THIS WEEK

THIS WEEK

“China strongly opposes the groundless criticism of China’s norm al national defense developm ent and m ilitary activities, and the irresponsib le rem arks about China’s internal affairs m ade by Japan’s annual defense white paper.”

Chinese Foreign M inistry spokesman Hong Lei,refuting criticism of China’s national defense policy made in a new ly released Japanese annual defense white paper, in a w ritten statement released on July 31 in Beijing

“China has indisputable sovereign rights over the South China Sea islands and their ad jacent waters, and the m ilitary opposes any outside m ilitary intervention in this area.”

Spokesman Geng Yansheng of China’s M inistry of National Defense, responding to a question about the possibility of confl ict over disputed waters on July 31 at a press conference on the eve of the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army

“The leadership change in local Party comm ittees occurred in the country’s crucial period of building a m oderately p rosperous society in all aspects,deepening reform and opening up, and speeding up the transformation of econom ic development. It was a significant event in the Party’s political life.”

The Organization Department of the Central Comm ittee of the Communist Party of China highlighting the significance of the local Party committee leadership reshuffle from the fourth quarter of 2011 to early July in a statement on July 30

“China’s obsession w ith gold m edals m akes it diffi cu lt to get the m asses involved in sports. All the funding w ill go to those who are capable of w inning gold, but not the w ider public.This [gold obsession] has got to stop.O therw ise, China m ay becom e a nation that w ins a lot of gold m edals but is still weak in sports.”

Xiao Hongbo, a professor at the Department of Journalism at Shanghai University of Sport, criticizing China’s single-minded focus on Olympic gold medals on July 30

W idespread Labor Unions

About 3.44 million, or 82.73 percent, of private and foreign-funded companies in China had established labor unions as of the end of June,said Wang Yupu, Vice Chairman of the A ll-China Federation of Trade Unions, on July 30.

In the first half of the year, 99.29 m illion, or 72.95 percent, of the companies’ staff joined labor unions.

Wang said that trade union organizations have been working on promoting collective salary negotiations between enterprises and workers, w ith the number of enterprises signing collective wage contracts increasing by 56.1 percent from 2010 to the current 1.74 m illion.

New Generals

The Central M ilitary Comm ission conferred the rank of general on six senior m ilitary and police officers on July 30.

The senior officers include Deputy Director of the General Political Department of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA)Du Jincai, Political Comm issar of the PLA National Defense University Liu Yazhou,Political Commissar of the Jinan Military Area Command Du Hengyan, Political Comm issar of the Chengdu M ilitary A rea Command Tian Xiusi, and Commander Wang Jianping and Political Comm issar Xu Yaoyuan of the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force.

China began to confer military ranks on m ilitary officers in 1955 but abolished the practice in 1965. The military ranking system was resumed in 1988. Since then, 141 senior m ilitary officers and armed police officers have been promoted to the rank of general.

The PLA recognizes 10 military ranks for officers in active service: general, lieutenant general and major general; senior colonel,colonel, lieutenant colonel and major; captain,fi rst lieutenant and second lieutenant.

Free Cancer Tests

A program that includes free cervical and breast cancer screenings w ill be offered to more rural women over the next three years,according to a statement issued on July 27.

The Chinese Government has decided to expand the program until 2015, w ith plans to offer cervical cancer screenings for 10 m illion rural women and breast cancer tests for 1.2 m illion in 2012 alone, the statement said.

W ith 562 m illion yuan ($88.17 m illion)in government funding, the program has allowed 11.69 m illion rural women to receive free cervical cancer tests, as well as another 1.46 million women to undergo breast cancer tests, during a trial period that ran from 2009 to 2011 in about 200 counties nationw ide.

China initiated the program as part of the country’s ambitious 850-billion-yuan($133.35 billion) health care reform plan.

