Green development index helps boost construction of an ecological civilization

THE GREEN DEVELOPMENT INDEX for local governments aims to encourage operable policies and actions for sustainable development. It is based on evaluations of six primary indicators, namely resource utilization, environmental governance, environmental quality, ecological protection, growth quality and green lifestyles. It emphasizes people's sense of gain. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Tuesday:

Denying workers their wages is a crime

IN 2016, a traditional Chinese medicine hospital in Shangzhou district, Shangluo city, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, finished building an outpatient complex. However, two years later, the construction company still owes the laborers wages of about 2 million yuan ($307,976) in total. Legal Daily comments:

Duty of care allows for no livestreaming

A NURSE at a hospital in Wannian county, Jiangxi province, has been logging into a livestreaming platform and interacting with audiences during working hours. Huaxi Metropolis Daily comments:

Hot words

Strictly control land reclamation

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Testing year ahead for Sino-US ties

Strategic ambiguity is a tried and tested diplomatic stance. It translates well into Chinese thinking.

Cooperation will boost China-Japan relations

The year 2017 marked the 45th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations. But instead of celebrating the occasion, the two sides remained locked in an almost frozen political relationship thanks to a series of standoffs between Tokyo and Beijing, including the detainment of Chinese fishermen by Japanese officials on Sept 7, 2010, and the "nationalization" of Diaoyu Islands by the Japanese government on Sept 10, 2012.

Mutual benefit is the hallmark of initiative led by China

Despite the Belt and Road Initiative projects yielding positive results in several areas, some Western observers still view the initiative with suspicion and liken it to a Chinese version of the Marshall Plan. One such example is an article in the Dec 19 edition of The Washington Post.

Diligence required for greater progress in 2018

As we ushered in 2018, many will no doubt have been reflecting on the year just passed. Such reviews help orientate us for the year ahead, but perhaps more important is identifying our goals for the coming year and how to attain them.

New Year ray of hope shines for Korean Peninsula peace

For ROK President Moon Jae-in, the New Year's Day message from his counterpart in the north will probably have come as something of a New Year's gift.

Change to environmental tax means polluters will have to pay the price

CHINA replaced the environmental pollution fee with the environmental protection tax on Monday. The seriousness of the pollution, as indicated by the environmental watchdogs' monitoring statistics, will determine the rate of the tax. Beijing News commented on Monday:

Vanity projects should be put to use

XINHUA NEWS AGENCY has found that some vanity projects, whose construction was suspended by the central authorities, have been left unfinished and unused for a long time. Rednet.cn commented on Monday: