News digest

UN relief chief wants to learn from China

Valerie Amos, the UN's emergency relief coordinator, said the agency has "a very close relationship" with China and voiced hope that the country, which has been prone to disasters in recent years, will share the lessons it learned from dealing with the disasters.

"China is one of the countries that gives a lot of in-kind support when there are crises or disasters around the world," said Amos, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

Most recently, China has given significant support in fighting Ebola, providing medical teams and resources to contain the highly contagious virus that has killed more than 4,800 people in West Africa.

"China, of course, is a country which itself experiences a lot of major disasters and has spent a lot of time and resources looking at how to better prepare and how to better respond. So, we think that China can help us with lessons learned, with training, with expertise so that we can use that with other countries around the world, so we can learn from China's own experiences," she said.

Diplomat furthers ties with Botswana

Chinese Ambassador to Botswana Zheng Zhuqiang said the two nations will continue to have good relations following Botswana's recent general elections.

Botswana held its 11th general elections on Oct 24 to choose 57 members for its National Assembly and 490 councilors for local governments.

According to the country's laws, a presidential candidate that wins 29 or more parliamentary seats will be elected president. In this year's general elections, the ruling Botswana Democratic Party won the majority of the parliamentary seats with 37. The current president of Botswana, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, was sworn in on Tuesday at the Parliament Grounds in Gaborone.

Former general admits that he took bribes

Xu Caihou, former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, has confessed to taking bribes, military prosecutors said on Oct 28.

The prosecutors have finished investigating Xu's graft case and started procedures to file it, according to a statement from the military procuratorate.

The statement said Xu took advantage of his position to assist the promotion of others and used his influence to help others make profits. In return, Xu took a large number of bribes personally and through his family.

The amount of the bribes was "extremely high", the statement said.

Xu has been expelled from the Communist Party of China and discharged from military service, and his rank of general has been revoked.

Anti-graft legislation overhaul on way

China will upgrade anti-corruption legislation as it continues a campaign to build a clean government and practice austerity.

Anti-graft laws will be introduced into national legislation to construct a better prevention and punishment system, said a key policy document from the Communist Party of China published on Oct 28.

The legal definition of bribes will not be limited to the current "money and goods". Instead, all "property interests" will be regarded as bribes in graft cases.

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee approved the decision on major issues concerning comprehensively advancing the rule of law.

Officials taking non-monetary gifts are not subject to criminal charges under the current law, and many officials in corruption cases claim that bribes they are accused of taking were gifts given by friends.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/31/2014 page2)