Status upgrade

EU recognition of China as market

economy may come soon >p13

Friendship visit

Splitting up

PLA Navy vessels begin

four-day stop in San Diego

Novak Djokovic says he and his

coach are parting ways

> TOP NEWS, PAGE 3

> SPORTS, PAGE 23



THURSDAY, December 8, 2016

chinadaily.com.cn



STATE COUNCIL

SINO-US TIES

Goals set to
invigorate
the growth
of central
provinces

Actions by
Taiwan leader
called petty

By ZHANG YUE
and HU YONGQI

China issued a five-year

guideline on invigorating
development of its central
region, aiming to build it into a
key area for advanced manufacturing, modern agriculture,
urbanization and ecological
conservation.
The guideline was approved
on Wednesday at a State Council executive meeting presided
over by Premier Li Keqiang.
Our strategy to boost westward growth has not changed.
Yet, recently, there has been a
divergence in development
between southern and northern China, and each of the six
provinces in central China
also has its own condition, Li
said. Its necessary to improve
development across regions so
that the central region can truly play a supporting role in
Chinas economy.
The six provinces in central
China Henan, Shanxi,
Hubei, Anhui, Hunan and
Jiangxi have rich land and
agriculture resources. The
region contributes 20.3 percent of Chinas total GDP, up
from 18.8 percent in 2005.

20.3 percent
Amount the six provinces in
central China contribute to the
nations total GDP, up from
18.8 percent in 2005

However, amid the ongoing

restructuring and industrial
upgrading, the region faces
challenges in further retiring
excess industrial capacity and
reducing reliance on labor and
investment, as well as in technological innovation.
The new guideline sets a
goal that the six provinces will
account for a considerable
proportion of Chinas production output, while peoples
livelihoods will be improved
significantly.
The goals will be achieved
through such measures as
optimizing the regional economic structure, creating new
economic drivers, encouraging industrial upgrading,
improving modern transportation infrastructure and
strengthening
agriculture
development.
While building itself into a
key area for advanced manufacturing and urbanization,
the region should also spare
no efforts in developing modern agriculture and promoting agriculture management
of scale, Li said.
The region should fully
grasp its current vigorous
momentum of growth and take
further steps in opening-up and
absorb more modern industries moving westward from
the east, the premier added.
Huang Qunhui, director of
the Institute of Industrial Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said
China is being transformed
from a low-end to a higherend development model, and
the manufacturing sector is
moving from the coastal east
to the central region for lower
costs and a large potential
market.
Contact the writers at huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn

Beijing sees ulterior motive in Tsais plan

to stop in US on way to Central America
By MO JINGXI
and ZHAO HUANXIN

Remembering day of infamy

Pearl Harbor survivor Delton Walling talks with Rear Admiral Margaret Kibben, chief of US Navy chaplains, before a ceremony on
Tuesday at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to honor sailors who died aboard the USS Utah. The ceremony was held one day before the 75th
anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. > See story, page 12 HUGH GENTRY / REUTERS

ANTITRUST PROBE

Medical instrument maker fined $17.3m

By WANG YANFEI
wangyanfei@chinadaily.com.cn

Foreign companies should

carefully study the antitrust
law while operating in China,
a senior official with the
nations top antitrust enforcer said after it announced on
Wednesday the first penalty
in the medical instrument
manufacturing industry.
The China unit of US company Medtronic, a leading
supplier of high-end medical
devices such as an insulin
pumping system, was fined
119 million yuan ($17.3 million), or 4 percent of the companys annual sales in China
last year, for eliminating market competition in the medi-

cal industry, according to the

National Development and
Reform Commission.
Investigations found that
the company had fixed resale
prices through monopoly
agreements with its dealers.
Compared
with
the
record-high 6.088 billion
yuan fine imposed on Qualcomm in 2014, the amount is
at the medium level of the
penalty system, which ranges from 1 to 10 percent of
the sales of the investigated
company in the previous fiscal year.
The company is the first in
the medical device industry to
face such a fine, which came
after the commission investigated several major medical

We hope the case

can become a
good example as
we strive to promote fair market
competition.
Zhang Handong, director
of the National
Development and Reform
Commissions Price
Supervision Bureau

SEE PROBE PAGE 3

High-jumping robot
could aid rescue efforts
An agile jumping robot,
inspired by some of the animal worlds best leapers,
could one day help in rescue
efforts after earthquakes or
building collapses, US scientists said on Tuesday.
Known as Salto, the
26-centimeter-tall robot can
jump higher than a bullfrog
and almost as high as a galago, or bush baby, a small primate found in Africa.
The robot can jump 1
meter in less than a second,
according to a report in the
journal Science Robotics.
Thats better than a human,
but not the highest of any
robot other machines
have been made that can
jump more than 3 meters in
a single leap.

Salto does hold the crown

in vertical-jumping agility,
which researchers define as
the ratio of the maximum
jump height to the time it
takes to complete one jump.
To have a high verticaljumping agility, you have to
be able to jump high and do
it quickly, said Duncan Haldane, a researcher at the
University of California,
Berkeley, and lead author of
the study.
According to co-author
Justin Yin, Salto can jump
to a height of 1 meter in 0.58
seconds and be immediately
ready to jump again.
This means Salto can
achieve a vertical-jumping
agility of 1.75 meters per second, the highest such ratio
of any robot to date.
Salto, which is an acronym
for saltatorial locomotion

In the news

Inside
Editorial > p8

2 astronauts describe food and fun

on 33-day journey, say time flew by
By ZHAO LEI
zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn

A new robot designed for

vertical jumping agility is
shown in Berkeley,
California, in November.
HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

on terrain obstacles, weighs

just 100 grams. The one-legged robot can jump from the
floor, flip forward and then
kick off a wall, reaching even
greater heights.
Researchers hope to aid
rescuers by offering a robot
that can easily navigate rubble and tough terrain.
The single-legged prototype was developed for lab
experimentation and is not
ready for real-life use.

A member
of the Asia
News Network

CHINA

WORLD

Test results

Plane crashes

Chinese students scores fall in

the latest Program for International Student Assessment.

A Pakistani airliner carrying 47

people goes down on its way
from a mountainous northern
city to Islamabad. > p12

> p5

SEE TIES PAGE 3

SPACE

TECHNOLOGY

By AGENCE FRANCEPRESSE

companies before announcing the decision, according to

Zhang Handong, director of
the commissions Price Supervision Bureau.
The decision was made after nearly one year of investigation and after more than 10
visits for on-site evidence collection, according to Zhang.
Fixing the resale price is
among the leading causes
that drive up the prices of
high-end medical devices to
unusually high levels in China, said Zhang. We hope
the case can become a good
example as we strive to promote fair market competition.

Chinas Foreign Ministry

said Taiwan leader Tsai Ingwens planned transit stop in
the United States carries ulterior political intentions, while
an expert warned that playing
the Taiwan card could be
counterproductive.
Asked to comment on Beijings call for the US to prevent
Tsai from passing through the
country next month en route
to her planned visit to Central
America, Foreign Ministry
spokesman Lu Kang said that
transit diplomacy is among
the petty moves employed by
Taiwans leader, whose ulterior political intentions are clear
for all to see.
Lu reiterated that it has
been commonly recognized by
the international community
that Taiwan is part of China,
and that the one-China principle is the key political precondition for countries to develop
relations and cooperate with
China.
Meanwhile, Iowa Governor
Terry Branstad, an old friend
of China, has been asked by
president-elect Donald Trump
to be ambassador to China,
media reported.
Earlier on Wednesday, when
asked about the possible
appointment of Branstad, Lu
said, We welcome him to play
a greater role in advancing the
development of China-US
relations.

We are willing to work

with whoever
receives
the
position and
work together
to enhance the
Iowa
Sino-US relaGovernor
tionship in a
Terry
healthy
and
Branstad
steady way.
has been
Tsai is schedasked to be uled to visit
ambassador Guatemala on
to China
Jan 11 and 12,
Reuters reported on Tuesday. Trump, who
was named Time magazines
Person of the Year on Wednesday, will be inaugurated on
Jan 20.
An adviser to Trumps transition team said he considered
it very unlikely there would
be a meeting between Tsai and
Trump if she were to go
through New York, according
to Reuters.
However, Li Haidong, a professor of US studies at China
Foreign Affairs University,
said Trump is unpredictable.
The Obama government
will continue to send the signal
that Washington will not
change its one-China policy, Li
said. On the contrary, Trump is
highly unpredictable.

2016 China Daily, All Rights

Reserved Vol.36No. 11418
:CN11-0091
:ISSN0253-9543
:1-3

Staying home for a whole

week might seem unbearable
to most people, but for astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen
Dong, staying in space for a
month was not enough.
We hoped that the mission
could last longer because we
had so much fun in space, said
Jing, commander of the
Shenzhou XI mission. We had
a very memorable journey.
Jing, 50, who is now Chinas
most experienced astronaut,
and Chen, 37, a first-time space
flier, met with reporters on
Wednesday at the Astronaut
Center of China in Beijings
northwestern suburbs.
Appearing in public for the
first time since returning to
Earth on Nov 18, following a
monthlong mission in orbit, the
two were kept at a safe distance
from reporters because they
were still in quarantine.
The astronauts embarked
on the space trip aboard the
Shenzhou XI spacecraft from
the Jiuquan Satellite Launch
Center on Oct 17. They entered
the Tiangong II space laboratory, which was launched in
mid-September from the same
center, on Oct 19.

Astronauts Jing Haipeng (left) and Chen Dong meet with reporters in
Beijing on Wednesday. CHEN JIAN / FOR CHINA DAILY

Their 33-day journey was the

longest space stay by Chinese
astronauts. The longest previous space trip by Chinese astronauts was the 15-day Shenzhou
X mission in June 2013.
Though our schedules
were tight, we very much
enjoyed the work and life in
space, Jing said. We watched
TV programs or listened to
music while having dinner. We
tossed food toward each other
and saw it float in the air, and
we just opened our mouth to
wait for it.
Chen said they had contests

to see who could perform the

most somersaults in the
weightless Tiangong II.
There were a lot of things in
the mission that I will never forget. I observed the sprouting of
seeds and watched silkworms
spin a cocoon. I was often
shocked by the magnificence of
the universe when I looked out
the windows, he recalled.
Huang Weifen, deputy
research head of the Astronaut
Center of China, said Jing and
Chen are in good health and
will finish a three-week medical quarantine on Friday.

Thursday, December 8, 2016 CHINA DAILY

PAGE TWO
Looking ahead
Events and stories coming up in the next few days
the creation of the Circular Electron Positron Collider, or CEPC, by 2028. In the coming days, China Daily will examine the fate of
the CEPC in a special report.

Beijing railway offers car

transport service to Haikou
Beijing Railway Bureau
will provide a
special service
from Saturday
transporting cars by
train from the capital to Haikou, Hainan
province. The service will help those who
live in Beijing, but need their cars during
long vacations in Hainan. Passengers who
use the service can drop off their vehicles at
Beijings Dahongmen railway station, and
pick them up five days later in Haikou. Cars
can be sent on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
while pickup in Haiku is available only on
Tuesdays. The service will cost between
3,600 and 4,000 yuan ($520 and $580).

Exhibition to showcase
everything wedding
The 85th Hong
Kong Wedding
Fair will be held
from Friday to
Sunday at the
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. The three-day fair will feature
eight theme zones, including overseas wedding and honeymoon, wedding planning
service, florist and venue decoration and
wedding cakes and gifts. More than 200
exhibitors, among them designers, jewelers
and event management companies, will
showcase their products and services.

Report to examine fate of

Chinese collider project
The National Development and Reform
Commission recently declined a proposal for
building a super particle collider, rivaling the
one built in Switzerland by the European
Organization for Nuclear Research. But the
Ministry of Science and Technology
approved funding for preliminary research
on the project. The original plan called for

Candid camera: Snapping the sun

Hong Kong to host brands

and products Fair

A group of photographers and a giant stone that resembles an old man are silhouetted against sunrise on Shilaoren Beach in Qingdao,
Shandong province, on Tuesday. WANG HAIBIN / FOR CHINA DAILY

The Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo

will open on Saturday. It will be the largest
outdoor expo in the city, combining the
worlds best brands and products. The threeweek event is organized by the Chinese Manufacturers Association of Hong Kong.

Isnt it time to rethink who rules the roost?

On chinadaily.com.cn
John
Lydon

Visit for breaking news and exclusive content

SECOND
THOUGHTS

are employees at international schools or multinational companies in the neighborhood.

Society: Officials draw praise for

promoting products online

Eight deputy county heads from seven provinces

have become online celebrities after they took
part in a reality show to sell products of their
counties on the internet. The officials from Guizhou, Gansu, Shaanxi, Jiangxi, Shanxi, Jilin and
Fujian provinces gathered in Changsha, Hunan
province, last week to take part in the show,
which was broadcast live on various platforms.
The program generated nearly 55 million likes
on social media, surveys showed.
Books: Chinese web novels a hit abroad
After years of development, Chinese online literature has gained popularity among foreign readers, according to novelupdates.com, a website
that translates popular Asian novels for Western
readers. It said the readers were fascinated by
the charm and cultural elements concealed in the
works. Among the sites 10 most popular web
novels, five were written by Chinese authors.
Society: Community patrols go
international in Chengdu
An international
patrol team consisting of eight
members from
five countries has
started to serve
local communities
in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. Unlike
most local community patrols, these international patrol members wear no uniforms but reveal
their identity on a red armband with Community
Patrols printed in Chinese and English. The team
works mainly in the expatriate-concentrated
Tongzilin community in Chengdu, where more
than 2,600 foreigners live. Most of the members

It is said that the monasteries of medieval Europe

served as beacons of light in
those Dark Ages in the
West. Amid a largely illiterate populace, generations of
scribes devoted their lives to
copying the works of
ancient Greek, Roman and
Middle Eastern scholars,
carrying the torch of knowledge from the ancient to the
modern world.
But the distinction
between science and superstition was not so clearly
marked back then. Among
the natural science manuscripts were bestiaries, compendiums of real but also
imaginary creatures, like
winged lions. Even the entries
on real animals would stray
into the realm of fantasy.

Art: Why Chinese enameled porcelain

has high value
Enameled porcelain is one of
the greatest
inventions of
ancient China.
Compared with
other painted
porcelain,
enameled porcelain pays
more attention to realistic style with exquisite
imagery. The production method is also very complicated and expensive. Legend has that Emperor
Kangxi (1654-1722) from Qing Dynasty even monitored the process in person from time to time.
Education: US is the top destination for
foreign studies for the rich
Superrich Chinese favor the
United States
most when it
comes to
choosing overseas education
for their children, according to a report from the Hurun
Research Institute. The study showed that as of
May, more than 1.3 million Chinese had assets
worth 10 million yuan ($1.45 million) or more.
Quality is the major reason for the wealthy to
send their children to study abroad, it said.

Years ago, I had a translated reproduction of a medieval bestiary. I marveled at

the beautiful drawings of
animals and the strange
things said in the text.
Recent news stories got me
thinking about that bestiary
again because they challenged
the norms of how we think
about animals and even
verged on the fantastical.
Giant panda twin sisters
Mei Lun and Mei Huan, who
were born in a zoo in the
United States, were moved at
age 3 to the panda research
base in Chengdu, Sichuan
province.
A keeper there related that
the girls ignored him when
he spoke in the Sichuan dialect, but responded when he
switched to English. Another
keeper clarified that they
dont understand all English,
just a few words.
Then came a report about
research findings that suggest dogs have a sort of
memory episodic memory

that is considered typical

of humans. Like us, they
experience life as a succession of events occurring in a
particular time and place.
They remember the significant and trivial.
Finally, news emerged of
German research documenting that a Fijian ant species
farms a plant which in turn
provides them with food and
shelter. They collect the seeds,
plant them in an appropriate
environment and fertilize
them with their waste.
It turns out, too, that many
types of ants are known to
farm. As a headline on
inquisitr.com wryly put it:
Ants were farming long
before humans invented
agriculture.
We tend to think that we
rule the roost, that we are
the superior species and
rightful heir to all of Earths
treasures because our
thought is vastly different
from and superior to that of
the creatures we share this

and one of the largest

ancient military defense systems in the world.
Construction on the existing wall started during the
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in
the 14th century. It has since
been rebuilt several times. A
deep moat surrounds the
14-kilometer wall.
It has always been one of
the countrys most popular
places for guests and visitors.
In 1998, US president Bill
Clinton and his wife Hillary
Clinton visited the wall. In
2014, another US first lady,
Michelle Obama, toured the
site with her two daughters.

And last year, President Xi

Jinping had dinner with
visiting Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi in Xian.
A basketball game was
held in Xian when NBA star
Kobe Bryant visited the city
in the summer of 2013. Bryant watched the game and
gave a live commentary of
the game.

LUO XIAOYUN/FOR CHINA DAILY

planet with. These news stories chip away at that perception.

I wonder, what do the
young pandas at the Chengdu research base really think
when the keepers climb into
their pens wearing panda
costumes?
Contact the writer at
lydon@chinadaily.com.cn

This Day, That Year

Item from Dec 8, 1982, in
China Daily: Xian, one of the
oldest cities in China, is
famous for its ancient relics,
including the Bell Tower
built in the 14th century.
The towers of Xians
ancient city walls, built in
the Hongwu Reign (136898), are under repair and
will be opened to tourists
during the Spring Festival,
which falls in mid-February
next year, according to the
Xian Cultural Bureau. ...

Buzzword: Silver tsunami

Silver tsunami refers to the aging workforce.
The baby boomer generation
people born between 19
46 and 1964 is beginning to
hit retirement age, and companies must prepare for what
could be a major exodus. In
Scan it!
the United States, the
Read
Bureau of Labor Statistics
reports that, as many as one more on
chinadaily.
out of 10 workers will retire
com.cn
either this year or the next.

Xian City Wall is among

the oldest and best preserved
city fortifications in China,

Last year, the city held an

international marathon.
With 3,200 competitors from
85 countries, it also gave rise
to concerns over the potential damage to the wall.
In another controversial
case, plans to install an elevator were shelved in 2014
amid a public outcry.

THU - FRI DEC 8-9

-18/-10
-20/-12

-6/2
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-2/8
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2/15
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25/32
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25/31
25/31

Beijing
Changchun
Changsha
Chongqing
Dalian
Fuzhou
Guangzhou
Guilin
Guiyang
Haikou
Hangzhou
Harbin
Hefei
Hohhot
Hongkong
Jinan
Kunming
Lanzhou
Lhasa
Lijiang
Macao
Nanchang
Nanjing
Nanning
Qingdao
Sanya

-2/8
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3/10
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21/29

O
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Shanghai
Shenyang
Shenzhen
Shijiazhuang
Suzhou
Taipei
Taiyuan
Tianjin
Urumqi
Wuhan
Xi'an
Xiamen
Xining
Yantai
Yinchuan
Zhengzhou
Zhuhai

7/14
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4/16
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Athens
Berlin
Brussels
Geneva
Istanbul
London
Madrid
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Vienna

8/12
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THURSDAY
FRIDAY

Abu Dhabi
20/29
Bangkok
24/33
Colombo
24/31
Dubai
21/28
Hanoi
12/24
Islamabad
9/16
Jakarta
26/32
Karachi
16/32
Kuala Lumpur 26/30
Manila
25/31
Mumbai
18/33
New Delhi
10/26
Pyongyang -6/6
Riyadh
6/26
Seoul
-1/8
Singapore
24/29
Sydney
19/23
Teheran
5/10
Tokyo
4/8
Wellington
15/20
Yangon
24/32

C
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BuenosAires 13/28
Caracas
26/29
Chicago
-5/0
Houston
9/20
Las Vegas
6/9
Los Angeles 10/15
Mexico city 8/21
New York
3/10
Ottawa
-2/0
Rio De Janeiro 21/29
San Francisco 5/13
Sao Paulo
16/29
Vancouver
-6/-2
Washington 4/12

S
16/28
D
25/28
O
-6/0
C
8/13
O
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O
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C
7/22
D
5/7
R/Sn -4/-2
D
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D
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C
19/27
S
-6/2
O
3/9

C
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O
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Cairo
13/21
CapeTown
16/27
Johannesburg 17/30
Lagos
24/33
Nairobi
16/26

S
O
D
D
D

S
C
D
D
D

13/20
18/25
17/31
25/34
14/25

CHINA DAILY Thursday, December 8, 2016

TOP NEWS

DIPLOMACY

Gabons infrastructure plans get major boost

Xi and African nations president oversee
signing of preferential loan agreements
By AN BAIJIE
anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn

China agreed on Wednesday

to provide preferential loans
to Gabon to support the African countrys infrastructure
projects.
President Xi Jinping and
Gabonese President Ali Bongo
Ondimba oversaw the Beijing
signing ceremony of four

bilateral cooperative documents, two of them including

preferential loans.
China would provide preferential loans for a perimeter
highway project to be built
around Libreville, capital of
Gabon, under one agreement.
The 11-kilometer road, to be
completed by the China Road
and Bridge Corp, will be a key
link between the new and old

BUSINESS FORUM

downtown areas of the city.

Zhang Ming, vice-foreign
minister, told China Daily after
the signing ceremony that the
two agreements on loans mean
China will provide major financial support to Gabons infrastructure projects.
During the talks with Bongo, Xi said that China supports
Gabons efforts to speed up the
countrys
industrialization
and convert the countrys
resources advantages into
development results.
China encourages domestic

companies to take an active

part in infrastructure projects
in Gabon, Xi said, adding that
China hopes to support
Gabons development of industries such as tourism, finance
and telecommunications.
Xi told Bongo that he was
impressed by the African leader surpassing his fathers
record for visiting China. His
father, Omar Bongo Ondimba,
former Gabonese president,
visited China 11 times from
1974 to 2009.
Bongo is paying his 12th vis-

it to China from Tuesday to

Friday. Apart from Beijing, he
will also visit Shantou in
Guangdong province.
Xi said he was glad to see
that Bongo chose China as the
first country outside Africa to
pay a state visit after he was
re-elected as Gabonese president in August, which Xi said
shows Bongos firm resolution
to develop ties with China.
Bongo expressed gratitude
toward Chinas support, adding that Gabon wants to
enhance cooperation with Chi-

na in areas including investment, agriculture, minerals,

technology, tourism, finance
and infrastructure.
China is Gabons largest
trading partner and an important investment source.
In December last year, Xi
and Bongo met ahead of the
Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg,
South Africa.
Bongo told Xinhua News
Agency this month that Gabon
welcomes more Chinese
investment, especially in man-

Probe:
All treated
as equals,
says official

MILITARY

China ready to aid

in Irans recovery
By ZHANG YUNBI
zhangyunbi@
chinadaily.com.cn

Senior officials and trade

association leaders from
China and Iran have called
for reinforcing Beijings role
in revitalizing infrastructure
and trade in Iran.
China is well positioned
for this since the country has
been a friend during hard
times, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
said.
Zarif, in an official visit to
China, made the remarks late
Tuesday at the Iran-China
Business Forum, a gathering
of more than 300 corporate
delegates.
Zarif said Iran is a safe
country that is now ready
for more Chinese investment.
Teheran will offer good terms
to boost bilateral corporate
exchanges, Zarif added.
The visit was made at a
time when Chinas role has
been highlighted in helping
the oil-rich Middle Eastern
country address the poor
condition of its infrastructure
after the lifting of international sanctions in January.
The sanctions were imposed
10 years earlier over Irans
nuclear program.
In the latest measure of
progress in energy cooperation, Irans Deputy Oil Minister Abbas Kazemi said in
Teheran on Wednesday that
Iran and China will jointly
launch a $3 billion project to
develop and improve Abadan
Refinery, Irans Mehr news
agency reported.
Jiang Zengwei, chairman of
the China Council for the Promotion of International
Trade, said the two countries
should expand trade in crude
oil and petroleum products
and conduct technology
transfers and personnel training. Also they should work
together more closely in oil
exploration and refinery and

FROM PAGE 1

Chinese companies
could shift some of
their production
operations to Iran.
Gholam-Hossein Shafei,
chairman of the Iran Chamber
of Commerce, Industries, Mines
and Agriculture

equipment manufacturing,
he said.
China has become Irans
largest trade partner, largest
oil buyer and one of its major
sources of foreign investment, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
China imported up to 300
million metric tons of crude
oil from the country last year.
Chinese firms are well situated to work on infrastructure projects such as
railways, roads, ports and
power plants in Iran, given
that they possess leading
technology and ample capital, Jiang said.
Chinas production capacity cooperation with Iran
could also play an important
role in the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Jiang
Gholam-Hossein Shafei,
chairman of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries,
Mines and Agriculture, said
there are opportunities for
the countries to work on
financial exchanges, capital
flow and visa procedures.
The two sides can boost
manufacturing cooperation,
given that Chinese companies could shift some of their
production operations to
Iran to make goods that
could be exported globally,
Shafei said.
Chen Qiqi and Chu Yi
contributed to this story.

US Rear Admiral Yancy Lindsey, Navy Region Southwest commander, welcomes PLA Navy Rear Admiral Wu Haihua to San Diego on
Tuesday, during the PLA Navys four-day visit to California. BILL WECHTER / AGENCE FRANCE-FRESSE

PLA Navy ships visit San Diego base

By HEZI JIANG
in San Diego, California
hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com

Three Peoples Liberation

Army Navy vessels arrived
in San Diego on Tuesday
morning for a four-day visit
to the Southern California
city.
Sun peeked through the
clouds as PLA Navy Rear
Admirals Huang Xinjian and
Wu Haihua walked off their
vessel at the downtown B
Street Pier. They were welcomed by US Rear Admiral
James Bynum, Carrier Strike
Group 9 commander, and
Rear Admiral Yancy Lindsey,
Navy Region Southwest commander.
Some 600 Chinese sailors,
most of whom were setting
foot on United States soil for

the first time, are spending

the next three days with
their counterparts from the
USS Cape St George. They
were to tour each others
ships, mingle at two receptions and compete in basketball, soccer and pingpong.
On the last day, the two
navies will hold joint exercises at sea covering fleet communication, search and
rescue and other areas.
We hope you enjoy your
visit to this beautiful city and
each of you makes fond memories and begins new friendships during your stay,
Bynum said in a welcome
speech.
I believe this visit will
enhance the understanding
and mutual trust between the
front-line forces of our two

navies, Huang said in his

speech. It will also lay a solid
foundation for maintaining
the peace and stability of the
region and the world as a
whole.
The PLA Navy Task Group
546, composed of the guided
missile frigates Yancheng
and Daqing and supply ship
Taihu, set sail from Qingdao
on Oct 18.
The group attended the
ASEAN Defense Ministers
Meeting Plus Maritime Security Exercise in New Zealand,
where it also participated in
the celebration of the 75th
anniversary of the founding
of the Royal New Zealand
Navy.
The ships, which then set
sail for San Diego, will visit
the Port of Victoria in Canada
before heading back home.

POLITICS

Trumps pick for defense secretary called worrisome

By ZHANG ZHIHAO
zhangzhihao@
chinadaily.com.cn

US president-elect Donald
Trumps choice of James
Mattis, a retired general with
a reputation as a hard-liner,
as secretary of defense might
lead to more uncertainty and
confrontation in China-US
military
ties,
Chinese
experts said.
Trump has officially nominated the former four-star
Marine Corps general as head
of the Pentagon, making him
the first general to run the
Pentagon since George Marshall in 1950.
Mattis adds another staunch
conservative to Trumps list of
Cabinet nominees and high-

Since Trump has not been inaugurated yet,

he might take advantage of this safe period
to keep pushing China and breaking traditions without a major political backlash.
level advisers, including Jeff
Sessions as attorney general,
Michael Flynn as national
security adviser and Mike
Pompeo as CIA director.
Mattis has been critical of
the Obama administrations
security policies toward China, according to his testimony before the Senate Armed
Services Committee in 2015.
While our efforts in the

ufacturing, to create more

employment for the country.
Some Chinese companies
have already invested in the
high-end wood processing
industry in Gabon, and such
manufacturing and processing industries are important
for Gabon, he said.
Mentioning that Gabons
economy is facing difficulties
caused by dropping oil prices,
Bongo said that Gabon
remains an attractive place for
investors and has huge economic potential.

Pacific to keep positive relations with China are well and

good, these efforts must be
paralleled by a policy to build
the counterbalance if China
continues to expand its bullying role in the South China
Sea and elsewhere, Mattis
said, adding that the US
should build more naval power and warships.
By law, however, the Penta-

gon chief needs to be retired

from active service for at least
seven years, a measure meant
to ensure civilian control of
the military. Mattis retired in
2013, so he would need a special wavier from Congress,
which is likely to be granted
with Republicans controlling
the Congress and Marshall
setting a precedent.
Trump is running the
United States like a company, building a Cabinet full
of loyal conservatives capable of pushing a US-centered agenda against the
interests of other nations,
said Teng Jianqun, the
director of US studies at the
China Institute of International Studies.
Since Trump has not been

inaugurated yet, he might

take advantage of this safe
period to keep pushing China and breaking traditions
without a major political
backlash, Teng said. China
must take Trumps incoming
administration more seriously and be prepared for anything, Teng added.
Ma Gang, a professor
from the Peoples Liberation
Army National Defense University, called Mattis a man
with brawn and brain, but
who also is famous for holding decadelong grudges
against Iran and other US
adversaries. His appointment as the US militarys
second in command may
lead to more friction with
China, Ma said.

The Yancheng and Daqing

were to be open for visits by
the US public on Wednesday.
Port calls have become an
important part of the bilateral
military-to-military exchange.
This is the third time PLA
ships have visited San Diego
since 2014.
Lieutenant Julie Holland,
Third Fleet public affairs
officer, said visits between
the navies of the two countries have become more
routine.
In August, the San Diegobased guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold made a fiveday visit to Qingdao, where its
285 sailors played sports with
their counterparts from Chinas North Sea Fleet and
toured the Tsingtao Beer
Museum.

Zhang said the commission

treats all market players equally, without discrimination
toward foreign or domestic
companies, while conducting
anti-monopoly enforcement
actions.
Xu Xinyu, a veteran commission official who was in
charge of the investigation in
the landmark case against
Qualcomm in 2014, said that
foreign companies should
study local antitrust law and
comply with rules while
operating businesses in China.
Some foreign companies
violate the law willfully, he
said, without revealing any
company names.
Xu said the commission had
not imposed stricter enforcement on Medtronic to boost
growth of domestic companies.
Setting minimum resale
prices is not legal per se in
the United States, either, he
said.
Medtronic failed to prove
that its conduct could be
exempted according to the criteria prescribed by Chinas
Anti-Monopoly Law, he said.
Medtronic said in an email
to China Daily that the company accepts the decision.
It also said that it is committed to ensuring that it is in full
compliance with local laws
and regulations.
Xu said the commission
would enhance anti-monopoly enforcement in the future
and strengthen pricing supervision.
In a document released earlier this year, the NDRC said it
will pay close attention to
antitrust investigation of the
pharmaceutical,
medical
equipment, automobile and
industrial raw materials
industries.

Ties: Test of Beijings

bottom line dangerous
FROM PAGE 1

It is unlikely that Tsai will

meet with senior Obama
administration officials, Li said.
Trump might adopt risky
policies toward Taiwan after
taking office, because the political novice might not know
well the significance of Taiwan
in China-US relations, and his
advisers might have a great
impact on him, he added.
Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of
International Studies, said
Tsai is using the US as a focus
to make a breakthrough from
what he called her bad performance in office, while
Trump is testing Chinas bottom line on Taiwan.
But the test is very danger-

ous, as China has made its

stance very clear. Moreover,
Chinas will and capability to
maintain Taiwan as part of China are unprecedented, he said.
Playing the Taiwan card is
fruitless, and even counterproductive, he added.
US Senator Chris Murphy of
Connecticut, a Democratic
member of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, tweeted
on Tuesday, Pressing China
on Taiwan wont likely bring
them to (the) table on North
Korea and currency, and this
risks backing them into a
dark, nasty corner.
Zhang Zhihao contributed to
this story. Contact the writers
at zhaohuanxin@chinadaily.com.cn

CHINA
Thursday, December 8, 2016

The problems of obesity and poor eyesight have a lot

to do with lack of exercise, which is associated with
the heavy study burden and changing lifestyle.
Liao Wenke, senior official with the Ministry of Education

CHINA DAILY CHINADAILY.COM.CN/NATION

HEALTH

TRANSPORTATION

Youth in
China are
taller, fatter

Shanghai
trucks
fueled by
recycled
edible oil
By ZHOU WENTING
in Shanghai
zhouwenting@
chinadaily.com.cn

Changes in lifestyle and reluctance

to give up study time are factors
By TANG YUE
tangyue@chinadaily.com.cn

Chinese
youth
have
become taller, but they are
also fatter and have worse
eyesight, according to a report
released on Wednesday.
The average height of kids
aged 7 to 18 increased from
2000 to 2014, according to
the Annual Report on Development of Youth Sports in
China 2016.
The average 18-year-old
male stood at 1.72 meters in
2014, up from 1.70 m in 2000,
while females grew from 1.58
m to 1.59 m.
However, the obesity rate
of males aged 7 to 22 in urban
areas increased 25-fold from
1985 to 2014, reaching nearly
15 percent, while males in
rural areas increased 45-fold.
The rate for females in both
rural and urban areas
increased 12-fold.
In addition, more young
Chinese have had vision
problems since 2000, with
more than 86 percent of college students affected in
2014.
That Chinese youth are
getting taller is simply
because living standards
have been improving, said
Liao Wenke, a senior official
with the Ministry of Education.
Meanwhile, the problems
of obesity and poor eyesight
have a lot to do with lack of
exercise, which is associated
with the heavy study burden
and changing lifestyle, such
as the popularization of electronic devices at an early
age, Liao said.
The report suggests that
Chinese students physical

abilities, indicated by speed,

strength and lung capacity,
among other measures, fell
steadily between 1985 and
2005.
It has picked up slightly
since the issue was given
attention by government and
the public.
But it is still far from the
level in the 1980s, Liao said.
Fear of using up study
time was the top reason for
students not to engage in
sports activities among 13
choices given, according to
the report. More than 30 percent of those aged 13 to 15
have such concerns.
Access to sports facilities
also remains a bottleneck in
some remote and less-developed areas. Nationwide,
sports equipment in 35 percent of primary schools, 21
percent of middle schools
and 13 percent of high
schools are not sufficient to
implement the sports activities required by the nations
school sports plan.
Due to the family planning
policy, many children are
often spoiled and self-centered, and they also tend to
be lonely. As such, youth
sports activity in China is
more crucial for social interaction and psychological
health, the report said.
It also pointed out that the
physique of youth in the
country is the foundation for
its competitiveness at international sports events.
At the Rio Olympic Games,
China slipped to third place
on the gold medal tally with
28 golds, after the United
States and the United Kingdom, the worst performance
since 2004.

Feeding frenzy
A worker spreads feed for swans at the Yellow River Wetland Nature Reserve in Sanmenxia, Henan province, on Wednesday. More than
10,000 swans stay at the reserve through the winter every year. LI AN / XINHUA

SUPERVISION

Energy sector facing more safety inspections

By XU WEI
xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn

Chinas work safety watchdog will step up checks and

supervision in the energy sector, including coal mines, and
oil and gas production and
transportation, as rising energy prices drive up the motivation for illegal production.
The country saw five major
work safety incidents, including four involving coal mines,
in the past three months, with
at least 179 people losing their
lives, according to the State
Administration of Work Safety.
In the wake of the incidents,
the authority said at a work
conference on Monday that it
will crack down on illegal coal
mine production and activities

that exceed designated mine

capacity, and step up the phasing out of small coal mines to
prevent major accidents,
according to a statement
released on Wednesday.
The countrys intensified
effort to cut overcapacity has
led to huge rises this year in
bulk commodity prices, especially for thermal coal.
The rising price has fueled
illegal production in some areas, with some local authorities
and companies failing to conduct timely safety checks and
assume work safety responsibilities, the watchdog said on
its website on Wednesday.
The fact that Chinas overall
economic situation is picking
up, coupled with rising energy demand in winter, has

GENG YUHE / FOR CHINA DAILY

Poor eyesight
Prevalence of poor eyesight in students from 2000-14
(Unit: percent)

JUNIOR HIGH

SENIOR HIGH

(13-15 years old)

(16-18 years old)

(19-22 years old)

100%

100%

100%

80%
60%
40%

58.1

67.3

74.4

48.2

20%

80%

COLLEGE

79.2 83.3
71.3 76

60%

40%

40%

20%

20%

0%

0%

80%

60%

00 05 10 14

Apple argues for ban on iPhone 6 to be lifted

00 05 10 14

Female

RURAL
15%

15%
10%

15%
9.9%

10%
6.1%

5%
0%

5%
4.3%

0%
85

95 00 05

10

14

85

Yang Pu, Apples attorney

ban after finding that the

iPhone models too closely
resemble the 100C. The company had been given a patent
for the 100C in July 2014, two
months before the iPhone 6
and iPhone 6 Plus were
issued in China, according to
Yang.
The intellectual property

receiving a report that the

man was transporting drugs
from Myanmar to China.
Police seized 35.6 kilograms
of methamphetamine from
the vehicle. An investigation
into the case is underway.

million yuan
($680,000),
according to a
local court.
Yiyang Intermediate Peoples
Court convicted Li Zicheng,
former vice-mayor of Huaihua,
of accepting bribes between
2008 and 2014 when he held
several positions in the city. Li
sought benefits for others in
return for bribes, the court said.

Briefly

Percentage of obese people ages 7-22, from 1985-2014

URBAN

Average consumers
can distinguish
them easily.

IP right of the Shenzhenbased company.

It was not reasonable to halt
sales of the iPhone models, she
added.
The court did not announce
a verdict after hearing the case
for almost eight hours on
Wednesday.
The IP dispute is the latest
faced by Apple over the design
of its products in China.
Earlier, Apple also sued a
Chinese government department and a local company
over a patent dispute relating
to Apples Siri product.
In 2012, Apple paid $60 million to a Shenzhen-based maker of computer screens and
LED lights to settle a dispute
over the iPad trademark on
the Chinese mainland.

82.7 84.7 86.4

Obesity rates
Male

Tech giant Apple argued in a

Beijing court on Wednesday
that its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6
Plus mobile designs do not
copy a Chinese product and
should be allowed to be sold
on the Chinese mainland.
On May 10, the Beijing Intellectual Property Office halted
sales of the iPhone 6 and
iPhone 6 Plus because it was
believed that the Apple mobile
phone models infringed the
design patent of a Chinese cell
phone model called 100C, produced by Shenzhen Baili Marketing Service Co.
Yang Anjin, attorney of the
Shenzhen-based company,
said that it applied for the

office said at the time that

the differences are too tiny to
be noticed by average consumers, and ordered Apple
and a reseller of its products
in Beijing to stop selling the
two models.
Yang Pu, Apples attorney,
said during the hearing at the
Beijing Intellectual Property
Court that the design of the
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
has 13 differences compared
with the 100C.
Average consumers can distinguish them easily.
For example, the curvature
of the iPhone models two
sides is symmetrical, which
is completely different from
the Chinese product, she
said. On this occasion, we
dont think we infringed any

73

0%
00 05 10 14

province, on Nov 24. The incident is the most deadly of its

kind in the countrys electric
power construction industry.
The authority said it will also
strengthen the patrolling and
supervision of closed and suspended mines, and set up strict
standards for reopening mines.
It also warned of road safety hazards and the transportation
of
dangerous
chemicals in the winter,
which could be vulnerable to
blizzards, fog and cold snaps.
According to the authority,
the country saw 4,804 work
safety incidents in November,
which led to the deaths of 3,479
people. The number of incidents and that of people killed
were down by 4.5 percent and
6.3 percent year-on-year.

COURTS

By CAO YIN
caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn

Students attend a soccer training session at a primary school

in Lianyugang, Jiangsu province, in November.

resulted in the restoration of

factory activities and overloaded production.
We are expecting even bigger pressure for work safety in
the coming period, the authority said in the statement.
The recent major coal mine
incidents were all cases involving gas explosions and have
been found to have violated
work safety regulations, the
watchdog said. At least 86
miners were killed in recent
incidents in Chongqing, Heilongjiang province and the
Inner Mongolia autonomous
region.
In another incident, 74 workers were killed and two injured
after a work platform in an
unfinished cooling tower collapsed in Fengcheng, Jiangxi

95 00 05

Source: Annual Report on Development of Youth Sports in China (2016)

10

14

CHINA DAILY

BEIJING

Poverty alleviation
efforts to increase
The central government has
called for greater support from
the countrys more developed
eastern regions to help alleviate
poverty in remote western
regions, according to a guideline
recently issued by the State
Council. Assistance from the
countrys eastern regions to help
rural western areas should be
increased through cooperation

in industry development, labor

services and training as well as
greater financial support.
YUNNAN

Drug trafficker
arrested on highway
Police in Lincang on Monday
arrested a drug trafficker,
local authorities said on
Wednesday. Frontier police
in the city arrested a man
driving a vehicle on a highway at about 10 am after

HUNAN

Ex-vice-mayor gets
10 years for graft
A former vice-mayor has been
sentenced to 10 years in prison
for accepting bribes totaling 4.7

XINHUACHINA DAILY

Some trucks in Shanghai are, for the first time in

the country, fueling up on
recycled cooking oil, commonly known as gutter
oil, as part of efforts to promote environmental sustainability and keep the
inferior oil out of kitchens.
Since the beginning of
this month, more than 100
logistics trucks of Swedish
furniture maker Ikea have
been running on fuel composed of biodiesel derived
from cooking oil. The
amount of gutter oil the
fuel contains varies from
five to 10 percent.
Shanghai Zhongqi Environment Technology Co,
one of Shanghais two
licensed gutter oil processing companies, partnered
with Ikea and Shanghai
Bus Logistics Ltd for the
biodiesel project.

100 buses
in Shanghai have started
using biodiesel since early
last year.

The project is in line

with our energy-saving
goal and brings benefits to
society, said He Jianjiang,
general manager of
Shanghai Bus Logistics.
Shanghai Food Safety
Committee said the project
means that vehicles have
now joined the recycling
drive, and the process of
recycling waste kitchen oil
is now well developed.
Yan Zuqiang, deputy
head of the committee,
said at the projects launching ceremony on Dec 1 that
it is a giant step toward
Shanghais goal of becoming a great global city,
which is included in its
2040 development plan.
He added that the newly
amended Shanghai Food
Safety Regulations, which
will be unveiled next year,
will further support the
recycling of oil through
local legislation. Enterprises using biodiesel will
receive subsidies.
Biodiesel is more
expensive than traditional
oil by 1,000 yuan ($145) to
2,000 yuan per ton, said
the head of technology at
Zhongqi
Environment
Technology in Fengxian
district. He only gave his
surname as Cao.
Currently, the trucks
can only fill up on site at
their company. In the
future, more specialized
stations, like the ones for
traditional gasoline, will
be built to facilitate the
usage of biofuel, Cao said.
For years, the authorities have focused on converting waste oil. Using
cooking oil-derived biofuel cuts carbon dioxide
emissions and is a productive way to clamp down on
the illegal gutter oil trade.
Biofuel has been used to
power airplanes and buses
in China. In Shanghai,
more than 100 buses on 10
routes have used biodiesel
since early last year.
Wu Yiwei contributed to
this story.

CHINA 5

CHINA DAILY Thursday, December 8, 2016

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

NARCOTICS

Funds for
scientific
promotion
insufficient

Lab drug
not cause of
US deaths

By CHENG YINGQI
chengyingqi@chinadaily.com.cn

China has been gaining

international recognition for
its scientific research thanks
to significant government
investment, though authorities seem not as generous in
promoting science to the general public.
Survey results released on
Wednesday by the Ministry
of Science and Technology
show that last year, special
government funding for science promotion was 4.63
yuan ($0.67) per capita, a
0.05 yuan drop from the previous year.
When we talk about the
special fund, we are referring
to the financial allocations
aside from infrastructure
spending, such as the cost of
building science and technology museums. As the infrastructure projects can last for
a few years after one-time
funding, excluding it will
ensure the continuity of the
data, said Qiu Chengli, a
researcher at the Ministry of
Science and Technologys
Department of Policies, Regulation and Supervision.

The amount spent

on science promotion is surprisingly
low, but I think
new media can fill
the gap.
Huang Yongming, science writer

The fund is mainly spent on

sponsoring
government
organs or semiofficial organs
to carry out science promotion
projects such as publishing
books, holding lectures and
organizing exhibitions.
There has been momentum growth in the past five
years, and we have reason to
expect more government support in the coming few years,
he said.
The total financial budget
for science promotion in 2010
was 6.81 billion yuan, which
was increased to 10.67 billion
yuan last year, according to
the ministry.
Regional disparity in science promotion is also significant. In 2014, for example, per
capita spending was 69.72
yuan in Shanghai and 46.01
yuan in Beijing, while in lessdeveloped provinces like Jilin
it was only 0.36 yuan per person.
The amount spent on science promotion is surprisingly low, but I think new
media can fill the gap, said
Huang Yongming, a science
writer and the head of the
science journalism lab under
The Intellectual, a new
media science communication platform in China.
It has been demonstrated
by the past decades of practice
that private capital has better
vigor in science promotion,
he said.
Huang suggested the government encourage private
capital to get involved in promoting science, while maintaining supervision to prevent
the public being misled.

Toppercapita
spendingregions
Shanghai 69.72 yuan
Beijing
46.01 yuan
Fujian
7 yuan
Chongqing 5.63 yuan
Jiangsu
5.39 yuan
MINISTRY OF SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY

Powerful opioid is variant of chemical

that killed musician Prince in April
By SHAN JUAN
and ZHANG YAN

Religious replica
A man paints a replica of a reclining Buddha statue, which weighs 3 metric tons and took eight days to assemble. Cultural relics
from Dunhuang, Gansu province, have been transported to join an exhibition at Chengdu Museum in Sichuan province. The
exhibition will be held at the end of this month. CHEN YUXIAO / FOR CHINA DAILY

EDUCATION

Expert: Low test scores not a worry

By ZHAO XINYING
in Beijing
and AMY HE in New York

People should not overreact to the fall in ranking of

Chinese students in the 2015
Program for International
Student Assessment; they
should focus on what the test
results indicate about the
education system in China,
experts said.
Chinese students scores
fell across the board in science, reading and mathematics in the 2015 PISA compared
with 2012, although they
were able to retain their top10 ranking in science and
math, according to an assessment of results released on
Tuesday by the Organization
for Economic Cooperation
and Development.
The 2015 PISA was taken
by about 540,000 students
aged 15 in 72 countries and
economies on science, math
and collaborative problemsolving. In China, students
in Beijing, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Shanghai took the
two-hour test.

The proportion of Chinese

students who have a real
passion for math and science is still low.
Lu Jing, secretary of the PISA Shanghai research center

Shanghai began participating in the PISA in 2009

and was the only city on the
Chinese mainland partaking in the test. In both the
2009 and 2012 tests, Shanghai surpassed all other participating countries and
regions.
However, in the 2015 test,
Singapore dominated across
all three subjects, ranking
first and outperforming the
rest of the world. Students in
Beijing, Jiangsu, Guangdong
and Shanghai scored a median 518 and were ranked 10th
in science, compared with
the 580 that students from
Shanghai alone scored in
2012.
For mathematics, students in China scored 531
and were ranked sixth, com-

pared with 613 in 2012. Their

score in reading was 494, a
more obvious decline compared with 2012.
Yong Zhao, a professor at
the University of Kansas
school of education, said that
there is no reason to overreact to Chinas scores, because
he doesnt believe the PISA
measures the totality of the
quality of education of any
education system.
He said that adding more
provinces to the test might
have caused the dip, but that
there could have been other
contributing factors.
Overall, we dont need to
read too much into PISA or
other international tests, he
wrote in an email response
to questions.
Lu Jing, a researcher at

the Shanghai Academy of

Educational
Sciences,
agreed. She said the change
in participating cities and
provinces had a big impact
on the test results, adding
that as students from Shanghai represented the highest
level and best performance,
its normal that the average
test scores fell after more cities and provinces were
involved in the test.
Lu, who is also secretary of
the PISA Shanghai research
center, added that she is more
interested in what the scores
and rankings reflect about
Chinas education system.
Big gaps now exist among
students from different
provinces and regions, while
the proportion of Chinese
students who have a real
passion for math and science
is still low, she said. Solving
these problems is more
important and meaningful
to Chinese educators than
just looking at the scores.
Contact the writers at
zhaoxinying@
chinadaily.com.cn

MEDICINE

TCM on the horns of a moral dilemma

By XINHUA

The traditional Chinese

medicine industry is facing a
dilemma: Should it replace
tiger bones and rhino horns
used in its medicine to
please animal-rights activists at the cost of reducing
potential healing effects?
China issued its first white
paper on TCM on Tuesday,
highlighting both the development of the modern TCM
pharmaceutical
industry
and the traditional roots of
ancient therapies.
Animal-rights
activists
have long raised questions
over TCM because many traditional formula contain
animal parts or elements
extracted from them.
Zheng Jin, head of the
Yunnan provincial TCM
administration, said that
with increased public awareness of animal protection,
the TCM industry is promoting the use of substitutes for
wild animal parts.
There are generally two
ways for making substitutes
of animal products in TCM
either finding alternative
animals or artificial synthesis, Zheng said.
In January, the scientific
development of synthetic
muskone to replace that
extracted from musk deer
won first prize at the China
National Science and Tech-

ZHANG KE / FOR CHINA DAILY

XU KANGPING / FOR CHINA DAILY

The uses of bear bile and rhino horn in making traditional

Chinese medicine is protested against by animal-welfare
activists.

Tongrentang ... aims to

return to using traditional
TCM methods to preserve the essence
of ancient therapy.
Tian Ruihua, chief engineer of Beijing Tongrentang (Group), one of
Chinas most prestigious TCM pharmacies

nology Progress Awards. The

element is widely used in
TCM drugs to help blood circulation and treat minor
strokes.
Zheng said a number of
companies in Yunnan are
conducting
experiments
focused on raising rhinos, as
rhino horns are one of the
components used in both
TCM and medicine in countries in the Middle East and
Asia. It is said to help treat
typhus and snake poison.
Zheng said that through
artificial feeding, companies

are able to gather pieces of

rhino horn, like trimming a
finger nail, with the horns
regenerating.
It is now common among
TCM doctors to replace rhino horn with buffalo horn, as
well as using two other
ingredients to replace bear
gall. But many TCM doctors
say such replacements
undermine the effectiveness
of the medicine.
A Chinese bear bile company halted its IPO bid twice
after animal-rights activists
waged a media war con-

demning it for raising bears

and extracting bile from
their gall bladders.
Fujian Guizhentang Pharmaceutical, based in Southeast Chinas Fujian province,
has stuck to the use of bear
bile in making traditional
medicine.
The company has its own
bear farm for the extraction
of bile from live caged bears
via catheters in their bodies.
The practice is considered
cruel and painful.
Beijing
Tongrentang
(Group), one of Chinas most
prestigious TCM pharmacies, said it has set up 130
overseas subsidiaries in 25
countries and regions since
1993.
At present, many Tongrentang medicines use synthetics to replace animal
elements, including tiger
bones and musk.
The technology for making artificial substitutes is
now very mature. The substitutes provide a good supplement, said Tian Ruihua,
chief engineer of the company.
However, as TCM culture
is becoming increasingly
popular in the West,
Tongrentang as a centuryold TCM pharmacy aims
to return to using traditional
TCM methods to preserve
the essence of ancient therapy, Tian said.

China hasnt blacklisted carfentanil, a synthetic opioid, as

a controlled substance, thus it
can still be legally produced by
qualified chemical companies,
according to a senior official at
the Ministry of Public Securitys Narcotics Control Bureau,
who declined to be named.
He spoke to China Daily in
an
exclusive
interview,
responding to recent media
reports in Western countries
such as the United States and
Canada alleging that Chinaexported carfentanil had
caused a rise in overdose
deaths there.
There is no convincing evidence or scientific statistics to
show that the China-exported
substance has been widely
abused in the US or Europe,
leading to deaths there, he
said.
Carfentanil, one of the most
potent opioids known, is a variant of fentanyl, a prescription
painkiller that killed US musician Prince earlier this year.
US experts said its 100 times
stronger than fentanyl and
thousands of times more
deadly than heroin.
An National Public Radio
report on Sept 2 said carfentanil is being sold on streets in
the US, either mixed with heroin or pressed into pills that
look like prescription drugs.
That has deadly consequences, it said. The US Drug
Enforcement Administration
said much of the carfentanil
being sold on the streets is
illicitly imported from China,
without giving further details.
It is mere speculation, as
there is no solid evidence to
prove the source, the exact
number of victims, or the
severity of the problem in
these countries, the official
said. There have only been
some individual cases of drug
addicts in the US dying from
using it.
However, he added that the
ministry would further tighten management and control
over such substances.
It stimulates the human
nervous system and does
harm to peoples health, while
having no medical value, he
said.
Melvin Patterson, a staff
coordinator with the congressional and public affairs

department at the US Department of State, told China Daily

in an email that the DEA and
China have a sound working
relationship.
The DEA has offices in China and the agents there do a
great job working with Chinese law enforcement officials
to prevent illegal substances
from being shipped to the US,
Patterson said.

100 times
The comparative strength
of carfentanil in relation to
fentanyl

Facing public health and

social stability challenges
caused by narcotic and psychotropic drugs, widely
known as lab drugs, the Chinese government issued a regulation last year to improve
control and surveillance of
such substances, according to
Wei Xiaojun, a senior official
at the China National Narcotics Control Commission.
Such lab drugs have
become the second-largest
abused substance, following
marijuana, in Europe and
North Africa, he told China
Radio International last year.
Under the regulation, China
added another 116 synthetic
drugs to the controlled-substance list, including acetylfentanyl, a less potent fentanyl
variant, previous reports said.
Once blacklisted, the manufacture, sales, transportation,
import/export, stocking and
use of a substance is strictly
prohibited and severely punished.
Xiao Yingxia, a division
director at the Ministry of Public Securitys Narcotics Control
Bureau, told CRI that some of
the newly added substances
had, so far, not been found to
be abused within the country.
But they had been found
being produced and marketed
in China, and were confirmed
to be leading to abuse and
overdose deaths abroad, Xiao
said, adding that the move to
blacklist such substances
highlights the global cooperation and responsibility adopted in fighting such issues.
Contact the writers at
shanjuan@
chinadaily.com.cn

Chemist on trial over

prohibited substance
By CHINA DAILY

An associate professor of
chemistry and three others
stood trial on Monday at
Wuhan Intermediate Peoples
Court in Hubei province on a
charge of manufacturing and
smuggling strictly-controlled
psychotropic drugs.
The professor, surnamed
Zhang, who taught at a
renowned university in
Wuhan, allegedly started a
drug company with his friend
to manufacture psychotropic
drugs, according to a report by
Chutian Metropolis Daily.
The drugs were exported
mainly to Europe and the
United States, and brought in
monthly revenue of about
$600,000, it said.
Zhang and the other three,
arrested last year, are facing
charges of manufacturing and
smuggling prohibited drugs
after the contraband was
intercepted by Wuhan Cus-

toms at Tianhe airport in 2014.

The prohibited drugs
smuggled by the four
amounted to 31.9 kg, the
paper reported.
Founded in 2005, Zhangs
company began to manufacture psychotropic drugs and
develop new forms of drugs,
notably methylone, a strong
stimulant that can cause delusions, nose bleeds, nausea,
skin rashes, anxiety or even
death, experts said.
It has been included on Chinas list of strictly-controlled
psychotropic drugs, but tempted by huge profit margins, the
group continued to illegally
manufacture and smuggle the
drug.
The raw materials were
obtained through irregular
channels and they faked the
name of the goods to pass customs inspection. The four
have admitted their crimes.
The verdict has yet to be
announced.

6 Gabon special

Thursday, December 8, 2016

C HI NA DA I LY

C H I N A DA I LY

Gabon special 7

Thursday, December 8, 2016

President visits to
strengthen bonds
Healthcare cooperation forms backbone of friendship
By MO JINGXI
mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn

Gabonese President Ali Bongo

Ondimba said ahead of his visit to
China that his country welcomes
more Chinese companies to invest
in its processing and manufacturing industries, in a bid to boost
economic development and create
more jobs.
The Gabonese president kicked
off a four-day state visit to China
on Tuesday at the invitation of his
Chinese peer Xi Jinping. The trip,
his rst visit to a country outside
the African continent since winning
reelection in August, is his 11th to
China.
In an earlier interview with Xinhua News Agency, he described the
visit as an opportunity to speed
up the development of the GabonChina relationship.
China is the partner of Gabon,
and the two countries share a
close relationship. Gabon hopes
to continue strengthening trade
and economic exchanges with
China, he said.
Despite the difficulties facing
his country due to a drop in oil
prices, the Gabonese president
said his country is still attractive
to investors and hopes to see more
Chinese enterprises investing in
Gabon, especially in the elds of
processing and manufacturing,
which are crucial to the economy
of his country.
He added that he hopes the
local manufacturing industry can
continue to develop to increase
the value and competitiveness of
its products while creating more
employment opportunities.
In late November, a 26-member
Chinese medical team arrived in
Gabon to provide two years of
medical assistance to the African

An ophthalmologist from a Chinese medical team stationed in Gabon

checks the eyes of a local patient. XINHUA

country, marking a renewing of

the two countries nearly 40 years
of cooperation in healthcare.
Medical staff from different
departments, including internal
medicine, surgery, gynecology,
pediatrics, stomatology and ophthalmology, belong to the 19th
medical team sent by China to
work in hospitals in the Gabonese
cities of Libreville and Franceville.
As representatives of the Chinese and Gabonese governments,
Chinese Ambassador to Gabon
Hu Changchun and Gabonese
Minister of Health Leon Nzouba signed an agreement on Nov
22 to dispatch Chinese medical
teams to Gabon.
The two countries share a
profound friendship and have
achieved fruitful results in their
healthcare cooperation, Hu said
in a speech after the signing ceremony.
China has sent 19 medical
teams to Gabon and provided
medical services to a total of

290,000 local patients since the

two countries signed their rst
agreement for the dispatch of
Chinese medical teams to Gabon
in 1975.
The Chinese teams are widely
praised for their medical services
as well as training local medical
staff.
China will continue to uphold
the principles of sincerity, real
results, amity and good faith,
making more contributions to
benet the people of both countries and deepen China-Gabon
friendship, he said.
Nzouba expressed thanks for
the long-term support of the Chinese government and people for
his countrys medical and health
development.
He noted that the arrival of
the 19 th medical team could
signify a new starting point for
health cooperation between the
two countries, and that Gabon
expects to continue working with
China to improve peoples health.

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Sino-Gabonese ties hit new high

By JING SHUIYU
and ZHONG NAN

Investment in manufacturing and

infrastructure projects, and trade in
commodities and energy are key to
the future of Sino-Gabonese business
ties, as their products are complementary, experts said.
He Wenping, a senior research fellow at the Institute of West-Asian and
African Studies, said the two sides
will further deepen their cooperation in traditional elds, such as oil,
timber and cement, in the short term,
and they could also nd opportunities in infrastructure projects.
Gabon is seen as one of Chinas
great partners, He said. The country has a stable political situation,
with good geographical and demographic positions.
China mainly imports oil, manganese ore and timber from Gabon,
and exports mechanical and electrical products, cement and steel to the
country.
Gabons nickname is the country

of green gold, as forests cover more

than 85 percent of its area and timber
accounts for more than 10 percent of
its exports.
Trade volume between China
and Gabon reached $1.35 billion in
the rst 10 months of this year, an
increase of 2 percent from last year.
Chinas outbound direct investment
in Gabon was $4.88 million in 2015,
up 91 percent from the previous year,
according to nancial data provider
Wind Information.
One of the continents goals prescribed in the African Unions Agenda
2063 plan released last January was
to push for economic diversication,
including industrial development
and agricultural transformation.
China-Africa ties were further
strengthened after the Forum on
China-Africa Cooperation was held
last December in Johannesburg,
South Africa.
In the future, China and Gabon
will solicit more cooperation in nonenergy elds, such as agriculture and
industrial manufacturing, He said.

