IN BRIEF (Page 2)

Commodity fair opens its doors

The annual Yiwu International Commodities Fair, said to be the largest of its kind in China, opened in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, on Oct 21.

The five-day fair was expected to attract more than 1,500 buyers from around the world.

Fair committee says traders from Africa, the United States, Russia and Poland arrived prior to the event to make their purchases first, and then took advantages of the fair to make more orders. By September this year, Yiwu's export volume had reached $1.6 billion, increasing 85.83 percent compared with the same period last year.

Chinese Ebola vaccine tests 'very positive'

Tests of a vaccine against the Ebola virus, developed by Chinese scientists and undergoing trials in Sierra Leone, have proved to be "very positive" and the vaccine has demonstrated a "good safety profile", an official at Sierra Leone's health ministry has said.

Alie Wurie, principal investigator for the Phase II trial of the vaccine, said the vaccine had undergone its Phase I trial in China on 120 Chinese nationals and 60 Africans living there. Results of the Phase I trial, he said, show the vaccine to have "very few complaints or side effects".

President: China reliable partner for Chad

President Xi Jinping, meeting with Chadian President Idriss Deby, said on Oct 15 that China would be a reliable partner for the African country in achieving industrialization.

While welcoming Deby to a high-level forum on poverty reduction and development in Beijing, Xi said Chad is an important African partner for China, and China attaches great importance to bilateral ties.

China is willing to strengthen security cooperation with Chad to improve the African country's ability to safeguard peace and stability, Xi said, adding that both countries should cooperate more closely in culture, education and public health.

Deby said he is willing to enhance cooperation with China in transportation, infrastructure, telecommunications, finance and agriculture, as well as coordination on major international and regional issues.

China 'complementary' to Africa, ex-PM says

China comes to Africa as a partner, and together they form a complementary relationship, said Raila Odinga, former prime minister of Kenya.

China needs Africa's raw materials, while Africa needs China's capital and technology to develop. The collaboration benefits people on both sides, the former PM said at the Beijing Forum for Emerging Markets.

China has a strategic interest in Africa, but it comes to help the continent as a cooperative partner, Odinga said, dismissing some comments comparing China's investment to colonizing.

"It's a complementary friendship," Odinga said, adding that Africa gets paid at proper values.

Li praises innovators, entrepreneurs

Premier Li Keqiang attended the opening of a weeklong event on innovation and entrepreneurship in Beijing on Oct 19, together with hundreds of startup entrepreneurs.

He made an impromptu speech encouraging innovators and strolled among booths to hear their stories and ask about the development of their businesses.

He pledged to leverage mass innovation to shake off excess capacity in traditional industries while pressing ahead with emerging sectors, such as high-value-added manufacturing and services.

He said educated Chinese are the largest potential driver for further development.

Fight against poverty on two fronts

The Chinese government will enact more support policies to lift the country's 70 million poor people above the poverty line by 2020, while being engaged in the global poverty alleviation plan, President Xi Jinping said on Oct 16 before the 23rd International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

"Eradicating poverty is a common mission of human beings," Xi told the Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum in Beijing. "While China fights against poverty at home, we are also engaged in South-South Cooperation, providing assistance, without any condition, to other developing countries."

Xi said that the next 15 years will be crucial for China and other developing countries, and he called for cooperation that benefits people everywhere.

At the end of last year, China still had 70.17 million people in the countryside living below the country's poverty line of 2,300 yuan ($375; 320 euros) in annual income by 2010 price standards.

It's reigning cats, dogs and tortoises

Residents in Guangdong province raise the most pets of any province in the Chinese mainland, owning more than 10 percent of the 100 million registered nationwide, a survey has found.

One in every 13 people on the mainland has a pet, with dogs and cats accounting for about 80 percent of the total, although the number of tortoise owners has risen swiftly in recent years.

Guangdong is followed in the pet popularity stakes by Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, Shanghai, Beijing and Shandong province, according to a survey by Zhongjinqixin, an international information consultancy in Beijing.

Wang Ning, an executive in charge of the Survey Department at Zhongjinqixin, said the number of pets owned in China is expected to continue growing by at least 10 percent a year in coming years.

