THIS WEEK

THIS WEEK

LUO XIAOGUANG

Hi-Tech Show

A boy interacts with a robot on display at the 15th China Beijing International Hi-Tech Expo on May 23.

Opened at the China International Exhibition Center that day,the expo showcased China’s major scienti fi c and technological achievements in the next generation of information technology,energy conservation and other emerging areas in 12 themed exhibition halls.

The show concluded on May 27.

“The Huangyan Island is an inherent part of China’s territory. China has consistently used diplomatic means to urge the Philippines to correct its mistakes and ease the situation. The Philippines’ decision to draw a third party into the incident will further escalate the situation and change the nature of the issue.China fi rmly opposes it.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei,reiterating China’s stance and voicing fi rm opposition to the Philippines’ decision to involve a third party in the Huangyan Island issue, at a regular press conference in Beijing on May 22

“The Chinese Government attaches great importance to protecting intellectual property and is endeavoring to create a sound environment for the development of Chinese companies. Governments at all levels should earmark the cost of purchasing software in the budget, and set up or improve management and supervision systems.”

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, pledging consistent efforts to crack down on software piracy, during a meeting with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Beijing on May 23

“It is impossible to play a one-way game when the government is expected to unconditionally implement the plan while the opposition has not been restricted and, in effect, is encouraged to continue armed provocations. The end could be very bad.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, accusing Syrian opposition of undermining Ko fi Annan’s peace plan in an interview in Moscow,Russia, on May 23

“I reiterated the Commission’s strong desire that Greece should remain a member of the euro area and that we will continue to do everything in our power for this to happen. Without this solidarity, Greece will not be able to return to growth and prosperity. I therefore underlined the importance of Greece maintaining the commitments it has made.”

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, after meeting with Greece’s interim Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos in Brussels, Belgium, on May 23

Maritime Network

China’s new regulations on maritime observation and forecasts will take effect on June 1.

Shi Qingfeng, a spokesman for the State Oceanic Administration, said at a press conference on May 20 that the regulations stipulate the planning and building of a maritime observation network, the protection of observation stations, the collection and sharing of observation results, as well as the publication of early warning information in cases of maritime disasters.

International organizations, foreign groups and individuals should abide by related regulations when conducting observation and research in China’s territorial waters.

The regulations prohibit Chinese institutions or individuals from providing maritime observation results to foreign organizations or individuals without permission.

The regulations say local governments in coastal areas are responsible for publishing maritime forecasts and early warning information on maritime disasters via local media or warning issuing platforms.

Altitude Sickness Insured

Altitude sickness insurance for tourists to Tibet Autonomous Region was introduced on May 22.

DELICIOUS XINJIANG Local residents visit a gourmet fair in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,which kicked off on May 20

The insurance covers compensation for accidents and medical bills related to altituderelated diseases, as well as funeral expenses for applicants, said Wang Songping, deputy head of the region’s tourism bureau.

Tourists arriving in Tibet can pay 50 yuan($7.88) or 100 yuan ($15.76) each for a valid period of 15 days with a maximum compensation of 100,000 yuan ($15,768) or 200,000 yuan ($31,536) respectively in case of severe altitude sickness.

According to Wang, the largest risk for people visiting Tibet is altitude sickness.Related diseases, such as swelling to the lungs or brain, may be life-threatening, but these problems were not covered by previous travel insurance categories.

The altitude sickness insurance package,designed and initiated by the Tibet branch of the China Life Insurance Co., aims to ensure the health of tourists so they can visit the region without fear, he added.

Writer Honored

Su Shuyang, a renowned author and screenwriter, was presented with the outstanding contribution award at a ceremony jointly held by China Film Association andChinese Writersmagazine on May 17.

Born in 1938, Su started to write in middle school. After graduating from university, he taught at several academic institutions. During his time at Beijing College of Chinese Medicine, Su composed the playSong of Loyal Hearts, a drama about intellectuals dedicating themselves to the research of traditional Chinese medicine. The play became a huge success in the 1970s and established Su as a professional writer.

At 40, Su became a screenwriter at Beijing Film Studio, where he wrote the script for the movieSunset Street, reflecting the life of Beijing residents during China’s economic reform. He went on to write a number of screenplays and novels about the lives of Beijing residents, as well as Chinese intellectuals, such as the novelHomelandand the poetry collectionAbout Love. Su is now a member of the Board of the Chinese Writers Association and the China Film Association.

Su’s famous workA Reader on China, a general introduction to the immense country, has been published in 15 languages with about 12 million copies in circulation. The work has become a top example for Chinese books entering the international publishing market.

Biodiversity Protection

China will conduct safety management over transgenic organisms and invasive alien species in 2012 to preserve biological diversity, a senior environmental of fi cial said on May 22.