Yu Wensheng, an associate
research professor at the China Institutes of Contemporary International
Relations, said the two countries hold
similar views on many issues and
may advance partnership in power
systems, telecommunications and
water conservation.
Domestic economic restructuring
is especially important for Gabon,
because oil, which has long been the
mainstay of its economy, is becoming
a scarcer resource every day, Yu said.
Chinese media company StarTimes
Group Ltd has been at the frontline
of Gabons digital television project
since it signed a contract with the
central African nation in August 2015.
Manager of Gabon Project at the
company Victor Wang said: The
project aims to make digital televisions affordable for all Gabon people
and facilitate access to high-value
content on current affairs.
Contact the writers at
jingshuiyu@chinadaily.com.cn
and zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn

8 Thursday, December 8, 2016

COMMENT

EDITORIAL OPINION
China Daily
chinadaily.com.cn/opinion

EDITORIAL

More provocations by Trump

will jeopardize Sino-US ties

lose attention will be paid to Taiwan leader Tsai

Ing-wens transit via the United States when she
travels to Guatemala in early January, for it will
shed light on what direction Sino-US relations
will take when Donald Trump enters the White
House.
Despite Beijings opposition, the US insists it is
a long-standing practice since it has given the nod to such transits by leaders of the island many times before.
However, Tsais transit is taking place soon after she and
Trump held a phone conversation, breaking with decades of
precedent.
No incumbent or incoming US president has spoken by phone
with a Taiwan leader since 1979, when Beijing and Washington
established diplomatic relations.
The incident, if indeed by design as reported, could indicate a
major US policy shift that would threaten relations, since they
are built on the long-standing acknowledgment by the US of one
China, which is the sine qua non for healthy relations.
So far Beijings response to the conversation has remained
restrained. It has taken a wait-and-see attitude, giving Trump the
benefit of the doubt since he is a novice in foreign policy and
wont take the helm until the Jan 20 inauguration. Beijing has
demonstrated calmness and confidence again after Trump, in a
twitter tirade, lambasted China for its trade, currency and South
China Sea policies on Sunday; and even after his economic adviser Stephen Moore went so far as to say screw them in a vulgar
verbal attack against China.
Such prudence is laudable for the time being, for a good SinoUS relationship serves not only the best interests of people in
both countries, but also peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific
and beyond.
However, with separatist-minded Tsai due to set foot on US
soil, further provocative moves by the US president-elect and his
team cannot be ruled out given the reckless and impulsive style
of leadership that Trump displays. Especially, as hawks in the US
have never given up hope of using Taiwan as part of the US pivot
to Asia aimed at containing the mainlands rise.
Although Beijing has shown that it is willing to keep the bigger
picture in mind, this attitude should not be mistaken for weakness.
China has to prepare for the worst, even though it will continue to do all it can to maintain a healthy bilateral relationship.
What has happened over the past weeks tends to suggest that
Sino-US relations are facing uncertainty as never before, as
Trumps words are not necessarily more bark than bite.

TO THE POINT

Renzis failed reform gambit

he resignation of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi following the rejection of his Cabinet-backed constitutional
reform package by a large majority of voters in a referendum on Monday has sent another shockwave through the
European Union.
Since taking office in February 2014, Renzi has sought to raise
administrative efficiency through reducing the seats for senators
and retaking more power from local governments.
Different from former British prime minister David Cameron
who initiated a referendum on whether the United Kingdom should
leave the EU to appease the euro skeptics in his party, which was a
personal political gamble that failed, Renzis referendum push to a
large extent reflects his political aspiration to change Italys status
quo.
During his election campaign, Renzi lashed out at the incumbent
administrations postponement of reforms, slow decision-making,
and its lack of political courage to tackle key issues at home.
However, despite some reforms over the past two years, Renzis
government has failed to fundamentally reverse a lingering economic slump and resolve complicated social contradictions.
Accompanying Renzis resignation is not only the dissolution of
the Italian government led by its youngest prime minister, but also
the evaporation of hopes for accelerated reforms.
The heavy blow suffered by Italys reform-minded political faction
will likely affect the countrys long-term political trend. The failed
constitutional reform package means Italy will have to slow its
reform steps, which will further worsen its woeful economic situation, shake its financial system and cause its already high unemployment to rise. Such scenarios will further fuel the rise of radical
political forces in Italy.
Thus the failed referendum in Italy may open Pandoras box wider on the continent by emboldening those forces in European countries that advocate a divorce from the EU.
BEIJING YOUTH DAILY

STEPHFF

OPINION LINE

Environmental targets set

bottom line for local officials
ON MONDAY, the 13th Five-Year Plan for Ecological and Environmental Protection (2016-20) was officially released, which listed eight new legally binding targets. Thats an important move that will make the
plan more effective, says Beijing Youth Daily:
Anybody who has read the plan will immediately realize how strict it is. Besides the four existing
targets with legally binding force, it has introduced eight more, covering the air, water, and the
earth.
The introduction of the eight targets is rather
important because it makes clear the responsibility
of local officials. Many local enterprises pollute the
environment but the local economy relies upon
them for growth; the process of fighting pollution
might thus curb local GDP growth, which would
reflect badly on the performance of leading officials.
Only targets with legally binding force will be effective in prompting local officials to truly fight pollution.
The eight new targets have obviously been made
after careful deliberation, because they are neither
too high nor too low 78.4 percent of all cities
nationwide will need to improve their air quality
and many cities need to improve the standard of
their drinking water.
The targets set a bottom line for the ecological

environment, which cannot be challenged.

Although the eight targets are not easy to reach,
for example, the plan requires cities beyond the prefecture-level to lower their PM2.5 density by 18 percent, and raise the percentage of days with good air
quality so that they account for over 80 percent of
the total. The targets can be realized if a local government works hard, so they give leading local officials achievable targets for good performance
evaluations.
Of course, a good regulation is only effective if it is
well implemented. There have been instances of
local officials fabricating data to cheat environmental inspectors, and they must prevent this in implementing the plan.
That in turn requires the higher authorities to
send more environmental inspection teams to
supervise local officials, so that they do not dare to
falsify the data. More importantly, the process of
fighting pollution should be made more transparent, and the public be given a bigger say in it, so that
local officials cannot possibly cheat.

Vanity for promotion distorts realty markets

A BEIJING-BASED DEVELOPER was recently forced to abandon its plan to expand into Zhengzhou,
the capital of Central Chinas Henan province, as its successful bid for the land in the city was later nullified
by the local land and resources bureau. China Youth Daily commented on Wednesday:
With a focus on developing high-end properties,
the Beijing company stirred up the local market
and more importantly, broke certain hidden rules
embedded in the local companies home field
advantages.
In other words, albeit auctioned, the land that the
Beijing company attempted to bid for in Zhengzhou
was actually unavailable, because it was part of an
urban renovation project earmarked for local real
estate developers.
Despite their great ambitions in urban renovations, some local governments do not have enough
money to cover the costs of demolition and the
relocation of residents, and often turn to the
developers to bear the costs by making early
promises. As a result, many property developers
are involved in a relocation project even in the
planning stage.
In Zhengzhou, to buy such land, property develop-

ers reportedly start working on issues, such as those

involving the building of apartments for the relocation of residents, about three years before they actually purchase the land. This could involve an outlay
of around 1 billion yuan ($145 million), but it basically guarantees that the developers are offered the
land they want as well as some compensation by the
local authorities.
Thus the highest bidder will not necessarily get
the land if other competitors already have a huge
stake in it.
That may explain why the Beijing property developers successful bid for the land in Zhengzhou was
later nullified by the local land and resources
bureau.
Governments at all levels should not use renovation projects, which are designed to improve citizens well-being, as vanity projects, especially when
they cannot afford the costs.

Strict standards
can ensure purity
of TCM herbs
AFTER THE RELEASE of the first
white paper on traditional Chinese
medicine, the government must now
focus on protecting the quality of the
herbal sources used in traditional Chinese medicine treatments. Beijing
Youth Daily commented on Wednesday:
Soil contamination, water pollution
and the overuse of chemical fertilizers
and pesticide all threaten the quality
and purity of the plants used in TCM,
most of which are now commercially
grown instead of being collected from
the wild. The deteriorating quality of
the plants used for treatments means it
is difficult even for the most experienced TCM practitioners to prescribe
the correct quantities required for a
treatment to be effective.
TCM treatments are based on the
accumulated experience passed from
one generation to another according to
the medicinal effects of the wild plants
used in the past. Today, the commercial
farming of these plants means their
potency may not be the same as those
found in the wild.
TCM attaches great importance to
the purity of the plants used in treatments, some of the rarest and thus
most valuable plants traditionally were
only found in a certain place because of
the local climate and soil. But the commercial farming of these lucrative
plants means that is no longer the case.
Some businesspeople plant the
expensive herbs irrespective of local
natural conditions, and boost the output through excessive uses of chemical
fertilizers and pesticide, in disregard
for the herbs true medical effects.
As Wang Guoqiang, head of the State
Administration of Traditional Chinese
Medicine, said in Beijing on Tuesday at
the launch of the first white paper on
TCM, the weakening of the effectiveness of plants used in TCM treatments,
if it is not curbed, will harm the credibility of TCM.
In this sense, publishing the first
white paper on TCM is only the beginning of the efforts needed to protect
and spread TCM.
Now what is needed are national
standards for the quality and purity of
plants used in TCM treatments.

C O N TA C T U S
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HOT WORDS

Lowering leverage
The Ministry of Finance and the State
Administration of Taxation have jointly issued
an announcement of preferential tax for companies engaged in debt-reducing corporate
restructuring.
Reducing corporate leverage has been listed
as one of the five major tasks of supply-side
structural reform. According to the announcement, eight tax measures are being launched

to support reorganization aimed at reducing

corporate debt.
The Bank of International Settlements has
estimated that China has $18 trillion in corporate debt, which is equivalent to about 169
percent of its GDP.
Enterprises engaged in reorganization and
mergers may be eligible for various preferential taxes. Value-added tax will not be imposed
on some reorganization activities including
transfers of fixed assets and land-use rights.
And enterprises non-monetary asset investments may enjoy tax installment payments
over five years according to the regulation.

The announcement is regarded as significant policy support for both the reform of
State-owned enterprises
and supply-side structural reform.
Officials of the two
departments said the
preferential tax policy
will enable taxation to
play a role in lowering
corporate leverage.
Online
Local governments are
Scan it for
required to strictly implemore hot words.
ment the new policy.

VIEWS 9

CHINA DAILY Thursday, December 8, 2016

C H E N G X I N PA N

XIN ZHIMING

Is Trump the savior for US working class?

Rule-based market can

end the up-and-down
cycle in stock market

n January Donald Trump

will be sworn in as the 45th
president of the United
States. Despite his unpredictability so far, his performance
in governing might be a bit easier
to speculate. And for his voters
who are eager to see him delivering on his promises, disappointment may be in store.
Riding the high tide of populism to victory, Trump tapped into
the anger and resentment of a
growing number of disfranchised
American white working class.
When US manufacturing enjoyed
comparative advantage worldwide, trade deals good for American business were also good for
American workers. But increasingly outsourcing and off-shoring
have allowed transnational capital to move freely around the
globe in search of better returns.
The promised better and higher
paying jobs as a result of globalization and trade liberalization do
pop up, but they rarely trickle
down to the millions of blue-collar
workers in the US Rust Belt
states. The annual American Values Survey of 4,500 Americans

finds that nearly half of them no

longer believe in the American
Dream.
In comes the self-appointed
greatest jobs president, promising a sweeping shake-up to revitalize US manufacturing, create
new jobs, rebuild infrastructure
and change domestic regulations. In keeping with these
inward-looking objectives,
Trump has also promised to
renegotiate trade and alliance
deals and tighten border control.
Which explains why many of
those people voted Trump on
election day.
But will Trump be their savior?
The truth is, Trumps America
First agenda is easier said than
done. For a start, which America
should come first now that America remains bitterly divided?
Despite some cautious optimism,
uniting the country alone would
be an uphill battle for the incoming Trump administration, not
least because Trump himself has
fanned the flames of hatred and
xenophobia. Although he pledged
to be president for all Americans in his acceptance speech, a

The truth is, Trumps

America First agenda
is easier said than done.
... Soon enough his
working class supporters
will find out that Trumps
America will not be a
working class paradise.
quick glance at his tax plan, for
instance, suggests otherwise.
Despite his campaign pledge to
provide tax relief for the middle
class and the forgotten people,
his tax cuts overwhelmingly favor
the wealthiest few.
Also, it is extremely difficult for
the Trump administration to
implement the reforms he has
promised while trying to wall off
his country with protectionist
measures. For example, the disappearance of US manufacturing
jobs, and indeed many such jobs
worldwide, is largely due to tech-

nological advances and automation. No amount of punitive tariff

on Chinese or Mexican imports
would likely bring the lost jobs
back soon.
If Trump does follow through
on his tariff threats, the prices of
many imports will go up and a
trade war may ensue. And transnational corporations are likely to
put up a good fight against
Trumps measures that would add
costs to their businesses and eat
into their profits.
His aspiration to rebuild US
infrastructure is laudable, but he
may quickly realize that such a
gigantic task needs to heavily rely
on foreign finance and materials,
such as from China, the very target of his 45 percent tariff threat.
In 2013, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority outsourced $34 million worth of steel
to China for the upper deck
replacement of the VerrazanoNarrows Bridge. Answering critics, MTA Chairman Thomas
Prendergast blamed an absence
of domestic steel fabricators capable of satisfying the requirements
for a project of this scope and

complexity. With such challenges, one wonders how Trump will

balance the practical needs of his
massive infrastructure plan and
his staunch mercantilist stance,
let alone how he will finance his
trillion-dollar plan with massive
tax cuts.
The president-elect may have
correctly sensed some of the
American (and to some extent,
global) ills, but he does not have
the necessary cures for them. So,
together with his backflips on
prosecuting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton,
building a wall on the US-Mexico
border, and climate change, even
the most erratic US president
might turn out to be a lot more
conventional than he appears to
be. Soon enough his working
class supporters will find out that
Trumps America will not be a
working class paradise.
The author is senior lecturer in
International Relations at Deakin
University, Australia, and is currently an Endeavour Research
Fellow at Peking University. The
views expressed here are his own.

S T UA R T G I E T E L - B A S T E N

Has two-child policy had the desired effect?

s the two-child policy

approaches its first
birthday, commentators and the Chinese
government are looking for evidence to see whether it has had
the desired effect: an increase in
the birth rate in order to mitigate some of the effects of aging
population.
At first glance, the evidence
seems to be promising. It is estimated that there will be around
17.5 million births in 2016. At over
one million more than in 2015 one
might say the two-child policy has
been a success. Without doubt,
many couples have seized the
opportunity to have a second
child, realizing both a personal
dream and a favorable outcome
for the country. However, there
are a few words of caution.
Firstly, as the Year of the Sheep,
2015 was widely perceived to be a
not-so-good year to have children.
Numerous studies have said the
influence of the zodiac is
still strong among the Chinese. It is likely, then, that
many would-be parents
may have simply postponed having children in
2015, choosing instead to
have babies in the more
favorable Year of the Monkey. Indeed, if we look at
the longer-term trends,
the number of
births in 2015
actually fell from
2014.
Secondly, we
still do not know
the total impact of
what demographers call the tempo effect. As
countries develop and, especially,
as educational and employment

opportunities for women grow,

childbearing tends to be postponed. As this has happened in
most low fertility countries, we
can expect this to have happened
in China, too. The problem, however, is that this effect tends to
distort the total fertility rate, usually exaggerating both baby busts
and baby booms. Also, simply
counting the number of births
tells us very little about the birth
rate, as this is going to be affected
by the number who are at risk of
having children. In China, of
course, this is going to be related
not just to being of reproductive
age, but also to marital
status.
Taking these elements together,
therefore, we
have to conclude that

it is just too soon to say whether

or not these changes in family
planning are having the desired
effect. We will know more in a few
more years when we have better
period data with which we can
identify a trend. In reality, though,
it is only when the cohorts born in
the 1980s and 1990s have completed their childbearing will we
see the true demographic impact
of the policy change.
Two final notes of caution. The
evidence seems to suggest that
changing the family planning pol-

icy alone will not be enough to

make a significant difference to
the fertility rate. As elsewhere in
East Asia, concerns about jobs,
social welfare, cost of living, housing, kindergarten access, gender
equity and so on have as much
impact upon the decision to limit
childbearing as family planning
policy. Alleviating these concerns
is critical to increasing Chinas
low fertility rate.
Secondly, it is critical to
remember that raising the birth
rate alone is not the only answer

to managing Chinas aging population. Indeed, in the short term,

it would increase the burden on
the working age population by
necessitating an increased number school places and the withdrawal of parents from the labor
market to care for these children.
Rather, China needs to take a
holistic approach to this demographic challenge, and will have
to deal with both the denominator and the numerator. On the
one hand, improving labor productivity, moving up the value
chain of innovation, increasing
labor force participation, further
reforming the State-owned enterprises and developing the global
labor supply chain through the
Silk Road Economic Belt and
the 21st Century Maritime
Silk Road will be critical
to maximizing output.
On the other hand,
reforming and developing better social
welfare systems for
the elderly as well
as making progress
in active aging policies will not only
decrease the
dependence of the
older population,
but could also free
up the monies
accrued as a result
of high personal
savings rates and,
hence, spur domestic consumption.

LIU XINYI / FOR CHINA DAILY

The author is
associate professor of Social
Policy at the
University of
Oxford.

F R A S E R CA M E RO N

Simplistic slogans of no benefit to EU

nother referendum and

another shock for the
European Union. By
linking his political
future to a successful outcome of a
plebiscite to amend the constitution, Matteo Renzi was playing for
high stakes. Perhaps if he had
waited to see the results of the
Brexit referendum and the surprising Donald Trump election
victory he might have taken a different course. Now Italy and the
EU have to deal with the impact of
his reckless gamble.
On the plus side, fears of a
sharp drop in the euro proved
groundless. There was a slight fall
after the results then the euro
recovered. And Italians are used
to short-lived governments. President Sergio Mattarrela has asked
Renzi to stay on until the budget
is passed. Then he will either
appoint a caretaker prime minister or call new elections.
The opposition parties including the Northern League and Five

Star Movement are pushing for

new elections and calling for a
further referendum on whether
Italy should remain in the eurozone. Most Italians dislike the
governments austerity program
which they see as being imposed
on Italy by German Chancellor
Angela Merkel. They are also
angered at the lack of solidarity
from other EU members in dealing with the massive inflow of refugees in the past 18 months.
Italians have always been
among the most pro-European citizens of the EU but now attitudes
are changing. Italy is a founding
member of the EU and in a different category from the UK which
has always been Eurosceptic. But
no one can predict how Italians
would vote if there were to be a
referendum on keeping the euro.
This is what worries other eurozone member states along with
the huge debts of Italian banks.
Elsewhere in Europe the populist forces will have been hearten-

But no one can predict

how Italians would vote
if there were to be a referendum on keeping the
euro. This is what worries other eurozone
member states along
with the huge debts of
Italian banks.
ed by Renzis defeat. Marine Le
Pen, the leader of the French
National Front, said that the
result was a blow to the absurd
austerity policy of the EU. She is
likely to make it to the second
round of the French presidential
elections in May but is unlikely to
defeat Francois Fillon, the centerright candidate who has been

moving steadily to the right and

stealing some of her policies.
In Germany the populist Alternative for Germany will certainly
make it into the Bundestag following the September elections
but both major parties, the Christian Democratic Union and the
Social Democratic Party, have
excluded the possibility of having
them as a coalition partner.
Renzis defeat means that there
are now only a handful of socialist
leaders in government in Europe.
Although millions of workers are
calling for social protection
against globalization, the traditional socialist parties are struggling to deliver winning policies.
Indeed many working class voters
are moving to populist right-wing
parties such as UK Independence
Party in Britain and the National
Front in France.
But these parties offer simplistic slogans for dealing with globalization just like Trumps campaign
promise to bring back 25 million

jobs to the US. If Trump does

take the US down the protectionist road this will have major implications for the rest of the world,
including the EU and China.
Most likely Italy will remain in
the eurozone and muddle through
as usual. With so many elections
in 2017 there is no prospect of any
major new initiatives by the EU.
The 28 will gather for muted celebrations in Rome at the end of
March. There could hardly be a
worse time to call such a celebratory gathering as British Prime
Minister Theresa May plans to
trigger article 50 that same week
thus setting Brexit in motion.
The EU will remain in a weak
situation until 2018 or 2019
when the UK is due to leave. The
question then is whether EU
leaders can muster the political
will to move the European
project forward.
The author is director of the
EU-Asia Centre in Brussels.

espite frequent corrections,

Chinas stock market indexes
have unexpectedly kept moving up in recent months. The
benchmark Shanghai composite index
rose to 3,301 points in late November
from as low as 2,638 points early this
year.
Looking forward, the domestic stock
market may become more turbulent in
2017 given the many uncertainties posed
by changes in both the domestic and
international economic and financial
landscapes.
The International Monetary Funds latest report says the world economy may
grow by 3.4 percent in 2017, up from 3.1
percent this year. Even if the forecast
proves right, which is not often the case,
the world economy will continue to struggle to come out of the low-rate growth
cycle it has been trapped in for long.
Domestically, some analysts have predicted that Chinas annual year-on-year
GDP growth could fall to below 6.5 percent next year. Although policymakers
remain confident of keeping growth at a
stable level, it will be more challenging
for the country to use fiscal and monetary
tools to keep the economy rolling.
The stock market trend may not closely
follow the changes in economic fundamentals, but given the weak, low-rate
growth prospects, the possibility is not
high that the stock indexes will increase
impressively. Worse, the global financial
markets seem to have become more turbulent thanks to the frequent occurrence
of black swan incidents.

The regulatory authorities

should therefore focus on
maintaining a clean and rulebased market. If that task cannot be achieved, the domestic
stock market will hardly be
able to get out of the cycle of
drastic ups and downs.
Donald Trumps victory in the US presidential election has unexpectedly boosted
the US stock market, but under his
administration, the US economic policy
may be quite different from that under
incumbent President Barack Obamas.
For example, Trump has vowed to use
trade measures to protect US interests,
which, if implemented, will create a lot of
uncertainties in the global trade system,
possibly affecting global growth.
Besides, the possible interest rate hike
by the US Federal Reserve is a sword of
Damocles over the global financial markets. Although in recent months such
hikes have been priced in, global investors will have to remain alert over the
impact of capital flows as a result of the
strengthening of the US dollar after the
hikes.
The strengthening of the dollar has
often been accompanied by a massive
flight of capital from the emerging markets, triggering financial and economic
turmoil. The Asian financial crisis in the
late 1990s, in which countries such as
Thailand, the Republic of Korea and
Indonesia suffered the most, is widely
attributed to their unrestrained financial
liberalization and the organized speculative attacks by some major international
investors, but drastic international capital flows were also blamed for the crisis.
Facing such uncertainties, the domestic
A-share stock market may undergo severe
fluctuations next year. But for China
Securities Regulatory Commission, the
top priority should not be to keep the
indexes stable as it did last year.
Instead, it should focus on systematic
build-up to create a level playing field
that rewards long-term investors.
To be more specific, the commission
should make more efforts to prevent dishonest information disclosure and ensure
listed companies do not refuse to split
dividends among investors.
False information disclosure is like a
cancer that has frequently damaged
investor confidence in the domestic market for many years. The regulators have
punished some wrongdoers, but the punishments are often criticized as being too
lenient to root out the problem. And most
listed companies have refused to share
their dividends with investors, discouraging long-term investment and contributing to market fluctuations caused by
short-term speculation.
Few stock market indexes in the world
remain constantly stable. The regulatory
authorities should therefore focus on
maintaining a clean and rule-based market. If that task cannot be achieved, the
domestic stock market will hardly be able
to get out of the cycle of drastic ups and
downs.
The author is a senior writer with China
Daily.
xinzhiming@chinadaily.com.cn

10 WORLD
AFGHANISTAN

Thursday, December 8, 2016 CHINA DAILY

TECHNOLOGY

CONSUMER RIGHTS

Married mother
goes from refugee
camp to the cockpit
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
in Kabul

From a childhood as a
refugee, Captain Safia Ferozi
is now flying a transport
plane for Afghanistans air
force as the countrys second
female pilot, a sign of the
efforts to bring more women
into the armed forces.
Along the way, the
26-year-old Ferozi also married another pilot, who flies
in the same unit supporting
army ground forces. They
are part of a small Afghan air
force that is trying to take a
greater role in fighting the
Taliban insurgency.

When I wear
military uniform,
I really, really feel
proud of myself as
a woman.
Captain Safia Ferozi,
Afghanistan air force pilot

When I wear military uniform, I really, really feel

proud of myself as a woman,
Ferozi said while preparing
for a flight at the air force
base in the capital, Kabul.
She flies a C-208, a turboprop
plane used as transport for
the armed forces.
Nearly 16 years since the
collapse of the militant Taliban regime after the United
States-led invasion in 2001,
Afghan women are taking
steps to increase their presence in society, including in
parliament, government and
the military. Still, they face
resistance in a deeply con-

servative society where

women are largely expected
to stay in the home and
where violence against women remains a widespread
problem.
When she was a child, Ferozis family fled from their
home in Kabul in the 1990s,
during the civil war among
Afghanistans
warlords.
They took refuge in Pakistan,
returning only after the fall
of the Taliban.
In high school in post-Taliban Afghanistan, Ferozi saw
a TV commercial urging
women to join the military.
So after graduation she
enrolled in the military academy, studying to become a
communication
officer.
Then it was announced at
the academy that the air
force was looking for women
to become pilots.
Ferozi and 12 other women applied, and she was the
only one who passed the
tests to enter training.
While she was training at
an airfield in the western
province of Herat, she first
met Captain Mohammad
Jawad Najafi, the pilot who
would later become her
husband. They married
nearly two years ago, and
he has since backed her
ambitions.
She graduated from training in 2015. She gave birth to
their first child, daughter
Nergis, now nearly 8 months
old, and is back flying missions.
Ferozi is one of only two
female pilots in the Afghan
air force, but five other
women are currently going
through training.
Ferozi says she hopes to
inspire other women.
As a woman you face
many challenges, but you
have to deal somehow with
all those problems, she said.

Captain Safia Ferozi sits in the cockpit of a C-208 before a

flight at a military airbase in Kabul, Afghanistan.
RAHMAT GUL / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Spy toys
face bite of
European
and US
watchdogs
By AGENCE FRANCEPRESSE in Brussels

Father Christmas Roger Edmonds talks with kids at the Santa HQ at the Chandler Mall, in Chandler, Arizona. In an effort to lure
online shoppers to their stores, many malls are upgrading the traditional visit to Santa into a high-tech spectacle.
MATT YORK / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Malls take more modern

approach to Santa visits
Shopping centers hope
high-tech makeovers
will draw shoppers
back to the stores
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
in New York

Hop on a virtual sleigh ride

to the North Pole. Stand on
the Naughty or Nice
OMeter. Snap a selfie and
see your face on a dancing elf.
The Santa experience has gotten a makeover as many malls
install shows and games they
hope will lure shoppers who
are buying more online.
About 40 malls in the United States and one in London
have the high-tech Santa displays, most of them located
near major cities that tend to
house pricier stores.
Taking photos on Santas
lap costs about $30 and up,
around the same as at other
malls, but most of the malls
say people can walk through
without purchasing anything.
It was a half-hour of entertainment that was free, says
Katie Mass, who took her
twin daughters through Santas Flight Academy, a 914-

Amazon tests cashier-free concept

Amazon on Monday
unveiled a new kind of retail
store, with no cashiers.
Customers at the concept
store in Amazons hometown
of Seattle can fill their shopping carts and walk out with
the costs automatically tallied
up and billed to their accounts
with the online giant.
Amazon Go, which is being
tested with Amazon employees and will open to the public
next year, is a checkout-free
shopping experience made
possible by the same types of
technologies used in self-driv-

square-meter setup at The

Mall at Short Hills in New
Jersey.
She had gone to the mall to
return some dresses, but had
to stop when her 2-year olds
saw the spectacle. They
started running, says the
stay-at-home mom from
Westfield, New Jersey.
The girls tapped touch
screens, pulled levers and
watched as flight suits were
virtually fit over their bodies
on a screen. The final stop

ing cars: computer vision,

sensor fusion and deep learning, its webpage said.
The 170-square-meter store
is selling a variety of food
products, including bread,
cheeses and ready-to-eat
meals, as well as Amazon Meal
Kits, which contain ingredients
for home-cooked dishes.
It was not immediately
clear whether Amazon will
expand the model with more
physical stores or offer the
technology to other retailers.
AFP

was a two-story tall enclosed

sleigh that dropped fake
snow upon them. One girl
made snow angels on the
floor while her sister danced
under the colorful lasers. It
was extravagant and well
done, says Mass.
An old-school Santa display got the boot at Queens
Center in New York as the
mall this year installed Santa
HQ, where kids stand on the
Naughty or Nice OMeter
and watch their names pop

FILM

UNITED STATES

Roman Polanski: Directors life

marked by horror and scandal
By AGENCE FRANCEPRESSE in Paris

Like his own films, the life

of Oscar-winning director
Roman Polanski has been
haunted by horror, violence
and scandal, turning him into
one of the worlds most visible
fugitives from justice.
In the latest twist to a child
sex case dating back nearly
four
decades,
Polands
Supreme Court on Tuesday
rejected a bid to extradite the
83-year-old Polish-French filmmaker to the United States.
Polanskipleadedguiltyin1977
to unlawful sex with a 13-yearold girl in Hollywood, but fled
the US before sentencing.
His work has earned praise
from critics and audiences
alike, winning eight Academy
Awards on 27 nominations.
But his admission that he
had unlawful sex with
13-year-old Samantha Gailey
after plying her with alcohol
and pills, and his subsequent
flight from justice, fueled a
torrent of disgusted criticism.
Polanski has since been

up on Santas Nice List

screen. In another room they
can take a selfie and see themselves as dancing elves.
Malls are hoping the overthe-top Santa visits remind
people what brick-and-mortar stores can offer. Theyre
increasingly trying to offer
special experiences as they
compete with online rivals,
says Howard Davidowitz,
chairman of New York-based
retail consulting group
Davidowitz & Associates.
The parents love it, the
kids love it and Amazon cant
do it, says Davidowitz.
Santas Flight Academy
was developed by mall operator Taubman Centers Inc,
which spent two years on the
idea. Like other malls with
elaborate Santa sets, Taubman declined to say how
much it spent on the attraction.
But whatever malls are
spending on the Santa spectacles is worth it, says Davidowitz. Santa has always
attracted crowds, he says, but
adding a high-tech twist is
likely to bring in even more
who may stop to shop.
I dont see many things
out there that equal Santas
power to draw crowds, he
says.

Consumer
watchdogs
announced on Tuesday that
they are filing complaints
against a clutch of smart toys
that can spy on children and
their homes, for allegedly
breaching privacy and data
protection laws.
The complaints target smart
toys My Friend Cayla, i-QUE
Intelligent Robot and Hello
Barbie, according to the European Consumer Organisation
BEUC and groups in the United States like the Electronic
Privacy Information Center.
Complaints are being filed
with French and other European authorities as well as the US
Federal Trade Commission.
Internet-connected Cayla
and i-QUE, manufactured by
Los Angeles-based Genesis
Toys, hook up with a user via a
phone or tablet while Hello
Barbie links to the internet
through Wi-Fi, said the consultancy Bouvet on behalf of the
Norwegian Consumer Council.
Hello Barbie is not sold in
Europe.
By purpose and design,
these toys record and collect
the private conversations of
young children without any
limitations on collection, use,
or disclosure of this personal
information, EPIC and other
US watchdogs said in their
complaint, which they say
concerns toys that spy.
BEUC, citing the study commissioned by the Norwegian
Consumer Council, expressed
security concerns.
With simple steps, anyone
can take control of the toys
through a mobile phone. This
makes it possible to talk and
listen through the toy without
having physical access to the
toy, it said.
It alleged the terms breach
the EU Unfair Contract Terms
Directive and the EU Data
Protection Directive and possibly the Toy Safety Directive.
Anything the child tells the
doll is transferred to the
US-based company Nuance
Communications, who specialises in speech recognition
technologies, it said.
EPIC and the other US
groups like The Campaign for
a Commercial Free Childhood
urged the trade commission
to investigate the collection,
use and disclosure of the
data.

engaged in
a decadeslong cata n d m o u s e
game with
US officials
seeking his
extradition
for trial, Roman Polanski
before a
global
audience split between continuing outrage and forgiveness
for his acts.
When Polands Supreme
Court dismissed the appeal
on Tuesday, definitively ending the nations part in the
case, Polanskis lawyer Jerzy
Stachowicz told reporters:
We hope one day it will be
over in the United States.
Polanski was born in Paris in
1933 to Polish Jewish parents,
who later brought the family
back to their native country.
He was eight when the
Nazis arrested his parents in
Krakows Jewish ghetto
sending them to concentration camps from which his
mother never returned.

He fled the ghetto and

roamed the countryside, trying
to survive, helped by Catholic
Polish families, in a country
occupied by German troops.
The experience lent a griping autobiographical authenticity to his 2002 movie The
Pianist, the tale of a young
Jewish man trying to evade
the Nazis in occupied Warsaw.
His youthful observation of
the human capacity for
cruelty shaped Polanskis psychologically wrought work
from the start.
His 1962 feature debut in
Poland, Knife in the Water,
was an erotic thriller about a
couple inviting a switchbladetoting hitchhiker onto their
yacht. While panned at home,
it earned praise in the West,
and was nominated for the
Best Foreign Film Oscar.
Lured to Hollywood in
1968, Polanski shot his first
big international hit, Rosemarys Baby, starring Mia
Farrow as an expecting mother carrying the devils spawn.
But tragedy shattered
Polanskis life again the fol-

The publicity was

so traumatic and
so horrible that his
punishment was
secondary to just
getting this whole
thing to stop.
Samantha Geimer, actress

lowing year when his heavilypregnant wife, the model and

actress Sharon Tate, and four
friends were brutally slaughtered in the directors mansion by cult leader Charles
Manson and his followers.
Devastated, Polanski left
for Europe, then returned to
achieve arguably his greatest
triumph in 1974 with Chinatown an atmospheric film
noir starring Jack Nicholson
nominated for 11 Oscars, and
still considered a classic.
In 1977 Polanski was arrested after Gailey, now known as
Samantha Geimer, charged
that he forced her to have sex
after drugging her.

The initial felony counts

were reduced to unlawful sexual intercourse charges as
part of a guilty plea bargain
that saw Polanski serve 42
days in detention while undergoing psychiatric evaluation.
In 1978, convinced the
judge was preparing to ignore
the deal and hand him a
heavy jail sentence, Polanski
fled for France, beginning his
new life as a fugitive.
In 2009 he was arrested in
Switzerland and spent 10
months under house arrest
but was not extradited.
Geimer herself has called
for the charges to be dropped,
complaining that in dogging
Polanski for so long, antagonists had made him her
co-victim in a case she wanted
to put behind her.
The publicity was so traumatic and so horrible that his
punishment was secondary
to just getting this whole
thing to stop, Geimer told
CNN in 2003.
Despite that view, Washington filed a request with
Poland in January to extradite Polanski while shooting a
film there.
A court in the city of Krakow ruled against the demand
in 2015. Then on Tuesday, the
Supreme Court rejected an
appeal by the government.

Woman settles legal

action after son was
flown to wrong city
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
in New York

A woman has agreed to settle her lawsuit against JetBlue

Airways after it mixed up her
5-year-old son with another
boy and flew him to the wrong
city, her lawyer said on Tuesday.
Details of the settlement
werent disclosed and New
York-based JetBlue Airways
Corp declined to comment.
With regard to the matter
of Maribel Martinez, et al v.
JetBlue Airways the parties
have agreed to amicably
resolve this matter, attorney
Sanford Rubenstein said in a
written statement.
Martinez had charged in the
lawsuit that she suffered
great emotional distress,
extreme fear, horror, mental
shock, mental anguish and
psychological trauma when
she went to meet her sons
Aug 17 flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport in

New York and he wasnt on it.

The little boy, Andy Martinez, had been mistakenly put
on a flight to Bostons Logan
Airport instead of the flight to
Kennedy.
According to the court
papers, JetBlue staffers at
Logan escorted Andy to a
woman he had never seen
before and told him he was
being reunited with his
mother.

Three-hour wait
Meanwhile, a boy who was
supposed to be on the flight to
Boston had been put on
Andys New York-bound flight
and was presented to Martinez.
Both boys had flown out of
Cibao International Airport in
the Dominican Republic.
It took three hours for
JetBlue to sort out what had
happened and put the mother
and son on the phone with
each other, the lawsuit
charged.

WORLD 11

CHINA DAILY Thursday, December 8, 2016

UNITED STATES

Trump seeks
to cancel Air
Force One deal
Boeing relies on federal government for defense, space
and security business which is worth $30 billion a year
By REUTERS
in Washington and New York

US president-elect Donald Trump

urged the government on Tuesday to
cancel an order with Boeing for a
revamped Air Force One a prominent symbol of the presidency complaining that costs were out of control.
It was the latest example of
Trump using his podium, often via
brief Twitter messages, to rattle
companies and foreign countries as
he seeks to shake up business as
usual in Washington. Trump, who
would take office on Jan 20, took
aim at what he called cost overruns
even though the plane is only in
development stages.
Boeing is building a brand new
747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control,
more than $4 billion. Cancel order!
Trump said on Twitter. It was not
immediately clear what prompted
the timing of his complaint.
The plane is totally out of control. I think its ridiculous. I think
Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of
money but not that much money,
he told reporters later.
Boeing, which has built planes for
US presidents since 1943, has not
yet begun building the two replacements for the current Air Force One
planes, which are scheduled to be in
service by 2024.
Boeing relies on the US military
and other arms of the federal government for a significant share of its
defense, space and security business

which is worth $30 billion a year.

The US Air Force, which operates
the presidential planes, first
announced in January 2015 that Boeings 747-8 would be used to replace
the two current presidential planes.

Airborne White House

The planes can fly direct from
Washington to Hong Kong, 1,600
kilometers farther than the current
Air Force One. They are designed to
be an airborne White House able to
fly in worst-case security scenarios,
such as nuclear war.
The current Air Force plan envisions extensive modifications to a
Boeing 747-8, including military avionics, advanced communications and
a self-defense system, according to
budget documents seen by Reuters.
Trump is known for his love of his
own Boeing 757 jet. In a 2015 Rolling
Stone profile, he said his plane was
bigger than Air Force One, which is
a step down from this in every way.

The plane is totally out

of control. ... We want
Boeing to make a lot
of money but not that
much money.
Donald Trump, US president-elect

Rally turns violent

Fireworks explode next to riot police on Tuesday in Athens, Greece, following an anniversary rally marking the 2008 police shooting of a 15-year-old student.
ALKIS KONSTANTINIDIS / REUTERS

MILITARY

Media: Pentagon buries report of wasting $125b

By XINHUA in Washington

An internal study found that the

US Department of Defense wasted
as much as $125 billion on bureaucracy, which is intentionally hidden
away by top Pentagon officials, US
media reported on Tuesday.
The Washington Post said in an
exclusive report that the study
found a way to cut back-office business operation cost by $125 billion
over five years.
The study, named Transforming
DoDs Core Business Process for
Revolutionary Change, was conducted by the Defense Business
Board, a federal advisory panel,
and consultants from McKinsey. It
was released in early 2015.
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, who initiated the project

and initially was enthusiastic about

a shakeup, said he was scared at
the result and agreed to adopt only
part of the study and save $30 billion by 2020.

No one really knows

It was no secret that the Pentagon has a bureaucracy issue, but
the problem is that even department officials dont know exactly
how much money was paid for
those operations.
In 2014, Work commissioned
the DBB and McKinsey with a $2.9
million contract to gather information. The target was to find out
how much money was spent on
back-office bureaucracy and ways
to cut the cost.
Initially speculation made by
McKinsey was about $75 billion to

$100 billion, but it said in a memo

that no one really knows.
After three months of analysis,
the result came back and shocked
everyone.
For its back-office operations, the
Pentagon spends $134 billion
annually on more than 1 million
personnel, compared to the 1.3 million troops it has on active duty.
The study found that 457,000
people were hired in positions
related to supply chain and logistics, constituting a larger employee
count than international shipping
company UPS.
For purchasing, 207,000 people
were hired, which by itself would
rank among the top 30 US private
employers.
In response to the overstaffing
problem, the study proposed three

ways to cut spending, with the

most conservative saving $75 billion over five years and the most
ambitious saving twice as much.
In the end, the middle way was
chosen, recommending saving
$125 billion, which if spent on
boosting combat power, can cover
the operation cost of 50 army brigades, 3,000 F-35 fighter jets, or 10
aircraft-carrier strike groups.
In face of the unexpected result,
even Work became uncomfortable.
There is this meme that were
some bloated, giant organization,
although there is some truth in that
... I think it vastly overstates whats
really going on, he said.
We are the largest bureaucracy
in the world. Theres going to be
some inherent inefficiencies in
that, he said.

12

WORLD
Thursday, December 8, 2016

CHINA DAILY CHINADAILY.COM.CN/WORLD

INDONESIA

Briefly

Rescue underway as quake kills scores

A strong undersea earthquake rocked Indonesias
Aceh province early on
Wednesday, killing nearly 100
people and sparking a frantic
rescue effort in the rubble of
dozens of collapsed and damaged buildings.
Major General Tatang Sulaiman, chief of the army in Aceh
province, said at least 97 died
while four people were pulled
from the rubble alive. Another
four or five are still believed to
be buried, but didnt say if they
are dead or alive.
Hopefully we would be
able to finish the evacuation
from the rubble before sunset, Sulaiman said.
The rescue effort involving
thousands of villagers, soldiers
and police is concentrated on
Meureudu, a severely affected
town in Pidie Jaya district.
Excavators were trying to
remove debris from shop
houses and other buildings
where people were believed
buried. TV footage showed rescuers in orange uniforms shining flashlight into the interiors
of broken buildings as they
searched for signs of life.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said 273 people
were injured, about a quarter
of them seriously. Some 245
buildings were seriously damaged or destroyed, mostly in

Pidie Jaya, including 14

mosques and the remainder
largely dwellings and shop
houses. Roads also cracked
and power poles toppled over.
Aiyub Abbas, the chief of Pidie Jaya district, which is located
18 kilometers southwest of the
epicenter, said there was
urgent need for excavation
equipment to move heavy
debrisandemergencysupplies.
Footage showed rescue personnel taking bodies in black bags
away from the rubble.
The US Geological Survey
said the shallow magnitude-6.5 earthquake that
struck at 5:03 am was centered about 19 km southeast of
Sigli, a town on the northern
tip of Aceh, at a depth of 17 km.
It did not generate a tsunami.

Terrifying reminder
For Acehnese, the quake
was a terrifying reminder of
their regions vulnerability to
natural disasters. More than
100,000 died in Aceh after the
Dec 26, 2004, earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami.
It was very bad, the tremors felt even stronger than
2004 earthquake, said Musman Aziz, a Meureudu resident. I was so scared the
tsunami was coming.
In the capital Jakarta, President Joko Jokowi Widodo
said he has ordered all government agencies to take part
in the rescue efforts. The

SOUTH KOREA

Woman at heart of
scandal to testify
A South Korean parliamentary
committee on Wednesday
ordered Choi Soon-sil, the
woman at the center of a scandal that threatens to bring
down the president, to attend
a hearing investigating her
alleged manipulation of government affairs. The move at
the beginning of a hearing on
Wednesday was the latest step
in what appears to be the final
days in power for President
Park Geun-hye. She faces an
impeachment vote on Friday.
UNITED STATES

Rescue workers and police remove a victim from a collapsed building following an earthquake in Aceh, Indonesia, on Wednesday.
RWANSYAH PUTRA VIA REUTERS

Indonesian Red Cross Society

has deployed emergency
response teams and advertised bank accounts for donations. The International
Organization for Migration
said it had sent an assessment
team to Aceh.
Seaside resident Fitri Abidin in Pidie Jaya said she fled

with her husband and wailing

children to a nearby hill after
the quake jolted the family
awake early in the morning.
They stayed there for several
hours until authorities reassured them there was no tsunami risk.
It terrified me. I was having difficulty breathing or

walking, Abidin said.

She said her husband grabbed hold of her and carried
her out of the house.
The familys house didnt
collapse but the homes of
some neighbors did and Abidin is afraid three friends were
buried in building collapses.
The worlds largest archi-

pelago, Indonesia is prone to

earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific Ring of
Fire, an arc of volcanoes and
fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
The 2004 quake and tsunami
killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
APREUTERS

GERMANY

PEARL HARBOR

Merkel
launches
election bid

US reflects on lessons of Japanese attack

By XINHUA in Los Angeles

By AGENCE FRANCEPRESSE in Essen, Germany

German Chancellor Angela

Merkel lashed populists seeking to exploit Germanys refugee influx on Tuesday, but set
down a tough line on integration including a ban on the
full-face veil as she launched
into election campaign mode.
Outlining a strategy to counter populism that has consumed key allies abroad,
Merkel vowed there would be
no repeat of last years record
refugee arrivals.
She also stressed it was legitimate for Germany to expect
newcomers to integrate, and
this included a rejection of the
niqab full-face veil.
The full veil must be
banned wherever it is legally
possible, she told the annual
gathering of her center-right
Christian Democratic Union,
urging them to back her bid for
a fourth term.
Merkel was rewarded with a
standing ovation that lasted
more than 11 minutes as the
majority of the 1,001 delegates
present rallied behind her.
But opponents made their
voices heard when delegates
were asked to re-elect Merkel as
chief for the next two years, as
the congress gave her just 89.5
percent her second worst
score, and the worst since she
became chancellor in 2005.
National media had suggested that a score below 90 percent would be a slap in the face.
Merkel, who has led Germany for 11 years, last month confirmed she would run for a
fourth term but acknowledged
that the election would be
more difficult than any other
she has contested.
Merkels CDU and its Bavarian sister party Christian

The full veil must be

banned wherever it
is legally possible.
Angela Merkel, German
chancellor

Social Union sailed to a decisive win of 41.5 percent at the

last election in 2013 its best
result since national reunification in 1990, on the back of
strong approval for her tough
stance on austerity for debtstricken EU nations.

Simple answers
Three years on, there are
rumblings of discontent even
within her own party following her September 2015 decision to admit refugees fleeing
war in mostly-Muslim nations,
a move that deeply polarized
Europes biggest economy.
There have also been questions about whether the
62-year-old has fresh ideas to
offer in a world upended by
Brexit, the surprise election of
Donald Trump and the departure of Italian Prime Minister
Matteo Renzi following a
crushing referendum defeat
championed by populists.
The CDU has seen setbacks
in five consecutive state polls
as voters punished Merkel for
her liberal refugee policy, with
more than a million people
seeking asylum in Germany
since 2015.
Merkel said next years poll
will not be a walk in the park
as Germany is deeply polarized, but urged the population
to remain sceptical about simple answers.

40 missing after
ship sinks off island
Around 40 people, including
women and children, were
missing off the Yemeni island of
Socotra on Wednesday after a
cargo vessel carrying islanders
home from the mainland sank
in the Indian Ocean, authorities said. Nineteen people were
rescued from the water after a
major search operation was
launched in the early hours,
Yemeni Fisheries Minister Fahd
Kavieen told reporters.

Region in urgent need for emergency supplies

and excavation equipment to move heavy debris
By AGENCIES
in Meureudu, Indonesia

YEMEN

These days are emotional

ones for Pearl Harbor attack
survivors as people across
the United States mark the
75th anniversary of the Japanese assault.
In the coast of Florida, a
retired SS American Victory
left its dock on Saturday for a
four-hour trip to remember
the infamous surprise attack
by the Japanese military
against the US naval base at
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in
1941.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, Circle
Cinema, a local nonprofit
theater, plans to screen special documentary films on
Wednesday to honor more
than 2,400 US soldiers killed
on the day 75 years ago.
In Los Angeles, an honor
flight carrying surviving veterans of Pearl Harbor took
off, heading for Hawaii.
Retired Navy Captain Bob
Batterson along with 31 other were on that flight.
They were met with cheers,
tears and gubernatorial welcome the moment they had
landed. Although 75 years had
passed, Batterson is still in
shock of what had happened.
The attack on Pearl Harbor
on Dec 7, 1941, had changed

Sailors launch rescue alongside the sunken battleship USS

West Virginia shortly after the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor
on Dec 7, 1941. US NAVY VIA REUTERS

the course of history. Now,

Pearl Harbor has not only
become a reminder of the
past, but also a token of peace.
War continually serves as
a reminder to the importance
of peace, diplomacy, mutual
respect and understanding,
said Deidre Tegarden, executive director of the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center.
The 75th Commemoration
on Pearl Harbor Attack is
honored these days with an
unprecedented series of
events and ceremonial tributes on Dec 1-11, all geared

toward Honoring the Past,

Inspiring the future.
Thousands of global visitors
and Hawaii residents were
expected to take part in the
ceremonies and events with
media coverage reaching millions of viewers worldwide.

Abes visit
It would provide us with a
unique opportunity to honor
those who experienced the
emotional awakening triggered by the attack, said
Admiral Thomas B. Fargo in
a statement released by the

anniversary committee.
Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe announced on
Monday that he planned to
visit Pearl Harbor in return
for Obama visiting Hiroshima earlier this year. This will
make Abe the first Japanese
leader to visit Pearl Harbor
since World War II.
However, Abes top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yoshihide Suga, has made it
clear that during Abes visit
between Dec 26 and Dec 27,
no apology would be
offered for the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor,
which was a catalyst for the
US to join World War II.
Some political experts
however believe that the visit
may be completely vacuous,
considering the current
uncertain global political climate and unclear foreign policy directions of the US under
a Donald Trump presidency.
Koichi Nakano, a professor of international politics
at Tokyos Sophia University,
said the Pearl Harbor visit
and Abes commitment to
the Japan-US alliance are
tantamount to giving a
blank check to Trump
despite the uncertainty over
bilateral relations under his
administration.

Subway bomb
threat not credible
A threat to detonate a bomb at
a subway station in Los Angeles was not credible, federal
authorities said on Tuesday after police spent the day searching commuters and leading
bomb-sniffing dogs around
stations across the metro area.
Authorities found no evidence
regarding a specific but uncorroborated threat made by a
caller who warned that a bomb
would blow up on Tuesday at
the Metro Red Lines Universal
City station, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation said.
MALI

Extremists free 93
prisoners from jail
Suspected extremists freed 93
prisoners during an attack on
a jail in the central Mali town
of Niono early on Tuesday,
officials said. The prison
break was the second of its
kind in recent weeks in Mali,
where militant groups based
in the desert north have
extended their campaign into
central and southern regions,
complicating international
efforts at peace. It was not
immediately clear who was
behind the attack.
AUSTRALIA

Teen jailed over

foiled terror plot
An Australian teenager who
was planning to set off a
homemade bomb similar to
the one used in the Boston
Marathon bombings was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years in prison. The 18year-old had previously
pleaded guilty to obtaining
documents relating to an
improvised explosive device
and partially constructing the
device in preparation for a
terror act in Australias second-largest city, Melbourne.
He had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison.
FRANCE

Paris extends
traffic restrictions

PAKISTAN

Plane carrying 47 people crashes after takeoff

By AGENCIES in Islamabad

A Pakistani plane carrying 40 passengers and seven

crew members crashed on
Wednesday after takeoff
from the mountainous
northern city of Chitral to
Islamabad, aviation authorities said.
Pakistan International Airlines Flight PK661 crashed in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, officials said.

An earlier airline statement said the ATR-42 turboprop aircraft had lost contact
en route from Chitral.
Police and rescue officials
are on the way but have yet
not reached the site, said
Saeed Wazir, a senior local
police official.
The plane came down near

thetownofHavelianinAbbottabad district in the province.

State-run Pakistan Television showed a huge fire rising from the site of the crash
Pakistans last major air disaster was in 2015 when a Pakistani military helicopter
crashed in a remote northern
valley, killing eight people.
The deadliest crash was in
2010, when an Airbus 321

operated by private airline

Airblue and flying from Karachi crashed into hills outside Islamabad while about
to land, killing all 152 on
board.
The accident was blamed
on a confused captain and a
hostile cockpit atmosphere
in an official report.
REUTERSAP

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on

Tuesday decided to prolong
alternating traffic for another
24 hours due to dangerously
high pollution levels. Only cars
with odd license plates, electric or hybrid vehicles and
vehicles with more than three
people on board were allowed
in the French capital on
Wednesday, while public
transport was free for the
entire day.
AFPREUTERSAP
XINHUA

Stay connected
Air carrier reaches for the
sky with expanded Wi-Fi
> PAGE 15

Market stabilizer

Global reach

Pension funds now ready

for stock investment

CNOOC wins two oil blocks

in Mexican auction> PAGE 16

> PAGE 17

BUSINESS

13

CHINA DAILY CHINADAILY.COM.CN/BUSINESS Thursday, December 8, 2016

PROJECTS

POLICY

Leung
finds big
HK role in
Belt and
Road plan

Forex reserves decline

by 2.2% in November

By ALFRED ROMANN
in Hong Kong for China Daily

Three years after the official

launch of the Belt and Road
Initiative, there is much greater understanding of the
opportunities that it could
generate, Hong Kong Chief
Executive Leung Chun-ying
said on Wednesday.
People understand the
whys and the whats we are
now very much at the how
stage. How do we grab the
opportunities for all? said
Leung. People who see opportunities under the Belt and
Road Initiative are probably in
the silent majority.
It is such a vast initiative
with such wide ramifications
and ample opportunities for
Hong Kong, Leung said during the China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable in Hong
Kong.
The event focused on Hong
Kong Super-Connecting the
Belt and Road and was
attended by around 270 executives and opinion leaders.

Leung Chun-ying (center), Hong Kong chief executive, speaks at

the China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable discussions in Hong
Kong on Wednesday. EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY

Govt moves to rein in

risks associated with
overseas investments
in hotels, real estate
By WANG YANFEI
yangyanfei@chinadaily.com.cn

Hong Kong can play a pivotal role in the implementation of the Belt and Road
Initiative, Leung said.
At a time of slowing growth,
Hong Kong can leverage its
strength in financing, services,
logistics and education to act as
a connector of the 60-plus Belt
and Road countries and regions
and the rest of the world.
A key area of focus is financial services, the openness of
which has allowed Hong
Kongs economy to be named
the freest in the world for 22
years in a row, said Leung.
In practical terms, Hong
Kong has been moving forward
in each of what Leung called
the five connectivities of policy, infrastructure, trade and
investment, financial cooperation and integration, and people and culture.
Hong Kong could work as a

team to help Hong Kong Inc to

bring this connective force to
bear, said Leung.
Other speakers at the leadership roundtable agreed with
the importance of leveraging
the Belt and Road Initiative to
boost growth.
Hong Kongs own success
relies entirely on trade flows
and open markets. Hong Kong
has become too inward-looking and less open in recent
years. Almost protectionist,
sometimes, said Stephen Ng,
chairman of the Hong Kong
General Chamber of Commerce.
The implementation of
the Belt and Road Initiative
has caught the attention of
the business community in
Hong Kong, said Jonathan
Choi, chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of
Commerce.

The recent strengthening

of the US dollar played a key
role in the drop in Chinas
dollar-dominated
forex
reserves last month, but capital outflow pressure will not
persist for long because market speculation is expected to
wane after the US Federal
Reserve makes its interest
rate decision, said analysts.
Official data on Wednesday
showed that the foreign
exchange reserves fell by

$69.1 billion to $3.05 trillion

in November.
The monthly dollar-dominated reserve drop came
amid a strong US dollar rally,
with a potential interest rate
hike in the United States
expected to come in the near
future, according to Yan Ling,
an economist with China
Merchants Securities Co.
The yuan depreciated by 1.7
percent against the greenback in November, during
which the trading volume in
the foreign exchange market
increased for the third consecutive month, up by 9.3 percent month-on-month.
But the decline in forex
reserves is expected to slow in
December when the market
is expected to calm down after the US decision to raise its
interest rate or not, said Yan.

A string of measures on
strengthened supervision for
outbound investment rolled
out by the central authorities
aroused concerns over the
governments strong intention to curb capital outflows.
Four top regulatory bodies
decided to tighten screening
of overseas investment projects earlier this month. The
National Development and
Reform Commission and
three other financial regulators on Tuesday said that China will rein in risks in
outbound investment, targeting speculative behavior trying to move money out of
China.
Four fields of investment
will be strictly monitored,
including real estate and
hotels, according to a Xinhua
News Agency report.

Ivan Chuang, vice-president of Moodys Investors

Service Incs Asia-Pacific
Regional
Management
Group, regarded stricter
supervision as a necessary
move as the nation steps up
the opening of its economy.
Chuang said that he did not
see the necessity for the government to control only outflows without regulating
inflows.
The government should
be more willing to see balanced capital flows, he said.
Although investors appetites do become uncertain as
weaker yuan leads them to
diversify their assets, it is
understandable to see the
government tightening control to fend off risks in outbound investment, he
added.

BEVERAGES

Moutai takes fiery spirit to Europe

By ANGUS MCNEICE
in Hamburg, Germany
angus@mail.chinadailyuk.com

Chinas iconic liquor brand

Moutai chose the northern
German port city of Hamburg,
famed for its bars, restaurants
and entertainment venues, to
launch its campaign to bring
the fiery spirit to Europe.
Tuesdays launch was part of
a global campaign to make
Moutai part of the worlds
drinking culture.
The event was touted as
Moutais official entry into
Europe. While Moutai is a
mainstay at formal celebrations across China, its exposure among Westerners is
largely limited to businesspeople or foreign dignitaries on
trips to China.
Moutai ramped up its international operations in earnest
in 2014 when it held a banquet
in San Francisco and promotional efforts saw hip bars in
New York add Moutai cocktails to their menus.
Export revenue increased
by 69.46 percent in the first
half of this year, according to
Yuan Renguo, chairman of

Kweichow Moutai Group,

with total annual sales on
course for $6.4 billion across
60 countries and regions. The
brand is currently focusing on
Europe, taking out ads in
major publications, including
the Financial Times, and
scheduling another gala for
early 2017 in Paris.

149 euros
price tag for a 500ml bottle
of Moutai in supermarkets in
Europe

At the Grand Elysee hotel in

Hamburg, 300 guests were
served the sorghum-derived
liquor in three cocktails
designed by a German bar
catering service.
We had a lot of fun, but it
was the most difficult time
weve had making a new cocktail because its such a different taste. Its really complex
and really strong, said Alexander Brittnacher, founder of
Next Level Cocktails.
Moutai has a smell and
taste of cacao, so in one cock-

tail we combined it with a

chocolate vodka and chocolate
bitters, he said. In another
we looked for food pairing
partners and we found that
blackberries were a good combination.
Moutai is in talks with a Paris-based cocktail manufacturer to sell pre-mixed drinks on
the international market, and
the company is scouting a
location in Frankfurt for its
own cocktail bar.
Moutais European strategy
will also focus heavily on Chinese restaurants, according to
An Huailun, managing director of Moutais imports and
exports company.
The company is in talks
with European retailers and
the liquor will sell off the shelf
for 149 euros ($160) per 500ml
bottle. In the United Kingdom,
a good 750 ml bottle of single
malt Scotch whisky costs at
least 30 pounds ($38).
Yuan said it made strategic
sense to launch Moutais European ambitions in Hamburg,
given Germanys strong brewing culture and the citys status as one of the continents
major ports.

Chinese fans of the AC Milan soccer team sing during a friendly match in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

BOBBY YIP / REUTERS

AC Milan buyers given 3-month delay

By BLOOMBERG

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi granted a

three-month delay to the Chinese investment group seeking to buy his AC Milan soccer
team, after the buyers failed
to get authorization for the
deal from local authorities,
according to people familiar
with the matter.
Advisers to Berlusconis
Fininvest SpA holding company and the Chinese group,
Sino-Europe Sports Investment, agreed to delay the
closing until as late as the end

of February in exchange of an
additional, non-refundable
deposit of 100 million euros
($107 million), the people
said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private. The deposit will have to
be paid by Dec 13, the original
closing date, otherwise the
deal falls apart, the people
said.
The delay marks a new
twist in an odyssey that started in August, when Fininvest
agreed to sell AC Milan to a
little-known group of Chinese
investors for 740 million
euros including debt.

The group, which made an

initial deposit of 100 million
euros, didnt have all the
financing in place when it
agreed to purchase the Italian
club, people familiar with the
matter said in September.
The group led by Chinese
businessman Li Yonghong
hasnt revealed its full list of
investors.
The purchase agreement
includes a requirement to
provide 350 million euros of
added funding to AC Milan
over a three-year period. Lis
group allegedly provided a
false bank report during its

initial deal negotiations. A

spokesman for Sino-Europe
said Sept 23 that speculation
about fake documents is
groundless and that the
group was considering legal
action.
Sino-Europe would consider building a new stadium as
part of its expansion plans.
The consortium has been telling potential partners they
could earn outsized returns if
AC Milan eventually lists on a
Chinese stock exchange,
where companies trade at a
premium to Western markets.

TRADE

Former WTO chief says EU likely to grant China market economy status soon
By CHEN YINGQUN
chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn

The European Union will

likely grant China recognition
as a market economy soon,
former World Trade Organization head Pascal Lamy said.
He made the prediction as
the 15th anniversary of Chinas accession to the WTO
approaches on Sunday.
Lamy, who was the WTO
director-general from 2005 to
2013, said in Beijing that while
the EU is likely to recognize

Chinas market economy status, it will also probably

change its anti-dumping regulations in a non-discriminatory way.
As a condition for being
admitted to the WTO, China
agreed in 2001 that other
members could treat it as a
non-market economy for 15
years ending on Dec 11, 2016.
This status has made it relatively easy for aggrieved parties to prosecute antidumping claims against
China.

Lamy said that changing

anti-dumping regulations has
long been a subject of debate in
the EU, and changes that are
made are likely to affect not
only China but all other countries that trade with the EU.
I think the EU will recognize (Chinas market economy
status), but in some way antidumping measures will be
reformulated.
Lamy, who is now honorary
president of the Paris-based
think tank Notre Europe,
played a key role in negotiat-

Pascal Lamy,
former director-general of the
World Trade Organization

ing Chinas admission to the

WTO.
Reviewing the past 15 years,
he said China has fulfilled the

commitments it made. As globalization has proceeded it

has also increased the value it
adds to the goods it produces,
and that has been important
in the countrys economic
growth, he said.
The country has pledged to
open up more and wants to
proceed with more economic
reform, and that is a good signal, Lamy said.
He said he hopes more
action will be taken soon, particularly regarding the services sector.

Better service will come

from more competition in the
services industry. And, more
competition in the services
industry will come with more
services being imported or foreign service providers establishing themselves within the
Chinese system.
The opening up of trade is
still the main trend in the
world, he said, even if there is
opposition in the EU to Chinese steel imports, and there is
an anti-free trade backlash in
the United States. Protection-

ism cannot guarantee peoples

livelihoods and social well-being but is in fact destructive
and will not make a return, he
said.
Trade remains open. If you
look at trade today, it is more
open than yesterday, when it
was more open than the day
before, so the direction is
right, he said.
Reducing obstacles to trade,
whether multilaterally, bilaterally or regionally, should be
the common goal for all organizations, he said.

14 BUSINESS

Thursday, December 8, 2016 CHINA DAILY

Talking Business

Treat yourself in festive spirit, but focus on value for money

By BAI PING

m a platinum member of a
popular Chinese booking
site, spending the equivalent
of thousands of dollars on
travel for the past 11 months this
year alone. Yet Ive been excluded
from its private club I may not be
able to join it in my lifetime.
Last week, I searched the site for
the best affordable package trip I
could buy for my family of five for the
coming Chinese New Year, a ritual my
colleagues and friends do every year
around this time. Our destination is
Southeast Asia where sun, beach and
tropical breeze beckon to people who
live in constant worry about smog.
However, finding bargain deals
was difficult. As a parent of two
young children, aged 7 and 1, Im
picky about flights, connection times
and hotels. So hoping against hope, I
clicked on the dingjiyou or topclass tour button and was directed
to a micro site devoted to the rich

travelers. I was dumbfounded by

how much they pay for their breaks.
While I shied away from an offer
of more than 63,000 yuan ($9,150)
for a five-night family vacation on
Bali Island during the holiday, a luxury four-night package would cost
almost four times more.
The perks for the wealthy include
business-class flights, upscale hotels,
bespoke activities and sweeteners
like a massage or a welcome cocktail
Rock My World. In comparison, the
deal I was looking at featured red-eye
flights, stopovers in Manila and a
basic itinerary interspersed with
compulsory shopping tours arranged
between tour guides and stores.
The eye-popping prices dont
seem to have deterred well-heeled
travelers with much of the inventory
sold out weeks before the traditional Chinese holiday. In recent years,
Chinese tourism operators and
researchers have gone gaga over luxury travel that caters to a niche demographic, roughly defined as those

A tourist takes a photograph at a beach in Bali, Indonesia.

who make at least 1 million yuan per

year and spend more than 50,000
yuan on a single trip.
My booking site, of which Ive
been a loyal customer for more than
a decade, screens potential travelers
from its massive member database,

BLOOMBERG

offering private tours to tens of

thousands who book five-star hotels
and travel in business or first class
several times a year.
As a frugal traveler, Im not one of
them. Whether I go alone or with my
family, Id put a lot of planning into it

and try to get more bang for my buck.

For longer leg room, I try to get a firstrow seat or one near the emergency
exit. We dont dine in luxury hotels
abroad. There are many serendipitous discoveries in small restaurants,
food courts or even deli shops.
But rich and young Chinese travelers aged 18-36 can now go abroad
every 3-4 months, mainly for leisure,
with an annual spending of 420,000
yuan and an average hotel budget at
3,100 yuan per night, according to
findings by the Hurun Report better
known for its annual China Rich List.
Surely, such extravagant travel
isnt necessarily a rich mans folly.
And not all prestige-seeking travelers ignore the intrinsic utility of
their money. In many cases, privileged travelers seek unique experiences that impress their friends and
colleagues on WeChat.
Two rich parents from my sons
kindergarten class recently wowed
us, with updates on their expensive
family tour in the US, including a

picture of them kissing their two

young children, under a giant statue
depicting a famous New York Times
Square kiss that celebrated the end
of World War II.
Yet, these costly experiences often
smack of ostentatious spending
common among Chinas nouveau
riche. The Hurun Report says about
half of rich Chinese Millennials
tourism spending is still on luxury
shopping, primarily clothing, bags,
watches and jewelry.
Weve heard stories about how
Chinese tourists abroad have
become more discerning and
sophisticated, with shifts from snapping up bags to having a coffee or
stroll on the beach. Perhaps the luxury travel craze is a phase.
Even the discounted Bali tour
looks ridiculously costly to me, since
I really dont care what other people
think of us.

Australias economic growth, the

nations tourism minister said on
Wednesday. After releasing the
results of the latest International
Visitor Survey, Steve Ciobo said Chinese visitor expenditure had exceeded growth targets by almost four
years, while better-than-expected
tourist numbers from other Asian
markets such as Japan and South
Korea was fueling massive growth in
Australias tourism industry. The
latest International Visitor Survey
shows growth across key Asian markets has resulted in a $9.8 billion
contribution to the Australian economy in the last year, Ciobo said.

Philippine inflation up
2.5 percent last month

Contact the writer at

dr.baiping@hotmail.com

Whats news

GOVTS & POLICIES

Coal-rich province
restructures mines
Shanxi province, which supplies
about a quarter of Chinas coal, shut
down or restructured 25 coal mines
this year, cutting 23.25 million tons
of coal production capacity. The
results surpassed the target of closing or restructuring 21 coal mines
and reducing 20 million tons of production this year, set in August as
part of a plan to cut overcapacity
between 2016 and 2020, according
to local land and resources authorities. At the end of October, Shanxis
coal enterprises had inventories of
30.84 million tons, 4.91 million tons
lower than a month previously.

Goldman sees 2017

growth slowing
Goldman Sachs expects China to
register lower annual growth in 2017
as property and auto sales are likely
to slow down. The bank forecasts a
slight slowing in Chinas GDP
growth to 6.5 percent in 2017, from a
forecast of 6.7 percent in 2016.
Although Goldman Sachs only
expects a modest slowing in real
estate investment in 2017, it sees
both price and transaction growth
slowing significantly, meaning a
much lower contribution to Chinas
GDP growth from the housing sector in 2017. In a report to clients, the
bank noted auto sales growth may
slow sharply to 3 percent in 2017,
from an estimated 15 percent this
year, as the government is likely to
cut tax rebates for auto purchases in
half.

Exchange rate hurts

New Zealand exporters

Robots serve manufacturing

A manufacturing robot is demonstrated at the World Intelligent Manufacturing Summit on Tuesday in Nanjing,
capital of Jiangsu province. The three-day event attracted 285 exhibitors from home and abroad.
CUI XIAO/ FOR CHINA DAILY

e-commerce firm joined hands to

boost growth. Under the agreement,
the two sides will work closely in
basic telecommunication services,
information infrastructure, marketing and emerging sectors, China
Mobile said in a statement. The
move came shortly after Alibaba
inked a similar deal with China Unicom, the countrys second largest
telecom carrier, last month. China
Mobile is stepping up efforts to
expand presence in the internet
industry, and China Unicom also
wants to arrest its continuing profit
decline by partnering with internet
giants.

BoC committed
to Belt & Road
COMPANIES & MARKETS

China Mobile links

up with Alibaba
China Mobile and Alibaba Group
Holding Ltd inked a comprehensive
strategic partnership on Wednesday,
as the worlds largest telecom carrier
by subscribers and Chinas largest

Bank of China Ltd has held its New

Years Reception 2017 in Beijing.
Nearly 300 representatives from
foreign embassies, multinational
companies and international
financial institutions in China and
top executives from domestic
financial institutions that are
closely affiliated with the Belt and
Road Initiative attended the reception. Tian Guoli, chairman of BOC,
said the bank puts great emphasis

on exchanging ideas with friends

from all sectors of the community.
It is devoted to the Belt and Road
Initiative and is looking forward to
grasping the opportunities along
with entrepreneurs and financiers
from various countries.

AROUND THE WORLD

Alipay teams up with

European banks

Tax rise lowers auto

imports of Vietnam

Alipay, the most popular digital

payment tool run by Chinas Ant
Financial Services Group,
announced a partnership with
three European banks on Tuesday.
The payment service with 450 million active users inked deals with
financial institutions BNP Paribas,
Barclays, UniCredit, and SIX Payment Services, a major payment
service company, in an aim to allow
more European merchants to
accept using Alipay as a payment
tool in Europe. Ant Financial,
which is the internet finance affiliate of Alibaba Group, has been
gearing up in its global expansion.
Making more Chinese outbound
travellers use Alipay in countries
outside China is one of the major
steps for the internet finance major
to expand business overseas.

Vietnam imported around 97,000

automobiles in the first 11 months of
2016, down 12.9 percent year-on-year,
due to tax rise, according to the General Statistics Office. From January to
November, the country spent $2.1 billion on auto imports, down 19.6 percent year-on-year. The declines in
auto imports were attributed to the
changes in Vietnams tax policy. Specifically, from Jan 1, 2016, a new special consumption tax on cars with 24
seats and below has been imposed,
based on the importers price, instead
of the previous calculation based on
cost, insurance, freight value and current import tariff.

Tourists boost
Australian economy
Chinese tourists are helping boost

An unfavorable currency exchange

rate caused a big drop in New Zealands exports, which drove down
total sales of businesses in October,
the New Zealand Manufacturers
and Exporters Association said on
Wednesday. Total sales were down
6.81 percent from October last year,
with export sales down by 20.72 percent and domestic sales up by 20.14
percent, the NZMEA said. In the
three months to October, export
sales fell an average of 7 percent and
domestic sales rose 13.9 percent on
average. The survey sample covered
NZ$288 million ($205.57 million) in
annualized sales with an export content of 56 percent. A longer view
showed export sales had been flat at
an average year-on-year monthly
decrease of 0.3 percent over the last
12 months, said Dieter Adam, CEO
of the NZMEA.

Philippine inflation rate rose to 2.5

percent in November due to the
increase in the prices of major nonfood commodities, the National Economic and Development Authority
said on Tuesday. Inflation in November last year was at 1.1 percent, while
in October, it was 2.3 percent. Yearto-date, inflation was at 1.9 percent,
within the governments official target of 2.0 to 4.0 percent. The
increase in inflation can be attributed to the increase in domestic prices
of petrol products, which comprise
the bulk of the nonfood commodity
basket usually purchased by the
average Filipino household, said
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary
Ernesto M. Pernia.

Bulgarian gross
domestic product up
Bulgarias gross domestic product
grew by 3.4 percent year-on-year
in the third quarter of 2016, official data showed. The GDP at current prices was $14.465 billion, or
about $2,000 per person, according to preliminary data released
by the countrys National Statistical Institute. Exports and imports
of goods and services increased by
9.5 percent and 7.5 percent
respectively compared with the
same period of last year, the NSI
figures showed. Bulgarias GDP
grew by 3 percent year-on-year in
2015, 1.6 percent in 2014, 1.3 percent in 2013, and 0.2 percent in
2012.

Brazil retirement age

may rise to 65

Nations Q3 GDP
down by 0.5 percent

Brazils President Michel Temer on

Tuesday submitted a bill to Congress
that would raise the retirement age
to 65. The draft bill, part of a pension reform plan, would apply to all
men under 50 and women under 45,
following 25 years of contributing to
social security. Men over 50 and
women over 45 will be included in a
transitional system, under which
they will be subjected to a 50 percent increase on their remaining
contribution time, according to the
government news website. Government figures show the average age
of retirement in Brazil is 58, among
the lowest in the world. Those who
have already retired and are receiving a pension will not be affected if
the bill passes.

Australia has recorded its biggest

economic fall since the global
financial crisis and its first quarter of negative economic growth
in recent five years, the nations
treasurer, Scott Morrison, confirmed on Wednesday. The Australian Bureau of Statistics figures
showed the economy slowed by
0.5 percent in the September
quarter and the annual growth
rate had fallen to 1.8 percent, well
below the already-pessimistic
expert predictions. In a statement
accompanying the figures, the
ABS attributed the decline mainly
to the lower output in the construction industry.
CHINA DAILY-AGENCIES

POLICY

China further opens auto batteries, electronics to foreign investment

By JING SHUIYU
jingshuiyu@chinadaily.com.cn

China will further open up the

segments of batteries of new energy
vehicles and automotive electronics
to foreign investment, to level the
playing field in the worlds largest
auto market, according to a revised
guidance by the National Development and Reform Commission and
the Ministry of Commerce released
on Wednesday.
Such a policy shows that the government is working to level the playing field and encourage fair

economic activity. Local battery

manufacturers will have more
incentives to innovate and improve
the quality of their products, said
Wang Binggang, an expert working
on the new energy vehicle research
project led by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Wang also said local governments
need to strike a proper balance when
implementing relevant policies.
Its a positive signal that the government has gradually opened up the
industry. Local governments, however, should avoid overreacting to such
an adjustment. They shouldnt come

up with policies much more preferential to foreign companies than local

counterparts. Otherwise, it would
hamper the efforts toward creating a
fair and competitive environment,
Wang said.
The ministry of commerce is seeking public opinion until January
2017 on the revised guidance on
industries open to foreign investment. Besides the manufacturing
sector, the guidance also offers more
foreign investment access to the services sector and the mining industry,
and reduces the number of restrictive measures from 93 to 62.

In recent years, the growing

new energy vehicle industry has
been attracting the attention of
manufacturers both in China and
overseas.
Mercedes-Benz, a unit of the German company Daimler AG, plans to
build a battery plant and make electric cars in China, Bloomberg
reported on Wednesday.
Its our strategy to localize production in China, and that goes for
electric cars too, said Hubertus
Troska, head of Chinese operations
at Mercedes parent Daimler AG on
Monday. Chinas government has a

strategic goal to fire up electric vehicles, aimed at improving air quality

but clearly also at lessening dependence on oil imports.
Carmakers from Volkswagen AG to
General Motors Co are boosting production in China as sales make up an
increasing share of their bottom line.
Mercedes already builds most of its
vehicles sold in China locally, including longer versions of the E-Class and
the C-Class that are popular among
domestic buyers. It also makes a plugin hybrid C-Class, using batteries
made by local suppliers.
Shaanxi J&R Optimum Energy Co

Ltd, a listed Chinese company, also

made inroads into the lithium-ion
automotive battery industry in
November by acquiring a 19.9 percent stake in Altura Mining Ltd, an
Australian supplier of lithium raw
materials, for A$41.6 million
($30.69 million).
In China, the output of lithiumion automotive batteries was 16.9
GWh in 2015, while the demand is
projected to reach 125 GWh in 2020,
according to data compiled by Sinolink Securities Co.
Bloomberg contributed to this story

Focus | BUSINESS 15

CHINA DAILY Thursday, December 8, 2016

TECH

stateoftheart

Vivo launches two HD

smartphones for China
Vivo has announced new
smartphones Vivo X9 and
X9Plus for the China market.
The X9 features a 5.5-inch
full-HD super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1,080
pixels by 1,920 pixels, and a
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625
chipset with 4GB RAM and
64GB internal storage, priced
2,798 yuan ($405). The Vivo
X9 Plus is fired up by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 processor with a larger 6GB of
RAM inside as well as 64GB of
internal storage.
Both Vivo X9 and X9Plus
have two selfie cameras, a
20-megapixel Sony IMX376
sensor and an 8-megapixel
camera to be used for better
depth and focus control.
Both devices come with
Android 6.0 Marshmallow
and Vivos Funtouch OS 3.0
on top of it, and feature a
home button / fingerprint
scanner below the display.

UP ABOVE THE WORLD SO HIGH, WI-FI

An air hostess of China Eastern Airlines demonstrates how to use the in-flight Wi-Fi service to passengers.

China Eastern Airlines

charts a new course
By WANG YING in Shanghai
wang_ying@chinadaily.com.cn

As the first Chinese carrier

to offer in-flight internet
access, China Eastern Airlines
Corp Ltd is poised to commercialize the service in its widebodied aircraft next year once
they get the nod from aviation
authorities, a senior manager
from the Shanghai-based carrier said.
Since launching the commercial test on in-flight Wi-Fi
last November, China Eastern
Airlines has brought Wi-Fi
connectivity to 43 aircraft,
and the figure is expected to
reach 54 by the years end,
which will exceed the total
number of all Wi-Fi installed
planes in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and
Taiwan currently, said Zhang
Chi, deputy director of China
Eastern Airlines transformation office.
According to Zhang, more
than 4,000 passengers per day
with China Eastern used the
free Wi-Fi service as of September, and by November, the
carrier had expanded its
onboard Wi-Fi service from
2,500 flights to 3,000 per
month.
China Eastern has been taking the lead in in-flight Wi-Fi
development in recent years,
and the company got approval
from the Ministry of Industry
and Information Technology
to use AsiaSat-6 satellite for
Wi-Fi services on 21 airplanes
from May, 2015.
Since November 2015, Chi-

YIN LIQIN / FOR CHINA DAILY

Passengers' attitude to in ight Wi-Fi

60%
84%
of travelers say it is
important to have internet
access identical to what
they have at home
and in the office.

of travelers would most

likely feel disappointed
or frustrated if they got
on a plane without
in-ight Wi-Fi.

In-ight Wi-Fi service preference

Chinese passengers

1Social media apps, such as WeChat and ZHLER

2Stock market, nancial information
3News
4Email

Foreign passengers
1Social media apps
2Email
3News

90%
nd it essential to
experience a reliable
connection throughout
their ight anywhere
in the world.

83%
Cost for one aircraft equipped with on board
Wi-Fi service is between
$200,000 and $ 300,000,
according to China Eastern Airlines.
Source: China Eastern Airlines
LIU LUNAN / CHINA DAILY

expect fast streaming

audio or video from
sites such as YouTube
and Netix.
Source: Honeywell survey

A passenger accesses WeChat using the in-flight Wi-Fi service provided by China Eastern Airlines.
YIN LIQIN / FOR CHINA DAILY

na Eastern has launched a trial run of the service, which

allows passengers to apply to
use the service either through
reservations on its application
and official website ahead of,
or after, boarding.
First class, business class,
golden and platinum card
holders, as well as the younger
generation are the core customers using the in-flight
Wi-Fi service, Zhang said.
After nearly one year of testing, the in-flight Wi-Fi service
is ready for operation as problems that arose have lowered
from 2 to 3 percent to 0.1 percent, Zhang said.
He is optimistic that the
Wi-Fi service will become
commercialized next year as
all its wide-bodied aircraft will
be available for in-flight Wi-Fi
in mid-2017. China Eastern is
projected to expand its widebody fleet to more than 110 by
2020.
A detailed plan for onboard
Wi-Fi costs is still under discussion, but Zhang revealed
that China Eastern may raise
special rates compared to
international counterparts.
As a value-added service,
in-flight Wi-Fi is designed to
retain high-end business passengers who believe internet
connections are necessary,
said Li Lei, an industrial analyst from Minzu Securities Co
Ltd.
A growing number of major
international airlines have
added such services in their
long haul international flights,
to meet rising demand for
internet connectivity especially
for business travelers.
The in-flight Wi-Fi service
will offer an edge for the carrier
in competing with its rivals in

domestic routes, being attractive to its high-end passengers

as well as young travelers, said
Zhang.
The Wi-Fi using habits
monitored by us through the
trial period will help decide the
rates. For example, text messages on social media such as
WeChat will be free of charge,
but passengers have to pay if
they want to send pictures or
video chat; meanwhile, browsing financial news will be free,
but transaction fees may be collected by the carrier if stock
deals are done, said Zhang.
According
to
Zhang,
research reveals that both Chinese and foreign passengers
use social media apps the
most, but financial information is the second most important need for the Chinese.
China Eastern is a pioneer
in in-flight Wi-Fi service in the
China aviation market. In July
2014, the carrier had its first
aircraft
equipped
with
onboard Wi-Fi services after
$200,000 to $300,000 on prefabrication was spent on aircraft to serve flights between
Beijing and Shanghai.
The in-flight Wi-Fi also provides direct ground support to
the cabin crew in emergency
such as first aid and special
conditions, and allows for video conferences, diagnosis, and
information on various transportation options, according
to Zhang.
Compared to their global
counterparts, Chinese airlines
are latecomers in offering
in-flight Wi-Fi services. But
Zhang is extremely optimistic.
We will catch up soon, just
like what China is doing in
internet and mobile internet
areas.

LEISURE

Thales confident in-flight entertainment systems set for takeoff

By ZHU WENQIAN
zhuwenqian@chinadaily.com.cn

Thales Group, a leading

French aerospace company
that produces in-flight entertainment systems, said it is
bullish on the growth potential
of the China market, and plans
to increase its research and
development in the country.
China provides us a lot of
new ideas, talented engineers
and innovated productions
and is a seedbed for innovation. We have long-term plans
to establish innovation teams
in China to provide services for
the country and other markets, said Laurent Guyot,
chairman and CEO of Thales
China.
Currently, Thales accounts
for about 65 percent of the

market share of in-flight

entertainment systems for
wide-bodied aircraft in China.
The market for in-flight
entertainment
systems
changes very fast. We will continue to make innovations and
enrich the multimedia contents
of the systems, Guyot said.
Thales has been upgrading
the real-time customer experiences based on our big data
analysis. We can control and
upgrade the in-flight entertainment systems content from our
ground control center and supplement the content at any
time.
When it comes to virtual
reality, or VR, Thales said this
option in the in-flight entertainment systems still requires
some time to be offered.
It often requires a lot of

A girl watches a cartoon movie while on board an Airbus A380 of

China Southern Airlines. XU YING / FOR CHINA DAILY

previous verification work for

those new technologies that
will be applied to the aviation
industry, including the VR
technology.
Besides,
it
requires the recognition of airlines before the specific imple-

mentations, he said.
By 2024, the market value of
global in-flight entertainment
and communication systems
is expected to reach $9.82 billion, according to Grand View
Research, a San Francisco-

based market research and

consulting agency.
The company said consumers will have increasingly
higher demand for in-flight
entertainment and communication systems, as it
becomes easier for passengers to get more high-definition multimedia content on
the planes.
In 2012, Thales and China
Electronics Technology Group
Corp formed a joint venture,
and the China-based company
will produce a set of in-flight
entertainment and communication systems for the muchanticipated C919, a large
homegrown passenger jet
manufactured by Commercial
Aircraft Corp of China Ltd.
COMAC earlier said that the
first test flight of the C919 is

expected to be conducted later

this year or in early 2017. Thales said it is now closely cooperating with COMAC, and
advancing the in-flight entertainment system project
based on the timetable.
The project for the C919 will
localize R&D for in-flight
entertainment and communication systems for large civilian jets, and the joint venture
will also provide services for
airlines worldwide.
We plan to develop more
local strategic partnerships
with Chinese companies and
innovate with them. We are
committed to cooperation
with Aviation Industry Corp of
China and COMAC, and will
continue to provide state-ofthe-art solutions to Chinese
airlines, Guyot said.

New DJI drone can sense

things in five directions
DJI Innovation Technology
Co, Chinas largest commercial drone manufacturer has
launched a new drone called
Phantom 4 Pro. Equipped
with a 1-inch sensor, the
Phantom 4 Pro camera
shoots video at up to 4K 60
frames per second and
20-megapixel stills. With new
5.5-inch screen that is more
than twice as bright as most
tablets, users can see images
in direct sunlight. A set of real
visual has also been added to
existing forward and downward sensors. Combining
with two infrared sensors on
its sides, the drone can sense
things in five directions. If
image signals are lost, it
returns home dynamically
avoiding obstacles, and even
flies back along its original
flight path until signals are
regained. The product is
priced 9,999 yuan ($1450)
upward.

Xiaomi unveils backpack

friendly Wi-Fi net speaker
Xiaomi Corp, a Chinese
tech giant, unveiled its first
internet speaker, in a bid to
expand the business into the
market for Wi-Fi connected
speakers. The speaker can
stream more than 20 million
online songs, covering over
1,500 radio stations nationwide. Pressing the CH button,
users can control it by voice.
Weighting only 1.6 kilograms,
it can be easily put into ones
backpack. Besides Wi-Fi, it
can also be connected to
devices via Bluetooth, USB,
auxiliary cable or DNLA.
Priced 399 yuan ($57), it can
be used as an alarm and
clock users can then set the
song they like to wake them
up in the morning.

Alienware small laptop to

offer VR gaming experience
Alienware, a Dell Inc subsidiary that sells high-end
gaming hardware products,
has released a new 13-inch
laptop designed to offer virtual reality experiences. Powered by quadcore Intel Core
Processor H-Series, the new
Alienware 13 drives up to 51
percent performance. Coming with the NVIDIA GeForce
GTX 10-Series family of GPUs,
it enables gamers to enjoy
immersive VR experiences
and PC gaming.

16 BUSINESS

Thursday, December 8, 2016 CHINA DAILY

BRANDING

DEALS

Shangshang eyes
development of
high-tech cable

CNOOC buys two

blocks in oil auction

By CANG WEI in Changzhou,

Jiangsu province
cangwei@chinadaily.com.cn

Jiangsu Shangshang Cable

Group, the top cable producer
in China, aims to develop
more high-tech products to
meet customer demand and
gain a cutting edge amid
intense global competition.
The company, based in
Liyang, Jiangsu province, now
masters more than 30 of the
worlds most advanced cable
technologies. It has established
a
national
postdoctoral
research station and won more
than 180 national patents so far.
Shangshang has the worlds
most advanced extra-high
voltage cable production
equipment and 17 advanced
production lines for various
kinds of cables. Its products
are exported to more than 80
countries and regions, including the United States, Australia and Singapore.
According to the company,
its annual sales between 2011
and 2015 exceeded 10 billion
yuan ($1.45 billion). Its president, Ding Shanhua, who is in
his late 60s, has worked for the
company since 1983. He and
his team invented Chinas first
mine signal cable in 1985,
which doubled the companys
profits in the same year.
It also spent 20 million yuan
to import equipment in the
1990s to guarantee the quality
of the medium voltage cable
invented by the company.
Ding later shifted to nuclear
cables after recognizing the
market demand, and managed to produce various kinds
of them.
In 2013, the AP1000 third-

generation nuclear cable

developed by the company
was put into use. Shangshang
has mastered some of the
most advanced technologies
since then, and is investing
heavily in the development of
new nuclear cables.
Sales of nuclear cable are
increasing by 1 billion yuan
every year, said Ding. We are
developing fourth-generation
nuclear cables and trying to find
the proper material, which
should be resistant to radiation,
high temperatures, pressure,
and can be used for many years.
Besides nuclear cables, the
company has also developed
other special cables, the sales
of which now account for 30
percent of the companys total.
In 2006, a pagoda in a temple in Changzhou, Jiangsu
province, caught fire. Though
the pagoda was seriously damaged, workers found that the
Shangshang cables used in it
were still functional and the
light on the top of the pagoda
was still shining.
Also in 2006, the copper
price soared soon after
Shangshang won a $30 million bid for a Singaporean
power company. It would
face a loss totaling 60 million
yuan if it continued to honor
the contract terms.
It did and suffered a loss of
20 million yuan due to the
drop in the price of copper, but
it won a loyal customer and
has cooperated with the Singaporean company since then.
In 2007, when many areas of
East Chinas Zhejiang province
were suffering from freezing
weather, Ding held an emergency meeting right after he
saw the news on TV. He

Energy reform in Mexico opens market for

first time in the nation for almost 80 years
By ZHENG XIN
zhengxin@chinadaily.com.cn

A worker operates a machine at a production line of Jiangsu

Shangshang Cable Group. XINHUA

Sales of nuclear cable are

increasing by 1 billion yuan
every year.
Ding Shanhua, president of Jiangsu Shangshang Cable Group

ordered a contingency plan to

prevent damage and repair the
cables for the local grid company and sent workers and materials immediately to Zhejiang
province from Liyang.
Our customers believe in
us, said Zhu Hongxiang, a
senior management member

of Shangshang. We try to
think ahead and provide the
best service.
Innovation, quality-control
and good business ethics have
brought us this far, Zhu said.
Only by providing the best
products and service can we be
recognized by our customers.

