News in review

Monday

$450 billion approved to modernize agriculture

The Agricultural Development Bank of China, one of the country's main policy lenders, agreed to loan at least $450 billion by 2020 for the modernization of China's agriculture industry, state media said.

The Ministry of Agriculture and the bank, which lends in line with government policy, signed an agreement to protect national food security, support the sector doing business overseas and develop China's seed industry, according to Xinhua news agency.

It was not immediately clear whether this commitment is separate from the bank's plan announced in May to lend 3 trillion yuan for poverty reduction via agricultural investments.

The Agricultural Development Bank of China will be responsible for managing financial services, including offering financial products and setting interest rates, said Xinhua.

Beijing to become science, tech innovation hub

The State Council, China's cabinet, has issued a plan on transforming Beijing into a national scientific and technological innovation hub.

According to the document, China aims to make the hub a world leader in innovation, a growth pole for the economy, and a pool for talent.

The innovation hub is expected to become a powerful engine to boost the country's innovation drive by 2030, the plan said.

The document stresses the key role of north Beijing's hi-tech zone Zhongguancun and neighboring regions of Tianjin municipality and Hebei Province in supporting the technology innovation hub drive.

It also called for enhanced fundamental research in cutting-edge technology, improved personnel training and government services as well as a better policy environment for innovation.

Tuesday____September 20

Baosteel to merge with Wuhan Iron & Steel

Two of China's biggest steelmakers agreed to merge, moving a step closer to a union that would create the world's second-biggest mill. The plan is part of the government's push to consolidate the steel industry to combat over capacity.

The publicly traded arm of Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp, China's largest steel company, will swap shares with the listed unit of Wuhan Iron & Steel Group Corp, China's sixth-largest steelmaker, the smaller company said in a statement. The parent firms remain in talks about restructuring, Wuhan Iron & Steel said, without elaborating.

Baosteel is in the Yangtze Delta Region, the Pearl River Delta Region and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Wuhan Iron and Steel has its major bases in Hubei and Yunnan provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. (Photo 1)

Hi-tech to block children from internet cafes

East China's Jiangxi province has started to install facial recognition technology in internet cafes across the province to stop children from entering, thepaper.cn reported.

The online real name registration system, which is also being installed, will help trace the authenticity of the users' IDs.

Once a child logs on to one of the more than 5,000 monitored internet cafes, the system will immediately report it to the authorities and retain evidence.

China banned internet cafes from allowing anyone below the age of 18 in 2002 and every customer was required to show ID before entering the cafes.

The system aims to use technology rather than human checking to implement the regulation. It is expected to finish installation before the end of October and finish trial runs before the end of November. (Photo 2)

Wednesday____September 21

Special lanes provide privacy for women at airport

Three security lanes have been created especially for women passengers at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangdong province, with the aim of protecting the privacy of female passengers and helping them avoid the embarrassment of being checked by male security guards.

All the security guards who work in the women's lanes, which uses pink as its identifying color, are women, according to a news release from the airport. Children who fly with their mothers are also allowed to use the lanes.

The Guangzhou airport is said to be the first on the Chinese mainland to have opened such special security lanes.

Officers checked more than 3,600 women passengers and dozens of children on Monday.

Guideline issued on gov' t information sharing

The State Council, China's Cabinet, has issued a guideline on government information sharing.

The guideline, approved by Premier Li Keqiang, aims to increase government credibility while improving administrative efficiency and government services.

The guideline divides government information into three categories: unconditionally shared, conditionally shared and unshared. Sharing should be the principle while unsharing should be the exception, said the guideline.

Information could be categorized as "unshared" only when backed by laws, regulations or national policies, according to the guideline.

Thursday____September 22

New initiative on recovering fugitives' assets

Police will not only bring fugitives back to China to face justice, but will also emphasize recovering their illegally gained assets, the Ministry of Public Security said.

The recovery of assets acquired illegally in China will be a new anti-corruption initiative in the coming months, said a senior ministry official who requested anonymity.

Public security authorities will work closely with People's Bank of China, particularly the division that cracks down on money laundering, the official said.

Authorities also will enhance communication and conduct joint investigations with other countries on a case-by-case basis in an attempt to repatriate corrupt officials so they can stand trial. They also will share intelligence with their counterparts in those countries to locate, freeze and recover the ill-gotten assets, he said last week.

A large number of corrupt officials have transferred billions of yuan in illegal funds to their foreign accounts, either through money laundering or underground banks, the ministry said.

End of leprosy in China seen by 2020

After decades of efforts against leprosy, the possibility of eliminating the disease in China is possible by 2020, according to the head the Novartis Foundation.

Ann Aerts of the Novartis Foundation made the comment to China Daily during the 19th International Leprosy Congress in Beijing. The Switzerland-based Novartis health-care company provides anti-leprosy medicine free.

Leprosy is infectious but curable. The organism that causes it, mycobacterium leprae, has the unique ability to infect the peripheral nerves in humans, which may result in an inability to feel pain in the hands or feet, blindness and the loss of fingers or toes.

China detects around 600 to 700 new leprosy patients annually. Globally, around 211,000 people were diagnosed with leprosy in 2015 - an average of one every 2.5 minutes. Of those, 1 in 11 are children, indicating continued transmission of the disease. (Photo 3)

Friday____September 23

Escaped fish threaten endangered wild sturgeon

The endangered purebred Chinese wild sturgeon in China's longest river - the Yangtze - could face a heightened threat of extinction as a result of nearly 10,000 tons of foreign and hybrid sturgeon being washed out of a breeding facility in heavy water flows.

After a reservoir opened a slice to release floodwater on July 19, the foreign and hybrid were killed or escaped to the middle and lower reaches of the river. Scientists worry that the hybrid and foreign species may now interbreed with the wild sturgeon in the river.

Purebred Chinese sturgeon date to 140 million years ago. The population of adult purebred Chinese sturgeons was estimated at about 100 at the end of last year, compared with 10,000 in the 1970s, according to a protection plan for the fish released by the State Forestry Administration.

National Day bookings for travel to US surge

Bookings for travel to the US during China's National Day holiday, from Oct 1 to 7, are triple the number from last year, according to a report.

The increase is a result of beneficial tourism policies adopted by both China and the US, according to lvmama.com, a major online travel booking platform.

Such factors as the mutual approval of visas allowing multiple entries within 10 years and the launch of new direct flights between the two countries are also making a difference, according to Ctrip.

(China Daily USA 09/23/2016 page11)