BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- China's decision to cut interest rates on Thursday is part of its flexible monetary policy to cope with the world financial crisis and boost domestic economy, a central bank spokesman said on Friday. Li Chao, spokesman of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) explained the government's cut in interest rates for the second time in one month. On Wednesday, the PBOC announced to cut interest rates by 0.27 percentage points as of Oct. 30 to spur economic growth. The benchmark one-year deposit rate dropped to 3.60 percent from 3.87percent, while the benchmark one-year lending rate fall from 6.93 percent to 6.66 percent. The previous cut was on Oct. 8, when the PBOC announced a lowering of deposit and lending rates by 0.27 percentage points and decided to cut the reserve-requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points from Oct. 15. Li said the move was in response to a spreading and worsening world financial crisis. "The severe crisis was beyond most people's expectations." He said: "China's economy relies highly on external markets. It is very necessary for the country to adjust economic policy, including monetary policy, in a timely and flexible manner to reduce the negative impact to a minimum." "Recently, China's exports have weakened as a result of weak world demand. Domestic export-oriented enterprises, especially those coastal based companies, face difficulties," he added. The country's export value in the first three quarters was 1.07trillion dollars -- up 22.3 percent -- the growth rate was 4.8 percentage points lower, official figure showed. "Meanwhile, the nation's inflation pressure has been eased," he said, adding the latest interest rate cut aims at maintaining the energy of China's economic growth. China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew to 20.16 trillion yuan (2.96 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters of this year, up 9.9 percent from the same period of last year. The growth rate was 2.3 percentage points lower than the same period last year. Consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, rose 4.6 percent in September over the same period last year, off from the 12-year high of 8.7 percent in February. When asked the reason why the government only reduced interest rates and left the reserve-requirement ratio unchanged in the latest move, Li said this is because liquidity of the country's bank is adequate. Li said to cope with the international financial crisis and maintain sound and relatively fast national economic growth, the central bank has removed mandatory restriction on the commercial banks' loan plan. He said that China has confidence that it can resist the world financial crisis, as the country has great potential in expanding its domestic demand, and the financial system is stable. He called for cooperation between countries worldwide to cope with the crisis, and to carry out international financial system reform
TAIPEI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The panda pair given by the Chinese mainland to Taiwan made their debut at the Taipei Zoo Saturday evening, meeting a select group of visitors including Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou and Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan. "It's an honor for Taiwan to breed the two pandas, as there are only about 1,600 pandas in the world," said Ma, at the ceremony to inaugurate the new enclosure for the pandas. About 500 orphans and children from poor families were invited by the city government to be the first visitors to the panda pair. "It's a time for family reunions at Spring Festival, but some children have lost their families and others cannot afford to go to the zoo. That's why we invited them, and we wish them a happy new year," said the Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin. Huang Kai-tzong, 7, one of the invited children, was much impressed by the way the two pandas ate bamboo. Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan (R) visits pandas at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan Province, Jan. 24, 2009. The panda pair given by the Chinese mainland to Taiwan made their debut at the Taipei Zoo Saturday evening, meeting a select group of visitors including Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou and Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan"They are so cute and their eyes are beautiful. I like them!" Huang said. "The panda pair is a precious gift from the mainland. Taiwan is an immigrant society, and we expect the two pandas to have many children and grandchildren so that in the future pandas will become a new group in Taiwan," KMT Honorary Chairman Lien Chan said. The two pandas, named "Tuan Tuan" and "Yuan Yuan"(when linked, their names mean "reunion" in Chinese), have completed a month-long quarantine period since they arrived from Sichuan Province on Dec. 23. They will be open to the Taiwan public on January 26, the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. It's estimated an average of 22,000 panda visitors per day will come to the enclosure once it's opened, according to the zoo. To accommodate the crowds, the zoo will extend business hours until 18:00 p.m. during the Spring Festival holidays. The city government estimates the pandas will attract about 6 million visitors to the zoo annually, double the current number. The mainland announced in May 2005 it would donate two giant pandas to Taiwan. Their departure had been delayed for more than three years. Improved cross-Straits ties made their journey to Taiwan possible. Lunar New Year.
nderstanding. China has long been an ASEM advocator. Chinese premiers have attended all ASEM summits since 1996 and proposed to build up a new-type of Asia-Europe partnership.
BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan's chief negotiator Ching Pin-kung hailed Wednesday significant progress on cross-Straits relations over the past year. The cross-Straits relations in 2008 have made several breakthroughs, said Chiang, chairman of the island's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), at Wednesday's press conference. SEF and mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), the two main negotiation bodies, held their first meeting in Beijing last June after the talks were suspended for almost 10 years. The second meeting was held in Taiwan in November. The two sides reached six agreements after the two rounds of talks, including the historical direct links of transport, trade and post services which started on December 15. "With all these breakthroughs, the cross-Straits ties have turned to be normal and practical with mutual trust and understanding," Chiang said. Chiang said SEF would persist with building "positive" and "interactive" cross-Straits relations in the coming new year. The main topics in the next round of the talks between the mainland and Taiwan, scheduled for later this year, would include joint efforts on cracking down on crimes, financial cooperation and regular cross-Straits flights, Chiang said. Board members, supervisors and consultants in SEF planned to visit the mainland in 2009, according to Chiang.
HEFEI, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said on Saturday that local government should seek every means to help migrant workers land jobs, calling it "a prominent and important task" in the current rural work agenda. Hui made the remarks when he toured east China's Anhui Province. He urged local enterprises to guarantee job opportunities for migrant workers and asked infrastructure projects contractors to hire as many migrant workers as possible. The vocational training for the migrant workers should be strengthened, Hui said. Migrant workers were also encouraged to go back to their hometown to start their own business, and support should be given in bank loans, tax breaks and business registration, according to Hui. Hui also urged local government to attach great importance to the fight against drought, which plagued more than 866,700 hectares of wheat in the province. He said rural water control facility construction should be speeded up. He also asked local authorities to enhance the control of bird flu and foot-and-mouth disease.
RAMALLAH, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese special envoy for the Middle East Sun Bigan called for an immediate halt of military activities in Gaza during his meeting with Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah Thursday. The two discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip, which has been under intensive Israeli attacks for almost three weeks, causing more than 1,000 Palestinians dead and over 4,600 wounded. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (R) meets with Sun Bigan, China's special envoy on the Middle East issue, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on Jan. 15, 2008. Sun urged all parties to abide by UN Security Council resolution 1860 to avoid additional civilian casualties and ease the humanitarian crisis. He said as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has the duty to uphold justice and safeguard world peace. The warfare in Gaza, since its start, had drawn attentions from the Chinese leadership as well as the Chinese public. Sun said China has been making efforts to bring peace back to the region and to ease the humanitarian crisis happening in Gaza. Sun stressed that China has been long supporting the stance held by the PNA and Abbas that the Palestinian issue should be solved politically. Israeli President Shimon Peres meets with visiting China's special envoy on the Middle East issue Sun Bigan in Jerusalem, Jan. 14, 2009. He expressed his hope that the Palestinian side could continue gaining international support, and the disputes can be solved through negotiations. Sun said that unity remains the basic and most important factor that ensures the Palestinians to regain their legitimate national rights, adding that China appreciates the tireless efforts that Abbas has made to maintain Palestinian national unity. Abbas highly praised the five standpoints on the current Middle East situation issued by China, thanked for China's emergency humanitarian aid, and expressed his willingness to keep exerting efforts to restore stability as soon as possible. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit (R) meets with China's special envoy on the Middle East issue Sun Bigan in Cairo Jan. 12, 2009. The two sides exchanged opinions on the Gaza crisis and vowed to work together to help ease the tension in the Palestinian enclave. Before his visit to Ramallah, Sun also toured Egypt and Israel, where he put forward five standpoints of the Chinese government on the current Middle East situation to Egyptian and Israeli officials. The five standpoints are: 1. China calls on all parties concerned to abide by the UN Security Council Resolution 1860, and cease all military actions immediately to avert more casualties. 2. Measures should be taken to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. A stable channel for supply of humanitarian aid including food, medicine and fuel, for Gaza should be open at the earliest time possible, and parties concerned should provide necessary guarantee in this regard. 3. Parties concerned should establish, through negotiation, a ceasefire monitoring mechanism in Gaza and work to create durable security and stability there. 4. The Palestine-Israel peace talks should resume at the earliest time, and efforts should be made to seek solution to issues related to the final status of Palestine on the basis of mutual-trust, so that an independent Palestinian state will be established as early as possible and the "two states" of Palestine and Israel will coexist peacefully. 5. The international community should increase mediating efforts for peace and promote a comprehensive, just and durable settlement of the Middle East issue. China is ready to work with parties concerned and make unremitting efforts in this regard. Amr Moussa (R), secretary-general of the Arab League, meets with China's special envoy on the Middle East issue Sun Bigan at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, capital of Egypt, on Jan. 12, 2009.
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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government is actively promoting the relief of tension in Gaza, and China is ready to work with the international community to bring all the parties concerned back to the negotiation table at an early date in a bid to achieve the peaceful, just and durable settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli issue, a Chinese envoy said here Tuesday. Zhang Yesui, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, made the statement as he was speaking at the closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council on the Gaza conflict, which has left more than 900 Palestinians killed and 4,000 others injured. Zhang told the Security Council that the Chinese special envoy on the Middle East issue, Sun Bigan, began his visit to Egypt, Israel and Palestine on Sunday for mediation for peace in the region. China is gravely concerned about the growing escalation of tension in Gaza, and it is regrettable to see that the new Security Council resolution, adopted last Thursday to call for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, went unheeded by warring parties, he said. At present, the top priority is to achieve the full implementation of the UN truce resolution -- the immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a halt to the firing of rockets into Israel by the armed Palestinian faction, and unimpeded access of Gaza to the humanitarian relief goods, he said. At the Tuesday council meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon briefed 15 council members on his upcoming visit to the Middle East, which will take him to Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Kuwait.
BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- China has called on state enterprises and academic institutions to step up efforts to attract more leading Chinese scientists studying overseas, a move that would enable the country to stay globally competitive. According to a guideline issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, high-quality Chinese talent in foreign countries, especially those at the frontier fields of science and technology, is needed for China to embrace global competition and forge ahead with its opening up. Priority should be given to the recruitment of leading scientists who are able to make breakthroughs in key technologies, develop high-tech industries and lead new discipline areas, said the guideline. It urged key laboratories, state-owned commercial and financial institutions, high-tech zones, and higher institutions to create favorable conditions to attract more overseas Chinese experts to serve their motherland. Efforts should be made to make sure they are well-treated, have good career prospects and enjoy convenient service, the guideline stated. "(We should) further emancipate our mind, break away out-of-date rules and regulations, improve relevant policies, and fully understand, trust and use them." it said. Chinese scientists who have studied abroad have long played a crucial role in developing the country's industry, education and national defense programs. Among them were Qian Xuesen, China's father of space technology, Li Siguang, founder of China's geomechanics and Deng Jiaxian, nuclear physics expert. An official with the Organizational Department of the CPC Central Committee has said that a large portion of scientists from the country's two top academies studied abroad. More than 80 percent of the academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have studied abroad. The figure for the Chinese Academy of Engineering is 54 percent.
BEIJING, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares staged a broad-based rebound on Wednesday, making up the previous day's losses after an overnight rally on Wall Street. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished at 2,017 points, a gain of 6.05 percent. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 6.14 percent to 6,679 points. Combined turnover shrank to 120.81 billion yuan (17.26 billion U.S. dollars) from the previous day's 145 billion yuan. Gains outnumbered losses by 865 to eight in Shanghai and 743 to two in Shenzhen. Almost all sectors rose, with more than 200 stocks up by the daily limit of 10 percent. An investor looks at the electronic board in a stock exchange in Shanghai, east China, Nov. 19, 2008. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished at 2,017 points, a gain of 6.05 percent The Shanghai index fell more than 6 percent on Tuesday over fears of a spreading global slowdown, exacerbated by profit-taking. Shares rebounded sharply in the afternoon on Wednesday as investors bought up energy and bank stocks, which had fallen heavily on Tuesday. Oil, telecom and banking sectors led the rise. Sinopec rose by 10 percent to 8.37 yuan. PetroChina was up 7.49 percent, closing at 11.91 yuan. China Citic Bank gained 6.51 percent to 4.42 yuan. Telecom shares surged on reports of an imminent approval of 3G licenses. China United Telecommunications rose 10 percent to 6.03 yuan. A Guangfa Securities note said the rebound showed investor confidence had risen after Tuesday's decline. The sharp rises of energy and banking stocks showed institutional investors were optimistic over market prospects.
BEIJING, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Senior Party leader Zhou Yongkang Wednesday asked all law enforcement organs to maintain social stability through careful work at the grassroots level. It will be an important task for all law enforcement organs to create a peaceful social environment next year to welcome the 60thanniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, said Zhou, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, at a conference of law enforcement officials nationwide. Law enforcement organs should try their best to find out and properly solve the problems at the grassroots level so as to prevent mass incidents from happening, he said. He also asked them to prevent and crack down upon serious crimes that threatened people's life and property. Law enforcement organs should also contribute to the country's economic work through effective implementation of laws, he said. They were asked to effectively handle cases of violation of economic laws and work to maintain the market order. Next year the country will push forwards the reform on its judicial system, such as to improve supervision on law enforcement organs, Zhou said. He vowed to fight corruption in law enforcement organs.