CNOOC, Chinas largest offshore oil and natural gas producer, has strengthened its
investment in Mexicos energy sector by buying two deepwater oil blocks at auction.
China National Offshore
Oil Corp has won two of the
10 blocks on offer, one of
them just 6.5 kilometers from
the maritime border with the
US, with bids that far outstripped the minimum
required, according to the
State-owned company.
The first offer was nearly
six times the minimum
required, and the second was
almost as high, the company
said.
The deepwater oil blocks
are considered a jewel in the
crown by the Mexican government. The auction was
part of the countrys energy
reform that is opening a sector that has been closed to
private exploration and production for nearly 80 years.
According to Li Li, energy
research director with ICIS
China, Mexicos energy opening, which is meant to revitalize the countrys oil and gas
industry, is good news for
Chinese companies, as the
country is listed as the 12th
largest oil producer with rich
oil and gas resources.
Mexicos plan to tender
deepwater
exploration
blocks in the Gulf of Mexico,
open to foreign and private
companies, is a good outcome for the country, given

Foreign companies ... will have a

more comprehensive strategic
layout in South
America through
the bidding ...
Li Li, energy research director
with ICIS China

10
number of oil blocks on offer
by Mexico

the low-price environment

for oil and gas, said Li.
It will further help Mexico
open up its energy sectors.
And, foreign companies,
including the Chinese Stateowned companies like
CNOOC, will have more
development opportunities
and a more comprehensive
strategic layout in South
America through the bidding.
CNOOC and other participants have rich experience in
offshore oil exploitation,
which will help Mexico better
drill for the countrys rich

deep sea resources, she said.

According to the Mexican
government, four of the 10
deepwater blocks being auctioned are located in the Perdido Fold belt, near the US
side of the Gulf. Six are in the
unexplored Salina basin further south.
Pedro Joaquin Coldwell,
Mexicos energy secretary,
said the Mexican government
is delighted that China came
to compete and win, saying
the move helps boost the two
nations economic ties.
If this contributes to opening a new chapter in SinoMexican relations, that will
be something else good to
have come out of the energy
reform, he said.
Mexico abruptly annulled
a $3.6 billion high-speed rail
contract won by a consortium led by China Railway
Construction Corporation in
2014, which strained bilateral
relations.
Duncan Wood, head of the
Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington
said in an interview with The
Financial Times that this is a
sign that Chinese firms really
want to get involved here,
despite China not yet being a
major player in Mexico up to
now.
In addition to CNOOC, a
consortium made up of Norways Statoil, BP and Total of
France also won two contracts. Mexican oil company
Sierra was part of consortiums that won two other
licenses and a Chevron-led
bid scooped another.
Total and ExxonMobil of
the US also won one bid. Shell
failed to win the only block it
bid for.

Markets | BUSINESS 17

CHINA DAILY Thursday, December 8, 2016

INSURANCE

POLICY

First PPP reinsurer

opens for business
Three State firms hold
60% stake in Qianhai

330

By LI XIANG
lixiang@chinadaily.com.cn

The target the Chinese

government has set for the
reinsurance market by 2020

billion yuan

Qianhai Reinsurance Co Ltd

officially launched its business
on Wednesday, becoming Chinas first reinsurer created
under a public-private partnership.
With a registered capital of
3 billion yuan ($436 million),
the Shenzhen-based reinsurer
will carry out business in
property and casualty reinsurance as well as life and health
reinsurance, according to the
insurers official statement.
Three State-owned companies Shenzhen Qianhai
Financial Holdings Co, China
Post Group and Shenzhen Capital Investment Co Ltd jointly
own a 60 percent stake in the

new reinsurer. The rest of the

shares are owned by four private companies, including Zhejiang Aishida Electric Co Ltd
and Chinese fashion brand Fujian Septwolves Industry Co Ltd.
The establishment of the
reinsurer underscores Chinas
effort to develop its reinsurance
market and encourage private
capital to participate in the
countrys financial system. The
government has set the goal of
expanding the Chinese reinsurance market to 330 billion yuan
of premiums by 2020.
Feng Hongjuan, who is
expected to be appointed as

the chairman of Qianhai Re,

said that the reinsurer will
take advantage of its location
in Shenzhen, one of the hubs
of financial innovation and
the modern service industry
in China, and will seek broader opportunities in overseas
markets.
While focusing on the reinsurance business in the domestic market, we will seek to
strengthen
cooperation
between the Chinese mainland
and Hong Kong markets and to
explore opportunities in the
countries along the Belt and
Road Initiative, Feng said in a
statement.
Wang Guojun, an insurance
professor at the University of
InternationalBusinessandEconomics, said the establishment
of Qianhai Re will increase
competition in the Chinese
reinsurance market, which is in
urgent need of development.

Employees of Bosera Funds provide consultation services at the companys booth at a finance expo in Beijing.

A-shares may get fillip as 21 companies

receive nod to manage pension funds

DEALS

Three Chinese exchanges eye 40

percent stake in Pakistani bourse
investors in July.
The PSX has received letters
of intent from some of the
exchanges, including one from
an exchange in the Middle
East, according to a report in
Nikkei Asian News.
The source with the SSE
told China Daily the acquisition attempt is still undergoing procedures and more
details will be disclosed jointly
by the three buyers at an
appropriate time, if the
acquisition is successful.
The acquisition, if successful, would be the first by Chinese bourses of a foreign stock
exchange.
Chinas news and business
social media platform jiemian.com reported on Wednes-

By WU YIYAO in Shanghai
wuyiyao@chinadaily.com.cn

Three of Chinas financial

market operators intend to buy
jointly a combined stake of up
to 40 percent in the Pakistan
Stock Exchange (PSX), a person
with close knowledge of the
potential deal told China Daily.
The source, who is with the
Shanghai Stock Exchange,
said the SSE and two other
bourses in China have submitted a letter of intent to the
PSX, the source said.
Reuters reported in early
October that the SSE had submitted a letter of intent to buy
the stake in the PSX, after the
latter reached out to some
bourses seeking strategic

By CAI XIAO
caixiao@chinadaily.com.cn

The first batch of 21 Chinese pension-fund management institutions were

approved on Tuesday afternoon. This move is expected
to shore up the A-share market greatly.
The National Council for
Social Security Fund released
on its official website the list of
approved companies, including 14 fund management companies,
six
insurance
companies and one securities
firm. Among these are China
Asset Management Co Ltd,
China Life Pension Co Ltd and
CITIC Securities. Pension
funds previously stayed in
bank deposits or treasury
bonds, with low yields.
Based on related regulation, we selected the 21 quali-

day that the three operators,

namely the SSE, the Shenzhen
Stock Exchange, and the
Shanghai-based China Financial Futures Exchange, would
like to buy stakes in the PSX,
but the three operators
declined to comment on the
acquisition at the current
stage.
A Shenzhen Stock Exchange
source told China Daily that
there is nothing I can say
about this deal at the current
stage.
The PSX was formed in January by consolidating the
Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad stock exchanges.
Chai Hua in Shenzhen contributed to this story.

fied investment institutions

after strict examination and
approval processes, said the
statement of National Council for Social Security Fund.
Wang Guojun, an insurance professor with the University of International
Business and Economics, said
its good to have the option of
such managed investments,
or the investment return of
pension funds cannot be
guaranteed.
It shows confidence in the
investment institutions performances and the release is
positive for boosting the
A-share market, said Wang.
Wang said the first batch
fund of 300 billion yuan
($43.6 billion) is expected to
be placed under the management of the qualified investment institutions.
Hong Hao, chief strategist

Gainers
Gainers
and and
Losers
Losers

Daily Stock Market Performance

Index

Daily
% Chg

Close

3222.24

Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index

3800

+0.7

YTD
% Chg

9.0

3400
3000
2600

10,855.72

Shenzhen Stock Exchange Component Index

13,500

+0.7

14.3

12,000
10,500
9000

3475.75

Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index

+0.5

6.8

4000
3600
3200
2800

GAINERS

Close

+0.6

450

LOSERS

Close

19.31
14.60
36.26
33.63
30.01
17.59
21.33
34.76
14.41
42.94

10.03
10.02
10.01
10.01
10.01
10.01
10.01
10.00
10.00
9.99

ZhejiangJiaEnprtchStck
Shandong Xinchao Enrgy
Bomesc Offshore Eng
Zhejiang XCC Group Co
JiangxiGtIndExplsvMtrl
Tongkun Group Co Ltd
Sichuan Guodong Constr
ChinBldngMtrlTst&Crtfc
Huaneng Power Intl
Liuzhou Chem Industry

70.98
17.44
61.51
42.22
36.26
14.01
7.61
48.83
7.50
8.89

4.00
3.96
3.47
2.38
2.34
2.10
1.93
1.91
1.83
1.77

Shenzhen Stock Exchange

BeijingHulnDprtmntStre
Angang Steel Co Ltd
Happigo Home Shopping
Chengdu Santai Holding
ShenzhenHuaqingIndstry
ShenzhnZhngjnLngnnNnfm
Jizhong Energy Res
AVICElectromechanclSys
HunanJiangnanRed Arrow
GuangdongGoldenDragnDv

4.46
6.01
26.88
10.36
30.68
12.90
8.01
19.08
13.75
24.01

10.12
10.07
9.98
9.98
6.68
5.31
5.26
5.12
4.96
4.85

Netposa Technologies
Hytera Communications
XinjiangGoldwindSc&Tch
Julong Co Ltd
Lepu Med Tech Beijing
HangzhouHikvisionDgTch
LianChuang Electr Tech
Integr Electr Sys Lab
Guangdong Shaoneng
DHC Software Co Ltd

22.42
13.70
17.05
25.91
18.60
25.18
22.20
19.55
8.90
23.95

1.75
1.58
1.56
1.52
1.22
1.10
1.07
1.01
1.00
0.99

Hang Seng
HSBC Holdings PLC
Belle International
China Shenhua Energy
China Merchants Port
BOC Hong Kong Holdings

65.50
4.70
16.10
19.60
29.50

3.31
3.30
2.29
2.08
1.90

HongKongExchangs&Clrng
CK Hutchison Holdings
China Unicom Hong Kong
CLP Holdings Ltd
Hengan International

193.60
92.60
9.36
73.90
60.30

1.43
1.33
1.27
0.74
0.50

USD
USD

CNY

HKD

GBP

KRW

BRL

RUB

JPY

INR

CAD

1.073

0.145

0.129

1.264

0.001

0.293

0.016

0.009

0.015

0.753

0.135

0.120

1.178

0.001

0.274

0.015

0.008

0.014

0.702

0.888

8.702

0.006

2.020

0.108

0.060

0.101

5.184

9.803

0.007

2.276

0.122

0.068

0.114

5.841

0.001

0.232

0.012

0.007

0.012

0.596

342.720 18.304

10.226

17.219 879.500

EUR

0.932

CNY

6.884

7.385

370

HKD

7.756

8.321

1.127

GBP

0.791

0.849

0.115

330

KRW
1164.40

Shenzhen B-Share Stock Price Index

+0.7

11.1

1350
1240

0.102

1167.820 1250.750 169.632 150.564 1476.430

BRL

3.410

3.655

0.495

0.439

4.308

0.003

RUB

63.818

68.463

9.271

8.227

80.657

0.055

0.053
18.728

0.030

0.050

2.566

0.559

0.941

48.053

JPY

114.180 122.490 16.589

14.721

144.306

0.098

33.488

1.789

INR

67.820

72.779

9.853

8.745

85.727

0.058

19.903

1.063

0.594

CAD

1.328

1.425

0.193

0.171

1.678

0.001

0.390

0.021

0.012

1.684

0.020

Data provided by

85.978
51.066

1130
1020

the total amount of Chinas

pension fund assets at the end
of 2015

at BOCOM International, said

its positive for the domestic
stock market and this
approach has been proven by
international experience.
According to Hong, pension funds are managed by
professional institutions in
the United States, and the system is similar in Singapore.
But, Hong said, it does not
mean that now is the best
time to invest in the A-share
market, because these qualified pension managers will
start to open positions in the
next six months to one year.

In October, the Ministry of

Human Resources and Social
Security said the first batch of
pension fund management
institutions would be chosen
by the end of this year and
would officially launch their
operations.
Chinas pension fund assets
totaled 3.99 trillion yuan at
the end of 2015, according to
data from the Ministry of
Human Resources and Social
Security.
On May 1, the national
guideline to regulate the
management of the pension
funds took effect. It is the first
of its kind issued by the central government.
The guideline allows the
countrys pension funds to
invest in more diversified
products with higher risks,
such as stocks and private
equity funds.

Daily
Close % Chg 20%

Hang Seng Index

Hang Seng China Ent Index
TAIEX Taiwan Stock Index
Nikkei 225
Sensex
KOSPI
S&P/ASX 200
New Zealand 50 Gross Index
Straits Times Index STI
Bangkok SET Index
Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index
VN-Index
Dow Jones

22,800.92
9,829.58
9,263.89
18,496.69
26,499.89
1,991.89
5,478.10
6,889.77
2,958.27
1,521.81
1,633.59
653.53
19,251.78

YTD % Chg
0%

+20%

0.6
0.6
0.1
0.7
0.4
0.1
0.9
0.3
0.3
0.4
0.2
0.3
0.2

Commodities
Brent Crude Oil (USD/bbl.)
Gold (USD/t oz.)
Silver (USD/t oz.)
Copper (USD/lb.)
Aluminum (USD/MT)
Corn (USD/bu.)
Wheat (USD/bu.)
Soybeans (USD/bu.)
Coffee (USD/lb.)
Sugar #11 (USD/lb.)
Palm Oil (MYR/MT)

Close

Daily
% Chg

53.71
1170.10
16.81
2.68
1712.50
3.61
4.07
10.48
1.42
0.20
3152.00

0.4
0.5
0.5
0.7
1.4
0.3
0.4
0.4
1.7
0.1
1.0

50%

YTD % Chg
0%

+50%

ETFS

EUR

410

trillion yuan

Daily
% Chg

Shanghai Stock Exchange

Sanlian Commercial Co
Xiangtan Electric Mfg
ShanghaiGldnBrdgInfTch
Sanjiang Shopping Club
CEC CoreCast Corp Ltd
NingboHaitianPrec Mach
Wuxi Huaguang Boiler
HangzhouTian-Mu-ShanPh
Xinjiang Urban Constr
ShanghKndlyEntrprsDvGr

17.7

3.99

International Stock Markets

Daily
% Chg

Cross Currency Rates

350.77

Shanghai B-Share Stock Price Index

PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

EQUITY ETFs
China 50
China AMC CSI 300 Index
China CSI 500
China SME
China Universal CSI Consumer Staples Index
E Fund ChiNext Price Index
E Fund CSI 300
E Fund CSI 300 Financials ex Banks Index
E Fund Hang Seng China Enterprises Index
E FUND SZSE100 INDEX FUND
Fortune SGAM Xianjin Tianyi Money Market
Guangfa CSI 500
Guotai Shanghai Stock Exchange 180 Financial Index
Harvest CSI 300 Index
Huatai-Pinebridge CSI 300
Shanghai SSE180
SSE Pledge Urban Investment Bond
Yinhua Traded Money Market Fund

Ticker

510050
510330
510500
159902
159928
159915
510310
512070
510900
159901
511990
510510
510230
159919
510300
510180
511220
511880

Close

Daily %
Change

2.38
3.71
6.87
3.30
1.48
2.04
1.45
1.77
1.08
4.23
100.00
1.80
5.41
3.74
3.53
3.08
99.17
102.47

0.30
0.79
1.19
0.49
0.14
0.39
0.14
0.62
0.74
0.26
0.00
1.12
0.15
0.48
0.46
0.52
0.23
0.00

18 BUSINESS | CSR

EDUCATION

Thursday, December 8, 2016 CHINA DAILY

SOCIETY

China Life links new insurance

measures to poverty prevention
Largest insurer cuts premium prices, increases
payouts; urges peers to customize protection products
An employee of Guangzhou OED Technologies Inc displays e-readers that
will be donated to children in poor regions. QIU QUANLIN / CHINA DAILY

Guangzhou OED
gives kids e-readers
By QIU QUANLIN in Guangzhou
qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn

Guangzhou OED Technologies

Inc, a major electronic-paper display supplier based in Guangdong
province, has launched a charity
program to provide electronic
readers for children in low-income families.
Under the charity program,
which is called Novus, the first
batch of 1,000 electronic readers,
each with more than 1,000 online
domestic and overseas classic
books, will be donated to children
in poor areas of Guangdong.
In an effort to eliminate poverty,
children in poor areas must be educated with modern technologies,
said Chen Yu, chief executive officer
of Guangzhou OED Technologies.
Children with the e-readers may
enjoy an abundance of educational materials by interacting with
the equipments software that will
be upgraded to the new version,
according to the company.
The company is engaged in the
design, development, manufacturing, assembly and marketing of
thin film electrophoretic displays,
primary panels for e-readers, electronic shelf labels and other related
low-power display applications.
In cooperation with a Chongqing-based graphene supplier,
Guangzhou OED Technologies
has developed a new type of electronic paper that industrial
experts have dubbed the worlds
first graphene e-paper.
We will utilize our own intellectual properties on e-paper display
technologies and install a series of
selected online books that are beneficial to the growth and education
of children, said Chen.
According to Chen, the program
will cover more children nationwide in the next five years.
By using modern technologies,
children will be more equally pro-

By using modern
technologies, children
will be more equally
provided with
educational
resources.

By ZHANG YU
zhangyu1@chinadaily.com.cn

China Life Insurance Co, the

countrys largest insurer, said it
would intensify efforts to provide
comprehensive protection for people against serious illnesses, a move
to help people avert poverty.
We are cutting payments (of
insurance premiums), while increasing the sum of compensation for the
insured in the event of critical diseases, Xu Haifeng, vice-president of the
State-owned company, said at a
media conference on Tuesday.

Insurance of this kind was rolled

out in 2012 nationwide by the State
Council, in cooperation with insurance companies, to help people
avoid poverty due to serious illness.
In China, the main cause for poverty is often serious illness that
entails huge healthcare expenses, if
the person concerned is not insured.
To overcome the problem, local
governments pay premiums to
insurance companies on behalf of
poor policyholders.
The insurance policy, mainly
implemented by 16 insurance companies, has covered 1.05 billion peo-

ple in 31 provinces, municipalities

and autonomous regions as of September, almost 80 percent of Chinas
total population, according to the
China Insurance Regulatory Commission.
Accounting for 40 percent of the
market share, China Life has paid 22
billion yuan ($3.2 billion) in claim
settlements to more than 4 million
people who had suffered serious illnesses since 2012.
Though the coverage is huge, the
practice of insurance for serious diseases is still at an initial stage, without
unified management and standard
for the whole country, said Xu.
He said since governments of different regions have varied financial
situations, the insurer would pro-

vide premium payment options at

different levels.
Other insurance companies
should also customize products to
suit local conditions, adopting different compensation standards, he said.
According to Xu, the compensation rate for already-poor people
and young disabled people in some
places has been raised from the standard 60 percent to 90 percent. Some
dont have an upper limit at all.
We are not counting on the products to make money, but seeing
them as a responsibility to help alleviate poverty and prevent more people from becoming poor, Xu said,
adding that the company could just
keep the products income and
expenditure in balance.

HEALTH

Chen Yu, chief executive officer of

Guangzhou OED Technologies

vided with educational resources,

said Chen.
According to a research by Beijing Normal University and China
Development Foundation, China
has about 40 million children living under the poverty line,
accounting for 16.7 percent of Chinas total number of children.
E-readers, which are jointly
developed by Guangzhou OED
and Shenzhen Boyue Technology
Co, will include more content featuring Chinese traditional culture.
We hope the e-book will be an
important platform to promote
Chinese culture for children, said
Chen.
Guangzhou OED has jointly
developed the Novus Alliance,
which involves the World Scout
Foundation, Guangdong Eye Care
Association and Guangzhou
Charity Association, calling on
more private organizations and
individuals to join in the charity
program.
Lars Kolind, chairman of the
World Scout Foundation, an international nonprofit institution
based in Switzerland, said the
Novus program will be of great
importance to modern education
for children.

Global run
More than 20,000 runners take part in the half-marathon held in Nanning,
Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Dec 4. Among the participants, 111
runners were from 17 foreign countries. PENG HUAN / FOR CHINA DAILY

An employee of General Electric Healthcare Co offers teachers from a Beijing-based school for children of migrant workers free medical check cards.

XINHUA

National Cancer Center, GE fight breast cancer

By ZHU WENQIAN
zhuwenqian@chinadaily.com.cn

General Electric Healthcare Co, a

leader in the high-end medical devices market, said it will partner with
Chinas national cancer center and
work on the research and treatment
of breast cancer.
The two sides will cooperate on
setting standards and guidelines for
the early diagnosis and treatment of
breast cancer. They will also cooperate in other areas, including the clinical application of innovative
technologies, the training of doctors, volunteer treatments, and public education.
In the next five years, GE Healthcare plans to cooperate with the Chinese government, medical agencies,
enterprises and public welfare organizations to promote safe and effective methods to screen breast cancer

and raise the early detection rate

and five-year survival rate, the company said.
Since 2006, GE Healthcare has
been holding a series of public welfare events on the prevention and
treatment of breast cancer, and it
aims to help women office workers,
who have a high-risk of getting
breast cancer, to obtain safe and
accurate screenings.
In the past decade, our charity
events have helped more people
realize the threat of breast cancer
and the significance of prevention.
We need to make further efforts in
the next five years, said Guan Daiying, chief marketing director of GE
Healthcare in China.
This year, GE Healthcare said it
would launch models for remote
reading and diagnosis of ultrasonic
inspection results, and help more
women get advanced screenings

260,000
the number of new cases of breast
cancer in China last year

and authoritative diagnoses.

Also, it will launch large-scale
free diagnosis programs at public
and private hospitals nationwide
and provide services for around
5,000 individuals, in addition to
organizing more public education
events.
Last year, China had 260,000 new
cases of breast cancer. The occurrence rate stands at the top among
all kinds of female tumor diseases,
according to Chinas national cancer
center.
In the past 10 years, the mortality
rate from breast cancer in China has
increased significantly. During the

same period, the US mortality rate

from breast cancer decreased 2 percent annually on average, mainly
because of standardized screening,
early discovery and treatment.
In Beijing, only 5 percent of breast
cancer cases were confirmed
through early screening, according to
the center. The nation lacks controls
of screening quality, including tracking of equipment and operations. So,
there is a need for more high-quality
and effective screenings.
The prevention and treatment of
breast cancer has been the key part of
cancer prevention and treatment in
China, said Wang Lyuhua, vice-dean
of the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese
Academy of Medical Sciences.
Its highly necessary to promote
standard, safe and effective methods of screening, and raise the levels
of breast cancer prevention and
treatment.

Briefly
Charity helps children
with heart disease
Eleven children from southwestern
China with congenital heart disease are being treated at the Childrens Hospital of Fudan
University in Shanghai, with operations and all travel expenses covered by a charitable campaign.
This charity offering, led by the
Shanghai Volunteers Foundation
and the hospital, is one of more
than 300 being held and planned
around the city for this years
Greatest Love under the Sky

the monthlong charity program

involving all charities in the city.

taken care of and she treats them like

her own children, Wang said.

Hebei mom adopts 64

abandoned kids

Li-Ning donates to
womens foundation

A caring rural woman from Anping

County in northern Chinas Hebei
province has adopted a total of 64
abandoned children over the past 34
years. Wang Xiaofen revealed that
she first started taking in parentless
children in 1982. From then on, she
has always tried her best to give them
a helping hand. Over the years, the
vulnerable youngsters have been well

Chinese sports shoes and apparel

company Li-Ning on Nov 29 donated supplies worth 16.5 million yuan
($2,393,004) to the China Womens
Development Foundation. In total,
the company has made 33 million
yuan worth of donations to the
CWDF this year. The donated supplies will be used to help women
and families in poverty-stricken are-

as across the country, with a focus

on those in central and western China, including Yunnan province and
Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

BMW Youth Camp

awards 10 teams
The three-month 2016 BMW Youth
Camp has ended in Beijing with a
ceremony to award 10 teams of
young professionals and college students from across China. At the
youth camp, the participants offer
designs for multi-functional vehicles. BMW Brilliance Automotive

Ltd will hold the Youth Camp for

three consecutive years, to encourage the younger generation to
engage in transportation upgrading
and realize its corporate social
responsibility in China.

Campaign to improve
internet access
Shanghai LinkSure Network Technology Co Ltd, also known as Wi-Fi Master Key, has launched a campaign to
help poverty-stricken people across
the country gain better access to the
internet. More than 100 internet and

information technology companies,

including Alibaba Group, Tencent Inc
and Baidu Inc, have all signed up to
act on network expansion, e-commerce development, internet education, information services and
internet charity in villages and poor
areas. Wi-Fi Master Key is a company
that offers mobile internet service for
free and focuses on narrowing the
digital gap in China. Since 2015, the
company has provided Wi-Fi signals
and network infrastructure to more
than 1,000 schools in remote areas.
CHINA DAILY - AGENCIES

LIFE

Thursday, December 8, 2016

19

CHINA DAILY CHINADAILY.COM.CN/LIFE

HOLLYWOOD
DANCE DRAMA

BRIDGING TWO CULTURES

Moonlight,
La La Land
separate
from award
season pack
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
in New York

A troupe of 30 Chinese and American dancers present a theater production about the life of Pearl S. Buck. The dance drama will
kick off its China tour next year. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

A theater production
based on the life of
Pulitzer Prize-winning
author Pearl S. Buck,
who spent a significant
part of her life in China,
is set to tour the
mainland next year.
Chen Nan reports.

dance drama based

on a Chinese story but
made with an international audience in
mind can be seen by
audiences on the mainland. Pearl:
Spring, River, Moon, Flower and
Night, based on the life of Pulitzer
Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck,
had its China premiere in Nanjing,
Jiangsu province, on Nov 23 and will
kick off its China tour next year.
The show had its world premiere
from Aug 27-30, 2015, at the Lincoln
Center for the Performing Arts in
New York. It was staged in Montreal
and Vancouver in Canada in June
2016 and later toured the United
States, including Boston, Chicago
and Los Angeles, which attracted
over 126,000 people.
The theater production, which
combines dance, film, music, multimedia and music, was the brainchild of Chinese producer Tang
Xiaolei, American dancer-choreographer Daniel Ezralow. Its performed by a troupe of 30 Chinese
and American dancers.
This dance drama was created
four years ago. We were thinking

about producing a show with a Chinese story, but which could also be
understood by an international
audience, says Tang, whose company, Legend River Entertainment Co,
Ltd, operates in Beijing and New
York.
We chose the Pearl S. Buck story
from several Chinese stories because
she is a bridge between two cultures,
and provides an enlightened understanding of East and West.
Tang, who brought Beyonce, the
late Whitney Houston and German
rock band Scorpions to China, adds
the story of Buck not only speaks
about the past but also delivers a
message for today, telling us about
how to live together in the world.
Born in West Virginia, Buck
(1892-1973) lived in China with her
missionary parents at the turn of the
20th century, overcoming a difficult
childhood and numerous obstacles
on her path to self-discovery.
Buck spent the first half of her life
in China and the later part in the
United States. Her unique perspective lives on today in the more than

60 books that she wrote, including

her 1932 Pulitzer Prize-winning
best-selling novel The Good Earth,
which became an Academy Awardwinning film in 1937.
She also created the concept of
international adoptions and advocated for womens rights.
Over the past couple of decades,
memorials and museums dedicated
to Buck have been created in China.
For Tang, the biggest challenge
when producing this dance drama
was to create a production that
would be accepted overseas.
She recalls when she first took the
script of Pearl: Spring, River, Moon,

Flower and Night to American dancer-choreographer Daniel Ezralow

four years ago, Ezralow was not very
interested.
However, after Tang split the story
into five chapters, which parallel the
poem, Spring, River, Flower, Moon,
Night, by Chinese poet Zhang
Ruoxu of the Tang Dynasty (618907), Ezralow, who is interested in
Chinese culture, agreed to join in.
She also fed him with ideas of Chinese elements, such as calligraphy,
tai chi and traditional folk music.
Ezralow, choreographer and
director of the show, has also created
original works for the London Contemporary Dance Theatre and the
Cirque du Soleil, and choreographed

the opening ceremony of the Sochi

Olympics in 2014. I did not want to
do a narrative show. I wanted to do
an impressionist show, he says.
He also says that working with a
creative team, which is half Asian
and half Western, was a challenge.
With the cross-cultural society
we live in today, I started psychologically to understand the cultural differences, he says.
Tang also traveled with Ezralow
to Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province,
where Buck lived and spent most of
her life before 1934.
This is the first collaboration
between Tang and Ezralow, who
both agreed that this show tells
Bucks story not from a Chinese
angle, but from an international
perspective.
Ultimately, we wanted to produce a show, which could help an
international audience discover
China more, says Tang.
Contact the writer at chennan@
chinadaily.com.cn

UPCOMING RELEASE

Tom Hanks relives pilots horror and heroism on the water

By XU FAN
xufan@chinadaily.com.cn

Many people will remember the

moment when a powerless airliner
was forced to land on the frigid
waters of New Yorks Hudson River
on Jan 15, 2009.
Thankfully, all 155 abroad were
saved thanks to heroic pilot Chelsey
Sullenbergers flying skills.
But Sullenberger was then investigated by National Transportation
Safety Board as the latter thought
his water landing was a mistake.
ThatbecametheattractionforOscarwinning director Clint Eastwood to
make Sully, based on the real incident.
Nearly three months after its
United States premiere, Chinese
audiences can see the biographical
feature, starting from Friday.
It was a positive outcome in a bad
situation, saysEastwood,whos known
to Chinese moviegoers for his 1995
romance The Bridges of Madison

Left: Tom Hanks stars as the hero in Sully, which will hit Chinese mainland theaters on Friday. Right: Director Clint Eastwood (left) with Hanks. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

County (1995), in a promotional material tailored for the Chinese market.

