolar one. However, China should not seek to establish a bipolar world.

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US defense industry battles cuts

While there are those who describe the mounting national debt and the dysfunctional politics as the United States' biggest national security threat, what I heard in Washington told a totally different story: That the biggest potential threats are defense cuts and imminent and looming threats from all parts of the world.

Safeguarding sovereignty

By Pledging that the country will continue to carry out regular patrols in its territorial waters around the Diaoyu Islands and in the South China Sea, the State Oceanic Administration, which is responsible for overseeing and safeguarding national maritime rights and interests, has sent an unmistakable message to the outside world that the country will step up its efforts to safeguard its maritime sovereignty and oppose any infringements on its sovereignty over territorial waters.

Accelerate restructuring

China's exports registered better-than-expected performance in 2012, the 7.9 percent growth year-on-year, prompting optimists to predict an even better performance this year.

US playing strategic arms game

The US could cut its defense spending because of the fiscal cliff. But it would be wrong to assume that such a cut will weaken the US military.