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Wednesday November 29, 2017

At a Glance

PREMIER Li Keqiang on Monday proposed fi ve initia-tives to further advance 16+1 cooperation while addressing the sixth meeting of heads of gov-ernment of China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries in Budapest, Hungary.

Li said the key to the fast development of the 16+1 coop-eration is to apply the principles of equality and consultation, mutual benefi t, openness and inclusiveness, and innovation.

The 16+1 cooperation is not a geopolitical tool, but an incuba-tor for pragmatic trans-regional cooperation, said Li, adding that the cooperation is conducive to the balanced development of China-EU relations.

He proposed fi ve initiatives to further promote cooperation between China and the Central

and Eastern European countries (CEEC).

First, he called on the two sides to expand economic and trade scale, and boost trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.

China is willing to import more high-quality agricultural products from the CEE coun-tries to promote the balanced development of bilateral trade as well as meet the diversifi ed demands of China’s domestic market, Li said.

Second, he encouraged the countries to speed up major projects on connectivity, by pro-moting links through land, sea, air and the Internet.

China hopes to see more rail lines launched by China Railway Express and more direct fl ights between China and Europe, and

would like to set up a logistics center in the CEE region, Li said.

Third, the premier suggested that the two sides probe coop-eration modes such as industrial parks in the areas of production capacity, energy, logistics and agriculture.

China proposes implement-ing a 16+1 scientifi c partner plan and welcomes all CEE enterprises to participate in the “Made in China 2025” strategy, a blueprint for upgrading the country’s manufacturing sector, said the premier.

Fourth, Li called for strong fi nancial support for the 16+1 cooperation. He announced the establishment of China-CEEC Inter-Bank Association and the second phase of China-CEEC Investment Cooperation Fund

in a keynote speech to the sev-enth China-CEEC Economic and Trade Forum held earlier Monday.

Fifth, he called on the coun-tries to conduct more cultural and people-to-people exchanges, enhance cooperation on tourism, and start cooperation between youths, in areas of traditional Chinese medicine, sports and protection of women and chil-dren. He proposed making 2018 the year of China-CEEC local cooperation.

This year marks the fi fth anniversary of the launch of 16+1 cooperation. Li said in his speech that the 16+1 cooperation has been growing in the past fi ve years, becoming an infl uential trans-regional mechanism with substantial projects and coopera-tion results. (Xinhua)

Li proposes 5 initiatives to advance tiesTWO Chinese State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have merged into an energy conglomerate with total assets worth 1.8 trillion yuan (US$272.96 billion).

The new company, China Energy Corp., has become the world’s largest in coal mining, thermal power, renewable energy and coal-to-liquid con-version, according to the found-ing ceremony held yesterday.

It was formed by the reorgani-zation of power generator China Guodian Corp. and coal miner Shenhua Group.

“It is the biggest consolidation among central SOEs in recent years,” said Xiao Yaqing, chair-man of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Xiao expects the deal to improve corporate profi tability and help coordinate coal and electricity markets.

The merger is in line with the country’s effort to push restructuring in State-owned companies. During the past fi ve years, 34 central SOEs were reor-ganized to improve competitive-ness, according to Xiao.

The total number of central SOEs has halved from 196 in 2003.

Qiao Baoping, chairman of China Energy, said the company would focus on coal mining and power generation, while making more effort to eliminate excess capacity, and speed up its drive to go global.

China Energy signed a memo-randum of understanding with the government of West Vir-ginia to cooperate on shale gas exploration at the beginning of the month. The deal, with total investment to reach US$83.7 billion in 20 years, will be the largest ever energy cooperation deal between China and the United States. (Xinhua)

China Energy Corp. created

BEIJING on Monday ruled out the possibility of arson in an apartment fi re that killed 19 people, announcing that it was caused by faulty electric wiring.

The fi re broke out on the eve-ning of Nov. 18 in a three-story apartment building in Xinjian Village in the city’s Daxing District.

The public security bureau Daxing branch has

detained 20 people alleg-edly liable for the fi re.

An investigation showed that one of the suspects, surnamed Fan, built the 20,000-square-meter apartment block between 2002 and 2006 without approval from authorities.

In February this year, Fan started to build an under-ground cold storage basement, and invited some unquali-fi ed workers to equip the

freezer with electrical wires.The fi re broke out from a wall

of the freezer, where electrical wires buried in polyurethane insulation material had broken down, according to investiga-tors.

The freezer had not been put into use and was being tested when the fi re occurred.

The police are continuing to investigate the case.

(Xinhua)

Fatal Beijing fi re caused by electric circuit failure

ZHANG YANG, a member of the Central Military Commis-sion (CMC), committed suicide at his home in Beijing on Nov. 23, after authorities launched an investigation into his links to two former senior military fi gures, Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, the CMC said yesterday.

Zhang, a former member of the Communist Party of China Central Military Commission and former head of the CMC Political Work Department, hanged himself in his home.

The CMC decided to hold “talks” with Zhang to investigate his involvement in the cases of Guo and Xu, two corrupt former CMC vice chairmen, on Aug. 28, according to the CMC.

Investigators said that Zhang had seriously violated discipline and law. He was also suspected of offering and accepting bribes and holding a huge amount of property from unidentifi ed sources. (Xinhua)

Military offi cer commits suicide

LEE MING-CHE from Taiwan was sentenced to fi ve years in prison for “subverting State power,” by the Intermediate People’s Court of Yueyang City in Hunan Province yesterday.

Mainland resident Peng Yuhua was sentenced to seven years in prison on the same charge.

The two men were both deprived of their political rights for two years. They said they would not appeal.

Prosecutors accused Peng

of recruiting dozens of people, including Lee, to establish an organization aimed at subvert-ing State power and overturning the country’s political system, using instant messaging ser-vices.

Peng started spreading ideas on subverting State power, and recruiting group members on instant messaging platform QQ in May 2012, the court said. Lee joined the group in September the same year, gradually becom-ing a key member.

In November that year, after discussing with the others, Peng drafted a plan and established the goal of founding a political party and overthrowing the cur-rent political system in China.

They aimed to attract a mil-lion members by 2017.

From 2013, Lee and others set up several QQ groups, with total membership reaching 2,000. Peng and Lee wrote articles and books, and made videos online to attack the country’s political system. (Xinhua)

Taiwan man sentenced to 5 yrs in prison

GD police seize over 10 tons of drugsPOLICE confi scated 10.4 tons of drugs during the fi rst 10 months of this year in South China’s Guangdong Province.

They solved 13,000 drug-related cases and detained more than 16,000 suspects during that period, Zhai Kaixia, head of the provincial drug control bureau, said at a press conference.

In a typical case solved in July, police busted a drug production and sales ring, seizing more than 60 kilograms of metham-phetamine as well as guns and bullets.

In an ongoing crackdown on cross-border drug traffi cking, they intercepted more than 20 kilograms of heroin from Viet-nam in July, with assistance from police in neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The same month, they also captured 14 suspects, mainly Taiwanese, and seized more than 250 kilograms of meth. A delivery driver in the provincial capital Guangzhou received a reward of 300,000 yuan (US$45,493) at the press confer-ence for providing key informa-tion about the case. (Xinhua)

Exhibition combines culture with digital technologyA 3-D-printed miniature model of the Palace Museum on display at an exhibition in the museum yesterday. The exhibition was held during a forum that focused on the combination of digital technology and traditional culture. China News Service

More research centersCHINA will build six new national research centers in a bid to transform the country into a leading power in science and technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced Monday.5 rescued, 7 trappedFIVE crew members have been rescued from a cargo ship that sank off the coast of South China’s Guangdong Province on Monday, local authorities said yesterday.

Rescuers are still trying to reach the other seven mem-bers.