Before the incident, the US was a
different place, says Eastwood. It
was post-9/11. We had troops in the
Middle East. There was the 2008

financial meltdown people were

worried, he says.
That happened in Manhattan
and we survived it, well, I think it
gave people hope.
When serving in the US Army at

21, Eastwood had a particular experience connecting him with the

movie. He caught a free naval flight
from Seattle to Alameda, but the
plane went down off Point Reyes,
California. And he found himself in

the waters of the Pacific and had to

swim a few miles toward the shore.
Sully has a glittering cast: Tom
Hanks stars as the hero, and Aaron
EckhartplaysSullys co-pilotJeffSkiles.
As one of only two actors in history
to win back-to-back Best Actor Academy Awards, Hanks again shows
why he deserves his accolades.
At some points I forgot hes
Hanks but took him to be the real
Sullenberger. His authoritative performance is amazing, says Wang
Xiaoyang, a viewer who was at the
Beijing preview last week.
Hanks won his first Oscar in 1994
for Philadelphia, and in the following year he took home his second
Oscar for Forrest Gump.
But even Hanks, who has the talent to take audiences into the characters world, says he felt intimidated to
play a real-life hero. Sully is an
accomplished pilot from every perspective ... No one has ever trained
for an incident like that, says Hanks.

In Hollywoods early but rapidly solidifying awards season, two

films radically different in tone
and tune have separated themselves from the pack: Moonlight
and La La Land.
Moonlight, Barry Jenkins lyrical coming-of-age tale, added to
its already hefty haul on Sunday,
taking best picture from the Los
Angeles Film Critics Association.
The group also gave best director
to Jenkins, best supporting actor
to Mahershala Ali and best cinematography to James Laxton.
Those three awards mirrored
the picks last week by the
LAFAAs East Coast corollary, the
New York Film Critics Circle. But
the New York critics ultimately
chose Damien Chazelles La La
Land as the years best film,
whereas the LA critics had La La
Land, a colorful ode to the
groups hometown, as runner-up
for best picture and best director.
Which film will have the edge
in the coming weeks when the
more crucial industry groups
begin ringing in with their
awards is an open question.
Moonlight, which also triumphed
at the Gotham Awards, is perhaps
the years most critically celebrated film. Across three chapters, it
follows a boy growing up black,
gay and poor in Miami.
But La La Land, starring
Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling,
is only just hitting theaters. (It
opens Friday.) It has widely been
seen as the best-picture frontrunner since winning the audience award at the Toronto
International Film Festival.
While Moonlight is bracingly
intimate, the song-and-dance La
La Land is a starry, show-stopping crowd-pleaser.
La La Land is also likely to
dominate in sheer number of
nominations, thanks to its lead
performances, high-level of craft
and original songs. It was honored by the LA critics for the
musical work of Justin Hurwitz,
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
The only film that has rivaled
either in the early awards is Kenneth Lonergans Manchester by
the Sea. The National Board of
Review bestowed its top award on
the New England drama, and the
films star, Casey Affleck, has been
the most common pick so far.
And despite a crowded bestactress field, including Stone for
La La Land and Natalie Portman
for Jackie, the early favorite has
been French actress Isabelle
Huppert, star of both Elle and
Things to Come. She was the
choice of the LA and New York
critics, as well as the Gotham
Independent Film Awards.
Next week, the Golden Globe
and Screen Actors Guild nominations will be announced, likely
giving the current favorites additional momentum.

Actress Emma Stone attends the

premiere of Lionsgates La La
Land on Tuesday in Westwood,
California. AFP

20 LIFE | Film

Thursday, December 8, 2016 CHINA DAILY

SCREENING

FRANCHISE

Star Wars spinoff

channels new force

harlo is Pema Tsedens fifth feature film,

yet is his first to be
screened in movie
theaters for what is technically known as a theatrical
release.
The reason is simple: Pema
Tseden makes personal films
with no car chases, explosions
or special effects. They are all
stories he knows intimately
about people in the Tibetan
area of Northwest Chinas
Qinghai province, where he
grew up.
The characters speak mostly Tibetan, and the new film is
even presented in stark black
and white, with the rich texture of a quality photography
album.
There is nothing touristy in
Tharlo or Pema Tsedens other
movies. The Potala Palace
makes only a cameo appearance as the backdrop in a photography store, together with
Beijings Tiananmen Rostrum
and New Yorks Statue of Liberty.
The only characters donning traditional Tibetan garb
are a pair of walk-on roles in
that photo lab, and they are
soon asked to change into
Western suits to fit the backdrop of a New York skyline.
One is tempted to read various meanings into such
details.
But the Tibetans in Pema
Tsedens lens live ordinary
lives. Actually, the male lead
carries on a life of monotony
as a shepherd in the mountains, punctuated only by the
howls of wolves. He tends to
hundreds of sheep, some of
which are placed in his care by
a customer.
When Tharlo, the protagonist, is sent to the county town
to take a photo for a new ID,
the proprietor of the photo lab
is not amused by his disheveled hair. He is sent across the
street for a hair wash and it
ends in a fateful encounter
with the beautiful and scheming hairdresser who eventually runs away with his life
saving of 160,000 yuan
($23,500).
Although he does not seem
to be an educated man, Tharlo
ponders big, philosophical
questions: Is he a good man or
a bad one? Will he die with the
weight of a mountain or the
weightlessness of a feather?
The audience may ask these
questions of the femme fatale,
but one gets enough room
and time to direct ones
thinking in any way one
wants.
The title character is played
by Shide Nyima, a master
comedian locally known as
Tibets answer to Zhao Benshan.
In the movie, he strips every
comedic trace and imparts an
air of authenticity as a weather-beaten single man, who suffers not so much from poverty
as from work-related hardships such as loneliness. One
wonders what kind of transformation he would go through in
the face of urbanization.
Yangshik Tso plays the
mystery woman whose

By REUTERS
in San Francisco

You dont have to be a Star

Wars superfan to see the first
spinoff movie Rogue One: A
Star Wars Story, says director Gareth Edwards, but hes
hoping the film will light a
passion for the franchise in
any newcomers.
The first of three planned
DisneyStarWarsspinofffilms,
Rogue One is intended as a
stand-alone movie, although it
is set before the original 1977
film A New Hope.
Anticipation is high with
tickets selling fast ahead of
the Dec 14 world rollout, and
box office analysts are predicting that Rogue One will
take in some $130 million at
North American movie theaters on its opening weekend.
Rogue One doesnt start
with the signature Star Wars
theme music or the screen
crawl of story information
that opened the previous
seven films in the franchise.
You dont have to have
seen Star Wars to come and
see this film, Edwards says.
My goal would be, if we do
our jobs properly, that by the
time the film ends, the first
thing you want to do is watch

Tharlo, starring Shide Nyima, reveals a weather-beaten mans loneliness in the face of transformation.

A New Hope and see the rest

if you havent seen it before.
Secrecy has been tight
around plot details, but
Rogue One will follow a
group of rebels led by Jyn
Erso (Felicity Jones) who
embark on a mission to steal
the plans for the Galactic
Empires new super weapon,
the Death Star.
Not only is a female character front and center of the
action, but the film has one
of the most diverse casts yet
for a big-budget Hollywood
movie, including Mexicos
Diego Luna and Chinese
actors Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen.
Edwards says the diversity
came directly from the plot.
In our story, the rebellion
is fractured and its before A
New Hope ... Theres all these
other groups from all over
the galaxy that are not really
getting along and functioning properly.
So we needed to visually
represent that with different
ethnicity and all sorts, so it
was just a really good opportunity and the second you do
that you also go: OK, now we
can cast anyone in the entire
world, so its amazing,
Edwards says.

PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

AWARDS

Authentic appeal
A Tibetan filmmaker focuses on life in his hometown, Raymond Zhou reports.

Jimmy Kimmel
to host Oscars
By AGENCE FRANCEPRESSE in Los Angeles

I believe it can
transcend racial
and geographical
boundaries.
Pema Tseden, director, says
of his latest film, Tharlo

Yangshik Tso plays a seductress hairdresser in Tharlo, a black-and-white feature film directed by Pema Tseden.

seduction of Tharlo we hope

would include a modicum of
tenderness. In the hair-cutting scene reminiscent of
Samson and Dalila, she conveys the complexities of her
inner world, possibly her
moral conflicts, with nothing
but facial expressions.
Though it has Pema Tsedens trademark glacial pacing
and static shots, Tharlo
embodies fascinating details
in both its visual compositions

and its sound design. The

singing alone by various characters suggests an era of fast
changes and cultural fusion,
with folk songs, rap and other
music styles sharing space on
the soundtrack.
This movie is about ethnic
Tibetans, but I hope people of
all ethnicities can relate to it
because I believe it can transcend racial and geographical
boundaries, says Pema Tseden, a graduate of the famous

Beijing Film Academy.

Pema Tseden started making movies in 2002. He is also
the writer of the scripts of all
his movies, many of which are
adapted from his own novels
and short stories.
Last year, Tharlo entered
the Horizons section of the
Venice Film Festival and was
nominated in six categories at
the Golden Horse Awards held
in Taiwan, winning best
screenplay for Pema Tseden.

It opens on the mainland on

Friday.
Jia Zhangke, a forerunner in
Chinas art-house cinema, said
at the movies premiere on Dec
5: I wont feel lonely with
Pema Tseden and his work as
we continue on the journey of
giving voice to the same age
and the same country.
Contact the writer at
raymondzhou@
chinadaily.com.cn

Late night television presenter Jimmy Kimmel ended

months of speculation on
Monday over who would
host the Oscars in February
announcing that he has
been tapped to front the glitzy ceremony.
It will be the first time for
the comedian, who has hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! on
ABC since it launched in
2003 and garnered praise for
his work as host of this years
Emmys television awards.
Yes, I am hosting the
Oscars. This is not a prank.
And if it is, my revenge on
@TheAcademy will be terrible & sweet, the 49-year-old
New Yorker jokes on Twitter.
His selection was later confirmed by Michael De Luca
and Jennifer Todd, the multiple Oscar- and Emmy-nominated duo producing the
89th Oscars ceremony,
which airs live on ABC television on Feb 26.
Jimmys ability to connect
with people is what makes
him a singular choice for this
job, they said in a joint statement.
His frank observations,

Jimmy Kimmel, television

host. REUTERS

relatable persona, wry

humor and love of all kinds of
film make him a natural fit
for the Oscars stage.
Academy president Cheryl
Boone Isaacs says she is
thrilled to have a host who
knows who he is he
knows the audience, while
CEO
Dawn
Hudson
describes Kimmel as razor
sharp, funny and unpredictable.
ABC, which pays the Academy a reported $75 million a
year to broadcast the Oscars,
struck a new deal in August
giving executives more creative input.
Jimmy is the perfect
choice for us. He is deeply
rooted in the Hollywood
community and gifted at
connecting with an audience
as the consummate emcee,
says ABC Entertainment
president Channing Dungey.

FANTASY

Latest Monkey King movie to explore female-ruled kingdom

By XU FAN
xufan@chinadaily.com.cn

Changshas sky was dark

above. But a stadium in Hunans provincial capital glowed
in the company of beautiful
young women on Dec 4.
It was a ceremony announcing 12 winners, wholl appear
in The Monkey King 3 a film
adapted from a chapter on a
female-ruled place in the 16thcentury Chinese classic Journey to the West.
The actresses are among
1,000 chosen from more than
30,000 hopefuls through a
national campaign launched
in August. The 12 will play
supporting roles, while the
others will serve as extras
that is, as the kingdoms subjects.
It was announced the kingdoms ruler the main female
role will be played by A-lister Zhao Liying, whose hit TV
series has received more than

100 billion views on streaming

sites.
The films Hong Kong-based
director Cheang Pou-soi
explains Zhaos temperament
dynamic, yet calm makes
her the perfect fit for the character description in the original work.
She will experience an
unlikely romance. I believe the
emotional scenes will be the
most appealing parts. But considering modern tastes, we
added some comedic elements, says Cheang, who also
directed the franchises previous two installments.
The novel by Wu Chengen,
which fictionalizes Tang
Dynasty (618-907) monk Xuan
Zangs travels to India largely
by giving him three powerful,
but demon-like apprentices as
escorts is among Chinas
most celebrated.
Mainland actor Feng Shaofeng plays the monk. Hong
Kong megastar Aaron Kwok

Lead actress Zhao Liying (center, in white) and supporting actresses appear at an event on Dec 4 in
Changsha to promote the upcoming The Monkey King 3. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

continues as the Monkey

King. Comedian Xiao Shenyang returns as the pig
apprentice.
In the third installment, the
quartet stumbles upon the

Kingdom of Women, where

Xuan Zang is tempted by its
empress.
Hes torn between the
monarchs proposal and
monastic propriety in an

almost Shakespearean dilemma.

Sacrificing
personal
romance for the greater good
is a common trope in Chinese
culture.

The theme is typical of films

from the country, including Jet
Lis 1982 martial arts drama
The Shaolin Temple.
The question is whether it
can, literally, make the journey
to the West, where it doesnt
have as strong a historical
foundation, since the big-budget tentpole has high hopes to
plant a stake overseas.
The film, slated for release
during the 2018 Spring Festival, is expected to cost 500 million yuan ($73.5 million),
going by the latest investment
figures.
The crew is already more
than 1,000 members and
another 1,500 will be hired for
postproduction. It will be shot
in Jiangsu, Sichuan and Zhejiang provinces, and in Taiwan.
The scriptwriter, Wen Ning,
revealed in an earlier interview with China Daily that the
story will build upon a structure thats empathic with overseas viewers.

He says the tale, which

develops multiple threads that
interweave palace conspiracies and lots of action, will
depict the ancient story in a
new way.
Some industry watchers
believe the film may prove to
be another Chinese-language
movie that makes a successful
foray into the North American
market.
The Monkey King story is
probably the ancient Chinese
story thats best known in the
West, says Jiang Yong, a Beijing-based film critic.
All of its screen adaptations
combined make it the one of
highest-grossing franchises in
Chinese cinema, despite
mixed reviews.
The previous installments
of the new franchise each surpassed 1 billion yuan in 2014
and 2016, respectively but
werent as warmly welcomed
by the North American box
office.

Fun | LIFE 21

CHINA DAILY Thursday, December 8, 2016

horoscope

crossword

language tips

Capricorn (DEC. 22-JAN. 19)

BETTER CHINESE

Emotions will flare up. Don't let the actions of others upset you. Back
away if you don't want to take part in something. Trust your judgment.
Be a leader, not a follower.

   


Aquarius (JAN. 20-FEB. 19)

Share your feelings with someone you want to spend more time with.
Joining forces with someone searching for similar results will lead to a
victory.

I need a tutor

Pisces (FEB. 20-MARCH 20)

  
      
    
  


Look past discord and opposition, and remain intent on reaching your
goal regardless of others' actions. Your victory will come from intelligence, strength and commitment.

Hello, this is a private tutoring center. May I help you?

Aries (MARCH 21-APRIL 19)
Emotions will be difficult to control. Consider all the angles before you
jump into something that may not be right for you. Romance is on the
rise and should be a priority.

Taurus (APRIL 20-MAY 20)

Gather information and discuss your ideas with someone who may put
a damper on your plans if you try to move forward without approval.
Resolve a personal or health issue privately.

An unexpected proposal can turn into a fiasco if you overspend. Get the
costs involved before committing to something that has the potential to
turn into a money pit.

 *   (
  

Get your work out of the way before someone criticizes you. Taking on
too much will be unproductive and leave you in an awkward position.
Keep your emotions under control.

Could you please introduce me to one?

Leo (JULY 23-AUG. 22)

Yesterdays solution

58 Card game with

pasta for
stakes?
64 Philip Morris
brand
65 Word said with a
handshake
66 Latvias capital
67 In the same way
68 1996 Gwyneth
Paltrow title role
69 H H H
70 Knights mount
71 Angels We Have
Heard on High,
eg
72 Mentally
together
Down
1 Wow
2 Something to
kick or break
3 British poet/
critic Sitwell
4 Job at which one
excels
5 Certain sax
6 Lover boy
7 Yield, as interest
8 Tiny amount
9 Tank unit
10 Reunion attendee, briefly
11 12-point type
12 Hunter who
wrote The

Blackboard Jungle
___ Moines
Spring blooms
Cap material?
Sothebys collection
27 There are three
for motion
28 Search all over
30 Court figures,
briefly
13
21
22
26

Dilbert

F-minus

comics

31 Foe of the taxi

industry
32 Stink to high
heaven
33 Muppet who
speaks in a falsetto
34 Ending with second or upper
35 Dessert item
that was clued
as Mountain:
Comb. form in
old crosswords
36 White House
policy chief
38 Donald Trump
catchword
41 Bullring cheer
42 Cats seat, maybe
43 Show exhaustion
48 Went on a tirade
49 Be in hock
51 Beach resort
locales
53 Filled with cargo
55 Muscular Japanese dog
56 Daughter of
15-Across
57 Expunge
58 Clobber with
snowballs, say
59 The Gem City,
so-called
because of its
sparkling lake
60 Greek figure on
many a trophy
61 Jules Verne captain
62 Broken, as a
bronco
63 President Chaim
Weizmann was
on its first flight
64 Some postgrad
degrees

80 yuan.

Cancer (JUNE 21-JULY 22)

A short trip or friendly meeting with someone who shares your beliefs
and strategies will lead to an intriguing proposal. Take more interest in
children or elders.

24 ___-Drive, popular light-powered

watch
25 Dice tosses
29 Hang in there
34 Comfy shoe
37 Means of transportation in Cinderella
39 Am I my brothers keeper?
brother
40 Pasta, apparently?
44 Circus horn
honker
45 Cotton candy,
mostly
46 Original King
Kong studio
47 Corrida combatant
50 Some used cars,
informally
52 Hole maker
54 Orchard Field,
today

Yes. I would like to know whether you have piano teachers

for children? How much does it cost for one class?

) ( 

Gemini (MAY 21-JUNE 20)

Across
1 Beg pardon
5 Help in a heist
9 Looked slackjawed
14 Like a neat bed
15 King noted for
saying How
sharper than a
serpents tooth
it is / To have a
thankless child!
16 Still in the running
17 This wont hurt
___!
18 Setting for the
highest-grossing
movie of 1939
19 George whose
name is a lead-in
to film
20 Politician in
charge of pasta?
23 Early
anesthetic

      
    !  " #  "  
$   
 % & # ' " ( 
$

    
    #! + &  
 ,  
 "
 ,$
&  ,  *   
 "

OK. Please leave your telephone number and I will call you
back immediately after I contact the teacher.

Virgo (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22)

Network with people who can help you flesh out an idea that will secure
your position. Don't give in to anyone putting demands on your time or
asking for money.

Libra (SEPT. 23-OCT. 23)

It's an opportune day to make arrangements to do something unique
with a loved one. Letting your life become too mundane or routine will
cause dissatisfaction. An adventure will inspire you to excel.

Scorpio (OCT. 24-NOV. 22)

68888000
  
 "
( & , ) ) ) ) , , ,  * 
 
 "

My telephone number is 6888-8000. I will wait for your
call.
From Telephone Chinese. Beijing Language and Culture University Press.

Don't let your emotions cloud your vision. You have to look at the facts
and be willing to take some of the blame when disagreements come into
play.

Sagittarius (NOV. 23-DEC. 21)

You are dedicated and ready to pursue whatever it takes to make your
life better. Applying for a better position or setting up a workstation at
home will lead to greater income.

bridge
Jan Ehrenwald, a psychoanalyst and author, pointed
out that a 13-year-old boy
had tried unsuccessfully to
teach a famous composer
simple multiplication and
division. Which composer?
In todays deal, South
needs 13 tricks to get home
in seven hearts. What should
he do after West leads the
spade king?
The bidding was aggressive by North. When South
showed one ace and one
king, North assumed it was
the diamond king based on
Wests unfavorable-vulnerability overcall and plunged
into seven. Users of Roman
Key Card Blackwood have an
advantage here because after South shows his ace, his
six-diamond bid announces
that king and denies the club
king. Showing specific kings
is an excellent idea, even in
regular Blackwood, when
you have a known trump fit.
It is very easy to assume
favorable breaks here. But
how can South get home
with trumps 4-0 and diamonds 4-1?
Declarer has only 12 top
tricks: one spade, five hearts,

BETTER ENGLISH

1128

On Nov 28, a huge black swan sculpture was placed at the

entrance of a swanky shopping center in Beijing's financial
district, which is across the road from China's Securities
Regulatory Commission. It sat there for half a day before
being covered up and whisked away by malls staff members, Beijing's Fazhi Wanbao newspaper reports.

three diamonds and three

clubs. If trumps break well,
he can claim. However, if the
breaks are bad, declarer
needs to take two ruffs in his
hand.
He wins the first trick on
the board and plays a heart
to his queen, seeing West discard a spade. Now comes a
diamond to dummys queen,
a spade ruff in hand, the club
queen, a club to dummys
king, a club ruff in hand, all
of the remaining trumps,
and claim.
Ehrenwald was talking
about Ludwig van Beethoven.

kakuro

black swan event

a highly unlikely and
unpredictable event

black swanimpossible
non-existent

a rare bird in the lands, and similar to a black

swan
1697
black swan

Nassim Nicholas Taleb2007

The Black Swanblack
swan

First, it is an outlier, as it lies outside the realm of regular

expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility.

Second, it carries an extreme impact.

Peanuts

Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us

concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact,
making it explainable and predictable.

Drabble

A Kakuro consists of a playing area

of filled and empty cells similar to a
crossword puzzle. Some black cells
contain a diagonal slash from top
left to bottom right with numbers in
them, called the clues. A number
in the top right corner relates to an
across clue and one in the bottom
left a down clue. The object of a
Kakuro is to insert digits from one
to nine into the white cells to total
the clue associated with it. However,
no digit can be duplicated in an entry.

To learn more hot words, please log on to http://language.chinadaily.com.cn/

Follow us on weibo at http://weibo.com/languagetips.

Yesterdays solution

ChinaDaily

22 SPORTS | Soccer

Thursday, December 8, 2016 CHINA DAILY

BUNDESLIGA

Messi, Ronaldo
too old to help
lift little Leipzig
By AGENCE FRANCEPRESSE in Leipzig, Germany

Neither Lionel Messi nor

Cristiano Ronaldo would be
considered fresh enough at
youthful Bundesliga leader RB
Leipzig, according to team
sports director Ralf Rangnick.
Founded in 2009, Leipzig is
bankrolled by energy drink
giant Red Bull and tops the
German league after four promotions in seven years.
Impressively, it has done it
with a squad with an average
age of 23 and devoid of any
superstars.
Eight of the players that
started last Saturdays 2-1 win
over Schalke played for RB in
the second division last season.
Rangnick joined Leipzig in
2012 when the club was in the
fourth tier.
The 58-year-old showed the
door to those the wrong side of
30, signing youngsters on
their first or second contracts,
including current club captain
Dominik Kaiser.
And Rangnick shook his
head when asked if he would
like to sign Real Madrids
Ronaldo, 31, or Barcelonas
Messi, 29.
It would be absurd to think
that it could work with them
here, said Rangnick with a
grin.
They are both too old and
too expensive.
His most recent recruits
illustrate the point.
Scotland winger Oliver
Burke, 19, arrived from Nottingham Forest, while Guinea
midfielder Naby Keita, 21, and
Brazilian defender Bernardo,
21, both came from Leipzigs
sister club, RB Salzburg in
Austria.
We have the youngest team
and most inexperienced
in the league, he said.
RB Leipzig is the only club
from the former East Germany in the Bundesliga, and its
success has caught Rangnick
and many others by surprise.
I dont know if its a revolu-

It would be absurd
to think that it
could work with
them here. They
are both too old
and too expensive.
Ralf Rangnick, on the idea of
Messi or Ronaldo going to Leipzig

tion, but its unusual that a

team that was in the fourth
division
three-and-a-half
years ago has 33 points after 13
games, he said. Nobody
expected this.

Performing cans
Leipzig is unpopular with
some German fans, who say
the team only exists to sell Red
Bulls drinks.
Borussia Dortmund chief
executive
Hans-Joachim
Watzke described RB Leipzig
as performing cans, words he
might now regret as Dortmund lost 1-0 at Leipzigs Red
Bull Arena in September.
If that was true, then 11
cans beat 11 bottles, which in
German (slang) means someone who played poorly I say
that with a twinkle in my eye,
said Rangnick, who has been
here before.
He was coach of Hoffenheim in 2008-09, which is
bankrolled by a German soft-

ware billionaire a club that

was unpopular until it beat
Bayern Munich to first in the
league table by Christmas,
only to eventually finish seventh.
Whenever a new club
comes along, fans of rival
teams see it as an opponent
and an enemy, said Rangnick.
It was the same with Hoffenheim, we were disliked in
the second division, but really
disliked when we went up to
the Bundesliga.
Then we played Bayern
and we were top, and everyone
was supporting us.
There are people, not just
in Leipzig, who think we
deserve what is happening to
us right now. Neutrals will say
we deserve what we have with
such young players.

England interest
Rangnick is seen as one of
Germanys most talented
managers.
He was approached about
the England job when Roy
Hodgson stood down after
Euro 2016, ahead of Sam
Allardyces ill-fated 67-day
reign.
I think it an honor that they
asked a German coach if I was
available, he said.
But even if they had offered
it to me, I wouldnt have
stopped working for Red Bull
completely. We are building
our own tradition and writing
our own story right now.
Rangnick rejected the
notion that Leipzig is Germanys version of Leicester City,
last seasons surprise English
Premier League winner.
We share the first three letters in our names, but little
else, he said.
In a normal season, Bayern
will win the title, but maybe
this isnt a normal season.
Our match against them
(Dec 21) wont be decisive, but
it will be exciting.
Last season, we were the
favorites in each (second division) game. This season we
have nothing to lose.

TurantriggersBarcablitz
Arda Turan fired a hat-trick
and Lionel Messi notched his
10th Champions League goal of
the season as much-changed
Barcelona cruised past Borussia
Monchengladbach 4-0 at Camp
Nou on Tuesday.
Barca had already booked its
place in the last 16 as Group C
winner, but was looking for a
morale-boosting win after three
straight stalemates, including
the concession of a last-minute
equalizer to Real Madrid in a 1-1
draw on Saturday.
Messi continued to cut the
gap on Madrids Cristiano Ronaldo as the Champions Leagues
all-time top scorer when he
opened the scoring in the 16th
minute.
Turan then struck his first
Barca hat-trick in a 17-minute
second-half spell as the host
took out its frustration on dispirited Monchengladbach.
I have to congratulate the
players because today was a
game in which we had little to
win and things could have gone
very differently, Barca boss Luis
Enrique told BeIN Sports Spain.
It is perhaps the most precise
we have been all season and it
came in a game where we didnt
have a lot of space to play in.
While Barca can look forward
to the last 16 for a 13th straight
season, third place in the group
behind Manchester City ensures
Gladbach drops into the Europa
League.
We had too much respect for
them and didnt play with

Edinson Cavani of Paris Saint-Germain hits the turf after making an acrobatic shot during Tuesdays Champions League Group A
match against Bulgarias Ludogorets Razgrad at Parc des Princes in the French capital. The match ended 2-2. MICHEL EULER / AP

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Porous PSG left with sloppy second

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
in Paris

Paris Saint-Germain must

find a way to eradicate the
sloppy errors that keep resurfacing to stand any chance of
winning the Champions
League.
Tuesdays 2-2 home draw
with unheralded Ludogorets
Razgrad meant PSG qualified
in second place in Group A
two points behind Arsenal,
which won 4-1 at Swiss club
Basel.
To guarantee top spot, PSG
needed to beat a team that
had not won any of its previous five group games.
Instead, the French club
needed an equalizer from
winger Angel Di Maria in the
second minute of injury time
to avoid an embarrassing loss.
After the final whistle, PSG
president Nasser Al-Khelaifi
made it clear his players are
falling well short of expectations.
First place was our target
(and) we were first before the
match, he said on beIN
Sports television.
Were very disappointed
with the result and the quality of our performance. I was
expecting more from the
players.
It was Al-Khelaifi who fired
coach Laurent Blanc last
June, despite Blanc winning
back-to-back domestic trebles.
The Qatari figured Blanc
fell short in Europe, with PSG
going out in the quarterfinals
for the fourth straight season.
He replaced the former
France World Cup winner
with Unai Emery, who guided
Sevilla to three successive
Europa League titles.
Yet PSG is no better on

Madrid firmly inCristianoscorner

Real Madrid launched a
staunch defense of superstar
striker Cristiano Ronaldo on
Tuesday, demanding respect
for the three-time Ballon dOr
winner amid allegations he hid
millions of dollars in tax havens.
Real Madrid demands the
maximum respect for a player
like Cristiano Ronaldo, whose
behavior has been exemplary
during his entire time at our
club, Madrid said in a statement.
An international consortium
of media organizations on Friday claimed that a huge data
leak involving 18 million documents showed the Portugal
international hid $160 million
from image rights in the British
Virgin Islands.

attack than last season, and

its defending is worse.
Of course I am worried,
Emery said. The team is conceding a lot of goals at the
moment.
Dutch forward Virgil Misidjan scored in the 15th minute and Brazilian forward
Wanderson made it 2-1 for
Ludogorest in the 68th,
shortly after Edinson Cavani
leveled for PSG.
PSGs shortcomings at the
back are too glaring for a
team hoping to win Europes
biggest club trophy.
Following a mistake by
midfielder Thiago Motta,
Misidjan headed the Bulgarian league leader in front and
PSGs players were jeered off
at halftime.
There was no excuse for the

Ronaldo, 31, strongly denied

the claims via Gestifute, the
firm controlled by his agent,
Jorge Mendes.
Cristiano Ronaldo has
always acted in good faith in
this matter, as the fact that he
has never been involved in any
conflict with the tax authorities
from any country where he has
lived clearly shows, said a
statement from Gestifute.
Gestifute also released a tax
return, which the company said
shows that former Manchester
United player Ronaldo has paid
his dues to the Spanish authorities.
The certificate released by
the Spanish tax agency which
shows our player Cristiano
Ronaldo is up to date with all

sloppiness that led to Ludogorets opener from a player

of Mottas experience.
The Brazil-born 34-yearold, who has played for Barcelona, Inter Milan and Italy,
committed the most basic of
errors when he failed to look
up properly as he passed out
from the edge of the penalty
area, hoping to find winger
Hatem Ben Arfa.
Cavani equalized in the
61st with an overhead kick
from close range after Ludogorets failed to clear Di
Marias cross from the right.
It was Cavanis sixth goal in
this seasons competition and
the Uruguay striker appears
full of confidence unlike
the defense, which leaked
goals in a 3-0 loss at Montpellier in Ligue 1 last weekend.

his tax obligations, added the

Madrid statement.
Ronaldo, who is just one of a
series of Madrid players to have
been accused by the Football
Leaks investigation into corruption in football.
Spanish newspaper El Mundo accused Madrids Portuguese defenders Pepe and
Fabio Coentrao of selling their
image rights to companies in
the British Virgin Islands and
Panama respectively.
Pepe is reported to have
earned $4 million in image
rights since signing for Real in
in 2007 and Coentrao $3.8 million since 2011.
Both players are also clients
of Mendes.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Defender
Marquinhos
clumsily lost possession
when receiving a throw-in.
He turned his back, allowing
fellow Brazilian Jonathan
Cafu to rob him and burst
down the left, before pulling
it back to Wanderson to finish
with a low drive.
PSG beat Basel 3-0 in its
previous home game in
Group F but it was far more
difficult than the result suggested, with Basel missing
several chances.
This time, Ludogorets punished PSGs mistakes to
secure third place a point
above Basel and a spot in
the Europa League.
Nobody should underestimate us in the Europa
League, said Ludogorets
midfielder Svetoslav Dyakov.