Burning farmland increases air pollution

A rise in clearing farmland by burning leftover straw has increased air pollution in parts of northeastern China, the environmental watchdog warned.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection found 862 suspected hot spots nationwide from Oct 5 to 17 from satellite sensing technology, an annual increase of 6.7 percent, authorities said on Oct 18.

The fires have been one reason for rising air pollution in northeastern China, with the environmental watchdog pointing out that many hot spots were found in areas where burning farm fields is illegal such as near airports and expressways.

Apart from satellite evidence, ground inspections showed an increase in farmland fires on the outskirts of Shenyang and Tieling in Liaoning province on Oct 16 and 17, the ministry said.

Wide support seen for national smoking ban

In China, 740 million nonsmokers, including 182 million children, are exposed to secondhand smoke at least once a day, according to a report issued on Oct 19 by the World Health Organization and other health agencies.

The report, compiled by the WHO, the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said even some smokers in China support a nationwide smoke-free law, particularly in workplaces.

The report comes as China considers a national ban on smoking in public places to protect nonsmokers from passive smoke.

Support among smokers for smoke-free bars in particular is higher in China than in other places, such as Ireland, Scotland and France, before such smoking bans were introduced there, the report said.

Applications show govt jobs still attractive

The number of candidates for the national public service exam has surpassed last year's numbers, with more than 132,000 applicants on Oct 20 - the most in a single day - deemed qualified for the exam.

According to figures from Zhonggong Education, an institute that monitors the applicant numbers, more than 459,600 people applied to take the exam by the sixth day of this year's application window, which was on that date. Almost 103,000 of those had applied on Oct 19.

A record 27,817 public service jobs are being offered this year by central government departments and subsidiaries.

Higher trade surplus to offset liquidity shortage

Data from the General Administration of Customs said in the third quarter China's exports declined by 5.6 percent year-on-year, further extending the 2.9 percent contraction in the second quarter.

An even faster drop in imports resulted in the trade surplus expanding to $424.1 billion in the first nine months, which exceeded last year's total surplus of $382.4 billion. In September, the trade surplus increased to $60.3 billion, reaching the highest level since May.

Farm exports drop on weak demand

Shandong province, in the country's main agricultural region, reported an unexpected decline in exports of farm produce in the first three quarters. Exports were 4.3 percent lower compared with the same period last year, down by $11 billion, according to customs authorities in Qingdao. The fall was attributed to weak demand in the traditional markets of Japan, South Korea and Europe.

Freight train service to Hamburg begins

A new international freight train from Linyi, Shandong province, to Europe began operating on Oct 20. The train will enter Russia via Manzhouli, China's largest land port with Russia, before heading for its destination in Hamburg, Germany. The train will run every two days, with 20 cars. Several cities, including Chongqing and Chengdu, have launched freight train services to Europe.

Death sentence for drug trafficker

A businessman from Hong Kong was sentenced to death at Beijing No 3 Intermediate People's Court on Oct 16 for trafficking drugs. The convict, surnamed Huang, 65, was found guilty of transporting more than 20 kilograms of cocaine in two suitcases at Beijing Capital International Airport on Aug 18, 2013. Huang was arrested on the spot and the drugs were confiscated, according to prosecutors. The court said the large amount of drugs would have a negative effect on the public, which is why he was given the harshest sentence under the law.

Overseas schools woo Chinese at expo

The 2015 China Education Expo was scheduled in Beijing for Oct 24 and 25, when some 600 schools from more than 40 countries and regions will try to attract Chinese students. The organizer, the China Education Association for International Exchange, said on Oct 16 that embassies, education authorities and schools from the participating countries will join the expo, promoting their education systems and explaining their application and visa process to prospective students. Nearly 100 schools will organize face-to-face interviews to provide the students with customized evaluations.

Bid to list Confucius' cuisine as heritage

China is preparing a bid to list the family cuisine of ancient philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC) as a UNESCO "intangible cultural heritage", experts said on Oct 18 during the fifth Asian Food Study Conference in the philosopher's hometown, Qufu. Confucius' family cuisine was developed during frequent visits to his home by China's emperors and high-ranking officials.

China Daily-Xinhua

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/23/2015 page2)