Politicizing economic affairs generates no fruit

Earlier this year, the former chief economist of Bank of China, Cao Yuanzheng, warned the Chinese business community that a change in their global operating environment was possibly on the way - a change from peaceful development of all businesses to ferocious competition.

Party's vital self-purification

Addressing the opening session of a recent workshop on the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee attended by officials at the provincial and ministerial levels, President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, called on them to carry forward the Party's revolutionary spirit, not to be lax even for a moment in solving existing problems, and constantly meet the requirements of the times and the people.

High-price cigarettes sign that gift-giving corruption is back

THE STATE TOBACCO MONOPOLY ADMINISTRATION issued a ban on high-price tobacco products in March 2012, forbidding sales of cigarettes labeled or actually sold for more than 1,000 yuan ($146) per 200. However, there are now shops selling cigarettes at three times that price. China Youth Daily comments:

Ease heavy tax burden to upgrade manufacturing

MORE THAN 20 DEPARTMENTS of the State Council, China's cabinet, are pressing ahead with the government's "1+X" initiative. The "1" stands for "Made in China 2025", a road map to enhance the country's manufacturing power, and "X" means guidelines for sectors including smart manufacturing and innovation of high-end equipment. But for the initiative to work extra efforts have to be made to lower tax burden on enterprises, Beijing Youth Daily commented on Thursday:

Pay-to-view will improve quality of WeChat public accounts

WECHAT, Tencent's popular instant messaging app, made public accounts pay-to-view on Feb 14. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Thursday:

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Opposition in US to mending ties with Russia

The resignation of retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn as US national security adviser after only two weeks in office is a significant blow to President Donald Trump's stated aim of greatly improving relations between the United States and Russia.

Time for Apple to fulfill social responsibility

Thanks to consumers' high hopes that Apple will launch yet another revolutionary product on the 10th anniversary of iPhone, the company's market value has again shot up, to about $700 billion this week, underlining the optimism in the stock market of the United States and the widespread appreciation of the game-changing gadgets created by the world's most valuable company.

China and India can work together to curb air pollution

The simmering groundswell of voices urges emerging economies such as China and India to take the lead in addressing global issues. But there are deeper imperceptible challenges at home that demand immediate and greater attention from China and India. Air pollution is one such challenge as it has dangerous implications for public health, especially in metropolises such as New Delhi and Beijing.

Contrary to claims, Trump has shown diplomatic wisdom

US President Donald Trump has taken a lot of heat for stating in a "lengthy" and "extremely cordial" phone talk with President Xi Jinping last week that he would honor the one-China policy. He was mocked and criticized for "backing away from a fight" and "blinking first".

Differences will not get in the way of economic ties

Amid all the gloom of the global economic slowdown, India has emerged as one of the few bright spots with robust growth of 7.5 percent in 2016.

Press ahead with SOE reform

At a recent meeting on the reform of State-owned enterprises, Wang Yixin, vice-governor of North China's Shanxi province, criticized some provincial SOEs for bureaucracy and low efficiency, citing as an example a local coal SOE with nearly 2,000 positions at the level of division chief.