After 18 months of deliberation and public consultation, legislators passed the long-awaited Labor Contract Law on Friday to improve workers' basic rights. The law, which would take effect on January 1 next year, won 145 of the 146 votes of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC). One vote was not cast. The new law is considered the most significant change in the country's labor rules in more than a decade. It establishes standards for labor contracts, use of temporary workers and severance pay. It makes mandatory the use of written contracts and strongly discourages fixed-term contracts. According to the law, severance should be paid if a fixed-term contract expires but is not renewed without an appropriate reason. It is also stipulated that employers must submit proposed workplace rules or changes concerning pay, work allotment, hours, insurance, safety and holidays to the workers' congress for discussion. After the recent exposure of forced labor in brick kilns in Central and North China, the final draft added stipulations that government officials guilty of abuse of office and dereliction of duty would face administrative penalties or criminal prosecution. Xin Chunying, deputy chairperson of the NPC Law Committee, said the law is not intended to replace the current Labor Law but rather, to further standardize labor contracts in favor of employees. Li Yuan, one of the legislators in charge of drafting the law, said the law targeted bosses and officials who exploited workers. The draft law was first proposed in 2005 amid complaints that companies were mistreating workers by withholding pay, requiring unpaid overtime or failing to provide written contracts. Many workers were also becoming trapped in short-term contracts. Last March, the draft was made public for consultation, and legislators received about 192,000 public responses in a month. Only the Constitution, drafted in 1954, received more. However, business lobbies are worried that stricter contract requirements could raise costs and give them less flexibility to hire and fire employees. Both the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham Shanghai) had made submissions to the NPC, suggesting the law might exert negative influence on foreign investment in China. In a letter to the NPC last year, Serge Janssens de Varebeke, then-president of the European Union chamber, warned the "strict" regulations could force foreign companies to "reconsider new investments or continuing their activities in China" because of possible cost increases. But Xin said there wouldn't be a substantial cost increase for companies that strictly follow the existing Labor Law. "All the principles have been included in the current law. The new law just details the provisions to facilitate implementation," she said.
WASHINGTON - Senior officials from the United States and China are scheduled to hold a twice-yearly dialogue in Washington this week on bilateral and multilateral issues, AFP reported Monday, citing a statement by the US State Department. US deputy secretary of state John Negroponte and China's Executive Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo will lead their teams to the two-day US-China "senior dialogue" beginning Wednesday, said the statement. The dialogue is expected to cover the countries' bilateral relations as well as a range of key global issues, including security in Northeast Asia, energy and the environment, Iran and the conflict in Sudan's Darfur. The dialogue "is an important forum for both countries to discuss issues of strategic and political importance, including how to achieve our common goals," according to the statement. US President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed in 2004 during a summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation ( APEC) forum to hold the talks among their officials as part of efforts to improve ties. US-China ties are clouded by a variety of issues, including US accusations that China is keeping its currency undervalued. Currency concerns dominated a US-China "strategic" economic dialogue last month led by Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson even as unveiled measures to boost trade and investment ties.Despite criticism from the US in particular, Chinese officials contend that currency reforms are moving as quickly as the developing economy and financial system will allow.
BEIJING -- The successful staging of the 17th National Congress of Communist Party of China has been selected by the country's netizens as the top domestic news in 2007, Xinhuanet.com said on Friday.About 800,000 Internet users voted for news items on 38 major news websites across the country, including People.com.cn, China.com.cn, cctv.com and Xinhuanet.com."China succeeds in its first moon-probing mission" came second and "China's National Congress passes Property Law" was the third, according to Xinhuanet.com, which posted the top ten news events on its website on Friday.The major news events were selected by Internet users from a pool of 20 items, an executive with Xinhuanet.com told Xinhua. The executive declined to provide information on detailed voting results.The top three international news stories were: "World oil price close to 100 US dollars a barrel", "US sub-prime mortgage market crisis shakes global financial market" and "National theme years fuel momentum for Sino-Russian cooperation".
Geneva - China urged the United States on Friday to correct its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures targeting Chinese coated paper, reiterating that these measures violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.In consultations held in Geneva, Chinese officials questioned the consistency of the US measures with WTO regulations, and urged the United States to consider China's concerns seriously and correct its measures, said a statement from the Chinese WTO mission.The two sides also clarified some matters in the dispute and agreed to continue their contact on the issue, the statement said.Friday's consultations were held under the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism. China brought the case to the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body on September 14.According to Chinese trade officials, from November 2006 to July 2007, the United States launched five anti-dumping and anti- subsidy investigations into Chinese coated paper and steel tubes, which involved 635 Chinese enterprises with 70,000 employees and goods worth US0 million.Five dual investigations against Chinese products in less than a year was unprecedented in the history of world trade, the officials said.According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the US decision not only violated WTO rules, but also went against a 23- year-old US bipartisan policy.
BEIJING -- The dumpling poisoning incident in Japan has been proved to be an individual contrived case, not caused by pesticide residue, said China's quality watchdog on Thursday.The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said at a press conference that it made the conclusion after finding no harmful chemicals in relative products and samples and no abnormal operations by the Chinese producer.Japanese media reported on January 10 that people fell ill in December and January after consuming frozen meat dumplings produced by Tianyang Food Plant based in north china's Hebei Province.
