Snow town must clean up its act

HAILIN in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province is a popular winter tourist destination. However, recent reports of the bad service, even violence, of the local guides and hotel owners have made it a national scandal. Thepaper.cn comments:

For the victims of fraud, it is no laughing matter

RAO YUAN, a postgraduate at a Guangzhou-based university was tricked out of 850,000 yuan ($132,217) by fraudsters. Yet after the incident was reported by the media, many netizens mocked her saying she is a bookworm who knows little about society. China Youth Daily comments:

Hot words

Agricultural brand improvement campaign

Cartoon

Western media cannot alienate China, Russia

China and Russia are expected to deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership this year in line with the pledge Chinese and Russian presidents made in their New Year greetings. Thanks to the two countries' mutual understanding and respect for history and ideology, their relationship has been stable in recent years. The two sides also share the goal of national rejuvenation, and are committed to building harmonious international relations.

Improving people's livelihoods a priority

China's consumer price index, a measurement of inflation, increased 1.6 percent in 2017 compared with 2 percent in 2016, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. This means the 2017 Government Work Report's target of keeping the CPI rise below 3 percent has been achieved. On the other hand, the producer price index, which measures changes in wholesale prices, increased 6.3 percent in 2017, ending the five-year declining trend.

Firms must respect China's core interests

Respecting China's core interests is the bottom line for companies operating in the country. That is why it is hard to understand why a global hotel chain such as Marriott listed Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and Taiwan and Tibet as "separate countries" in a recent questionnaire emailed to its customers.

US suspension of Pakistan aid not good for 'war on terror'

The United States' decision to suspend security assistance to Pakistan has dealt a heavy blow to the already deteriorating relationship between Washington and Islamabad. It will also cast a shadow on US efforts to combat terrorism in Afghanistan, as Pakistan plays a pivotal role in the anti-terrorism campaign in the region.

Vancouver Group sows discord with its strong-arm approach

The so-called Vancouver Group, formed by more than a dozen countries that fought in the Korean War, claims the lofty goal of "strengthening diplomatic efforts toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula". But the foreign ministers meeting Canada and the United States are co-hosting is anything but conducive to advancing that claimed goal.

Biased scrutiny of China's engagement with Africa

No matter how many roads, schools and hospitals it has built on the continent, and how much it has contributed to African economies, in the eyes of some people in the West, China can never do anything right in Africa.

Taobao becomes a captured pawn in US' game of trade protectionism

TWENTY-FIVE ONLINE MARKETPLACES in a variety of countries, including Taobao, the e-commerce platform of China's Ablibaba Group, were included in the latest US Trade Representative's "notorious markets" review for selling fakes. Yanzhao Metropolis Daily commented on Monday:

App shows knowledge economy can prosper

A KIND OF NEW SMARTPHONE LIVESTREAMING APP, in which the user wins a small monetary reward by answering 12 multiple-choice questions correctly within a set time limit, has suddenly gained popularity, with hundreds of millions of participants joining in the quizzes. Beijing Youth Daily comments: