WEEKLY WATCH

WEEKLY WATCH

LETTERS

Beijing Review’s cover story, Battered, But Not Sunk, issue No.13, 2011, analyzed the influence of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake of March 11 on Japan’s and the world’s economy and delivered a positive message of hope that Japan would realize economic recovery as soon as possible. The report was well received by our Japanese readers, and they had this to say:

Kenichi Okamoto

(an employee at a mechanical andauto part manufacturer in Tokushima)

A lot of media say this earthquake was the most disastrous calamity the world has ever seen.Beijing Review’s reports are interviews with individuals and this has an influence TV media cannot achieve. Yours is a fresh style and the angle is out of the ordinary. This makes you stand out from others.

Generally speaking, massive reports follow hard on the heels of earthquakes, but gradually relevant reports diminish.BeijingReviewnot only paid attention to the quake’s influence on people’s lives but also the psychological changes in people in Japan and other countries. What I want to say is that, your reports are different from those of other media, such as TV, which normally deal with big events. You focused on ordinary people’s lives, and this makes us feel more noticed.

Makoto Kawanabe

(a restaurant manager in Kagoshima)

Beijing Reviewproduced an objective and accurate report of the Japanese behavior as well as the social and economic order following the massive earthquake. The report said the Japanese people’s stoicism and their high level of social morality would help them to deal with such a big catastrophe with extremely strong resilience and solidarity. Because of this massive earthquake, the Japanese people’s calmness and high moral standards have become well-known around the world.

Of course, for the Japanese people, what’s more important is the spirit of mutual help woken by this earthquake—a spirit they should have always cherished but unfortunately had almost forgotten.

RECOVERING: On April 16, a Japanese man looks for useful materials left by the March 11 earthquake to rebuild his home in Iwate Prefecture

The Japanese people’s responses and behavior should be attributed to the disaster education which starts early in people’s lives, because Japan is a country frequently hit by earthquakes. If this earthquake can raise the whole world’s disaster crisis management awareness, and your reports are able to remind every reader of the importance of crisis management in disasters, it will be a good thing. Your reports also mentioned how the Naoto Kan administration would deal with the current situation. Indeed, leading Japan toward revitalization is a test for Japan’s current leadership.

Finally, you also mentioned Japan’s reconstruction and economic revitalization. Through your articles, I can feel your sincerity regarding Japan’s disaster relief. This brings the Japanese people courage and hope. Here, I’d like to thank the rest of the world for its assistance to Japan.

Hajime Miyoshi

(a restaurant owner in Tokyo)

The Japanese people and their country are undergoing testing times posed by a series of unprecedented disasters—earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power station accidents. I think the article Overcoming a Cataclysm made a calm and objective explanation of this point. Several stories of individuals in this earthquake show—even if they have been hit by such a cataclysm—the Japanese are still able to keep calm and maintain order. This story truly reflects this rare and precious nature of the Japanese nation.

The writers of relevant articles in this issue not only made objective reports, but also put forward optimistic attitude about Japan’s future recovery, based on Japan’s revitalization after the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake and Japan’s economic strength. This is a very persuasive view. Your reports not only bring hope to the Japanese, but also kindle hope for foreigners who are worried about Japan’s possible long-term economic depression.

SOCIETY

Harsher Punishments

Drunk drivers in China could face harsher punishments in the future, including the revocation of their driver’s licenses, said a draft amendment to the Road Traffic Safety Law. The amendment will be discussed by the national legislature on April 20.

According to the amendment, drunk drivers will not be able to recover their licenses until five years after the revocation, while the current law stipulates a license suspension of three to six months.

Young Volunteers

China plans to recruit 10,000 college graduates to serve in the country’s western regions in 2011, said Zhou Changkui, secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC).

According to the statement released after the meeting, this year’s volunteers can apply to serve in categories including elementary education, agricultural technology, health care, grassroots youth work, grassroots social management, and providing services in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Tibet Autonomous Region.

The government is planning to increase subsidies for volunteers who choose to work in demanding and far-off regions, said the statement, adding favorable policies in civil service enrollment and other fields for the volunteers were under consideration.

Stronger Assistance

A committee was recently launched to offer various forms of business start-up assistance to help qualified Chinese scientists returning from overseas to run business.

The committee was led jointly by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Beijing-based Western Returned Scholars Association, said a notice on April 18.

The notice names the first 25 CEOs and professionals to join the committee’s panel.

Previous official statistics show about 1.9 million Chinese studied overseas from 1978 to 2010 and, as of last year, 33 percent of them have returned to China.

