Market's deposit rates

At a recent news conference, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said that the interest rates for deposits might possibly be marketized within one or two years.

Intensify anti-terrorism fight

Taiwan officials said on Monday they had received intelligence reports last week warning of a planned attack on Beijing airport and the city's subway system. The information cannot be verified or linked with Flight MH370, which has been missing since early Saturday after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 227 people and 12 crewmembers on board. But there is little doubt that terrorism poses a grave threat to China.

How to make public transport secure

The ongoing annual sessions of the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference should work out measures to strengthen public transport security.

Parents' craze for good schools likely to continue likely to continue

Education equality has always been a hot topic at the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. This year is no exception, especially after the Ministry of Education said it would launch reforms to reduce the percentage of schools that can admit students solely on the basis of their academic records. But the reform is easier said than done.

Reform consensus must be acted on

Premier Li Keqiang's Government Work Report has outlined the roadmap for China's economic and social reforms in 2014, which are regarded as the beginning of the comprehensive deeper reforms that are the consensus as well as the expectation of Chinese society.

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Trade agreements should not be political

US President Barack Obama has such good intentions, but his lofty goals often become bridges to nowhere. The latest is international trade. This time the problem is not the Republicans, but his own party.

Faster financial reforms

Had the game-changing YU'EBAO not come from nowhere to shake up the Chinese banking sector so vehemently, Chinese policymakers may have taken more time to weigh and implement all-important financial reforms.

Battling to be green

In his Government Work Report to the opening session of the National People's Congress earlier this month, Premier Li Keqiang said China would declare war on pollution with the same determination it has strived to reduce poverty over the past decades.

Ukraine needs deft handling

The political upheaval in Ukraine has turned into an international crisis. The crux of the problem lies in whether Russia recognizes Ukraine's interim government and whether Crimea will secede from Ukraine to become a part of Russia. This is a thorny problem for China's diplomacy, too.

Housing market faces division

House rents have increased significantly in major cities in the past year, which has seriously affected people's livelihood and deserve more attention in the ongoing Two Sessions.

The delicate issue of sexual orientation

The year 2014 could be transformative for China's reform, as some analysts say, but it may not be so for those seeking more rights for homosexual groups and legalization of same-sex marriage.