Innholdsfortegnelse for March 10, 2016 i Beijing Review

Liquidity Easing On March 1, China’s central bank lowered its reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for commercial banks by 0.5 percentage points, the latest effort to bolster growth. The move, the first such cut this year, aims to “ensure reasonably ample liquidity in the financial system, guide a stable and appropri-ate growth in credit, and create a favorable financial environment for supply-side structural reform,” the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement on its website. The decision surprised the market as the PBOC has conducted open market operations and lending facilities more frequently to pump cash into the market in recent months for fear of further slips by the Chinese currency yuan. PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan disclosed the fine-tuning of China’s policy stance, shifting from a “pru-dent” monetary policy…

Comments to lanxinzhen@bjreview.com Despite a slowing economic growth in recent years, observers are staunchly confident in the country’s potential and future. “During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016- 20) period, China’s economy will grow between 6 and 8 percent annually,” said Wang Jun, a researcher with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a Beijing-based think tank. He made the remarks ahead of this year’s full sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). These high-profile gather-ings, officially known as the Fourth Session of the 12th NPC and the Fourth Session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee, take place in Beijing from March 5 to 16 and March 3 to 13, respectively. The 13th Five-Year Plan for China’s economic and…

Comments to yuanyuan@bjreview.com After winning China’s first gender dis-crimination case against a state-owned enterprise in November 2015, the plain-tiff, Ma Hu, appealed for higher compensation and a formal apology. The People’s Court in the Shunyi District of Beijing rejected the appeal on March 2. The 26-year-old girl filed her complaint against China Post, operator of China’s of-ficial post service, on January 26, 2015. She sought an apology and compensation of 50,000 yuan ($7,630). The Jilin native, with the surname Deng, prefers to use the pseudonym of Ma Hu, which are separated parts of the Chinese character “lu,” meaning mule, a word often used in China to describe someone stub-bornly pursuing a goal. In September 2014, Ma Hu applied for a job as a courier with China Post. After an interview…

Comments to wangjun@bjreview.com South China’s Guangdong Province, which is famous for its manufacturing indus-try and processing trade, is now facing “growing pains.” It is under the dual pressure formed by the reindustrialization movement in developed economies, as well as the low-cost competition coming from developing econo-mies. Realizing that transformation is necessary, the province has been restructuring its indus-trial structure. Workshop revolution More than 70 robots have replaced human workers on the assembly lines of one of the Dongguan-based Janus Precision Components Co. Ltd.’s workshops. All of the steps in the manufacturing process are being operated by automated machines. “A traditional workshop usually needs 204 workers to operate on the assembly lines, but with industrial robots, a smart work-shop only needs 13 technicians responsible for quality inspection and machine main-tenance,” said…

‘Coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province is a critical opportunity for Hebei’s reform and de-velopment, and we must seize the opportunity to gain momentum. Everybody should move to implement the region’s integration strategy, trying to achieve not only breakthroughs in transportation integration, environmental pro-tection and industrial upgrades and transforma-tions, but also comprehensive improvement in economic and social development,” said Zhao Kezhi, Party Secretary of Hebei Province, at the 12th plenary session of the Eighth CPC Hebei Provincial Committee in November 2015. Zhao’s statement drew a blueprint for Hebei to enhance synergy with neighboring Beijing and Tianjin. By 2020, Hebei is expected to increase its expressway mileage to 9,000 km and high-speed railways to 2,000 km, connect-ing Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei with one-hour rail commuting circles. It will also…

Reporters interview Li Xiaolin, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, before the opening of this year’s full session of the top political advisory body in Beijing on March 3. Li is chairman of the Beijing-based Linda Group, a private firm that invests in sectors ranging from real estate to high technology. The opening of the CPPCC session, together with that of the annual session of the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature, two days later, ushered in a political high season lasting through mid-March.…

