Xi: China to grow closer to ASEAN

China is ready to bring greater closeness to the China-ASEAN Community of Shared Destiny to make it an example within the Asian Community of Shared Destiny, President Xi Jinping said on Aug 8. Xi made the pledge while sending congratulations on the 50th anniversary of ASEAN's founding in a message to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose country has ASEAN's rotating chairmanship this year. Xi said that since their dialogue partnership was built in 1991, China and ASEAN have stayed true to cooperation and development, their political mutual trust has deepened and their pragmatic cooperation has seen fruitful outcomes. "China-ASEAN ties have become one of the most vigorous and enriched dialogue partnerships of ASEAN," Xi added.

Wang meets with Japanese minister

Japan should play a constructive role in the region's peace and stability rather than following other countries' leads in making a fuss and troubles, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Aug 7. Both senior diplomats met on the sidelines of a series of foreign ministers meetings among the 10 Southeast Asian nations. Earlier on Aug 7, top diplomats of the United States, Japan and Australia said in a joint statement that they "voiced their strong opposition to coercive unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions" in the South China Sea. Japan was urged to note that the overall situation in the South China Sea continue to improve, and Japan should respect the efforts made by China and ASEAN countries, Wang said.

Joint checkpoint to ease high-speed rail into HK

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor stressed on Aug 7 that she is confident in success fully implementing the joint checkpoint arrangement at Hong Kong's high-speed rail terminus in West Kowloon, which will maximize the transportation project's social benefits. She made the remark in a meeting with Lu Dongfu, general manage of China Railway Corp, during her first official visit to Beijing since assuming office. Lam said Hong Kon is looking forward to joining the "big family" of the country's high-speed rail network. She said she hopes CRC will offer greater support to the Hon Kong Special Administrative Region with the integration.

Final round of pollution inspections underway

China launched the final round of high-level environmental inspection in eight provinces on Aug 7, ensuring all provincial regions receive a thorough one-month review of the implementation of their pollution-control measures. The first inspection team started work on Aug 7, and other inspections will begin at staggered times by Aug 15 in the provinces of Jilin, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hainan, Sichuan and Qinghai, and the Tibet and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said. The central government inspectors will dig out problems in the review, release information to the public in a timely manner, improve efficiency and make the high-level inspection authoritative and independent, said Li Ganjie, the environmental protection minister and head of the leading group in charge of the inspections.

Tiger killed at Kunming Zoo

Maomao, a Siberian tiger, was suffocated on Aug 4 as a Bengal tiger named Xiaohu held him by the throat at about 10:40 am in Kunming Zoo in Yunnan province. Keepers separated the animals shortly after being alerted to the fight. Footage of the incident uploaded online on Aug 6 shows Maomao lying on grass in the tiger enclosure's nursery area. He does not react when tapped with a long pole. The tigers were part of a mixed-breeding program and shared an enclosure with one female and another male, according to Yang Ge, head of the zoo's administration office. Maomao was 18 years old; Xiaohu is 14. The zoo has promised to improve the way it manages its tigers during mating season.

Civilians fill firefighting gaps in Beijing

Beijing has unveiled its first group of 682 civilian firefighters, recruited from the ranks of former soldiers and local youth. Fire and rescue services in China are permanently staffed by soldiers of the Armed Police Force and fall under the Ministry of Public Security. However, in April, the Beijing city government approved a plan to recruit civilians as firefighters under contracts. Former soldiers under 38 years old who previously served in fire brigades account for 20 percent of the new recruits, while civilians under 30 from Beijing represent 80 percent. The firefighters passed a strict three-month selection process, including interviews, health checks and fitness and psychological tests.

Social media used for drug trafficking

Police have cracked a case in which they say more than 600 suspects used social networking platforms for drug use and trafficking. Police in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, have caught about 100 people, including eight prime suspects, since the start of the investigation in April, a spokesman for the police said on Aug 7. The suspects used social networking video chats to exchange information on drugs, and were required to upload videos of themselves using drugs in order to register on the platform, the police said. The suspects also used express delivery for drugs.

Wolf Warrior II is box office victor

Wolf Warrior II, an action movie released on July 27, has earned a record 3.63 billion yuan ($544 million; 464 million euros; ￡418 million) at the box office in just 13 days since its release on the Chinese mainland. The box-office receipts are a major vote of confidence for domestic productions and also a reflection of the patriotic mood sweeping the country. The film also seems to remind viewers of evacuations of nationals in overseas hot spots in recent years and the growing presence of Chinese peacekeepers in the world.

Heavy rains cause death, big losses in Liaoning

Rainstorms in Liaoning province have left one person dead and another missing, and brought direct economic losses of about 4.2 billion yuan, authorities said. Xiuyan Manchu autonomous county experienced heavy downpours this week, and 358,000 people reported losses, according to the county publicity department. More than 1,000 houses collapsed.