Westward Bound

FUN WORLD Child ren visit a painting exhibition during the Tianjin International Child ren’s Cultural and Art Festival that kicked off in the northern city Tianjin on July 29

HAPPY FESTIVAL Tibetans celebrate the annual Ongkor Festival on July 30. The occasion is also known as the Fruits-Awaiting Festival, in anticipation of a bum per harvest

A total of 17,000 college graduates w ill be sent to west China to provide volunteer service and hold positions at the community level, according to a statement from a symposium held by the Central Comm ittee of the China Communist Youth League on July 31.

A t present, the plan of sending college graduates to serve in the west, jointly established by government bodies, including the M inistry of Education and the M inistry of Finance, in 2003, has dispatched more than 170,000 college graduates in 10 groups to serve at the community level in central and western regions for one to three years.

Moreover, more than 6,500 young volunteers have been sent in 14 groups to teach in poverty-stricken areas for one year since the fi rst group of volunteer teachers was dispatched in 1999.

Plateau Lake Protection

China has approved a conservation program for an inland plateau lake in northwestern Qinghai Province, local environmental protection authorities said on July 31.

According to the program, 430 m illion yuan ($67.46 million) w ill be invested over three years to protect the environment of the Keluke Lake on the Qinghai Plateau.

The lake, located in the northeast of the Qaidam Basin, is a major water conservation area in Qinghai. It covers 57.4 square km and has been dubbed Lovers’ Lake, as birds migrate there in spring and summer to mate.

Local industrial development, population grow th and over-fishing in recent years have caused pollution in the lake as well as wetland degradation.

Tibetan Seeds

Chinese botanists have collected the seeds of more than 1,100 plant species found in Tibet Autonomous Region and preserved them in a national germplasm bank.

The seeds were gathered over the past five years mostly near the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River and on the Qiangtang Grassland, according to researchers w ith the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The samples were derived from plant species either native to Tibet or w ith considerable econom ic value, such as varieties of grass and traditional Tibetan herbs. They are being kept in the China Germplasm Bank of W ild Species, a leading bio-resource storage facility dubbed the Noah’s Ark of the country’s plant species.

Tibet has one of the most diverse gene pools in the world, with more than 9,600 wild plant species, including 855 unique to the region.

LINGUISTIC ACHIEVER Isaia Herim ialy Ratsizakaina (left),the first African to rank in the top six at the 11th Chinese Pro ficiency Com petition for Foreign College Students, is greeted at Madagascar’s Tananarive Airport on Ju ly 28

Tests on Rocket Engine

SUCCESSFUL VOYAGE China’s first airc raft carrier p latform departs for its ninth sea trial from Dalian City, northeast China’s Liaoning Province, on July 6. The latest trial lasted 25 days, longer than any p revious ones. It returned to Dalian on July 30

China on July 29 successfully conducted tests on its new 120-ton-thrust liquid oxygen and kerosene engine for its new generation carrier rocket, theLong March-5, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

The test was conducted in Xi’an, capital city of northwest China’s Shaanxi province,according to the CASC’s Sixth Research Institute.

The engine underwent a high rotational speed test of nearly 20,000 revolutions per m inute and a high temperature test of 3,000 degrees Celsius that lasted for 200 seconds,national broadcaster CCTV reported.

The high-performance engine, which is the first kind of high-pressure staged combustion cycle engine for which China has proprietary intellectual property rights, is non-toxic, pollution-free and highly reliable,according to CCTV.

The engine is much more powerful than the 75-ton-thrust engines of the launch vehicles used in the already-launchedShenzhouspacecraft, the institute said.

China is the second country in the world,after Russia, to grasp the core technologies for a liquid oxygen/kerosene high-pressure staged combustion cycle rocket engine.

BUSY HUB Cuntan Bonded Port Zone in Chongqing, the first in land bonded port zone o f China, hand les over 150,000 TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) containers for im port and export in the first half of this year, and has become the logistics center in west China

Prioritizing Grow th

Stable grow th was reaffi rmed as a priority, as were maintaining fiscal and monetary policies to combat turbulent global conditions.

