XI'AN -- Lawmakers in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province enacted a law on Saturday that is intended to improve protection of the Qinling Mountains, a habitat of endangered giant pandas.The law, which will take effect on March 1, is aimed at preserving biodiversity, preventing soil erosion (which averages 84 million tons a year) and promoting harmony between man and nature in the mountain range, which is a divide between China's north and south.It requires all future development projects in the Qinling Mountains to be assessed for their possible impact on the ecology and bans real estate projects and polluting industries in nature reserves, where the ecology is more vulnerable.The law also bans mining and resource exploration in nature reserves and forest parks.Local governments must ensure immediate demolition of existing projects that are potentially harmful to the ecology, it says.The Qinling range, which largely spans Shaanxi Province, covers more than 50,000 square kilometers.The range is home to approximately 300 Qinling pandas, a sub-species of giant pandas on the verge of extinction, and many other rare animals under state protection, such as golden monkeys, the red ibis and antelopes.
BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Financial operations of loan growth in China was steady in February with increasing individual deposits, the People's Bank of China reported on Wednesday. Outstanding renminbi deposits among the country's financial institutions reached 40.49 trillion yuan (5.70 trillion U.S. dollars) in February, up 17.22 percent in comparison to the same period last year. The growth was 2.10 percentage points higher than January, the central bank said in a statement. In February, the outstanding value of all renminbi loans of financial institutions hit 27.22 trillion yuan, up 15.73 percent compared with the same period last year. The growth was 1.01 percentage points lower than January, the central bank said. China's M2, the broad measure of money supply, reached 42.10 trillion yuan in February, up 17.48 percent from a year earlier. The increment was 1.46 percentage points lower than the number in January. The narrow measure of money supply, M1, rose 19.20 percent to 15.02 trillion yuan, but the increment was 1.52 percentage points lower than January.
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.
KUNMING -- Fourteen people were killed and six others were injured after a bus veered off a road and plunged into a ravine in southwest China's Yunnan Province, a local government official confirmed on Thursday.The bus with 20 passengers on board veered off a highway in Maguan County of Wenshan Autonomous Prefecture of Zhuang and Miao Nationalities at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Liu Qingfu, deputy head of the publicity department of Wenshan prefecture.Fourteen people died at the scene. The injured have been rushed to a nearby hospital and are reportedly out of danger.The cause of the accident is still being investigated.
BEIJING - The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, on Thursday asked its local offices to ensure cash supplies amid persistent snow to meet demand for the Spring Festival, which falls on February 7.Snow has disrupted transportation, making it hard to deliver cash to the branches.The central bank, in a circular, urged its local offices to help commercial banks in getting or storing cash.The heavy snow that has fallen since mid-January, the worst in 50 years in much of China, has paralyzed transportation, frozen the power grid and caused serious economic losses.It showed no signs of abating as forecasters warned of three more days of snow and sleet.
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China will undertake nearly 10 percent of an international fusion-research project to be implemented this year.The project is called ITER and wants to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion power - the energy of the sun or hydrogen bomb - for peaceful use."The project aims to find a shortcut to solve our energy shortage," Luo Delong, deputy director of the ITER China Office, said at the Oriental Science and Technology Forum held in Shanghai over the weekend.He said Chinese researchers will be in charge of producing various components of the project and escorting them into Cadarache in the south of France where the ITER's key equipment will be constructed.China will inject about one billion yuan (US7.5 million) into the project, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the overall ITER investment, officials said.Other partners in the project include the European Union, the United States, Japan, India and Russia.According to Zhang Jie, a fusion-power scientist of Jiao Tong University, researchers of universities in Shanghai, including Fudan and Donghua, are conducting fusion-related studies.China will further enhance its education in the area to lift the country's overall research power.The long-term objective of the research is to harness fusion nuclear energy to help meet the future energy needs of mankind, project officials said.The aim of ITER is to show fusion can be used to generate electrical power and do the preparation work to build and operate an electricity-producing plant.The key part of the project is to develop a viable fusion-power reactor.Scientists of ITER will test a number of key technologies, including the heating, control, diagnostic and remote maintenance that will be needed for a real fusion-power station, officials said.Local experts said fusion may produce dozens of times more energy than fission, which now directs most of the world's nuclear-power plants.Fission can only be caused by uranium. However, the resource to trigger fusion can be found in ordinary substances from the sea, they said.According to the Website of ITER, the overall construction cost of ITER is estimated at five billion euros (US.37 billion) over 10 years and another five billion euros are earmarked for the 20-year operation period.The ITER organization owns the ITER device and is responsible for all aspects of the project, such as licensing procedures, hardware procurements and operation.
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 - Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan will pay official good-will visits to Japan and the Philippines from August 29 to September 6, according to the Chinese Defense Ministry.He will visit the two countries at the invitations of Japanese Defense Minister Koike Yuriko and Philippine Secretary of Defence Gilbert Teodoro.Cao's upcoming visits aim to fulfill the consensus reached between leaders of China and the two countries and strengthen exchanges and trust in defense and security areas, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.