As of the end of 2011, a total of 2,640 nature reserves had been established on the mainland, covering 14.9 percent of the country’s land area, said Li Ganjie, Vice Minister of Environmental Protection.

“Although rapid progress has been made in the last fi ve years, China is still faced with arduous tasks in this fi eld, including unstable ecological environments and deteriorating ecological functions,” Li said.

KELP HARVEST Fisherwomen dry kelp on the seashore on Meizhou Island in Putian City, southeast China’s Fujian Province, on May 22

Satellite monitoring conducted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection last year showed that 80 percent of China’s 335 national-level nature reserves are being adversely affected by human activities.

Li reiterated that China will further improve the environmental evaluation system and strengthen supervision on the protection of nature reserves.

Digital Geographic Project

More than 260 prefecture-level Chinese cities are building digital geographic systems to provide better services to citizens, the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation (NASMG) said on May 23.

The NASMG said in a statement that over 100 of those cities have put their systems into full operation.

In the meantime, about 10 lower-level counties have also fi nished the construction of digital geographic systems.

The statement said the country will build a digital geographic framework by 2015.

It said that the NASMG will choose some cities with well-developed digital geographic systems as pilot sites to build “smart cities,” referring to urban centers administered with intelligent technology such as cloud computing.

Growing Mobile Users

China’s mobile phone users hit a record high of 1.03 billion at the end of April, data released on May 23 by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

During the fi rst four months this year, mobile phone users saw a net increase of nearly 43.8 million from the end of last year, the data showed.

Meanwhile, users of terminals based on third-generation technologies increased 30.55 million during the period, reaching 159 million as of the end of April.

During the first four months, the country’s telecom sector reported 339 billion yuan($53.6 billion) in main business revenues, up 10.1 percent year on year.

Revenues from mobile telecommunication services accounted for 72.6 percent of the sector’s total revenues during the period, up from 70.8 percent in the same period of last year.

Chronic Disease Challenge

China currently has 260 million patients with chronic diseases, and these illnesses have resulted in some 85 percent of the country’s total deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

MIGRATION RECORDS Visitors stand in front of a painting at an art exhibition depicting the lives of migrant workers in Beijing on May 22

A 2012-15 blueprint on chronic disease prevention and control released by the ministry on May 21 show as a result of fast urbanization and industrialization in an aging society, chronic diseases are becoming more prevalent and have taken up some 70 percent of China’s total treatment costs.

ACROSS THE STRAITS The opening ceremony of the 2012 Jiangsu-Taiwan Week is held in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 23

The major chronic diseases include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, virulent tumors and respiratory diseases, among others.

The blueprint set goals of reducing the adult smoking rate to below 25 percent and promoting at least 32 percent of citizens to engage in rigorous physical exercise.

Meanwhile, the document plans to lower the adult obesity rate to under 12 percent and set up major cancer treatment projects in highprevalence areas.

Money for Water

Beijing has planned to spend 118 million yuan ($18.66 million) by the end of the year to improve the quality of drinking water drawn from wells.

The quality of drinking water for about 300,000 people will be greatly improved following technical modifications to 54 wells,the Beijing Water Authority said on May 23.

Improvements will fi rst be made to wells that are known to have safety risks, as well as those that serve areas that do not have access to tap water.

Beijing has been plagued by droughts for 13 consecutive years, with its fast-paced economic development and ever-growing population exacerbating the water shortage.

The available per-capita water availability in Beijing has dropped to less than 100 cubic meters, far less than the internationally acknowledged warning level.

Beijing has about 4,000 wells to supply water for both drinking and industrial production.

Home Prices Drop

New home prices in nearly two thirds of major Chinese cities decreased in April as the country continues to regulate the real estate market.

In April, 43 of 70 major cities saw drops in new home prices from March, while new home prices in 24 cities remained at the same level. Only three cities, down from eight in March, saw slight increases of less than 0.2 percent last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Compared with April 2011, new home prices in 46 cities declined. But 23 cities saw the prices up by less than 1.7 percent from a year earlier.

Prices of newly built homes in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou fell further on both monthly and yearly bases in April.

Direct Buying

China now has direct access to the U.S.Department of the Treasury to buy U.S. government bonds, though “the buying amount is not signi fi cant,” a source close to China’s central bank told the Beijing-basedGlobal Times.

While all other countries have to go through primary dealers on Wall Street to buy and sell U.S. bonds, China now only has to sell, not buy, through these brokers.

“The direct access is an acknowledgement of the critical importance of China to the U.S. ability to fund its de fi cits. It gives China more power in bidding without showing its hands to Wall Street banks and other potential competition,” Dariusz Kowalczyk, a senior economist at Crédit Agricole CIB told theGlobal Times.