Current economic grow th is within expectations, but external conditions remain grim and pose difficulties and challenges, according to a statement released on July 31 after a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Comm ittee,presided over by President Hu Jintao.

The comm ittee pledged to cut taxes and maintain moderate credit grow th.

The government w ill beef up support for key projects and implement policies that allow private capital to play a bigger role, the committee said, adding that foreign trade policies w ill remain consistent.

It also vowed to expand domestic demand, develop the real economy, accelerate reform and improve living standards in the second half.

At the same time, the comm ittee said it w ill fi rm ly implement cooling policies to curb speculative demand and increase supplies of smaller apartments and subsidized housing.

Confidence in H 2

Chinese econom ists expect to see lower inflation and more government stimulus in the third quarter, and higher confidence in the second half of this year.

The quarterly survey from the China Econom ic Monitoring and Analysis Center under the National Bureau of Statistics was conducted among 78 leading econom ists,and showed that 72 percent of them expected higher than 8 percent grow th this year supported by further economic policies.

The survey’s overall index, which indicates respondents’ confidence in the country’s economic situation, is expected to rebound to 4.8 in the second quarter, compared w ith 4.48 in the fi rst three months. The evaluation range for the index is from 1 to 9.

Respondents said they expected China’s inflation rate to ease in July, because of continued low food prices, giving the government more leeway to loosen price policies, econom ists said.

Capital Account Deficit

China’s capital and financial account shifted to a deficit of $71.4 billion in the second quarter this year from a surplus of $56.1 billion in the fi rst quarter, said the State Adm inistration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

In the fi rst half of this year, the capital and financial account deficit was $20.3 billion.The country has suffered a certain degree of capital outflow in the fi rst half, but this does not suggest a massive retreat of foreign investment, said the SAFE.

The country’s current account surplus w idened to $59.7 billion in the second quarter from $23.5 billion in the fi rst quarter.

Current account surplus in the first half of the year was $83.2 billion, down 5 percent from one year earlier. The surplus was equivalent to 2.3 percent of the country’s GDP in the first half, down from 2.8 percent in the same period of 2011, offering new evidence that the world’s second largest economy is relying less on external demand.

PMI New Low

Manufacturing sector expanded at its slowest pace in eight months, with the purchasing managers index (PM I) easing to 50.1 percent in July, according to data released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and the National Bureau of Statistics on August 1.

PM I in July was 0.1 percentage point lower than that in June, but it suggested the manufacturing sector is still expanding even though grow th has slowed. A reading of 50 percent means expansion from contraction.

However, July’s PM I reading was below market expectations. Analysts have forecast that the official data may inch up from one month earlier as the Chinese economy stabilizes.

Luxury Boom

China’s increasing luxury market was still a grow th driver for some main international luxury groups, despite the slight slowdown in market grow th.

According to French-owned PPR SA, the world’s third largest luxury group by turnover,which owns Gucci and Bottega Veneta, the Gucci brand gained huge popularity in China,said CFO Jean-Marc Duplaix. Sales soared by 35.6 percent across China in the fi rst half of 2011, including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and 17.2 percent on the mainland in the fi rst half of 2012.

At rival LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the leading luxury group which owns a stable of top names including LV,Fendi and Kenzo, revenues were also boosted from Asia. “Sales to customers from China and America were particularly strong during the period,” LVMH said.

“The grow th of China’s luxury market was going slow in the fi rst half of 2012, along w ith the slowdown in China’s economy, but the market w ill continue to increase,” said Zhou Ting, a researcher on luxury goods and services at the University of International Business and Economics.

She said that it won’t just be first-tier cities which w ill continue to sell plenty of luxury goods, as there is also huge potential in the country’s smaller cities.

NEW BRIDGE The m ain body o f Jiaxing-Shaoxing Bridge on the Hangzhou Bay, east China’s Zhejiang Province has com p leted and w ill be put into operation at the end of this year. It w ill halve the travel tim e to 1.5 hours between Shaoxing and Shanghai