In 2015, China decided that officials at all levels, courts and procuratorates should take a public oath of allegiance to the constitution.
POLITICS AND SOCIETY
China's State Council officials pledge allegiance to constitution
In the first such ceremony, 55 newly appointed leading officials from agencies directly under the State Council took the oath. The officials pledged to loyally defend the Constitution as they fulfill their duties honestly, subject to the people's supervision. Yang Jing, state councilor and secretary-general of the State Council, declared the ceremony open. The ceremony was supervised by Premier Li Keqiang. After the oath was taken, Li told the officials to fulfill their oath and perform their duties conscientiously and tirelessly. Vice Premiers Zhang Gaoli, Wang Yang and Ma Kai, State Councilors Chang Wanquan, Yang Jiechi and Guo Shengkun, as well as officials from the State Council agencies concerned, attended the ceremony. In July 2015, China decided that officials at all levels in government, courts and procuratorates should take a public oath of allegiance to the Constitution as they assume office.
Source: China Daily, September 19, 2016
Corruption, extravagance around China's festivals strictly checked
China's discipline inspection bodies at all levels have ramped up supervision against corruption and extravagance, in case the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays are used as an excuse for lavish behaviour. The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) Wednesday launched a section on its website to accept public reports on violations of its frugality rules. September 15 was the Mid-Autumn Festival, the 15th day of the eighth month on the lunar calendar. Celebrated since ancient time to mark the autumn harvest, the festival has been an occasion for family gatherings. Two weeks from now will be the week-long National Day Holiday, Golden Week. As the festivals will likely be used as excuses for corruption and vulnerabilities, the CCDI established the public tip-off page, with a four-week validity period, around the holidays. The public are welcomed to report on gatherings, banquets, sponsored tours and bribes accepted by CPC members. The information can be submitted through the commission's website, its app and the official account on Wechat. To curb risks, local discipline authorities have rolled out detailed rules. Jiangxi Province in east China, for example, has banned all Party members from attending banquets.
Source: China Daily, September 15, 2016
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
China willing to enhance cooperation with India's State of Maharashtra
China is ready to further enhance cooperation with India's State of Maharashtra to achieve mutual beneficial and win-win results, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi said on September 16. Yang made the remarks when he met with Governor of Maharashtra State Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao in Mumbai. China and India are working to build a closer development partnership, Yang said, noting that exchanges and cooperation in various fields between the two countries are expanding. He said China is willing to boost cooperation with the state in such fields as technology, information industry and climate change, among others. For his part, Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao said the state of Maharashtra is ready to further enhance economic and trade contacts and promote people-to-people exchanges with China, and make greater contribution to the development of China-India relations.
Source: Global Times, September 17, 2016
China, Japan agree to speed up negotiations on air, maritime contact mechanism
China and Japan reached an agreement on speeding up the negotiation process on the air and maritime contact mechanism between the defense ministries of the two countries in the fifth round of high-level consultations on maritime affairs held here on September 14 and 15. The two sides agreed to devote themselves to safeguarding the peace and stability in the East China Sea. They also agreed to hold the sixth round of expert panel consultations as soon as possible and continue to push forward the exchanges between the defense ministries of the two countries. China's Ministry of Public Security and the Japan Coast Guard will continue cooperation in cracking down on transnational crimes, including smuggling, human smuggling and drug trafficking. The China-Japan high-level consultations on maritime affairs were set up in January, 2012, with the first round of talks held in May of the same year in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province.
Source: Global Times, September 16, 2016
Britain approves China-backed Hinkley Point nuclear plant deal after review of scheme
The British government said on September 15 it was giving the green light to a controversial new nuclear project at Hinkley Point after Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a review. "Having thoroughly reviewed the proposals for Hinkley Point C, we will introduce a series of measures to enhance security and will ensure Hinkley cannot change hands without the government’s agreement," Business Secretary Greg Clark said in a statement. "Consequently, we have decided to proceed with the first new nuclear power station for a generation." Beijing calls for British nuclear project financially backed by China to proceed. The board of French state-owned power company EDF approved its involvement in the project in southwest England on July 28, only for Britain’s new government under May to announce hours later that it wanted to review it. China has a one-third stake in Hinkley Point and analysts warned that Britain would have risked its relations with the world’s second-largest economy if it cancelled the costly deal.
Source: South China Morning Post, September 16, 2016
ECONOMY
China discloses G20 economic, financial outcome documents
China disclosed on September 14 a series of economic and financial outcome documents from the recent G20 Hangzhou summit. A total of fifty outcome documents, including the Hangzhou Action Plan, reports from international financial institutions and growth strategies for group members, have been posted on the official website of the People's Bank of China. The Hangzhou Action Plan, a core outcome document, sets out a suggested strategy for the global economy to follow so as to forge a clear path toward strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. The plan includes a large number of policy actions that G20 members will implement over the coming years, including macroeconomic measures to boost growth and create jobs in the short term and structural reforms to raise economic productivity and living standards over the medium to long term. Other policy actions aim to ensure the growth G20 members seek in both the short and medium term is shared evenly, resilient in the face of unexpected circumstances, sustainable, and supportive of the natural environment.