Buyback Deal

Alibaba Group, a leading Chinese e-commerce company based in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, announced it will spend about $7 billion in repurchasing up to one-half of Yahoo! Inc.’s stake in the company, or approximately 20 percent of Alibaba’s fully diluted shares.

SHIPBUILDING EXPO Models of large vessels are on display during the China International Marine, Port and Shipbuilding Fair in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province on May 23, 2012. A total of 617 exhibitors from different countries and regions took part in the fair

According to an agreement reached with Yahoo, Alibaba will repurchase the shares with $6.3 billion in cash and no more than$800 million in newly issued Alibaba preferred stocks, said Alibaba in a statement.

Previously, Yahoo was the largest shareholder of Alibaba with a stake of approximately 40 percent and Japan’s Softbank Corp., another major Alibaba shareholder,holds 29 percent of Alibaba’s shares.

After the deal, Yahoo and Softbank will see their voting rights diluted below 50 percent in the company’s new board.

“The repurchase deal is a very clear signal that Jack Ma, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba,wants to take back control of the company soon,” said Fang Xingdong, Chairman of the Beijing-based IT think tank Chinalabs.com.

Anti-dumping Measures

The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced that China will continue to impose anti-dumping measures against catechol imports from the United States and Japan for another fi ve years starting from May 22.

“If such measures cease to be implemented, the dumping of imported catechol from the United States and Japan may continue to occur in China and cause damage to the domestic catechol industry,” said the MOFCOM in a statement.

The MOFCOM handed down the ruling after a one-year review of the previous antidumping measure. China implemented a fi ve-year anti-dumping duty of 4-46.81 percent on catechol imports from the United States and Japan on May 22, 2006.

Catechol is a chemical material that can be used as an antiseptic or photographic developer.

Cinema Chain Acquisition

Dalian Wanda Group Corp. Ltd., a private Chinese firm based in Dalian, northeast China’s Liaoning Province, announced that it will purchase U.S. movie theater chain AMC Entertainment for $2.6 billion, creating the world’s largest movie theater franchise.

Dalian Wanda Group is a leading commercial real estate developer that also owns Wanda Cinema Line, Asia’s largest movie theater chain.

The group will invest no more than $500 million to fund operations after finishing the acquisition, bringing the total payment to $3.1 billion.

After buying AMC’s 346 multiplex theaters and 5,028 screens in North America, the group will become the world’s largest movie theater operator.

The deal needs approval from the Chinese and U.S. governments before being formally closed.

Nestle’s New Farm

Swiss food and beverage giant Nestle signed an agreement with a county government in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to build a new dairy farm.

The government of Old Barag Banner confirmed on May 22 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nestle to build a 2,000-cow dairy farm by the end of 2013.

The county is located near the Hulun Buir grasslands, where Nestle built a dairy plant in 2007.

According to the agreement, Nestle will not have ownership of the farm, but will help the owners manage it.

Lighter Penalty

Wu Ying, who was sentenced to death early this year for financial fraud, received a lighter penalty on May 21. The Higher People’s Court of east China’s Zhejiang Province made a final judgement,sentencing the 31-year-old businesswoman to death with a two-year reprieve. The court also ordered that all Wu’s personal property be confiscated.

Wu, 31, is the former boss of Bense Group, a business conglomerate based in Zhejiang.She received a death sentence for cheating investors out of several hundred million yuan in January.The sentence upheld the result of a previous trial in December 2009.This once sparked public outcry for a lenient punishment.

From May 2005 to February 2007, Wu raised 770 million yuan($122 million) by promising high returns to investors. She still had 380 million yuan ($60 million)in unpaid debt with creditors when the case was uncovered. Wu amassed the fortune by fabricating facts, deliberately hiding the truth,and promising high returns as an incentive.

SRI LANKA

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa rides in a jeep during a Victory Day parade in Colombo on May 19. The ceremony was held to mark the third anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war

THE UNITED STATES

Protesters take to the streets in Chicago on May 17, demanding an end to NATO involvement in Afghanistan ahead of the 2012 NATO Summit

YEMEN

Policemen collect evidence at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Sanaa on May 21. A Yemeni soldier with explosives packed under his uniform blew himself up during a military parade drill, killing at least 80 troops

JAPAN

An H-IIA rocket lifts off from the Tanegashima Space Center on the southern island of Kyushu on May 18.Japan successfully put a South Korean satellite into space in its fi rst foray into the world of commercial launches

THE PHILIPPINES

Performers swim inside an aquarium during the Flowers of May Festival at the Manila Ocean Park on May 18. The festival is celebrated through May, with native activities reminiscent of traditional town fi estas

BRAZIL

People touch a public phone booth decorated as a brain in Sao Paulo on May 21. A local phone company has replaced 100 phone booths in the city with artwork