BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- A severe drought over the past months has left 7.5 million people and more than 4 million head of livestock without adequate drinking water in two southwestern Chinese provinces, local authorities said Tuesday.In addition, the long dry spell has threatened reservoirs and affected millions of hectares of crop land and forests in Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, according to the local drought relief authorities.Yunnan has been experiencing the worst drought in six decades since last autumn due to lack of rainfall and high temperatures. People of Dawen Village of Donglan Township load barrels of water by horses in Donglan County, southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Feb. 23, 2010. A severe drought since August in 2009 has been continuing here at presentAlmost 6 million people and 3.6 million head of livestock are facing drinking water shortages in Yunnan."The drought would bring grave losses to industrial and agricultural production, and increase risks of forest fires," Qin Guangrong, governor of Yunnan, told a drought relief meeting Tuesday.If the drought continues, the number of people hit by drinking water shortages in Yunnan would rise to 7.92 million in March, 9.51 million in April and 10.14 million in May, he said.In addition, more crop land would be affected and grain production would be greatly reduced, he said.Authorities in the two provinces have allocated special funds, and dispatched relief personnel and water trucks to the drought-stricken areas. Huang Naibi gets water at a water supplying site in Donglan County, southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Feb. 23, 2010. A severe drought since August in 2009 has been continuing here at present
CHANGSHA/HARBIN, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- As Chinese people are embracing the arrival of the Year of Tiger on Saturday, zoologists are worried about the survival of South China Tigers as the endangered species are facing a serious problem of inbreeding.No traces of the tigers have been found in the last decade, they said.The number of captive South China tigers (Panthera tigris amoyenesis) rose to 92 in 2009 from 60 in 2007 but all the tigers were the offsprings of six wild South China tigers which were caught more than 40 years ago, said Deng Xuejian, a professor with the Department of Biology of Hunan Normal University, based in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province."The inbreeding may lead to genetic freaks, low survival rates and poor physical makeup," Deng said.All the genes have come from two male and four female tigers, which had lead to highly identical genes in the offspring, Deng said."The situation may reduce the genetic diversity and cause degradation or even the extinction of the species," he said.The tigers would lose genetic diversity if their genes were too similar, said Ma Zaiyu, president of veterinary hospital of Changsha Zoo."The number of the members of a species should be at least 1,000 to maintain the stability of the species," Ma said.Zoologists estimated the number of wild South China tigers could have been less than 30 in the 1990s. The remaining wild tigers are presumed to live in the remote areas of Guangdong, Hunan, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces, Deng Xuejian said.Based on analysis of relevant date combining field investigation, Deng estimated the number of wild South China tigers could be less than 10.No traces of wild South China tigers were reported in Hunan in the last two years, said Zhou Shuhuai, director of wildlife protection section of the Hunan provincial forestry bureau."The number is limited and the tigers scatter in different areas, which make it difficult for natural breeding between wild tigers," said Huang Gongqing, a tiger expert at South China Tiger Breeding Base in Suzhou, a city of east China's Jiangsu Province."The extinction of the wild tigers will happen sooner or later," Huang warned.Some experts have said that there may be already no wild South China tigers. "However, we cannot know as the animal is very difficult to trace," Deng said.Ma Zaiyu said to avoid extinction of the species, more captive tigers should be bred, and some genes might be recovered when the population reaches 1,000, while Deng suggested continuous search for wild tigers to enrich the captive tigers' genes.The situation is much better for the Siberian tigers (panthera tigris altaica) in northeast China as the number of the wild ones is quite stable, experts said.The number maintains at around 20 in China, among which 10 to 14 are in Heilongjiang Province and eight to ten are in Jilin Province, said Sun Haiyi, deputy director of Heilongjiang Wildlife Institute"But no more young tigers under one year old have been discovered in the past two years. The reason might be the number of female tigers are less than the males and the animals are relatively isolated by the mountains," Sun said.China established a breeding base for the Siberian tigers in Heilongjiang in 1986 and the number of captive tigers has increased from eight to current more than 800, Sun said.Experts called for more efforts to protect the habitats of the tigers for the purpose of protection and re-wilding of the tigers.
BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese market has more potential for U.S. exports, especially high-tech products, as only 6.7 percent of overall U.S. exports went to China, said Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesman Yao Jian Tuesday.The two countries were each other's second biggest trade partners, and China was willing to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with the United States to promote more balanced Sino-U.S. trade, Yao said at a press conference in Beijing.This aim could be reached if the United States reduced restrictions on exports of high-tech commodities to China, said Yao.Just 7 percent of China's high-tech imports come from the U.S., down from 18 percent in 2003.China's imports grew faster than exports in the first two months this year. Imports grew 63.6 percent compared to a 31.4-percent growth in exports, figures from the General Administration of Customs show.Yao said the ministry would make efforts to increase imports this year by relaxing import controls, hosting trade exhibitions, and providing free exhibition space for the least-developed nations.Zero tariffs would be offered to some under-developed countries or regions to boost bilateral trade.The MOC would also continue sending Chinese procurement teams to foreign countries this year to raise imports, Yao said.
BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland announced Sunday it would extend anti-dumping measures by five years on imports of phenol from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Taiwan.The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in a statement posted on its website that it decided to review the measures a year ago in response to applications from domestic phenol companies.According to the MOC, if anti-dumping measures were discontinued, dumping of phenol might continue and would hurt the domestic industry again.However, the MOC did not provide further information concerning what the measures were and when they would take effect.Phenol is a chemical compound used in the production of some medicines, plastics, pesticides and synthetic resins.
BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A total of 53.36 million Mu (about 3.56 million hectares) of crops in China had been affected by severe drought by Saturday, said the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. The drought, mostly in China's southwestern provinces including Yunnan and Guizhou, had damaged crops and caused water shortage to both people and livestock.In Yunnan, the worst drought-stricken province, up to 31.48 million Mu of crops had been affected, with 11.53 million Mu seriously damaged and 6.16 million Mu destroyed. About 5.97 million people and 3.59 million livestock are suffering from water shortage.A farmer walks on the cracking bottom of a pond in Shilin County, southwest China's Kunming City, Feb. 2, 2010The drought had also started to affect China's northern regions, as several northern provinces had not seen rainfall for nearly 40 days with signs of drought showing up in farmlands.The Office urged authorities in drought-hit areas to step up efforts in fighting drought and ensure water supply for people and agricultural uses.It would also seek financial support from the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance to ensure water supply and improve irrigation facilities for the drought-stricken population, said the Office.About 640 million yuan (93.7 million U.S.dollars) had been allocated with 8.95 million people and 150,000 water trucks mobilized to fight the drought as of Saturday, watering 8.14 million Mu of crops and providing temporary water supply to 6.76 million people and 3.33 million livestock, data from the Office showed. A villager is waiting for water supply in Changkou County, southwest China's Kunming City, Feb. 2, 2010.
山东强直脊柱炎怀孕
BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese leader Zhou Yongkang on Wednesday urged the country's prosecutors to learn from role models so to better serve the people and safeguard social justice.Zhou, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks when meeting respected role models from procuratorates at all levels.Prosecutors had made positive contributions to safeguarding social harmony and stability, protecting people's legitimate interests and advancing the country's economic and social development, Zhou said.Zhou Yongkang (2nd R), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with respected role models from procuratorates at all levels around China in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 24, 2010He urged prosecutors at all levels to embrace innovation in their work, strengthen ties with the people and improve their capacity and ability to serve the people.He also called on prosecutors to faithfully fulfil their duties of supervision and enforce laws in a strict and fair manner.
BEIJING, March 8 (Xinhua) -- China will provide speedy visa processing for visitors to the upcoming World Expo, as well as more hotel space with help from surrounding cities, according to an organizer of the event.With support from the Foreign Ministry, it is already "an established policy" to provide quick visa processing for Expo visitors from around the world, said Zhou Hanmin, deputy director of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo Executive Committee, speaking here on Monday.He made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top advisory body. Zhou Hanmin, member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), speaks during a news conference held by the Third Session of the 11th National Committee of the CPPCC on the 2010 Shanghai World Expo in Beijing, capital of China, March 8, 2010To receive the coming waves of visitors, a total of 550,000 beds will be available inside Shanghai during the Expo, and visitors can stay in nearby cities if Shanghai cannot hold all of them, said Zhou.To further assist, efforts have been made to provide easy transportation between Shanghai and its surrounding cities, he said.World Expo 2010, which is scheduled to be held in Shanghai from May 1 to October 31, is expected to attract 70 million visitors, of which more than 5 percent will come from abroad, according to Zhou.
BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- China said on Monday protectionism of the United States has "seriously affected" their trade ties and urged it to stop abusing trade remedy measures.The Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian made the comments on the ministry's website in response to recent U.S. decisions to impose anti-dumping duties on electric blankets and wire trays from China and an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into Chinese steel drill pipes."Since the outbreak of the financial crisis, the U.S. trade protectionism has been apparently on the rise, and China has become the biggest victim of U.S. abuse of trade relief measures", said Yao.Yao said a recent accusation by a senior U.S. commerce official that China has set barriers against foreign investment was "totally contrary to the facts."China is the third largest export market of the U.S., and has been the fastest growing one for years. U.S. exports to China reached 77.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2009, driving down the U.S.-China trade deficit by 16 percent, he said."Absorbing foreign investment is part of China's basic state policy of opening-up," said Yao. "China has always been making efforts to provide a more open and more optimized investment environment for domestic and foreign investors.""Some countries themselves resort to trade protectionism, but turn around and accuse others. This is not only unreasonable but also not good for its own economic recovery," he said.
BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Sunday China is firmly opposed to the recent moves by the United States that undermined China's core interests and the overall interests of bilateral ties and called for joint efforts to promote a return to sound relations."The responsibility for the current difficulty in Sino-U.S. relations does not lie with China," Yang told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's supreme legislature.He said that the China-U.S relationship had a good start after President Obama took office last year.However, the U.S arms sales to Taiwan and U.S leaders' meetings with the ** Lama "caused a serious disturbance to China-U.S ties and posed difficulty to the cooperation between the two countries," he said.