Response speedy to Sichuan quake

The death toll from a magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck Jiuzhaigou county in Sichuan province on Aug 10 had risen to 20 and the tally of the injured to 431, including seven seriously and three in critical condition, by Aug 9 evening. All-out rescue efforts were continuing. About 60,000 tourists and migrant workers had been evacuated from the epicenter of the quake by 5 pm Aug 9. On Aug 8, President Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts to rapidly organize relief work and rescue the injured. Xi said authorities should check the impact of the earthquake, evacuate and settle visitors and local people, and reduce death and injuries as much as possible. More than 1,000 after shocks the strongest magnitude-4.6 - had struck by late Aug 8, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

New rule to cities: Ease car sharing

City governments and private property managers have been encouraged to cut parking fees and even allocate free spaces for shared cars as a way to promote the nascent business. Similar to the model used for shared bikes, motorists can now rent cars parked in public areas simply by scanning a QR code using a smartphone app. Last year, dozens of car-sharing enterprises operated more than 26,000 vehicles in China, according to consultancy firm Roland Berger, which estimates the number will hit 600,000 by 2025. To help the sector flourish, local authorities should ease parking charges, while shopping malls, residential communities and other areas should set aside spaces for these vehicles, according to a central government guideline released on Aug 8.

Deadly storms, slides plague provinces

Two mudslides killed at least 31 people, with four still missing, on Aug 8 after downpours in two provinces, authorities said. Rainfall from Aug 7 to Aug 8 caused slides in Gengdi village of Puge county, Sichuan province. As of 6 pm Aug 8, rescuers had saved one person from the debris, but 24 were found dead. Four people were injured and one other remained missing, according to the local government. The mountain floods also damaged 5 kilometers of road and five bridges, and inundated about 12 hectares of farmland. Direct economic losses from the disaster, which affected 577 people from 157 households, was estimated to be 160 million yuan ($23.5 million; 20.01 million euros; ￡18.07 million), it said.

Couples go nuclear with wedding photos

Thirty couples were invited to get free wedding photos on Aug 7 at China's largest nuclear power base, according to the parent company, China General Nuclear Power Corp. The couples were chosen from nearly 3,000 pairs nationwide who applied for wedding photography at the Daya Bay plant. Aug 7 marked the 30th anniversary of the plant's groundbreaking. They also visited the reactor's cutting-edge neutrino experimental station. The two-day visit was part of a three-month CGN promotion showing the base's scenery and introducing people to nuclear power. CGN said it would receive 100 couples for wedding photography every year from now on.

Former legislator under investigation

Wei Minzhou, a former senior legislator in Shaanxi province, is being investigated on suspicion of accepting bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said on Aug 8. Wei had been deputy Party chief of the Standing Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial People's Congress since January. He has been placed under "coercive measures", which may include summons, bail, residential surveillance, detention or arrest.

Suspected traffickers traced to residence

Police in Tengchong, Yunnan province, said on Aug 8 that they had detained two suspected opium traffickers. Officers received a tip-off in July that a number of people were attempting to bring opium into Houqiao township from abroad. On July 29, two suspects drove to a residential building where one of them lived, and where opium was being stashed, the police said. More than 17 kilograms of opium were seized.

Bird species seen first time at lake

A new bird species has been seen at Qinghai Lake National Nature Reserve, pushing up the total number of bird species near Qinghai Lake, China's largest saltwater lake, to a record high of 223. Observers at the reserve spotted two medium-sized birds in the wetlands near the lake earlier this month that were later identified as gray-necked buntings. It was the first time the species had been reported in Qinghai.

Tibet logs sharp rise in tourism

More than 8.6 million Chinese and foreign tourists visited the Tibet autonomous region in the first half of this year, up 25 percent year-on-year, authorities said on Aug 8. Tourism revenue during the period reached 9.3 billion yuan ($1.4 billion; 1.19 billion euros; ￡1.08 billion), according to a regional tourism development commission statement.

HK, Macao people to get preference

The Chinese mainland is considering a series of new preferential policies for Hong Kong and Macao residents who live, study and work in the Chinese mainland, according to an official with the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council on Aug 9. The central government has listed some 50 concerns of the residents, ranging from social insurance applications and education access to job opportunities and tourism services, the official said.

Poor to be offered cataract surgery

China plans to offer free treatment to impoverished cataract patients, according to a plan published on Aug 9. The poverty alleviation and health authorities are building a long-term program to cover all cataract patients living in poverty by 2020. The plan specifies requirements for hospitals and patients and includes monitoring the quality of cataract surgeries. Cataracts are the primary cause of blindness in China, and increasing numbers of young people suffer from them.

Museum hatches largest insect

The Insect Museum of West China said on Aug 8 that it has successfully hatched the largest insect in the world. The artificially bred stick insect, Phryganistria chinensis, is 64 centimeters long, according to the museum. The previous record holder, the insect's mother, measured 62.4 cm. Zhao Li, the museum's curator, found the mother during a field inspection in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in 2014. Zhao took her back to the museum, where she laid six eggs, including the record holder - which is now a specimen at the museum.

Police put pressure on scammers

The Tianjin Public Security Bureau announced early results on Aug 8 in what is expected to be a 20-day campaign against pyramid schemes in the city. It said police have identified 85 suspects involved in pyramid schemes and broken up 420 dens of the illegal business operation, after two deaths were reported recently. Around 3,000 police officers have been assigned since Aug 6 to ferret out the organizations, it added. About 100 suspects have been arrested in connection with 86 scams since the beginning of this year, according to figures from the bureau.

(China Daily European Weekly 08/11/2017 page2)