WEEKLY WATCH

WEEKLY WATCH

OPINION

Counterp roductive Po licy

Since the beginning of November, a diesel shortage has swept through China. It’s reported more than 2,000 private gas stations in south China had to close down temporarily because of insufficient supplies.

This is not the first seasonal energy shortage in China. We can blame oil price fluctuations on the international market,rising production costs of refineries and transportation difficulties caused by typhoons in southern areas.

But the most important cause of the recent shortages is power cuts in several provinces aimed at meeting energy-saving goals, which have forced companies to buy diesel generators to keep operating.

Local governments’ control of power supplies is aimed at saving energy and reducing carbon emissions. But the use of diesel generators has completely ruined these efforts. It tells us again the government should not put in place policies that run counter to the market.

Beijing Times

Clean Kitchens

In 2006, Xianyang in Shaanxi Province launched a “clean kitchen” program in three counties under its jurisdiction, which provides for officials to be fed at government kitchens. Since 2008, this program has expanded to other counties in the city.

The cost of government officials’ lavish meals paid for out of public funds is estimated to have reached 900 billion yuan ($134.3 billion) a year. A great deal of corruption is related to these expansive spreads. Today,more than 1,300 townships throughout Shaanxi have built up government kitchens and the expenses for official receptions have dropped by more than 40 percent. Thanks to this practice, villages and townships have been relieved from the huge fiscal burdens of official receptions.

These kitchens not only help to reduce burden on governments, but they are also presenting a clean image of the government to the public. If more of these types of kitchens are set up around the country, more money can be spared out of huge adm inistration expenses to do more tangible things for the public. Meanwhile, it’s also important to establish an effective supervisory system so this practice can be sustained.

Legal Daily

Op tim izing Resources

The M inistry of Education recently announced it was scrapping the surcharge imm igrant students are required to pay to schools for enrollment, which is usually called the “sponsorship fee.” This is the fi rst time the ministry has set a timetable for the solution of the problem: three to five years.

Under heavy pressure from education authorities, public schools are very likely to acquiesce. But it’s suspected schools accustomed to collecting various surcharges might have already worked out new items, given today’s arbitrary fee charges in schools all over the country.

The scrapping of the sponsorship fee is significant, but more efforts should be made to optim ize the distribution of educational resources in schools in different regions.

Why was the sponsorship fee w idely charged? Because some prestigious schools possess first-class teaching staffs and facilities that most of the regular schools will never have. If this fundamental problem is neglected, even if the current sponsorship fee is eradicated, other problems w ill crop up.

In accordance w ith market rules, when demand outnumbers supply, the price of certain commodities or services w ill rise. When so many students are trying their best to get into a prestigious primary or middle school,the school will naturally turn to surcharges to raise its threshold.

As long as imbalanced educational resource distribution continues, the sponsorship fee problem w ill never be solved in any real sense.

Yangcheng Evening News

Vegetab le Prices

Vegetab le prices have sky rocketed around China during 2010. People have taken it for granted that vegetable farmers must have benefi ted from the price increases. But farmers have not seen much of an income rise at all. Then whose pocket does the huge amount fall into?

The unspoken rule in vegetable marketing is, from land to stalls, vegetable prices rise by 50 to 100 percent. On the face of it,retailers are increasing the prices, but when their accounts are revealed, they w ill w in some sympathy.

Every month they have to pay hundreds or even thousands of yuan in stall rents, plus fees for market regulation, water, electricity,transportation and packaging. The costs of various items keep rising.

Retailers, if they do not raise prices for vegetables, w ill lose money. But market operators always receive huge profi ts and do not have to bother themselves w ith as many things as the vendors have to deal w ith.Market operators, as public service providers, can never be exempted from blame for higher and higher prices.

The priority w ith vegetable price hikes is to cut various fees and taxes imposed on vendors in the process of putting vegetables on stalls in markets, so as to keep prices stable and acceptable.

Dazhong Daily

PRICES UP: Vegetab le farm ers in M engcheng Coun ty,Anhui Province, reap their harvest. While farm ers bene fit little and retailers have to face high costs be fo re they se ll vegetab les,o ther causes o f p rice hikes m ust be care fu lly dea lt w ith

SOCIETY

Cleaner Air

Pollution levels in many Chinese cities improved last year, as the quality of the overall environment remained “stable,” according to a survey released by the M inistry of Environmental Protection on November 8.

Figures show that an average 66.7 percent of days surveyed in 655 cities last year saw fair and good levels of air quality. Water quality in 89.84 percent of urban groundwater areas reached acceptable standards, up 4.44 percentage points year on year.

A lso, more than 63 percent of domestic sewage in urban areas was properly disposed of last year, up 8.03 percentage points year on year. Further, some 72 percent of urban garbage was treated, up 1.04 percentage points.

How ever, the survey also noted 14 cities where pollution levels left much to be desired.

These cities include Taiyuan, capital of north China’s coal-rich Shanxi Province, due to its poor water quality,and U rum qi, capital o f northw estern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, noted for only having “slight” improvements in traffi c noise pollution.

Nursing Hom e Shortage

A senior civil affairs official admitted that China is running short of nursing homes for the seniors as its society rapidly ages.

The total number of beds in existing nursing homes stands at 266,200, equal to 1.59 percent of the total number of seniors, said Dou Yupei, Vice M inister of Civil Affairs, at a meeting in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, on November 7.

The ratio was lower than in developed countries—5 to 7 percent—and developing countries—2 to 3 percent—Dou said.

Of the 167 m illion seniors in China, 11.4 percent were older than 80 years at the end of 2009 and most of them are not able to live independently, according to the M inistry of Civil Affairs.

Safer Road

Traffic accidents have become the biggest threat to the safety of Chinese middle and primary school students, causing over 20,000 casualties every year, said the China National Committee for the Well-being of Youth in a press release on November 5.

To decrease traffi c accidents involving m iddle and primary school students,the comm ittee has launched a nationw ide educational campaign on students’ road traffic safety.

The cam paign, aimed at enhancing students’ awareness of road safety, w ill be conducted through exhibitions and training for students in m iddle and primary schools,their parents, teachers, police and all traffic participants across the country.

Farm ers’ Will

The State Council, the cabinet, said on November 10 that the forced eviction of farmers from their homes must be stopped and avoided during rural land maintenance.

The rural land maintenance campaign should bring about higher incomes for farmers and not go against farmers’ will, the State Council said at a meeting presided over by Prem ier Wen Jiabao, according to a statement released after the meeting.

Emphasis must be placed on farm land maintenance that aims to improve the ratio of high output farm land in rural areas, the statement said.

Strict measures should be taken to protect farm land and boost its efficiency, the statement said, calling for integrated land maintenance that involves farm land, irrigation systems, roads, forests and villages.

M oreover, the statement said government offi cials and related staff w ill be held accountable for violations.

NEW AIRCRAFT MODEL AC311 m u lti-pu rpose he licop ter, the first ligh t c ivilian he licop ter deve loped and m anu fac tured in China, m akes its successfu l m aiden flight in Tian jin on Novem ber 8

ECONOMY

Contro lling Po llution

China has achieved its pollution reduction targets ahead of schedule for two major air and water indices, Zhou Shengxian,M inister of Environmental Protection, said on November 10.

The index for sulfur dioxide, an air pollutant, dropped 13.14 percent by 2009 compared to 2005 levels after small thermal power plants and steel plants were closed.

The chemical oxygen demand (COD) index, a measure of water pollution, decreased 9.66 percent by 2009 from 2005 levels, and,in the first half of this year, it dropped another 2.39 percent.

The Chinese Government set out to reduce COD and sulfur dioxide levels by 10 percent of 2005 levels by 2010.

Environmental protection authorities w ill add two items to the major pollutant monitoring list in the next five years—ammoniacal nitrogen, a major water pollutant,and nitrogen oxides, a major air pollutant.

Risk Pro files

Banks w ill now be required to perform a risk profi le assessment and record telephone conversations its staff have w ith customers before selling them insurance, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC)said in a statement on November 8.

Banks should highlight all possible risks associated with an insurance product and not sell them together w ith deposits, the CBRC said in the statement.

Tourists to Taiw an

The number of mainland tourists visiting Taiwan in 2010 is expected to reach 1 m illion, said Yang Ruizong, head of the Beijing Office of the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association. More emphasis, he said, w ill be placed on their safety after some mainland tourists were killed in landslides triggered by TyphoonMegi.

As of November 4, a total of 979,000 tourists had visited Taiwan, w ith an average 4,000 tourists visiting daily. This does not include members of business delegations to Taiwan from the mainland.

MODERN POWER Workers m ake final checks on the 220 kilovo lt transfo rm er station w hich w ill be pu t in to use in Decem ber this year. It is the first transform er station using a netw ork o f Internet-enab led com ponents

Oil Giants’ Deal

PetroChina Co. and Royal Dutch Shell have agreed to jointly work on an oil and gas project in Canada and a coal bed methane block in the northern part of China, according to a PetroChina announcement on November 10.

The two oil giants signed a memorandum of understanding for the project in Canada.The two companies also signed an agreement to jointly evaluate coal bed methane reserves in the Daning block of Erdos Basin in north China, PetroChina said on its website.

The two companies took over Australia’s Arrow Energy in a $3.05 billion joint bid in July this year.

ADB’s Loan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB)is extending a loan worth $200 m illion to China to develop the country’s natural gas distribution infrastructure and promote renewable energy use.

The loan, which will be coursed through the second phase of the Municipal Natural Gas Infrastructure Development Project, w ill support the Chinese Government’s initiative to reduce coal consumption and increase the use of cleaner energy sources like natural gas, ADB said on November 10.

China Gas Holdings Ltd., one of the leading private natural gas distribution companies, w ill use the loan to expand coverage into smaller cities in central and west China.

1. AFGHANISTAN

Afghan President Ham id Karzai m eets w ith Spanish Prim e M inister Jose Rod riguez Zapate ro in Kabu l on Novem ber 6. Zapa tero said Spain w ou ld help Afghanistan train so ldiers and po licem en w hile p rovid ing w eapon ry fo r them

2. INDIA

U.S. President Barack Obam a and Ind ian Prim e M inister Manm ohan Singh a t a p ress con ference in New De lhi on Novem ber 8

3. JAPAN

Japanese Finance M inister Yoshihiko Noda (cente r) add resses the p lenary session o f the Asia-Pac ific Econom ic Cooperation (APEC) Finance M inisters’ Mee ting in Kyo to on Novem ber 6, a w eek be fo re the APEC Summ it in Yokoham a

4. HAITI

A m an carries a pair o f shoes and a bunch o f bananas along a road flooded by hurricaneTom asin Leogane, sou th o f Port-au-Prince, on Novem ber 6

5. CAMBODIA

Cam bod ian King No rodom Siham oni w aves du ring a cerem ony m a rking the 57th Independence Day in Phnom Penh on Novem ber 9

6. THE UNITED STATES

Jobseekers w ait in line at a job cen ter in Las Vegas on Novem ber 9. The U.S. Labo r Departm en t repo rted em p loyers added a net to ta l o f 151,000 jobs in Oc tober, m o re than m ost econom ists had expec ted