EUROPA LEAGUE
Lionel Messi celebrates scoring in Barcelonas 4-0 win over
Borussia Monchengladbach on Tuesday. ALBERT GEA / REUTERS
enough courage, said Gladbach
boss Andre Schubert.
Enrique retained only Messi,
Andre Gomes and Javier Mascherano from the 11 that started
El Clasico on Saturday.
And Messis insatiable scoring
appetite was rewarded when he
exchanged passes with Turan to
sweep home his 93rd Champions League tally. The Argentine
is now just three behind Ronaldo
in the race to be the first man to
a 100.
The five-time Ballon dOr winner was a persistent threat
throughout the first half, but
Barca captain Andres Iniesta
also impressed in his first start
for six weeks following a knee
injury.
Only Gladbach goalkeeper
Yann Sommer prevented Messi
from adding to his tally before
halftime.
However, it was Turkey international Turan who took center
stage after the interval as he

responded to criticism for committing the foul that led to Sergio Ramos equalizer for Madrid
on Saturday.
One moment doesnt decide
a game, Enrique said in defense
of the midfielder.
We are not focused on that,
and no matter what happens,
players always need to score
goals.
Turan was perfectly placed to
head Denis Suarezs deflected
cross home at the back post
before producing a fine low finish into the far corner from Aleix
Vidals cutback.
Paco Alcacers search for a
first goal since his $32 million
move from Valencia to Barca
goes on.
The 23-year-old still made a
contribution crossing low as
Turan completed his treble with
a powerful finish that was too
strong for Sommer to keep out.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

United aiming for cold comfort

By AGENCE FRANCEPRESSE in Paris

Jose Mourinhos Manchester United faces Zorya

Luhansk on Thursday knowing that a draw in freezing
Ukraine will propel it into the
knockout stages of the Europa League.
The Premier League club is
striving to go through in style
with a victory, even if
Europes second-tier competition is not at the top of
Mourinhos priorities in his
first season in charge at Old
Trafford.
United will also be eager to
end a bout of frustrating
draws, the latest being a 1-1
stalemate at Everton last Sunday when Mourinhos men
conceded an 89th-minute
equalizer from the penalty
spot.
The Zorya match Thursday is the last phase of Euro-

pa League group games

will take place in Odessa,
southern Ukraine, a fourhour flight from northern
England, where the temperature will hover around freezing by kickoff.
Zorya is already out of the
competition, but Uniteds
French forward Anthony
Martial is not expecting the
Ukrainians just to lie down.
It is very different, not just
the supporters but the weather. Over there, its really cold
at this time of the season,
Martial told MUTV.
But its down to us to come
to terms with that, adapt to
the environment we find ourselves in and get the victory
we need.
Were expecting a difficult
encounter. Things went quite
well for us in the home game
(1-0 to United) but it will be
different over there.
Theyll be in front of their

own supporters and will be

determined to make life difficult for us to get a result, so
well be on our guard.
United will also advance to
the last 32 with a loss if Feyenoord fails to beat Fenerbahce at home in the other Group
A match.
Another Premier League
representative, Southampton, faces Israels Hapoel
Beer-Sheva at St Marys
knowing that victory or a
scoreless draw will put it
through.
Eight teams that failed to
progress in the Champions
League will also be added to
the last-32 mix.
Its a huge game on Thursday and thats all anyone is
worried about now, young
midfielder Sam McQueen,
fresh from signing a new
four-and-a-half-year contract
with the club, told Saints
website.

Its a huge competition.

Youre playing against a lot
of different styles, which is
only going to help me grow
personally, as well as the
team against new challenges.
I think weve done well so
far, but we wouldnt be doing
ourselves justice if we dont
win and get through the
group.
They may not be European
household names but Republic of Irelands Dundalk and
Qarabag, of Azerbaijan, can
make a slice of history.
No Irish club has ever
reached the knockout stages
of a UEFA club competition
but domestic champion Dundalk can change that if it wins
at Maccabi Tel Aviv and AZ
Alkmaar does not at home to
Zenit St Petersburg.
A score draw for Dundalk
would also suffice if AZ loses
in the Netherlands.

SPORTS 23

CHINA DAILY Thursday, December 8, 2016

TENNIS

Djokovic breaks
Beckers service
after three years
Novak says split
with coach was
joint decision
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Big Apple showdown

Jason Chimera of the New York Islanders celebrates scoring in Tuesdays 4-2 victory over crosstown rival New York Rangers at Barclays
Center in Brooklyn. Jaroslav Halak stopped 36 shots in the Islanders net to seal the win. BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES/AFP

BASEBALL

Chicago pays Sale price for makeover

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
in Oxon Hill, Maryland

No surprise that Chris Sale

got traded.
The real shocker was that
the Boston Red Sox swooped
in to snag him.
The reloading Red Sox
pulled off the biggest deal yet
at MLBs winter meetings,
acquiring the dominant ace
from the Chicago White Sox
on Tuesday for a hefty package that will go a long way
toward reshaping Chicago.
The ability to get a Chris
Sale doesnt come along very
often, said Dave Dombrowski, Bostons president of
baseball operations.
Sale joins an already talented rotation with the AL Eastchampion Red Sox, now
pitching alongside 2016 Cy
Young Award winner Rick
Porcello, former winner
David Price and knuckleballer Steven Wright.
He leaves behind a rocky
reputation in Chicago, suspended by the team last summer after he flew into a rage
and cut up retro uniforms the
club was supposed to wear.
The 27-year-old Sale has
been an All-Star in each of the
past five seasons, finishing

Chris Sale

high in Cy Young Award voting every time, but has never

played in the postseason.
Given his financial status,
Sale was controllable and
projected to be damn good
going forward, and its tough
to give that up, said White
Sox GM Rick Hahn.
At the same time, we have
to be realistic about where we
are and the likelihood of, with
this current group, getting to
where we want to be.
In the end, we had to make
the tough decision to let go of
someone as valuable as Chris
in order to pull back what we
feel is a premium package
thats going to help put us in a
better position over the long
term.

Drafted by Chicago in 2010,

Sale became a starter in 2012
and quickly rocketed to stardom. But the relationship
between Sale and the White
Sox
became
extremely
strained this year.
Chicago went 78-84 and
hasnt made the playoffs since
2008.
To land Sale, Boston traded
high-priced third baseman
Yoan Moncada, considered by
many the top young talent in
baseball, outfielder Luis Basabe and pitchers Michael
Kopech and Victor Diaz.
Sale was a top trade target
across the majors this offseason, and Washington
seemed to be the favorite to
land him this week.
We put a lot of effort into it
and thought we made a good,
valiant effort ... but we fell
short, said Nationals general
manager Mike Rizzo.
We reached as far as we
were going to reach in the
trade, he said, adding hed
been engaged with the
White Sox for a couple of
weeks informally and then it
ratcheted up right before the
meetings.
To New York Mets manager
Terry Collins, it was a great
deal being division rivals of

the NL East champion Nats.

I really thought for sure he
was going to end up in Washington. I really did, Collins
said. We dodged a bullet.
Dombrowski said he began
talking to the White Sox in
earnest on Friday.
A few hours earlier, Boston
got prime setup man Tyler
Thornburg from Milwaukee.
After
that
deal
was
announced, without tipping
his hand, Dombrowski said,
Were trying to win now, as
you can see.
Few knew then exactly how
hard Boston was trying.
Thats a big one. Thats a
blockbuster. That was a wow,
said Yankees GM Brian Cashman.
Sale was 17-10 with a 3.34
ERA and 233 strikeouts this
past season a year after he
led the majors by fanning 274
batters.
He also comes with a teamfavorable contract that calls
for a $12 million salary next
year and includes club
options of $12.5 million for
2018 and $15 million for 2019.
Boston went 93-69, then
got swept by Cleveland in the
AL Division Series that finished out the career of retiring slugger David Ortiz.

Novak Djokovic and coach

Boris Becker are splitting up
after three years and a halfdozen Grand Slam titles.
Djokovic posted a statement
on Facebook on Tuesday, saying the duo jointly decided to
end our cooperation.
The goals we set when we
started working together have
been completely fulfilled, and
I want to thank Boris for the
cooperation, teamwork, dedication and commitment,
Djokovics posting said.
On the other hand, my professional plans are now directed primarily at maintaining a
good level of play, and also to
make a good schedule and
new goals for the next season.
In this regard I will make all
future decisions.
Of Djokovics 12 career
major singles trophies trailing only Roger Federers 17 and
Pete Sampras and Rafael Nadal with 14 apiece half came
while working with Becker.
Djokovic also was runnerup at three Grand Slam tournaments during his time with
Becker, meaning the Serb
made it to the finals at nine of
the 12 majors during their
partnership.
Becker also was around for
Djokovics first French Open
title in June, which allowed
him to become the eighth man
to complete a career grand
slam at least one championship at each of the sports four
most important tournaments
and the first in nearly a halfcentury to win four majors in a
row.
Becker, now 49 and a sixtime Grand Slam winner during his playing career, reacted
on Twitter by posting a photo

Novak Djokovic and Boris Becker chat during a practice session at

the US Open on Sept 2 in New York. AP FILE

The goals we set

when we started
working together
have been completely fulfilled ...
Novak Djokovic,
on splitting with coach Boris
Becker after three years

of himself and Djokovic celebrating this years French

Open title, saying: Thank U!
We had the time of our life
...#teamdjokovic.
At Roland Garros, Djokovic
was asked about working with
Becker, who was a dominant
force in the 1980s and 90s and
part of a recent wave of past
greats who signed up to coach
current stars.
The last couple of years, I
had some great times with
him, Djokovic said, explaining that Becker taught him
from a psychological point
of view, how to handle things

on the tour, on and off the

court.
His contribution to the
team is definitely big, and so
everything works in harmony
so far, Djokovic said at the
time.
How long it is going to go
for, we dont know. We go year
by year. So at the end of this
year, we will see if he goes for
another year.
After Djokovics triumph in
Paris, his season went sideways.
He was upset in the third
round at Wimbledon by Sam
Querrey and in the first round
at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics
by Juan Martin del Potro, then
lost the No 1 ranking to Andy
Murray last month, finishing
2016 at No 2.
With Becker in his corner,
Djokovic finished 2014 and
2015 atop the ATP rankings.
Djokovic made an earlier
change to his coaching team
towards the end of the season
with Spaniard Pepe Imaz joining him for the Paris Masters,
where the four-time champion fell in the quarterfinals,
and for the World Tour Finals
in London, where Djokovic
lost to Murray.

GOLF

Bjorn getting his shot at Team Europe helm

next two years, Bjorn said.
Bjorn is held in high regard
in European golf, having represented players interests in
his role as chairman of the
tours Tournament Committee
since 2007.
He has also won 17 titles
worldwide since turning professional in 1993, including
taking down Tiger Woods in
the Dubai Desert Classic in
2001 when Woods was at the
height of his game.
The Ryder Cup is close to
Bjorns heart, having being on
the winning side in all three of
his appearances as a player
in 1997, 2002 and 2014 and
three out of four times as a
vice-captain.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Team Europe assistant captains Darren Clarke (left) and Thomas

Bjorn break out the bubbly after winning the 2010 Ryder Cup at
Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales. On Tuesday, Bjorn became
the first Scandinavian to be appointed captain of Europes Ryder
Cup squad. The 45-year-old Dane will lead the team against the US
at Le Golf National in Paris in 2018. AP FILE

Thomas Bjorn was appointed captain of Europes 2018

Ryder Cup team on Tuesday
a reward for his long and successful association with the
event as a player and vice-captain as well as his commitment to the European Tour.
The 45-year-old Dane is the
first Scandinavian to lead the
European team, which will
look to regain the cup at Le
Golf National in Paris in 2018
after its 17-11 loss to the United
States at Hazeltine in October.
I have lived and breathed
the European Tour for so long,
and now I will do the same
with the Ryder Cup for the

His only loss was under Darren Clarke at Hazeltine.

I saw first-hand what he
was like as a vice-captain in
2010, and he was exceptional,
said Colin Montgomerie, who
led the European team to victory that year.
I used him possibly more
than any other vice-captain at
Celtic Manor. He wears his
heart on his sleeve, and I think
thats important for the role.
Montgomerie spoke of
Bjorns combustible and fiery
nature, qualities that might
inspire Europes players in the
heat of Ryder Cup week.
But serving as an assistant
under four captains Bernhard Langer in 2004, Jose

Maria Olazabal in 2012, as well

as Montgomerie and Clarke
has given him valuable experience regarding the calculated
decisions required from a
team leader.
Clarke and Olazabal were
on the five-man panel that
selected the 2018 captain.
I studied a lot of captains as
a player and as a vice-captain
and always wondered what
that feeling would be like to be
the one leading out a team of
12 great players, Bjorn said.
Now its my turn to do just
that.
The Ryder Cup returns to
mainland Europe for the first
time since the 1997 match at
Valderrama.

Bjorn knows Le Golf

National well, having played
the French Open there on 14
occasions, finishing third in
2007.
Europe has won the Ryder
Cup the past five times it has
been staged on European soil.
Bjorn will be only the fourth
man from outside the British
Isles to captain Europe after
Seve Ballesteros, Olazabal and
Langer.
He was chosen by a fiveman panel of the three most
recent captains Clarke, Paul
McGinley and Olazabal plus
European Tour chief executive
Keith Pelley and European
Tour tournament committee
member Henrik Stenson.

Scoreboard
BASKETBALL

SOCCER

Results of the National Basketball Association

games on Tuesday (home team in CAPS):
Orlando 124 WASHINGTON 116
DETROIT 102 Chicago 91
New York 114 MIAMI 103
MEMPHIS 96 Philadelphia 91
San Antonio 105 MINNESOTA 91
UTAH 112 Phoenix 105

UEFA Champions League

ICE HOCKEY
Results of the National Hockey League games on
Tuesday (home teams in CAPS):
NEW JERSEY 3 Vancouver 2
BUFFALO 4 Edmonton 3 (OT)
NY ISLANDERS 4 NY Rangers 2
PHILADELPHIA 3 Florida 2 (OT)
Detroit 4 WINNIPEG 3 (SO)
NASHVILLE 4 Colorado 3
ST. LOUIS 3 Montreal 2
CHICAGO 4 Arizona 0
Calgary 2 DALLAS 1

Results on Tuesday:
Group A
At Basel, Switzerland
Basel (SUI) 1 (Doumbia 78) Arsenal (ENG) 4 (Lucas
Perez 8, 16, 47, Iwobi 54)
At Paris
Paris SG (FRA) 2 (Cavani 61, Di Maria 90+2) Ludogorets (BUL) 2 (Misidjan 15, Wanderson 69)
Group B
At Lisbon
Benfica (POR) 1 (Jimenez 87) Napoli (ITA) 2 (Callejon 60, Mertens 79)
At Kiev
Dynamo Kiev (UKR) 6 (Besedin 9, Yarmolenko
30-pen, Buyalski 32, Gonzales 45+3, Sydorchuk 60,
Junior Moraes 77) Besiktas (TUR) 0
Group C
At Manchester, England
Manchester City (ENG) 1 (Iheanacho 8) Celtic

(SCO) 1 (Roberts 4)
At Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona (ESP) 4 (Messi 16, Turan 50, 53, 67)
Borussia Moenchengladbach (GER) 0
Group D
At Munich, Germany
Bayern Munich (GER) 1 (Lewandowski 28) Atletico
Madrid (ESP) 0
At Eindhoven, Netherlands
PSV Eindhoven (NED) 0 Rostov (RUS) 0

Group A
Q-Arsenal
Q-Paris SG
Ludogorets
Basel
Group B
Q-Napoli
Q-Benfica
Besiktas

Gf

Ga Pts

6
6
6
6

4
3
0
0

2
3
3
2

0
0
3
4

18
13
6
3

6
7
15
12

14
12
3
2

6
6
6

3
2
1

2
2
4

1
2
1

11
10
9

8
10
14

11
8
7

Dynamo Kiev
6
Group C
Q-Barcelona
6
Q-Man City
6
Mgladbach
6
Celtic
6
Group D
Q-Atletico Madrid6
Q-Bayern Munich 6
Rostov
6
PSV Eindhoven 6

5
2
1
0

0
3
2
3

1
1
3
3

20
12
5
5

4
10
12
16

15
9
5
3

5
4
1
0

0
0
2
2

1
2
3
4

7
14
6
4

2
6
12
11

15
12
5
2

Note:
Q-qualified for the last 16
Clubs finishing third in the Champions League
group phase go into the next round of the Europa
League

SWIMMING
Short Course World Championships
Results of finals on Tuesday, the first day of the
Short Course Swimming World Championships at

Windsor, Ontario:
Men
400m freestyle
1. Park Tae-Hwan (KOR) 3min 34.59sec
2. Aleksandr Krasnykh (RUS) 3:35.30
3. Peter Bernek (HUN) 3:37.65
200m butterfly
1. Chad le Clos (RSA) 1:48.76
2. Tom Shields (USA) 1:49.50
3. Daiya Seto (JPN) 1:49.97
200m individual medley
1. Wang Shun (CHN) 1:51.74
2. Philip Heintz (GER) 1:52.07
3. Daiya Seto (JPN) 1:52.89
4x100m freestyle relay
1. Russia (Nikita Lobintsev, Mikhail Vekovishchev,
Vladimir Morozov, Aleksandr Popkov) 3:05.90
2. France (Clement Mignon, Jeremy Stravius, Jordan Pothain, Mehdy Metella) 3:07.35
3. (tied) Australia (Brayden McCarthy, Daniel
Smith, David Morgan, Tommaso DOrsogna)

3:07.76
United States (Michael Chadwick, Tom Shields,
Paul Powers, Blake Pieroni) 3:07.76
Women
200m freestyle
1. Federica Pellegrini (ITA) 1:51.73
2. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 1:52.28
3. Taylor Ruck (CAN) 1:52.50
400m individual medley
1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 4:21.67
2. Ella Eastin (USA) 4:27.74
3. Madisyn Cox (USA) 4:27.78
4x100m freestyle
1. United States (Amanda Weir, Kelsi Worrell, Madison Kennedy, Mallory Comerford) 3:28.82
2. Italy (Erika Ferrarioli, Silvia Di Pietro, Aglaia Pezzato, Federica Pellegrini) 3:30.28
3. Netherlands (Maud van der Meer, Marrit Steenbergen, Maaike de Waard, Ranomi Kromowidjojo)
3:31.10

24 Thursday, December 8, 2016

High-tech report
CHINA DAILY

A JOINT PUBLICATION OF CHINA DAILY AND STATE-LEVEL WEIFANG HI-TECH INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ZONE

New govt services

more convenient
By ZHUAN TI
zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

Left: A parent picks up her child after school at Weifang Hi-Tech Zones New Epoch School, a key construction project nished this year. Right: A night view of the Weifang
Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone. The zone has put forward measures to upgrade its environment. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Zone hopes for local livability

to attract investors
Area focuses on advantageous industry for expansion, Tang Zhihao reports.
Economic development and living
environment enhancement will carry
equal weight throughout the Weifang Hi-Tech Industrial Development
Zones development process.
The zone has put forward measures this year to upgrade the citys
environment so residents can enjoy
a higher quality of life in the region.
That is the managements response
to more than 5,000 complaints last
year about the citys environment.
The citys image upgrade project
was launched in June this year to
improve citizens environment.
The citys plan included efforts to
curb street vendors without licenses,
illegal billboards and unauthorized
transportation of construction waste.
Wang Yonglian, a resident of the
zone, said that local residents are
happy to see changes including a
better vehicle management system,
extended roads and cleaner streets
without street vendors.
Leading city planning organizations are participating in the citys
construction processes. Apart from
taking on large-scale environmental
improvement projects, the city has
developed a joint action and joint
punishment mechanism to effectively
curb city management problems in

everyday life. More

the zone this year.
than 10 government
Many businesses
departments will
have visited the city
work together to
recently to evaluate
yuan
deal with problems the Weifang high-tech zones invest- the projects potenunder this system.
tial. Businesses also
ment in livelihood enhancement
N e a r l y 7, 0 0 0
paid attention to the
projects this year
problems have been
zones environment
solved under the mechanism, accord- and supporting facilities.
ing to local authorities. The city has
Businesses assessed our innovadeveloped a management platform tive projects, industrial development
to record problems identied in city and living environment when meetmanagement processes, and then ing with us, said Wang Liang, direcsend those problems to responsible tor of the Comprehensive Services
government departments to increase Department of the zones investment
response speed.
promotion bureau.
The zone invested 560 million
During the rst three quarters of
yuan ($81.36 million) in 41 liveli- 2016, 135 high-tech projects were
hood enhancement projects in seven registered in the zone. A total of 21
areas this year. About 312 million projects with individual investment
yuan went into educational projects, higher than 50 million yuan have bro139 million yuan into social security ken ground in the development zone.
and 90 million yuan into the medical
We have to consider urban develservice sector this year, according to opment work a key task of governlocal government.
ment in this new era. We need a blueThe living environment in the zone print that incorporates our history,
plays a signicant role in attracting culture and key features of the city,
global businesses to settle in the area, said Chu Baojie, Weifangs director
supporting regional economic devel- of communication and Party chief
opment.
of the zones working committee.
The Shengrui Transmission Parts We need to broaden our horizons,
Production Industrial Park devel- innovate our support systems and
opment project was promoted in take more responsibility so we can

560m

develop a city that can well adapt to

future trends.
The development zone has developed error tolerance mechanisms so
responsible officials are more comfortable putting their new ideas into
practice. It also has mechanisms to
punish those officials and government staff members who do not
maintain an active working style.
The city environment has supported the citys internationalization
processes over the past few years.
Roberto Ramirez, a software
developer with more than 18 years
of experience, partnered with Lovett
Homes in the zone to develop software named Builders Access to assist
in construction projects managing.
The system allows property developers to monitor and manage property development projects, from the
purchase of land to aftersales services
in overseas markets.
I have witnessed the rapid development of the region. I have to get
used to the life here, said Ramirez.
I have visited the development zone
every year since 2010 and stay here
longer each time.
Contact the writer at tangzhihao@
chinadaily.com.cn

Weifang improves residents lives with projects

By ZHUAN TI

The Weifang Hi-Tech Industrial

Development Zone has carried out a
broad range of 41 projects to improve
residents well-being, bringing them
real benets.
Apart from promoting residential
upgrade projects, the zones government continues to strengthen the collective economy, improve cultural life
and boost the citys image in efforts to
make people feel happy and safe.
Moving to new homes
For residents of the Zhongguan
community, in the Xingang Economic
Development Zone of the Weifang HiTech Industrial Development Zone, July
23 was a memorable day in their lives.
All 107 families in the community
living in one-story houses moved into
new multistoried buildings.
The community administrators
have helped us calculate the benets.
We can enjoy better living conditions.
The new properties also have high economic value, said Zhang Liangqi, a
resident of the Zhongguan community.
Apart from the Zhongguan community, residents in the Masu community
in the Xinchang Economic Development Zone are also expecting to move
into new apartments.

A residents dance group participates in a competition organized by the Weifang

high-tech zone as part of its effort to enrich peoples cultural lives.

Xinchang is far from the center of

the city. There is no central water, heat
or gas supply to the shantytowns in
the region. We have joined hands with
communities and evaluation companies to nish measuring and checking
for 130 families in ve communities,
said Cui Zhenying, a staff member of
the Xinchang Economic Development
Zone. We expect to nish infrastructure construction work at the end of
this year so that the residents can move
into their new homes soon.
The residence upgrade is a key project promoted by the Weifang Hi-Tech
Industrial Development Zones govern-

ment in 2016. In the rst part of the

renovations, local authorities upgraded
21 shantytowns in the region, which will
benet more than 1,300 families.
Enriched cultural life
The development zone has built cultural squares, screened free movies,
organized free stage performances and
traditional operas and given out free
books to local residents to better use
public cultural resources.
Li Guizhi, 52-year-old resident of
the Fenghuang community, said that
the governments efforts in building
cultural compounds in the city have

provided practice spaces for lovers of

Peking Opera.
The development zone has invested
2 million yuan ($290,554) in updating
cultural facilities in the region this year.
There are now 59 cultural courtyards
and 86 cultural squares in the zone.
The cultural promotion department
in the zone has staged more than 130
free cultural performances in communities and trading markets. More than
60,000 residents have appreciated 24
performances in large squares, including Peoples Square in the zone.
We will provide better equipment
so residents can enjoy quality cultural
services, said Sun Huanjin, communications director of the development
zones Party working committee.
Improved environment
The development zone also launched
a citywide environmental improvement project in May last year. Local
authorities have added 10,000 square
meters of plant life and 200,000 sq m
of grassy areas to the city over the past
one and a half years.
Residents have seen big changes in
the citys environment this year. All
street vendors are required to move
into agricultural markets. The open-air
barbecue stands have been replaced by
ventilated indoor businesses.

Han Peng, a resident of the

Weifang Hi-Tech Industrial
Development Zone, got his
business license from a storage box in the zones government service center at noon
on Oct 28, when all service
staff members were off duty.
I was just trying it. But
the storage box service is
very convenient and saves
time, Han said with a big
smile.
Han was applying for a
business license for his small
shop. He visited the government service center in the
early morning on Oct 28, and
found a long queue at the
counter.
I was concerned that I
would not have time to visit
the bank in the morning,
Han said.
Then, working staff suggested he use the new storage box services.
They gave me a piece of
paper with instructions so I
would know how to use the
box, he said.
Han entered his personal
information and requests
and put all the documents in
the storage box, then left to
visit a bank.
When he was still at the
bank, he received a text message from the government
service center that his application had been approved
and that he could pick up
his business license from the
storage box at any time.
Ding Yugang, a staff mem-

ber at the government service center, said: We developed the storage boxes for
busy government departments such as the market
super vision bureau and
property registration center
to increase their working efficiency and help residents to
save time.
Ding said the storage box
service system, first introduced by the zone in Shandong province, will notify
staff about the case soon
after applicants put documents into the storage boxes.
The working staff process
the application, put documents back into the boxes
once completed and send
messages to applicants to
pick up their documents.
For applications that need
more information, staff will
follow the same procedures
to inform applicants to collect their application and
provide further documents.
Wang Yan, from the government service center, said
that the storage box services
not only shortened peoples
wait time, but also promoted
the use of the online appointment system.
Chen Jiancheng, director
of the government service
center, said: The internet
plus government services is
a development goal of the
local administration. It will
save enterprises and local
residents time, and improve
working efficiency.
Guo Yajing contributed to
this story.

A clerk at the Weifang high-tech zones government service

center instructs a resident on how to use storage boxes to le an
application.

Briefly
Makerspaces go on
national list
The Torch High Technology
Industry Development Center
of the Ministry of Science and
Technology announced a third
batch of national-level makerspaces in September. Two
makerspaces in the Weifang
Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone went on the list:
CAS Lab in the Blue Wisdom
Valley, and Makerspace of the
Weifang Yanyuan High-tech
Park of Peking University.
The two makerspaces were
evaluated by the Ministry of
Science and Technology based
on their operating models,
service quality and achievements.

Engine deal signed

Weichai Power signed a
memorandum with Belarusbased Minsk Automobile
Plant, also known as MAZ, at
the end of September to build
a diesel-powered engine production plant in Great Stone
Industrial Park in Belarus.
The total investment for the
project will be $50 million.
The production base will be
capable of producing 20,000
engines a year upon completion. The joint venture marks
Weichais signicant progress

in overseas expansion under

the guidance of the Belt and
Road Initiative.

Goertek wins
recognition
Goertek became the only
company in Weifang recognized as a national technology
innovation demonstration
business in China in 2016. A
total of 69 businesses in China
obtained the same recognition
this year.
Goertek is a leading acoustics company in China that
focuses on the development,
production and sales of electro-acoustic equipment and
components, optical components and electronic accessories. The company developed
a smart factory for wearable
devices to demonstrate how
smart technology can promote
business development.
To comment or contribute,
please e-mail wangqian2
@ c h i n a d a i l y. c o m . c n
or call +86-531-58775018.