ITU HEAD

Zhao Houlin was elected to head the International Telecommunication Union （ITU） for the next four years during the 2014 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in South Koreas port city Busan on October 23. He will be the first Chinese secretary general in the 150-year history of ITU， a UN specialized agency for information and communication technologies. He will take office in January 2015.

Zhao， 64， earned a Masters in telematics from the University of Essex in the UK in 1985. From 1999 to 2006， Zhao served as the first non-European director of ITUs Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. He was later elected ITU deputy secretary general in 2006 and re-elected for a second four-year term in 2010.

Zhao is just the third Chinese citizen elected to head a UN organization. The other two are Margaret Chan， Director General of the World Health Organization， and Li yong， Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Age of Smart Sensors

Caixin Century Weekly October 20

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has listed the Internet of Things， the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices within the existing Internet infrastructure， as one of the new industries supported by the government during the 12th Five-year Plan（2011-15）.

Sensors are frequently used in the Internet of Things and constitute its basis. From each of the years from 2011 to 2013， the scale of Chinas sensor industry reached 90.5 billion yuan （$14.8 billion）， 125 billion yuan （$20.4 billion） and 167 billion yuan（$27.3 billion）， respectively. The first smart sensor technology platform， which was completed and put into operation in Wuxi， east Chinas Jiangsu Province， provides hundreds of sensor producers with design， manufacturing and test services.

However， the development of Chinas sensor technology has lagged behind that of Western countries. While the ability of sensors to receive information is weak， their intelligence level remains low. In addition， as sensors are not widely used in China， they are often highpriced， making the industry even less competitive.

In order to put the Internet of Things into wide use， low-cost sensors that can receive multiple kinds of signals should be developed. As the golden age of sensors is still on the horizon， Chinese companies still have opportunities to improve.

Anti-Graft Bid Enters New Phase

South Reviews October 21

The anti-corruption campaign put in place by the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012 has made remarkable progress. A number of corrupt officials have been sacked as a result， further deterring officials from accepting bribes. Now， the push against illegal behavior is entering its second phase. In this phase， serious corruption cases will continue to be discovered and exposed， further intimidating officials from partaking in similar offences.

However， corruption cannot be rooted out simply by relying on solving individual cases； a transformation must come over the countrys anti-corruption system as a whole. Ongoing efforts to improve provincial political ecology and pursue corrupt officials who have fled overseas show that Chinas anti-graft drive is beginning to sail into uncharted waters.

In a keynote speech delivered at an event marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the National Peoples Congress， President Xi Jinping said one of the criteria for judging whether or not a countrys political system is democratic is whether power has been effectively re-stricted and supervised. In the second half of Chinas anti-corruption bid， its necessary that a system to restrict and supervise power be established. Only when power comes under public scrutiny can corruption be prevented. To achieve this， the rule of law should be endorsed as the fundamental way through which to achieve wide-reaching change.

Foster Care Receives Needed Regulation

Legal Daily October 27

A new regulation on foster family management was released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on September 26. Compared to the regulation formulated in 2003， the new version also sets stricter standards for families applying to take in a foster child.

Chinas foster care system allows children who are under the custody of the government to be taken into the care of families. The new regulation brings with it two advantages： First， it has expanded the scope of children who can be fostered； and second， it has raised the thresholds for foster families， thus ensuring that children in their care will receive better care.

Because the foster care system is not widely known and very few families take part， some have expressed concern that now that the standards for fostering children are raised， the number of families applying to take in these children may become even lower. yet the revision of the regulation is not meant to discourage families from taking part， but to bring more families into the charitable activity.

In order to attract more caregivers for orphaned children， more needs to be done. For instance， the government should increase awareness of the system in order to attract more capable families. Also， those accommodating a foster child should be given priority in starting businesses or receiving educational benefits.

POPULAR ONLINE WRITER

Zhou Xiaoping， one of the two network writers who attended a seminar hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping on October 17 for prominent literary and art figures， has recently attracted widespread attention for his criticism of Western bias against China.

As a popular online writer， Zhou became well known for his exceedingly patriotic blog articles， including the famous “Please Do Not Disappoint This Time” in June 2013， in which Zhou expounded on the achievements of the Communist Party of China in poverty alleviation and economic development， while anecdotally examining problems in the systems of Western countries such as the United States.

Born in Rongxian County in southwest Chinas Sichuan Province， following his high school graduation at the age of 17， Zhou joined the army. In 2006， he set up his own business and later went on to found three other companies： an original music platform， an online game website and a design agency. Currently， he is the founder and manager of a publishing company in Beijing.

“Due to a lack of systematic laws in the field， the countrys anti-terror work is incomplete， with measures not sufficiently forceful.”

Lang Sheng， deputy head of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress （NPC）， Chinas top legislature， explaining a draft counter-terrorism law at a bimonthly session of the NPC Standing Committee on October 27

“It is only a matter of time before Chinas outbound direct investment exceeds the foreign direct investment that it receives. If it does not happen this year， it will happen in the near future.”

Zhang Xiangchen， Chinas Assistant Minister of Commerce， at a press conference on October 22

“Cooperation between China and the 16 Central and Eastern European countries， some of which are EU members， is in the true interest of Europe.”

Peter Szijjarto， Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary， concluding a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing on October 27

“Its timely and necessary to regulate the mobile app industry. Some apps now have infringed mobile phone users rights by stealing their personal information and contact lists.”

Zhu Wei， a cyber law researcher at Renmin University of China in Beijing， calling for tighter regulation of application software programs used on smartphones