Battling Smog

Shown are tourists at Tiananmen Square in downtown Beijing.

On January 22， the municipal legislature of Beijing passed a regulation on air pollution control outlining emission controls and harsher penalties.

The Beijing Municipal Peoples Congress voted in favor of the regulation， the first of its kind for the capital， replacing a previous guideline that was issued in 2000.

The regulation said that Beijing will limit and gradually reduce the total discharge of major air pollutants by setting yearly quotas for district and county governments and individual polluters， as well as cutting coal burning and limiting car emissions.

The previous guideline targeted only the growth of emissions.

Frequent bouts of smog have been a major source of public discontent in Beijing. The city reported 58 days of serious pollution last year， and the average PM2.5 index， which measures hazardous fine particles， more than doubled the new national standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter.

Security Commission

Chinas President， Xi Jinping， will head the national security commission according to a decision made by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China （CPC） Central Committee at a meeting on January 24.

Premier Li Keqiang and top legislator Zhang Dejiang will be deputy heads of the commission.

The commission， which will report to the Political Bureau and its standing committee， will be an agency of the CPC Central Committee responsible for decision-making， deliberation and coordination on national security issues， said a statement of the meeting.

It will be in charge of “making overall plans and coordinating major issues and major work concerning national security，” it said.

A decision made at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee last November suggested with the idea of establishing a national security commission.

In an explanation of the proposed commissions main responsibilities that was made public after the session， Xi said， “Establishing a national security commission to strengthen the unified leadership of state security work is needed urgently.”

Reform Assignations

Chinas leading group for overall reform approved the establishment of six sub-groups at its first meeting on January 22.

The leading group for overall reform， with President Xi Jinping as its head， was established upon a decision passed at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in November last year.endprint

The deputy heads include Premier Li Keqiang， Liu Yunshan， a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee， and Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.

The newly established subgroups will be responsible for reforms in six areas， including the economy and ecology， democracy and rule of law， the cultural system， social system， Party building system， and the discipline inspection system.

Speaking at the recent meeting， President Xi called for adequate understanding of the difficulty， complexity and urgency of reforms， as more and more interest groups will be affected as reforms go further.

Attendees of the meeting also explained and passed on the working rules of the leading group.

Employment Rate

Chinas urban unemployment rate stood at around 4.1 percent in 2013， according to a statement the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security made on January 24.

The unemployment rate edged up to 4.05 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of last year， from 4.04 percent at the end of the previous three-month period， Li Zhong， a ministry spokesman， said at a press conference.

A total of 13.1 million new jobs were created in urban areas last year， and 5.66 million people were re-employed after losing work， ac-cording to the ministry.

The gross revenue of social insurance funds increased 13.8 percent year on year to 3.29 trillion yuan（$543 billion）， while gross expenditure totaled 2.65 trillion yuan （$438 billion）， up 19.6 percent from a year ago， Li added.

Chinas social insurance funds contain five parts， namely basic pension funds， basic medical insurance， unemployment insurance， work-related injury insurance and maternity insurance.

Pollution Blacklist

The Ministry of Environmental Protection on January 24 released a list of products and crafts that companies are advised to avoid on the grounds that they pose a higher risk of being pollution producing. The list， including 722 products and 92 crafts， has also been distrib- uted to 13 departments including the Peoples Bank of China and the ministries of commerce and finance for guidance in the choice of products and crafts.

According to the ministry， more than 300 products on the blacklist have already been excluded from export tax rebates and banned from the processing trade by tax and trade authorities.

Many of the blacklisted products involve heavy metal pollution and high emissions of pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and ammonia nitrogen.endprint

The list was first released in 2007. The latest version includes two categories of environmentally friendly crafts and key environmental protection facilities.

GM Management

China will continue to apply strict standards to genetically modified（GM） foods in response to rising consumer concerns， a senior agriculture official said on January 22.

GM products must go through substantial testing before they reach consumers， according to comments made by Chen Xiwen， Deputy Director of the Central Agricultural Work Leading Group， the top authority on agriculture in China， at a press conference.

“China ensures that GM products carry no side-effects before they are approved for the market， otherwise， they may not be promoted as commercial products，” Chen said.

Currently， papaya is the only GM food grown in China and officially allowed to reach household menus. The most common GM crop is cotton， according to Chen.

Consumers have every right to know whether a product is GM or not through clear labeling， Chen said. He added that Chinas GM technology must not lag behind other nations， emphasizing that， as an agricultural nation， the country must work harder to keep up.

Copyright Growth

Official statistics released on January 22 showed that more than 845，000 publications were registered in China for copyright protection in 2013， up about 23 percent year on year.

According to the National Copyright Administration of China（NCAC）， more than half of the registrations were made in Beijing.

Yu Cike， Director of the NCAC Copyright Management Department， attributed the growth to an increased awareness of copyright protection and the use of copyright as an important financing device.

Applications for software protection rose by about 18 percent in 2013， to more than 164，000.

Tibet， Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang autonomous regions topped the list regarding increases in applications for software， with applications growing by about 95 percent in Tibet.

Bird Flu Prevention

Chickens up for sale in a market in Hangzhou， Zhejiang Province， on January 23.

To limit spreading of the H7N9 bird flu， Hangzhou called a halt to live poultry trading in urban areas on January 24， after 44 human cases of the virus had been reported in Zhejiang this year. Nationwide， there had been 79 human cases as of the imposed halt.

Many live poultry markets in the cities of Jinhua， Ningbo and Shaoxing in Zhejiang were also closed to prevent human beings from coming into contact with infected live poultry.endprint

Green Future

A visitor at the Jiasheng Modern Agricultural Technology Demonstration Park in Zhangbei County， north Chinas Hebei Province.

The demonstration park has an 88，000-squaremeter smart greenhouse and has three supporting industries—hi-tech plantation， vegetable processing and tourism.

Downgrading Ratings

On January 23， Dagong， Chinas domestic ratings agency， downgraded the rating outlook for New Zealand from stable to negative partly due to downward pressures on its economic growth. Ratings for the countrys domestic currency and foreign currency sovereign credit were maintained at AA+ and AA， respectively， the agency said in a statement on its website.

“The growing domestic expectation for an interest rate hike will curb its economic growth， which means the economy will face slowdown pressure，” the statement said.

While New Zealands trade will grow steadily due to recovery in the United States and some European countries， the overheating real estate sector and the tapering of asset purchases by the U.S. Federal Reserve will lead to rises of both domestic and external interest rates.

Dagong also cited fiscal balance pressure and a possible drop in New Zealands external debt solvency as reasons behind the outlook downgrade.

On January 24， Dagong downgraded the rating outlook of the Republic of the Philippines from stable to negative. Ratings for the countrys domestic currency and foreign currency sovereign credit were both maintained at BB-.

“Against the backdrop of the forthcoming tightening of global monetary policy， the Philippineseconomic growth mode， which is characterized by substantial capital inflows and fast credit expansion， is facing severe challenges，” Dagong said.

It also attributed the outlook downgrade to threats from rising asset bubbles and a meager increase in foreign exchange reserves， which will be insufficient to withstand shocks from external tightening of liquidity.

Yuan Globalization

The yuan became the worlds eighth most-used currency in international payments in December， said the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication（SWIFT） on January 23.

Lifted by the Chinese Governments efforts to promote its global clout， the yuan overtook 22 currencies over the past three years to achieve a market share of 1.12 percent， just behind the Swiss franc， which holds a share of 1.29 percent.endprint

This year， economists believe that the yuans influence is set to grow further as China adopts new liberalization measures to facilitate the yuans cross-border movements.

A surge in yuan-denominated trade helped boost the currencys global clout. The Peoples Bank of China， the countrys central bank， said that global trade settled in yuan hit 4.63 trillion yuan （$764 billion） in 2013， up 57 percent from 2012.

Cross-border direct investment denominated in yuan jumped 90 percent to 534 billion yuan （$88.27 billion） in 2013.

Debt Transparency

China has increased the transparency of its massive local government debt by allowing local governments to release independent reports on their liabilities， a move that analysts said showed Chinas increasing seriousness in dealing with the issue.

As of January 23， several provincial-level governments had released audit reports， including Beijing； Guangdong， Jilin and Zhejiang provinces； and Guangxi and Ningxia autonomous regions.

The move follows a report on Chinas debt situation， which was released on December 30， 2013， by the National Audit Office.

“According to the provincial data that have been released so far， the risk from local government debt is still generally under control. These disclosures offer much more clarity for investors who want to invest in specific regions，” said Li Yan， a senior analyst at China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co. Ltd.

For example， in the economic powerhouse of Guangdong， direct government debt （to be repaid by government fiscal revenue） had accounted for 54.4 percent of the provinces fiscal revenue as of the end of 2012. In Zhejiang， the ratio was 63.5 percent.

Cooperation Again

Lenovo announced on January 23 that it plans to buy IBMs X86 server business， a low-end unit， for $2.3 billion.

This is another cooperative project between Lenovo and IBM after Lenovo purchased IBMs personal computer business in 2005.

According to their agreement， about $2 billion will be dealt in cash and the rest in Lenovos shares. IBM will continue to develop and improve Windows and Linux software for the X86 platform. After the deal， Lenovo will take over customer services and maintenance while IBM will continue to provide maintenance services on behalf of Lenovo for a limited period.

Technology research firms IDC and Gartner said Lenovo， the worlds largest PC supplier， took 17 percent of global market share with total shipments of about 53 million units in 2013.endprint

PX Shortage

China will see a wider shortage of paraxylene （PX） supply in 2014， a research report warned on January 23. The supply gap will be up to 9.5 million tons in 2014， said a report by the Economics and Technology Research Institute under the China Petroleum and Chemical （Sinopec） Corp.， the state-owned oil refining giant.

The domestic PX industry managed to meet only 47 percent of Chinas demand for PX in 2013， which topped 16.41 million tons， up 18.5 percent from 2012， while imports of the chemical hit 8.7 million tons， up 42 percent.

Since 2007， PX projects planned in Xiamen， Dalian， and Kunming have been shut down after residents took to the streets in protest， as they believed the facilities would threaten the local environment.

China is the worlds largest PX producer， accounting for about a quarter of the global PX production capacity， according to the report.

PX is a major raw material for making polyester products. Traditionally， PX production lines are attached to petrochemical engineering projects.

Cheaper Driving

A staff member from a gas station in Baoding， north Chinas Hebei Province， refuels a car.

The National Development and Reform Commission cut the per-ton retail price of gasoline by 130 yuan （$21.3） and diesel by 125 yuan （$20.7） on January 25.

The adjustment， following a cut on January 10， saw the benchmark retail prices of gasoline decrease by 0.1 yuan （$0.017） per liter and that of diesel by 0.11 yuan （$0.018） per liter.endprint