Small, but quite essential

In the Government Work Report delivered to the fifth plenary session of the 12th National People's Congress on Sunday, Premier Li Keqiang promised further tax cuts for small and micro-sized enterprises, among other preferential policies and measures.

End of outdated telecom fees shows leaders' reform resolve

ON SUNDAY, while delivering the Government Work Report on the opening day of the fifth plenary session of the 12th National People's Congress, Premier Li Keqiang said that all roaming fees and long-distance charges for domestic calls will be canceled within the year. One day later, the three domestic telecom giants China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom announced they would cancel the charges on Oct 1. Thepaper.cn comments:

More can be done to cut teenage smoking

A MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body, submitted a proposal at this year's ongoing session suggesting that a pack of cigarettes should cost at least 10 yuan ($1.4) to deter teenagers from smoking. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Tuesday:

Race still tough to enroll kids in best schools

RECENTLY GUANGZHOU, capital of South China's Guangdong province, released information on middle school admission in fall 2017. Many public schools are reopening their junior high sections and some private schools are planning to welcome more students, so the number of good-quality schooling facilities available will increase. Beijing News commented on Tuesday:

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Deepen structural reforms to hasten economic shift

What are the major contradictions facing China in its economic transformation and operation? Are these contradictions cyclical or structural in nature?

Keeping property market cool remains key

China's property market showed restraint after growing strongly last year. Accelerating home sales and rising property prices triggered fears of an asset bubble forming. As a result, cooling measures were implemented in October, characterized by city-specific rules targeted mostly at tier-1 and overheated tier-2 cities.

Better planning can boost new energy sector

China has made notable progress in the use of renewable energy. By the end of last year, China had installed 149 gigawatts of wind-power and 77 gigawatts of photovoltaic power. The corresponding figures for 2011 were just 46 gigawatts and 2 gigawatts.

EU grappling with its future without UK

The European Commission released a white paper about the future of Europe last week, through which it aims to trigger a full range of bottom-up debates on social, defense, finance and monetary issues that will define the 28-member bloc's destiny after the United Kingdom leaves it.

Zero tolerance to 'HK separatism'

In the Government Work Report he delivered to the fifth plenary session of the 12th National People's Congress on Sunday, Premier Li Keqiang said that calls for "Hong Kong independence" will "lead nowhere".

More uniform public services

Due to the different development levels of various regions, there exist huge differences in the public services people can access, with those in economically developed regions enjoying more and better public services than those in less developed regions.

Urgent need to cut flow of funds from real economy

HOW TO FURTHER BOOST THE REAL ECONOMY? Fu Chengyu and Li Daokui, two members of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's top political advisory body, said at its ongoing fifth plenary session that the country must end the speculation of the financial sector so that funds go back to the real economy. Beijing Youth Daily comments: