New benchmark rate system is needed

The liberalization of deposit rates promised by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, at a recent press briefing at the just-concluded annual session of the National People's Congress, will mark the country's final step in allowing banks to set their own interest rates.

Information sharing vital

The world will not get to know exactly what has happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and the passengers and crew on board until the airline and the Malaysian authorities share all the information they have with the rest of the world in a candid manner.

Real Dalai Lama

Friday marks the sixth anniversary of the deadly Lhasa riot masterminded by the Dalai Lama and his secessionist followers.

Who'll bail out Ukraine, West or Russia?

The Ukrainian crisis is quickly becoming a geostrategic conflict. The Crimean parliament's declaration of independence from Ukraine ahead of the March 16 referendum indicates Crimea may possibly join Russia. As Russian President Vladimir Putin maneuvers to restore Russia's right to behave with a superpower's impunity-particularly in its own backyard-the West pushes back.

Reforms at a 'critical juncture'

The increasingly volatile global markets set the scene for Premier Li Keqiang's press conference on the last day of the National People's Congress annual session. Li reiterated what he had already said in the Government Work Report: China has reached a "critical juncture where our path upward is particularly steep".

Increase in military budget justified

The massive search launched for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has proved how important it is for China to upgrade its military. China had to deploy four warships, four coast guard vessels and far from its coasts to search for Flight MH370, which went off the radars after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing after midnight on March 8. The Chinese media have described the deployment as the largest Chinese rescue fleet ever assembled.

Looking to a promising future

Contrary to some foreign experts' views that the Chinese economy may encounter "big trouble" in 2014, it is likely to register a 7.5 percent growth. One of the main reasons for that is the rapidly changing demand structure in China in which consumption plays a much greater part.

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Civil servants' pay rise a sensitive issue

A member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee has proposed at the annual session that public servants' salaries be raised, sparking a heated public debate. Many people believe civil servants' salaries are relatively high while some think they are low compared with other professions. The debate has, in fact, prompted some local officials to post online the relatively low amounts they earn to clear people's misunderstandings.

Safeguard female workers' rights

Beijing, Shanghai and some other regions have taken the lead in implementing the revised family planning policy, allowing married couples to have a second child if either the husband or the wife (or both) is the only child of his/her parents. Although Chinese people welcome the landmark revision, many are worried that it would make women more vulnerable in the workplace.

Reasonable range for economy

'As the economic performance remained within the proper range, we concentrated our efforts on improving the growth model and making structural adjustments by unswervingly following the underlying principles of our macro-control policy. This enhanced public confidence in the market and kept expectations stable," Premier Li Keqiang said in this year's Government Work Report approved by legislators on Thursday.

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