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China invites African leaders for training

The third Africa-China Young Leaders Forum opened on March 28 in northern Tanzania's tourist hub of Arusha, attracting over 400 delegates from 40 African nations and China.

Wang Jiarui, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, praised the achievements China and African countries have made in promoting exchanges and cooperation among young people.

Wang, who is also head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, announced that China will invite 1,000 young African political figures to visit China and attend training classes over the next three years.

The main objective of the forum is to create a platform for regular interaction and cooperation between young people of the African continent and China. It is co-sponsored by the CPC and the Tanzanian ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi.

China, Zambia vow to further promote ties

China and Zambia vowed to further promote their traditional friendship and expand cooperation on March 30.

The pledge came out of talks between President Xi Jinping and Zambian President Edgar Lungu, who has been in China for a state visit at Xi's invitation and the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia.

Xi called on the two countries to promote cooperation in infrastructure construction, mining, agriculture, processing manufacturing, investment and trade.

China will encourage and help more companies invest in Zambia and hopes they can provide more favorable conditions, he said.

China will collaborate with Zambia and Tanzania in the operation of a railway connecting the two African countries, Xi said.

China to launch scholarship in Togo

The charity foundation of China Merchants Group initiated a scholarship program at the University of Lome in Togo on March 30 to provide $200,000 to the university to assist students who excel in their studies.

"It is the outcome of cooperation between Togo and China," said CMG's general manager Li Xiaopeng, who is also the chairman of CMG's charity foundation.

The donations will help the university nurture skilled port workers in the country.

Togo's Minister of Higher Education and Research, Octave Broohm, thanked CMG for setting up the scholarship program.

In addition to assisting in local economic development, Chinese enterprises have made contributions to the cultivation of talent that has benefited the growth of Togolese youth, said Broohm, noting that the investment is a sign of sustained cooperation between Togo and China.

Watchdog reboots study on green GDP

China has resumed research on green GDP and plans to start pilot projects next year, according to the nation's environmental watchdog.

Green GDP is an economic growth index that quantifies and measures the monetary costs of environmental damage caused by a country's economic growth.

China's move follows a call by the top leadership to improve GDP, said Li Qingrui, head of the Ministry of Environmental Protection's policy bureau.

The revised Environmental Protection Law, which took effect this year, requires local governments to take responsibility for the environment. This is also a reason for the ministry to restart research on green GDP, Li said.

China first published green GDP data for 2004 two years later, but research on how to compile green GDP has been suspended since then.

China launches its latest Beidou satellite

China launched a new-generation satellite into space on March 30, starting the expansion of its indigenous navigation and positioning network to global coverage.

The satellite, the 20th for the Beidou Navigation Satellite System, was sent into orbit by the Yuanzheng-1 upper stage vehicle after being lifted by a Long March-3C carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.

The launch is the first step in China's plan to turn the navigation system's current regional service into global coverage, according to the center.

China launched the first Beidou satellite in 2000. The system began providing positioning, navigation, timing and short-message services to civilian users in China and surrounding areas in the Asia-Pacific region in December 2012. Currently, the system consists of 15 satellites.

The latest satellite will test a host of new technologies, including a navigation signaling mechanism and advanced links between satellites.

Dozens of unlawful golf courses closed

Authorities have shut down more than 60 golf courses since last summer as part of a renewed campaign against the destruction of land and water resources, according to China's top economic planning authority.

The National Development and Reform Commission said on March 30 that the crackdown on illegal golf courses has achieved positive results since July.

The commission also published a list of 66 golf courses built in contravention of rules designed to protect arable land and save water, including three in Beijing, six in Guangdong province and four in the Inner Mongolia autonomous regions.

New round of hunt for corrupt officials begins

The Ministry of Public Security has launched a new round of its campaign called Fox Hunt 2015 to track down corrupt Chinese officials who are still at large overseas, the ministry said on March 31.

The renewed campaign was to start on April 1 and will last until the end of December, according to the ministry.

"We will focus on apprehending corrupt officials or suspects with duty-related crimes who fled to major Western countries, including the US, Canada and Australia," said the ministry.

The ministry will work closely with the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange to monitor the suspicious flow of funds remitted to foreign accounts, according to the statement. The ministry will also enhance supervision over offshore companies and crack down on underground banks to prevent suspects from illegally transferring proceeds abroad.

Illegal foreign workers in province soar

Law enforcement officers investigated more than 5,000 illegal foreign workers in Guangdong province last year.

Most had no work or residence permits and were employed mainly in labor-intensive industries in the prosperous Pearl River Delta region, where there is a major shortage of workers, Guangzhou Daily reported.

Most were born in the 1980s and 1990s and came mainly from neighboring Southeast Asian nations, the newspaper said.

The number of illegal foreign workers in the province has been rising in recent years. Dongguan, a major production center, investigated 400 foreign illegal workers in 2013, but the figure doubled to more than 800 last year.

In Zhongshan, local police investigated 278 cases involving 957 foreign workers who illegally entered the mainland, overstayed their visas or worked without permits last year - four times more than the figure recorded in the city in 2013.

Fugitive database to ease information sharing

Using a shared computer database, provinces and autonomous regions will be able to share new clues about corrupt officials who have fled overseas with the top anti-graft watchdog within 24 hours, the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said on March 30.

The database, which is accessible by both central authorities and local governments, was set up to record detailed information about fugitives suspected of graft, the commission says.

"Our main task is to collect the escaped corrupt officials' individual information and build solid evidence at home, rather than flying abroad to collect evidence," a commission official said, asking that his name not be used.

Local provinces and regions have been playing an essential role in providing clues about corrupt officials who have escaped abroad. Records can be updated quickly and supplementary evidence can be provided to the commission to assist in its manhunts.

Regulation targets judicial meddling

Chinese officials who meddle in judicial cases will soon find their names on a blacklist that leads to internal punishments or legal consequences, according to a new regulation.

The Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council outlined a host of measures on March 30 by which officials who interfere in judicial cases will be publicly named and held to account. It is the latest effort to ensure judicial independence..

The regulation stipulates that judicial personnel should faithfully record the whole process, no matter who is involved.

Violations include interceding for litigants, asking personnel handling cases to meet litigants or their defenders privately, or overstepping their authority to make suggestions on handling cases by means of hearing reports, holding coordination meetings or issuing circulars.

Chinese universities rise in world ranking

Two prestigious universities in China have moved up a world university ranking, which education experts said is a result of China's continuing efforts to improve higher education and make universities more attractive.

In the recently issued Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2015, Tsinghua University moved to 26th place from 36th last year, and Peking University rose nine places to 32nd.

"This is a strong performance by China," Phil Baty, the list's editor, said. "Its two leading institutions have made gains in the reputation rankings, reflecting the country's commitment to developing world-class universities."

"China's growing stature should lead to further improvements, as a strong reputation helps universities to attract and retain more global talent and investment," he said.

Call to change higher education

Local tertiary institutions should cater to the economic and social needs of the community by focusing on their strengths, according to the president of Jilin University. "For universities, it is important that they work on their unique characteristics No single institution can cover all programs. We need to determine the various types of universities that can focus on research, teaching and technical areas," said Li Yuanyuan, who is also a deputy of the National People's Congress.

Li, said the country's stage of development calls for more technical expertise, and that he agreed with the central government's push for more universities to become vocational colleges.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 04/03/2015 page2)