Source: Xinhua, September 15, 2016
New details of China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor
China will increase cooperation with Mongolia and Russia in trade and infrastructure construction, according to an outline of the plan for the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor that was revealed on Tuesday (13 September) by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner. The plan was compiled based on a memorandum of understanding signed in July 2015 by the three countries on constructing the economic corridor. According to the NDRC statement, China, Mongolia and Russia will increase the scale of trade in areas like agricultural products, energy and building materials. The three countries will also strengthen trade cooperation in the services sector and cooperate on software program design and data maintenance. China, Russia and Mongolia intend to jointly develop their infrastructure sectors by constructing international land transportation corridors, starting new railway and highway projects, and negotiating new rules for cross-border transportation.
Source: Global Times, September 13, 2016
China, US still hopeful of wrapping up investment talks under Obama administration
China and the United States are still hopeful that the two countries could conclude negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) under the Obama administration, a former Chinese official has said. The Chinese negotiating team will come to Washington D.C. for a new round of BIT talks with the US side in the coming week, China's former chief negotiator for World Trade Organisation (WTO) entry Long Yongtu said Saturday (10 September) at a lunch event about China-US trade relations hosted by the Center for China and Globalisation. In China, the BIT talks enjoy strong and wide support from the top leadership to the private sector, said the former Chinese vice minister for trade, adding that "there's a good chance" that the two countries could wrap up the eight years of talks under the Obama administration. A total of 28 rounds of BIT talks have been held since China and the United States started negotiations in 2008 to increase mutual investment, which only accounted for a tiny share of their respective overseas investment.
Source: Xinhua, September 12, 2016
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Tiangong-2 takes China one step closer to space station
China's Tiangong-2 space lab blasted off on Thursday, marking another milestone in its increasingly ambitious space program, which envisions a mission to Mars by the end of this decade and its own space station by around 2020. In a cloud of smoke underneath a mid-autumn full moon, Tiangong-2 roared into the air at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gobi desert, on the back of a Long March-2F T2 rocket at 10:04 p.m. Beijing Time. The Long March-2F T2 is a two-stage launch vehicle that uses four strap-on boosters during its first stage. About 20 minutes later, the mission was declared a success. Tiangong-2 separated from the rocket and entered the preset orbit 575 seconds after blast-off, a statement from the mission control read. While in space, the 8.6-tonne Tiangong-2 will maneuver itself into an orbit about 380 kilometers above Earth for initial in-orbit tests. It will then transfer to a slightly higher orbit of about 393 kilometers above Earth's surface.
Source: Xinhua, September 16, 2016
China acquires basic technology for manned lunar missions: Chief engineer
China has acquired the basic technology to carry out manned lunar missions, chief engineer of China's manned space program Zhou Jianping said Thursday. Compared with current missions, the technology used for manned lunar missions are more complex, Zhou said. In order to achieve the goal of carrying out manned lunar missions, China needs rockets with greater load capacity, manned aircraft that can land on the lunar surface and return, and aircraft that can shuttle between Earth and the moon, Zhou said. In addition, Zhou disclosed that the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in southern China's Hainan Province is likely to be the second launch site for China's manned space program. China's space station and cargo spacecraft will be launched at the Wenchang launch site, Zhou said, adding that from a technical perspective it is better to carry out manned lunar missions at the Wenchang site.
Source: China Daily, September 16, 2016
China to launch world’s first ‘cold’ atomic clock in space
The clock is ticking for the world’s most accurate working time piece, the NIST-F2 atomic clock operated by America’s National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado. And fittingly, the challenge is coming from the country that invented the mechanical clock almost 1,300 years ago – China. The US clock is a large, heavy machine, standing more than 2.5 metres high, with support facilities filling an entire room, but it is so accurate that it would lose just one second in 300 million years. In contrast, the Cold Atomic Clock in Space (Cacs) recently developed by researchers in Shanghai can easily be lifted by two people and would fit comfortably in the boot of a car. But it is expected to be three times more accurate than NIST-F2, losing only a second in one billion years. It will be able to beat the US clock because it will have escaped the negative grip of gravity.
Source: South China Morning Post, September 16, 2016
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Victor Paul Borg, Nostalgic 'red tourism' also serves to inspire, China Daily, September 19, 2016
David Nabarro, Maintaining the Momentum: Building on Year One of the SDGs, China Daily, September 18, 2016
Benjamin Kang Lim and Michelle Nichols, A big headache': China in a bind over what to do with North Korea, The Sydney Morning Herald, September 17, 2016
Wendy Wu, All aboard for ‘One Belt, One Road’? Afghanistan freight train trip one stop in China’s bigger drive, South China Morning Post, September 13, 2016
Bilahari Kausikan, The real reason Brexit could influence East Asia’s ‘great game’, South China Morning Post, September 14, 2016
Ikkena Emewu, How President Xi turned Hangzhou to ‘African G20’summit, People’s Daily, September 13, 2016
Chenchen Shen and Huang Heng, Feature: Chinese nanotechnology shows its worth in Nevada, Xinhua, September 15, 2016
Deng Yuwen and Huang Ting, China must rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear actions before it’s too late, South China Morning Post, September 16, 2016
Contributors:
- Sreeparna Banerjee
- Pratnashree Basu
- Ambalika Guha
- Swagata Saha
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
PREV
