Last of NPC/CPPCC, Rare Earth and Other China Headlines

1.      Wen Jiabao Press Conference | Q & A | Issues: (More on Washington Post)

·         Local Government Debts (More on WSJ)

·         Wang Lijun Incident

·         Citizen Critics

·         Income Disparity

·         Non-Public Investment in the Financial Sector

·         Social Justice

·         Tibet

·         GDP Target

·         Syria

·         Hong Kong Election

·         Housing Price Control

·         Political Reform (More on Reuters, Time)

·         Currency

·         Sino-U.S. Relations

·         Cross Strait Relations

2.      CPPCC Conclusion: Top Issues – Quality and Fairness

3.      China: Rare Earths Policy 'in Line with WTO' (Reuters report; NYT: "Specialists Say a Trade Case Against China Maybe Too Late")

4.      Asia-Pacific Talks 'Constructive'

Premier Wen Meets the Press

Updated: 2012-03-14 11:03

Q: What steps will you take in your term to promote social equity and justice? You often log onto the Internet, there are praises as well as criticism on the performance of the Chinese government and yourself. How do you view the criticism?

A: Equality and justice shine more brightly than sunshine. In the past nine years, we have done a lot of work to promote social equity and justice. On the legal front, we amended the Constitution to include respect and guarantee of human rights. We established a Property Law to protect legal private assets. We also amended the Election Law to make rights of urban areas and rural areas equal. We also abolished the Measures for Assisting Vagrants and Beggars so that migrant workers can enter cities freely.

Second, in rural areas, we abolished the agricultural tax to ease the burden of farmers.

Third, in education, we've made nine-year free compulsory education available all over the country.

Fourth, we established and improved the social security system, including old-age pension, medical care and low-income subsistence allowance. Medical care insurance for working and non-working residents and a new type of rural cooperative medical care cover the whole nation.

In the last year of my term, the government will make every effort to pursue several difficult tasks as follows:

First, formulate an integral plan to reform the income distribution system.

Second, establish and issue regulation on expropriation and compensation of rural land.

Third, extend old-age insurance to the whole country. Fourth, boost poverty relief in poor areas.

Fifth, we've arranged the budget for educational expenditures to account for 4 percent of GDP. We'll make every effort to attain the goal and make sure all expenditures reasonable.

All the power of government is entrusted by the people. Therefore, we should create conditions for people to criticize the government. It feels natural for me to see people's criticism.

In fact, many important decisions of government derive from people's criticism. I even think of inviting representatives who often criticize the government to Zhongnanhai, the Chinese government's central compound, to listen to their advice face to face.

However, there are also slanders about me, which pains me. My individual personality is not understood by them and I feel a bit worried about society. I will press ahead and continue to struggle with courage despite slanders or rumors.

(conti. after the jump)

The End of "Wood Mustache Meat"?

"Four glad meat balls", "wood mustache meat", and "tofu made by woman with freckles" -- who doesn't know these dishes!

Beijing is resolute in eliminating these Chinglish on the menus with a newly released list of standard English names for 2,158 popular dishes. From now on, "four glad meat balls" will be properly called "braised pork balls in gravy". "Wood mustache meat" should be "sautéed sliced pork, eggs and black fungus"; "tofu made by woman with freckles" is of course "mapo tofu".

Beijing Office of Foreign Affairs states that the list is only for reference, and that the restaurants are not obligated to modify their English menus. It is yet to see whether this list would make a difference. Personally, I found the Chinglish dish names quite amusing, I mean, who wouldn't like to have "four happy meat balls"? :)

Santorum on China

Santorum sees China as part of a "gathering storm" of security threats facing the United States, including Iran and Venezuela, he told Secure Freedom Radio in June 2011. He would like to see the United States take a stronger stand with China and wants to rebuild the United States so that it can be a stronger player on the world stage.

In an October 2011 Republican debate, Santorum said in reference to trade issues with China, "I don't want to go to a trade war, I want to beat China. I want to go to war with China and make America the most attractive place in the world to do business.”

16 Feb 2012, Rick Santorum referenced Chinese Vice President Xi's visit to the US before discussing US policy with China.
"I know folks are concerned about currencies. I'm concerned about it too. Governments should not set currencies. Markets should set currency values. And that includes the United States of America," Mr Santorum told supporters in Detroit.

02/27/2012 , Rick Santorum appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press.

FMR. SEN. SANTORUM:  What I voted for was to enforce the law --enforce the tariffs, when China was illegally dumping steel in this country.  That's not a steel bailout.  That's--there are laws in place in this country that protect domestic manufacturers from illegal dumping into this country.  They went through the process, they did the evaluation.  The evaluation was that China was breaking the law, and I supported imposing tariffs.  There was a process here.  That wasn't a bailout.  In fact, the steel industry has never been bailed out.  That's the example that I talk about all the time.  I went through the 1970s and '80s and saw the destruction of the steel industry in southwestern Pennsylvania.  And the steel industry didn't get a bailout.  You know what, it turned out just fine for western Pennsylvania.  We have a much more diversified economy.  And I didn't stand for bailouts then, I didn't stand for bailouts of Wall Street nor Detroit. Governor Romney supported his friends on Wall Street and bailed them out.  And they're doing just fine. 

Latest from NPC

·         Hu Jintao: PLA and the armed police should pay more attention to safeguarding social stability

·         Zhou Yongkang: the judiciary should promote social harmony and stability

·         Bo Xilai remarks on Wang Lijun (More on this from NYT here and here, from WSJ)

·         Zhou Xiaochuan: China has ample room to cut reserve ratio

·         Misc “two sessions” quotes compiled by Caixin.

Hu stresses military's safeguarding social stability

BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday called for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the armed police to pay more attention to safeguarding social stability, including that of military personnel.

Hu, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), made the remarks at a plenary meeting of PLA deputies to the National People's Congress on the sidelines of the parliament's annual session.

He noted that every soldier in the military must be aware that development while maintaining stability is the priority.

Hu stressed that the PLA and the armed police must focus on national defense and army building, and adhere to the fundamental requirement of making progress while maintaining stability.

The president called for the PLA and the armed police to prioritize building the military from an ideological and political perspective and deepening preparation for combat to fulfill every assigned task and prepare for the opening of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) later this year.
(more after the jump)

Metropolitan Public Safety -- Crowd Wisdom Needed!

Dear friends,

Today I learned with shock that a friend was mugged by a gang at gun point near Dupont Circle. It was 11pm on a Thursday, on 21st between L and M st., which I always considered a safe area. What scared me more was that even after my friend gave them his wallet, they still blocked his way from two sides and hit his head with their guns, resulting in a few wounds that took 16 stitches.

Before I moved from China to U.S., my relatives told me to be extra careful because U.S. is a country where bearing arms is legal. Yes I understand that the origin of the Second Amendment, which is all the more reason why I think it should be rendered obsolete these days --- a violent revolt against the government, really???

I'm not here to argue against the right to bear arms however, I'm here to ask for your ideas and thoughts on how to make the communities safe. What could the society, NGOs, young people do to make their neighborhoods safer? I know that one should always be vigilant when walking alone after dark, but a city should provide its residents and visitors a sense of safety. When I was in Copenhagen, my host family told me with pride that thanks to the welfare system, one could walk around anywhere past midnight without fearing anything, even for a small young woman like me. And I've always felt that way when I was living near Harvard Square in Cambridge too. It never even occurred to me that central DC area could be so dangerous.

What's going on with the social equality/ welfare system in DC? Why are gangs roaming in the metro area? And if we, concerned residents, are coming together to do something to address the issue, to make our visitors feel like they have nothing to fear, what are the actions that we could take?

I look forward to your inputs. Thank you,

Ella

Latest from NPC

·         Wu Bangguo Delivers NPC Standing Committee Work Report | Highlights | Wu: Progress in Protecting People's Welfare

·         Hu Jintao Stresses Stability in Tibet

·         Bo Xilai Vows to Build Safe, Health City (after being absent at yesterday’s sessions)

·         Xie Xuren: China to step up local gov't debt management | property tax reform

Wu Bangguo Delivers NPC Standing Committee Work Report

BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo delivered a work report of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) at a plenary meeting of the ongoing NPC annual session Friday.

Highlights:

OVERALL WORK IN 2011

-- The Standing Committee deliberated 24 bills, legal interpretations and draft decisions on legal issues, passed 14 of them, and has presented four of them to this session for deliberation and approval.

-- It listened to and deliberated 14 work reports by the State Council, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate; investigated implementation of four laws; ratified four treaties and accords China concluded with foreign countries and its accession to one international convention; made decisions on and approved the appointment or removal of a number of employees in state bodies; and made an important contribution to upholding and improving the system of people's congresses and carrying out reform, opening up, and socialist modernization.

LEGISLATIVE WORK IN 2011

-- The NPC Standing Committee has submitted the draft revision of the Criminal Procedure Law to this session for deliberation and approval after two readings.

-- The NPC Standing Committee amended the Law on Personal Income Tax and the Law Concerning the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases.

-- It passed the Law on Administrative Enforcement after deliberating it on five occasions.

-- It examined and approved the interpretations of Article 13, paragraph 1, and Article 19 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the interpretations of Annex I, Article 7, and Annex II, Article 3, of the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

-- The NPC Standing Committee worked to make legislation more scientific and democratic, such as expanding the orderly participation of citizens in legislation, actively responding to social concerns and launching a pilot project for evaluating laws after they are passed.

(more after the jump)

Latest from NPC

·         Yang Jiechi press conference – “U.S. should cautiously handle issues related to China’s core interests”

·         Li Zhaoxing press conference – China’s military spending

·         Chen Deming press conference – on US bill imposing countervailing duties, trade balance

·         PLA address leadership, modernization of the armed forces

·         Kashgar official on Xinjiang stability

Yang Jiechi Press Conference

BEIJING - The priorities of China's diplomacy this year are to uphold peace and tackle thorny regional and international issues through dialogues, consultation and negotiation responsibly, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told reporters at a press conference during the nation's annual parliamentary session on Tuesday.

Yang said China expects relevant neighboring countries to peacefully handle and resolve differences and disagreements with China through dialogue and negotiation.

Yang said that maintaining sound relations between China and the United States is the common responsibility of both countries and complies with the overall interests of the international community.

He called on the United States to cautiously and properly handle issues related to China's core interests such as those related to Taiwan and Tibet.

To develop China-US relations, both countries should always stick to the principles laid down in the three Sino-US joint communiques and the Sino-US joint statement, and respect each other's core interests and major concerns

China has kept close communication with the United States on the issues of Syria and Iran, he said.

Yang said that the Iran nuclear issue should be resolved through dialogues and cooperation but not confrontations and sanctions.

(more after the jump)

China National People's Congress: Wen Jiabao & Xi Jinping Remarks

HIGHLIGHTS OF WEN JIABAO's GOVERNMENT WORK REPORT

MAJOR TARGETS FOR 2012

-- GDP will grow by 7.5 percent.

-- Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase will be kept around 4 percent.

-- More than 9 million new jobs will be created in towns and cities. The registered urban unemployment rate will be kept at 4.6 percent or lower.

-- The volume of total exports and imports will increase by around 10 percent.

-- China will make further progress in industrial restructuring, innovation, energy conservation, and emissions reduction, and ensure that both urban and rural residents' real incomes increase in line with economic growth.

-- A deficit of 800 billion yuan is projected, a decrease to around 1.5 percent of GDP, consisting of 550 billion yuan in central government deficit and 250 billion yuan in local government bonds.

FISCAL AND MONETARY POLICIES

-- China will continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy. The government will increase spending on areas important to people's wellbeing.

-- China will continue to implement a prudent monetary policy. The broad money supply is projected to increase by 14 percent.

-- China will make the floating exchange rate regime more flexible and keep the RMB exchange rate basically stable at an appropriate and balanced level.

PRICE CONTROL

-- China will control prices and prevent inflation from rebounding by effectively carrying out macroeconomic policies, managing the supply of money and credit, and striving for basic equilibrium in aggregate supply and demand.

AGRICULTURE

-- Efforts will be made to increase farmers' income, support agricultural technology development, develop rural infrastructure and protect farm land.

-- The central fiscal plans to allocate 1.23 trillion yuan for agriculture, rural areas and farmers, 186.8 billion yuan more than last year.

ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING

-- To accelerate the transformation of the economic development pattern and carry out strategic adjustment of the economic structure is both a long-term and most pressing task at present.

NUCLEAR POWER

-- China will safely and effectively develop nuclear power.

MONITORING PM 2.5

-- China will start monitoring fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River delta, the Pearl River delta and other key areas as well as in municipalities directly under the central government and provincial capital cities in 2012.

-- The monitoring will be extended to all cities at and above the prefectural level by 2015.

GOING BLUE

-- China will formulate and implement a strategy for marine development, and promote the development of the marine economy.

SPENDING MORE IN EDUCATION

-- The central government has prepared its budget to meet the requirement that government spending on education accounts for 4 percent of the GDP.

-- The government will enhance school bus safety to ensure children's safety.

PEOPLE'S WELLBEING

-- China will make every effort to increase employment and the government must continue to follow the strategy of giving top priority to employment.

-- By the end of the year, the country will have achieved full coverage of the new old-age pension system for rural residents and the old-age pension system for non-working urban residents.

-- The government will raise subsidies for medical insurance for non-working urban residents and the new type of rural cooperative medical care system to 240 yuan per person per year.

-- It will continue to keep the birthrate low and redress gender imbalance.

-- It will continue to develop low-income housing, and basically complete 5 million units and start construction on over 7 million units.

SOCIAL MANAGEMENT

-- The government will work hard to resolve social conflicts.

-- It will actively yet prudently carry forward the reform of the household registration system.

-- It will strengthen and improve management of the Internet and foster a healthy cyberspace environment.

CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

-- China will vigorously promote nonprofit cultural services and strengthen cultural infrastructure in communities, particularly in rural areas and the central and western regions.

KEY REFORM AREAS

-- China will transform government functions and balance the relationship between government and the market.

-- It will advance reform of the fiscal and taxation systems.

-- It will deepen reforms of land, household registration and public services.

-- It will carry forward reforms in social programs and income distribution.

-- It will run the government in accordance with the law and promote innovation in social administration.

-- It will encourage nongovernmental investment in railways, public utilities, finance, energy, telecommunications, education, and medical care.

OPENING-UP

-- The government will maintain steady growth in foreign trade.

-- It will encourage more foreign investment in advanced manufacturing, new and high technologies, energy conservation, environmental protection, new service industries, and the central and western regions.

-- It will support companies making overseas investments, strengthen risk management of overseas investments and protect the safety of employees and assets of Chinese enterprises operating overseas.

NATIONAL DEFENSE

-- China will vigorously carry out military training under information-age conditions.

-- China will ensure the armed forces resolutely accomplish the tasks of combating terrorism, maintaining stability, handling emergencies, and relieving disasters.

HONG KONG, MACAO, TAIWAN

-- The central government will fully support Hong Kong and Macao in growing their economies, improving the people' s wellbeing and promoting democracy.

-- In 2012, the mainland will strengthen the political, economic, and cultural foundation and public support for growing cross-Straits relations and make further progress in promoting the peaceful development.

GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY

-- China will actively participate in building mechanisms for global economic governance such as the G20.

-- It will continue to play a constructive role in the Doha Round of trade talks.

-- It will actively participate in multilateral affairs and global governance and contribute to making the international political and economic order more just and equitable.

Xi Jinping’sRemarks at Shanghai Delegation Meeting

Xi embraced Wen’s report, praised Shanghai’s progress in the past year, then commented that Shanghai municipal government is facing a leadership transition too. Xi urges the Shanghai delegates to maintain a steady and relatively fast economic growth, maintain stable commodity prices, maintain general stability of the society, and make new progress in the economic transition.

Xi asks Shanghai to follow the scientific development steadfast and asks that all levels of officials to form a consensus: can’t just pursue fast economic development at the cost of environment and resources, at the cost of accumulating social conflicts, or at the cost of increasing historic debts. Xi urges Shanghai officials to reaffirm that despite the difficulties on the scientific development path, never relax in driving innovation, making transitional development, and to speed up building “four centers [finance, economy, trade, shipping]”, intelligent city, new suburban city and ecological civilization.