INDONESIA Hot lava and volcanic ash rise from Mount Sinabung during an eruption in Karo, North Sumatra, on February 29 PALESTINE President Mahmoud Abbas chairs a meeting in Ramallah on March 1 where he reiterated the Palestinian leadership’s commitment to working with international partners to initiate regional peace negotiations SOUTH KOREA Actors perform during a ceremony on March 1 in Seoul to celebrate the anniversary of the Independence Movement against Japanese colonial occupation in 1919 SWITZERLAND UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (second right) attends the opening of the 31st Human Rights Council session in Geneva on February 29 ZIMBABWE People burst into cheers when they got the news that former Vice President Joice Mujuru formally launched her new party to challenge President Robert Mugabe in the 2018 election THE UNITED…

Comments to jijing@bjreview.com Zhao Yunxia, 80 years old, has lived in Cuncaochunhui Home, a nursing home in east Beijing’s Chaoyang District, for three years. Zhao had lived alone for some years after her husband died, as her elder son works in the United States and her younger son, who was born blind, lives in a charity house. To allow her to receive better care, her elder son arranged for her to live in the nursing home, which cost 4,700 yuan ($719) a month. “The expenses are paid by my elder son, therefore I can spend my monthly income of 5,000 yuan ($793.7) freely,” Zhao, who was a teacher before retiring, told Beijing Review. Zhao’s daily routine in the nursing home includes taking a walk around the courtyard in the morning…

Comments to yushujun@bjreview.com China is on the leading edge of creating a cashless society powered by mobile electronic payment services. Mobile technology is changing the nature of money and how it is being used in China, from simple tasks such as purchasing small items, to paying utilities and even investing in the stock market. There are more people using their smartphones to pay for goods and services in China than the entirety of the United States’ population, according to research from the China Internet Network Information Center. The study stated that 358 million Chinese were using applications from leading mobile payments platforms such as the e-commerce behemoth Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Wallet by the end of 2015. Zheng Xuwen, 22, works in Beijing’s finance industry and claimed that mobile…

Comments to yanwei@bjreview.com While visiting a rural community in the highlands of Guatemala, my sister, who was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer there, arranged for us to be outfitted in the traditional dress of the local village before at-tending the graduation ceremony of the area’s first health education program. We met our host outside of a modest house at the end of a long dirt road, only to see that she and I were wear-ing the exact same shoes. Smiling, I shared that for every pair that someone bought, another was given to someone in need, somewhere in the world. Those black canvass slip-ons that we were wearing are the trademark of Toms, a socially conscious brand based in California. Founded by entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie in 2006, the company…

Swearing-In Six senior officials with special committees of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, and commissions of the NPC Standing Committee pledged allegiance to the Constitution under the supervision of NPC Standing Committee Chairman Zhang Dejiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on February 26. It is the first oath-taking ceremony held by the NPC for new officials. Newly appointed officials at all levels should take a public oath of allegiance to the Constitution while assuming office, according to a resolution of the NPC Standing Committee that took effect on January 1. Poverty Reduction China was successful in reducing rural poverty last year with the num-ber of rural poor people falling by 14.42 million to 55.75 million, official data showed on February 29, though the…

Comments to baishi@bjreview.com How far will the new UN resolution influence North Korea’s nuclear ambitions? By Bai Shi The resolution denounces the DPRK’s recent nuclear test and satellite launch which was widely believed to have used ballistic missile technology banned by previous UN sanctions. Will the new sanctions put a halt to the DPRK’s ambitions to develop nuclear weapons? Shi Yongming, a researcher of the East Asia region with the China Institute of International Studies, told Beijing Review that the new resolution should be regarded as an international effort toward a political settle-ment to the issue. “The nuclear test that North Korea conducted on January 6 was unwise and reckless,” Shi said. “In theory, new interna-tional sanctions will add more pressure on the North Korean economy. But the Security Council…

Dear Readers, Forum is a column that provides a space for varying perspectives on contemporary Chinese society. We invite you to submit personal viewpoints on past and current topics (in either English or Chinese). yanwei@bjreview.com Please provide your name and address along with your comments On January 1, the universal two-child policy went into effect across China to counter the demographic trend of aging. This trend is widely believed to be a result of three-decade-long family planning rules that restricted most couples to only one child, with exceptions made for rural couples whose first child was a girl, families with a disabled first child, and ethnic minority couples. As the new policy was adopted as a tool to cope with the prospective lack of active laborers in the coming years,…