Chinese auditors said it found no embezzlement or misappropriation of construction fund in the ongoing Three Gorges project, however, they also detected some problems and flaws in the project management. The National Audit Office (NAO) said the overall quality control of the project was fine and total investment were kept under control. All 11 major projects were up to the standards, as were main materials such as steel and cement, said an audit report by the NAO. It said total inflation-adjusted investment, expected to be 78 billion yuan, could be more than 35 billion yuan less than planned in 1994. By the end of 2005, the country had spent 64.2 billion yuan on the project. The NAO, however, also detected extra construction costs of 488 million yuan, most of which was incurred by project construction contractors who exaggerated their expenditure. The office also found 20.4 hectares of land illegally used without governmental permission, while another 110 hectares approved for use had been left idle. "The problems are largely due to lack of laws and regulations and imperfection in internal control," said Pan Xiaojun, senior official with the NAO. The company said it had already corrected the use of 139 million yuan of fund involving violation of rules, and a total 17 measures had been adopted to improve management over the project. The office said 21 power station construction projects, most of which involved a single contract value of less than 10 million yuan were not put out to tender. A few construction companies were discovered to have subcontracted their projects against regulations and obtained illegal charge of 53.45 million yuan. About half of the 1,448 supervisors sampled were found to have no licenses for the work. The China Three Gorges Corporation said it had strengthened the implementation of public bidding to ensure the fairness of the results and avoid the influence of people, and it also added detailed terms about contracting in contracts to prevent illegal contracting. The unlicensed supervisors had been fired and supervision over the project supervisors were enhanced, according to the company. The report said that the project across the Yangtze River, the construction of which began in 1993, had played a "better-than-expected" role in flood prevention, power generation and shipping. "It's possible to put the project into full operation by 2009 as planned, and the project is running a bit ahead of schedule," it said. The fourteen generators in a power plant had been put into operation a year earlier than planned in 2005, the office said. Upon its completion, the Three Gorges dam will produce 85 billion kwh of electricity annually for supply to central and eastern China. The dam, which is 2,309 meters long and 185 meters high, will be installed with 26 turbo-generators, each with a generation capacity of 700,000 kilowatts. The audit, which took 150 auditors more than six months to complete, covered areas including fund raising, management and use, construction management as well as benefit of the project.
广州五月花广场 苹果维修
Shanghai - German luxury car maker DaimlerChrysler AG is recalling 1,443 Chinese-made Chrysler 300C sedans to fix defective transmission cooling systems, China's quality watchdog said on Friday. The cars were produced between March 21 and May 29, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site. Imported Chrysler 300C cars were not affected, it added. It did not say whether any accidents or personal injuries had been linked to the defect. DaimlerChrysler's Chinese joint venture in Beijing began limited production of the 300C in 2005.
BEIJING - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Monday in a meeting with World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy that China will firmly continue its opening up.Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R) shakes hands with visiting World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, January 14, 2008. [Xinhua]"China will firmly insist on its reform and opening up, and is ready to develop trade, economic and technological cooperation with other countries in a fair and open environment," Wen told Lamy.He said the conclusion of the Doha Round talks will be undoubtedly conducive to the realization of open and predictable trade and the steady development of world economy."China supports all concerned parties to actively promote the Doha Round talks at the current basis, and hopes that the talks will finish with success as soon as possible," said Wen.Lamy said the the success of the current Doha Round talks, which are now at a crucial moment, would be the most effective way to contain trade protectionism, and he hoped China will continue to play an active and constructive role in the talks.
Central China's Hubei Province has banned pearl farming in all lakes, rivers and reservoirs in an attempt to prevent water quality from worsening, local aquatic products administration said Saturday.Pearl farms have covered a total area of 13,000 hectares in the province, and the annual output has exceeded 400 tons, a spokesman with the administration said.Some farmers resorted to pesticides and manure to farm the pearl oysters, which has caused swathes of algae to bloom in the water, and turned the water stinky, he said.The administration said it would not approve new applications to establish such farms, and has ordered all water areas used to cultivate pearls to be cleaned.Over the past several months, blue-green algae outbreaks, usually caused by pesticides runoffs and other pollutants, have been reported in Taihu Lake, Chaohu Lake and the Dianchi Lake in southwestern China, endangering domestic water supplies.Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), unveiled a set of tough new rules early July to tackle worsening pollution in the three lakes.The rules include a ban on all projects involving discharges containing ammonia and phosphorus. He also ordered all fish farms to be removed from the three lake areas by the end of 2008.
BEIJING -- China's education officials are joining with employment authorities to mount investigations into reports of agencies and individuals who lure minors to work, said the Ministry of Education on Thursday."We have received reports that some agencies and individuals lured minors to work on the pretense of introducing them to part-time jobs or internships," said the ministry in a circular.Education authorities across the country will join with officials who have law enforcement powers in labor departments and commerce and industry administrations to intensify supervision and management to stop illegal employment of minors by agencies and individuals, it said.The ministry asked its local branches and all schools to be aware and report illegal employment to the authorities.Chinese law bans minors under the age of 16 from working and those between 16 and 18 must be given easier and safer work than adult workers.Employers who violate the law can be fined and, if the crime is serious, their business licenses will be withdrawn.In June, private brick kilns in north China's Shanxi Province were found abusing workers, many of whom were underage, in a forced labor scandal.A total of 95 officials in the province have been punished in the wake of the forced labor scandal.The ministry also warned vocational schools not to violate regulations on internships, which ban students from interning during their first year.Most vocational schools in China take in students who finish three years in secondary school, but do not go to high school.In 2004, a private vocational school in southeast China's Jiangxi Province was caught luring first-year students to work full-time in an electronic hardware factory during their summer vacation by promising free tuition.