The Chinese Government has launched several global expert recruitment programs since 2008, offering favorable policies on taxation and incentives including housing and research projects as well as government awards.

New Internet Regulation

China will implement new regulations to better manage the online business after a dispute between two Chinese Internet giants, Tencent and Qihoo 360, inconvenienced users, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced at a press conference recently.

The move is part of the efforts to strengthen the management of the country’s online market and promote healthy and orderly development, said the MIIT. It revealed that it is also working on an online industry development plan to be implemented during the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) period.

Tencent, China’s largest Internet company, said on November 3, 2010, that it would remotely disable the QQ instant-messaging service on computers that had security software designed by Qihoo 360 installed on them. The announcement was the result of a previous dispute between the companies.

Tencent has 600 million registered QQ users, while Qihoo 360, China’s largest free anti-virus software provider, has 300 million clients. Unfair competitive practices between the two companies, especially the threat to unilaterally shut down the instant-messaging service, affected users and caused “bad social consequences,” said a MIIT statement.

ECONOMY

Tax Adjustment

The Standing Committee of the 11th National People’s Congress reviewed a draft amendment to the Personal Income Tax Law on April 20. The draft proposed to increase the monthly personal income tax threshold to 3,000 yuan ($460) from 2,000 yuan ($305) as an effort to cut the financial burden on low- and middle-income groups.

The changes take into account rising living costs in China, said Xie Xuren, Minister of Finance.

China’s personal income taxes totaled 483.7 billion yuan ($73.8 billion) in 2010, accounting for 6.3 percent of the country’s tax revenues.

Curbing Overcapacity

China is making efforts to curb overcapacity in its aluminum sector, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on April 20.

Supplies have far outweighed demands due to reckless expansion of the sector.

Local governments must immediately stop building new electrolytic aluminum projects and cancel policy incentives to aluminum producers, including favorable tax rates and electricity charges.

China’s aluminum output topped 15.6 million tons last year and production capacity was 23 million tons. That means only 70 percent of facilities were in operation.

Capital Destination

China approved 5,937 new foreigninvested companies in the first three months, up 8.8 percent from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, China’s FDI structure continues to improve. The service sector received paid-in FDI of $14.39 billion from January to March, compared with $13.74 billion of the manufacturing industry. In addition, the western regions strengthened attractions to foreign investors, with paid-in FDI surging 84.1 percent in the first quarter year on year.

Export Suspension

China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec), the country’s largest oil refiner, on April 20 announced that it had suspended exports of refined oil products to ensure domestic supplies.

Sinopec faces heavier pressure to meet buoyant demands for oil at home, the company said.

Exports to Hong Kong and Macao would be maintained to meet the two regions’ basic energy demands, but a decrease in exports would be expected to both.

Apart from the export suspension, Sinopec will take more measures to increase output.

Sinopec aims for refined oil output of 10.54 million tons in April, increasing 410,000 tons year on year.

Dairy Expansion

Bright Food Group Co. Ltd., a leading food and dairy company based in Shanghai, has started building Asia’s largest diary factory in Shanghai.

With an investment of 1.4 billion yuan ($214.3 million), the factory is designed to process 2,000 tons daily of fresh milk, yogurt and other kinds of dairy products under the Bright Food brand. Its annual capacity is expected to reach 600,000 tons, said Bright Food President Guo Benheng.

The new factory will be put into operation in 2013. And its annual sales revenue is expected to reach 4.65 billion yuan ($710.3 million).

1. CUBA

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and newly elected First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee Raul Castro attend the closing ceremony of the Sixth CCP Congress in Havana on April 19

2. THE UNITED STATES

Participants browse Chinese textbooks at the 2011 U.S. National Chinese Language Conference in San Francisco on April 15

3. JAPAN

Honda Motor workers inspect cars in a factory in Saitama Prefecture on April 18. Despite auto parts shortages, the company restored production a month after the March 11 earthquake

4. THE PHILIPPINES

Thousands of bikers join a bicycle campaign to promote environmental protection in suburban Manila on April 17

5. NORTH KOREA

North Korean Minister of Culture An Tong Chun honors an artist during an art festival in Pyongyang on April 18

6. UKRAINE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych (right) meets European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Kiev on April 18. Barroso said the European Commission would allocate an additional 110 million euros ($160 million) for Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear safety project

$30.34 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first quarter of this year, soaring 29.4 percent year on year, said the Ministry of Commerce.