Little problem in levying real estate tax

Real estate tax is a popular topic of discussion these days, with some people saying it is difficult to levy real estate tax in China because land property rights in the countries that have imposed such a tax belong to individuals, not to the State as in China.

US lawmakers make fool of themselves with Taiwan bills

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives in the United States passed two bills relating to Taiwan through voice vote. The Taiwan Travel Act (H.R.535) aims to encourage diplomatic visits between US and Taiwan officials at all levels, while bill H.R. 3320 directs the US secretary of state to develop a strategy to restore observer status for Taiwan in the Geneva-based World Health Organization.

Political pressure in US scuppers win-win deal

The "last minute" decision by US telecoms carrier AT&T to drop a partnership deal with Huawei Technologies to sell the Chinese brand's smartphones in the United States, as reported on Wednesday, is the result of political pressure rather than business considerations.

Fledgling mechanism already shows its worth

The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, which was officially inaugurated in 2016, seeks to harness the shared political will for deeper cooperation among the countries through which the world's 12th-longest river flows, to inject vitality into the development of this populous subregion, which, for historical reasons, remains comparatively less developed.

Big data not an umbrella that shelters mining of app users' info

THE JIANGSU PROVINCIAL CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION has launched public interest litigation against Baidu, the largest search engine in China, charging that its two smartphone applications obtain information, such as monitoring users' phone calls, their location, and reading the text messages, among other things. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Wednesday:

Delaying high-speed trains must be deterred

A VIDEO showing a woman preventing the door of a high-speed train carriage from closing so her laggardly husband could board the train at Hefei, East China's Anhui province, on Friday, has sparked anger online. Ifeng.com comments:

Personal values cannot be placed beyond the law

A RECENT VIDEO clip showing a policeman in Changsha, Hunan province, beating a dog to death went viral online. The local police responded that they received reports about the dog attacking people so they had to take action. People's Daily comments:

Cartoon

Party still committed to ending graft

Editor's note: The 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, the Party's top anti-corruption watchdog, will hold its second plenary session in Beijing from Thursday to Saturday. Three experts share their views on the fight against corruption in 2018 with China Daily's Zhang Zhouxiang and Yang Yi. Excerpts follow:

China has transformed into a digital giant

China has firmly established itself as a global leader in consumer-oriented digital technologies. It is the world's largest e-commerce market, accounting for more than 40 percent of global transactions, and ranks among the top three countries for venture capital investment in autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, robotics, drones, and artificial intelligence (AI). One in three of the world's unicorns (startups valued at more than $1 billion) is Chinese, and the country's cloud providers hold the world record for computing efficiency. While China runs a trade deficit in services overall, it has lately been running a trade surplus in digital services of up to $15 billion per year.

A British story that raises hope amid the gloom

Nowadays, there are hazards to looking for signs of hope in the British economy. As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast for 2018 and beyond shows, a cloud of gloom has descended on the United Kingdom.

Thaw of border talks offers glimmer of hope

It is good that the talks between the two Koreas on Tuesday at the border truce village of Panmunjom appeared amicable and constructive, with both delegations seemingly intent on making the meeting a success, even making quips about the winter weather and their frosty relations.