NEW PARTY CHIEF OF CHONGQING MUNICIPALITY

Chen Miner， former Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China （CPC）， was appointed secretary of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee on July 15.

In the meeting announcing his appointment on July 15， Chen said Chongqing plays an important and unique role in the opening up and regional development of China and he will work hard to implement the Central Governments policy.

Born in Zhejiang Province in 1960， Chen also worked as governor of Guizhou and vice governor of Zhejiang. He took the lead to carry out the poverty alleviation policy when he was secretary of the CPC Guizhou Provincial Committee and made great progress.

Strictly Enforcing Food Safety Standards

Guangming Daily July 13

Statistics recently released by China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment show that in the past seven years， China has issued 1，224 food safety standards and more than 20，000 food safety indexes.

These standards are technical definitions for food safety and also legal references for relevant law enforcement. The National Health and Family Planning Commission， together with relevant authorities， clarified overlapping and even conflicting standards and at the same time， added urgently needed new safety standards concerning heavy metal contamination and organic pollutants.

However， loose implementation of these standards is an even more serious problem and also poses threat to food safety. Most of the food safety incidents in recent years resulted from the failure to implement standards， rather than the absence of safety standards.

The quantity of standards will not necessarily ensure food safety. Whether food safety standards can really help to protect the public from danger depends on how effectively the standards are implemented.

Looking back on the many food safety incidents in recent years， another striking issue is that the punishment for officials or law enforcement personnel failing to do their duty is far from enough， despite the Supreme Peoples Procuratorates regulations demanding severe punishment for such offi cials.

To set up standards is only the fi rst step. How to effectively enforce these standards is another big challenge for watchdogs and even the whole society.

Carbon Market Rolled Out

Oriental Outlook July 20

China is going to launch its national emissions trading scheme （ETS）， the so-called “national carbon market，” in the second half of this year， which is seen as Chinas determination to carry on with green development.

China approved seven provinces and cities to conduct ETS in October 2011， including Beijing， Shanghai and Shenzhen. In addition to the global ETS and EU ETS， the establishment of Chinas ETS is expected to help effectively allocate resources and curb greenhouse gas emissions through market mechanisms.

To promote the establishment of Chinas national ETS is crucial for the country to cope with climate change. The “national carbon market” has total emissions of 4.5 billion tons， accounting for 50 percent of the carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion. By opening this market， China means to effectively control the overall quantity of carbon emissions and promote the transformation of Chinas economy into a green and low-carbon model by boosting carbon productivity of high energyconsuming enterprises.

The seven pilot areas are still trying to fi nd models and measures suitable to themselves. The difficulties and complexity facing China， a developing giant， in the process of establishing the worlds biggest carbon market are huge， as there is no example to follow.

Some people see ETS as a shackle imposed on manufacturing industries and developing countries， as high-polluting and high energyconsuming manufacturing industries have to pay extra money for exceeding emission quotas. Most of these enterprises are based in developing countries like China.

China is trying to avoid mistakes committed by the EU ETS， which allocated bigger quotas than enterprises need， by carefully checking enterprises carbon emission data.

Human and AI Competition

Workers Daily July 13

Chinas e-commerce giant Alibaba recently opened two grocery stores with no cashiers in Hangzhou， capital of east Chinas Zhejiang Province. These advanced unmanned stores have triggered some worry that traditional retail stores will be heavily hit.

Widespread application of artificial intelligence （AI） will help make peoples lives more convenient， but at the same time， AI may also pose a threat to workers involved in certain industries. This is not a groundless worry， as the cost of using robots is only 23 percent of that of using human workers.

It is already a new trend for robots and AI to replace human labor in many industries and areas. How to preserve their jobs has become a big question for many workers particularly in the manufacturing industry.

Although， human workers are unlikely to be replaced overnight， they may have to consider how to improve and upgrade their professional capability and quality.

The Chinese Government has already put forward schemes to develop a high-quality team of industrial workers. Craftsmanship is stressed by government at all levels. Meanwhile， China is working toward the goal of becoming a high-tech-based manufacturing power. Workers should avail themselves of these opportunities and platforms to improve their techniques and professional quality， so as to deal with the threat from AI and robots more easily.

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING TWIN STARS

Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting， 31-year-old twin sisters and also Chinas synchronized swimming stars， won the silver medal in the Duet Technical final of the 17th FINA World Championships Synchronized Swimming held in Budapest， Hungary on July 16.

The twin sisters were born in Sichuan Province and started to practice synchronized swimming at the age of 8. In the 2006 Doha Asian Games， they defeated strong competitors， the Japanese duo Emiko Suzuki and Saho Harada， and made their name. They also won the gold medal in the FINA Swimming World Cup in 2006 to become the first world champions in Chinese synchronized swimming history. They have made China more competitive in this field.

Besides their career achievements， they enjoy happy family lives. Each of them is the mother of a daughter， and they maintain the habit of communicating with their daughters online during competitions.

“In the future， there will be less and less ‘Made in China or ‘Made in America. There will be ‘Made on the Internet. Everything in the world is connected. We call it e-commerce today； well call it e-business in the future.”

Jack Ma， Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group， at the U.S.-China Business Leaders Summit in Washington， D.C.， on July 18

“The investment [in GIG Airport of Brazil] is a reflection of HNA Groups and HNA Infrastructures commitment to furthering the Belt and Road Initiative in order to strengthen the cooperation between China and Latin American countries， particularly on development and infrastructure projects.”

Li Renjun， a professor of industrial economy at Hainan University， told China Daily

“Restoring U.S. beef access to China has been a top priority for many years， and we are excited to have the opportunity to provide Chinese consumers with safe， tender， and delicious U.S. beef once again.”

Craig Uden， President of U.S. National Cattlemens Beef Association， told Xinhua News Agency

“With the internationalization of Chinas currency， the worlds second largest economy will further open up its financial market to provide more public goods on global markets， partly replacing prior functions of Western powers.”

Bao Jianyun， a professor of global economics at the Renmin University of China， told Xinhua News Agency