Carter's excuse holds no water

Due to his "work schedule", US Defense Secretary Ash Carter has excluded China from his Asia trip, which started on Sunday.

Empty homes in desert a sign of administrative indifference

HENGSHAN COUNTY in North China's Shaanxi province built its largest government-subsidized residential community in Maowusu Desert, 40 kilometers from the downtown area, a few years ago. It remains largely unoccupied. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday:

'Lack of paper' points to dereliction of duty

THE TRADEMARK OFFICE of China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce has not issued a single trademark registration certificate in more than seven months, as it lacks the "paper" used to print them. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday:

Treat child prodigies as normal kids

WEI YONGKANG, a child prodigy who could recognize about 1,000 Chinese characters at the age of 2 and who graduated from Xiangtan University, Central China's Hunan province, at 17, was recently persuaded to withdraw from the Institute of High Energy Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences at the age of 20. On hearing the news, his mother who had accompanied him during his studies, allegedly shouted at him to commit suicide. The Beijing News commented on Monday:

Who should lead the United Nations?

Chinese cities climbing up global cost ladder

When it comes to how much we spend on groceries, few of us are given options. We don't fly off to a city in a distant country to do our food shopping more economically. Yet we are aware that there are significant variations in prices of everyday goods across different locations, even within the same country. For example, according to the findings of the latest Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, a kilogram of white grain rice costs 19 yuan ($2.99) in Shanghai but only about 9 yuan in nearby Suzhou.

Belgium gets back to normal but still has much to do

When I got out of a taxi and rolled my suitcase into Brussels-South station to get a train to London on Thursday evening, two heavily-armed soldiers patrolling the concourse stared at me up and down, with their hands holding their guns against their chests.

Uncivilized behavior by passengers unacceptable

For the first time, airline passengers have been blacklisted for uncivilized behavior. Their names will remain on the blacklist for one or two years, according to an announcement by the China Air Transport Association on Saturday.

Sense of neighborliness needs to be restored

Despite former Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama's outright stance that Japan is mainly responsible for the tensions in Sino-Japanese relations and his criticism of the government's distorted views on history, territorial disputes and China's rise, Japanese right-wing politicians continually defend the Abe administration's accelerated efforts to revise the country's pacifist Constitution and other provocative moves.

New tariff policy for cross-border e-businesses adopted too hastily

SINCE FRIDAY, China has been implementing new, mostly higher, tariff rates on cross-border retail purchases. But the implementation of the change was too quick, says Beijing News:

Protection of whistle-blowers a welcome move

THE SUPREME PEOPLE'S PROCURATORATE, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Finance recently issued a joint regulation that says whistle-blowers providing tip-offs about officials committing crimes by taking advantage of their positions should have their homes and property protected, and they might be given a substantial bonus if they make a special contributions to the anti-corruption campaign. That's a welcome move, but the key to its effectiveness lies in how it is implemented, says cjn.cn:

Manager's remarks further damage hotel's reputation

THE MAN suspected of assaulting a young woman in a Home Inn hotel in Beijing on April 3 has finally been detained. However, the comments by the hotel manager in a TV interview have provoked further public ire at the hotel's response to the incident. China Daily's Zhang Zhouxiang comments: