Plan to support tourist towns must not spark speculation

ON APRIL 1, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development together with China Construction Bank jointly issued a notice on providing financial support to promote the development of "small towns with their own characteristics". Beijing News comments:

Chokehold should be on big polluters

DURING THE LATEST ROUND OF INSPECTIONS by the central environmental protection authorities, the local governments in Beijing, and Puyang in Central China's Henan province were found to have shut down service providers ranging from supermarkets to breakfast restaurants that contribute little to airborne pollution, instead of tracking down the heavy polluters. West China Metropolis Daily commented on Monday:

Lazy official puts people's lives at risk

AN OFFICIAL in Poyang county water conservancy bureau in East China's Jiangxi province refused to deal with a dangerous bridge in a remote mountain village with the excuse that he did not have a government car, and so was unable to get to the site. Legal Daily comments.

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Initiative promotes 'go global' policy

Editor's note: Three researchers share their views with China Daily's Cui Shoufeng on the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation scheduled for May 14 and 15 in Beijing, which will be attended by 28 heads of state and government leaders. Excerpts follow:

'Buying American' and losing America

US President Donald Trump recently signed the "Buy American, Hire American" executive order, which seeks to crack down on fraud and abuse of the skilled worker (H-1B) visa program. And at the headquarters of Snap-on, a tool company in Kenosha, Wisconsin, he signed the second part of the order, which calls for US government agencies to give preference to domestically produced goods and for a 220-day study of US trade agreements that grant foreign companies the right to be treated as domestic companies.

Creating a future for small rural schools

Hengshui High School of North China's Hebei province, known for its large size and success in preparing students for the national college entrance examination (gaokao), recently set up a branch in Zhejiang province, stirring up a heated debate on school sizes and choices. As the big, super schools grow and small rural schools face closure and consolidation, one wonders if such a change means social progress.

Bilateral mechanism can help deepen trust with Australia

International relations experts more or less agree that while Barack Obama was the US president there was strategic mutual distrust between China and the United States largely because of the latter's strategic "pivot" to Asia strategy, which was actually intended at containing China's rise.

Misjudgment of situation biggest risk to peninsula

If the risks surrounding the Korean Peninsula were perceived to be dangerously high, it was because of the fear that anything could happen at any time in the tense standoff that had developed between Washington and Pyongyang.

People need no empty talk

The popularity of the anti-corruption-themed drama In the Name of People can be attributed, to a large extent, to its echoing people's anger at corrupt officials, and those officials who have no motivation to work for the people or do bad things under the pretext of serving the people, and their admiration for those that have the courage to fight corruption.

Astronautics has down-to-earth benefits for people's daily lives

MONDAY MARKS THE SECOND CHINA ASTRONAUTICS DAY, which was approved by the State Council, China's Cabinet, last year. For many people, astronautics is something far removed from their daily lives. But space technology benefits our daily lives, too, writes Tian Yulong, a senior official from China National Space Administration in Guangming Daily:

Phoney articles reflect flawed system

GERMAN PUBLISHER SPRINGER announced on Thursday it was retracting 107 articles that were published between 2012 and 2016 in its medical journal Tumor Biology, due to irregularities in the peer-review process for the articles, most of which were by Chinese researchers. Southern Metropolis Daily commented on Monday: