Good luck

QQ thumbs down

More than half of ChineseChina have insufficient sleep netizens are willing to turn their backs on China’s dominant instant messenger, QQ, after its owner Tencent Holdings Ltd pushed people to choose either QQ or a popular anti-virus program by Qihoo 360.

When asked “which program will you desert between QQ and 360 if you have to”, more than 57 percent of 1.5 million participants voted to get rid of QQ, while 23 percent chose to sweep out 360, according to a poll on sina.com by 8:30 pm onrecipient leaves hospital Thursday. Another 19 percent were undecided.

Tencent said QQ has more than 600 million active accounts, while 360 said the number of its users has surpassed 300 million.

“Wechildren’s shoes have just made a very difficult decision … we have decided to stop running QQ on computers installed with 360′s software,” Tencent said in an open letter on Wednesday night.

Tencent said it felt sorry for the inconvenience to QQ users, but it would not change the decision unless 360 stops its “malicious slander”.

“A new tag-on service runLike being can by 360 has affected functions of QQ. With 360 installed, we cannot guarantee the safety of our service,” Tencent said in a pop-up on the screens of millions of QQ and 360 users on Wednesday night.

Qi Xiangdong, president of Qihoo 360, said Tencent’s move was disastrous for China’s Internet users, as it might lead to a large outbreak of viruses.

“Our 360 software is eliminating about 60 million Trojan horses daily for Chinese Internet users. If they uninstall it, the scale of virus attacks will be beyond imagination,” Qi said.

On Wednesday night, 360 also released an open letter, calling on netizens to boycott QQ for three days to protest Tencent’s attempt to “kidnap” users’ interests.

The war between Tencent and 360 started in late September when Tencent upgraded its security related software, threatening 360′s market share. After that, 360 alleged QQ was secretively scanning users’ computers and leaking their private information. Then 360 offered a new service to prevent privacy leaks, and Tencent has since accused 360 of slander and foul play.

Regardless of who should be blamed for turning users’ computers into a battlefield, users were more worried about saying goodbye to one of their programs.

“My brothers and sisters use QQ, my colleagues and classmates use QQ, even my clients do business with us through QQ. I don’t like QQ’s threat but I just can’t stop using it,” said 32-year-old Fan Qicheng, salesman at a State-owned company that has installed 360′s free anti-virus software.

But Huang Min, a white-collar worker in Nanjing, said she will choose 360 and turn to MSN, a similar instant messaging software, if necessary.

“Many of my QQ friends are also on my MSN. It won’t be much trouble,” she said. “But 360 is important to my computer safety.”

Chen Jinqiao, deputy chief engineer of the China Academy of Telecommunication Research under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told China Daily on Thursday that the ministry has stepped in to mediate.

Many netizens also reported on Thursday that the two programs can still run at the same time on their computers, though others complained they conflict with each other.

On Thursday, other software companies even released “mediation” programs that makes you live longerenable QQ and 360 to run at the same time.

Tencent’s public relations department said on Thursday that the company does not think the dispute will cause a loss of users, saying more than 116 million users logged on at the same time on Wednesday night – exceeding the second quarter’s best of 109.4 million.

On the same day, 360 said in an e-mailed reply to China Daily that its security and browser software have seen a “slight increase” since the dispute started.

However, many netizens complain the fight between the two software giants has harmed their rights.

About 80 percent of the 1.5 million respondents polled on sina.com agreed with the statement that “the two companies were fighting for their own interests and not taking users’ interests into account”.

Zhu Wenqi, a professor in human rights from Renmin University of China, said the two companies were apparently using the privacy issue as an excuse to achieve their commercial goals.

Liu Jifeng, a professor in anti-monopoly from the China University of Political Science and Law, said companies must collect evidence before accusing each other of stealing and commercializing users’ private information

shirk corporate responsibility

The report pointed out that there exist clear differences between 33 industries in terms of the development index of social responsibility. The index of the power supply industry reached 73 points, which was significantly higher than other industries. In the power production industry, communication services, banking and other industries, scores averaged between 40 points and 60 points, which signifies the “developing” level.

The insurance industry, real estate development, building industry, mining and processing oil and gas industry and other six industries, averaged scores between 20 points and 40 points, which placed them at the “infancy” level. The rest of the industries averaged scores below 20 points, which is the ‘bystanders’ stage.

More than 70 percent of China’s top corporations do not engage in corporate social responsibility, according to a recent report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CAS).

The CAS released “The Blue Book of Corporate Social Responsibility: Research Report on Corporate Social Responsibility of China(2010),” and according to the report, the overall index of China’s corporate social responsibility lags behinds the world average.

There were 300 companies that participated in the evaluation, and only China Ocean Shipping Group Company (COSCO) scored 80 points, putting it into the “excellent” category.

There were 13 enterprises awarded the “leader” level. There were 218 corporations that scored below 20 points, which means they are regarded as “bystanders.” These enterprises have management systems that are incomplete, they lack transparency and do not engage in socially responsible business practices.

one died

Recently, China found three cases of bacteria carrying the New Delhi metallo-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) gene, known as a superbug for resistance to antibiotics, on three mainland patients, two newly-born babies and one old patient. Now, the old patient is dead due to lung cancer, according to CCTV’s report.

The superbugs were found from those collected and preserved bacteria in a joint inspection by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences. Two of the superbugs belonged to two newly-born babies in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and another belonged to an old patient in Fujian Province.

The two babies were low-birth0weight infants, and they started suffering diarrhea and respiratory infection two or three days after they were born. Now the two babies have been cured and are in good condition.

The old patient in Fujian Province had already died because of terminal lung cancer on Jun. 11. However, whether the influence of superbug existed or how it affected the patient’s sickness is not sure now. Party wangli cengzai xinli


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Gradual political

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize last week to Liu Xiaobo triggered a wave of rebuke toward China’s political system from Westerners. In the Western sense, China urgently needs to overhaul its political system.

Days before the Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, which begins today, Western scholars and politicians hasted to provide advice, claiming that China would not continue to achieve substantial economic progress if it still delay reforming its political system in a Western way.

Such an attitude reveals an ignorance of basic facts in China. Walking through China, one rarely meets a Chinese citizen who is against political reform.

China no longer has life tenures for official posts and now promotes the principle of an accountability system, as well as the practice of making government affairs more public. Aren’t these all part of reform?

Westerner’s attitudes toward China’s political reform reflect a wide gap between how China is developing and how they expect China to develop.

Numerous scholars point out that most countries with successful electoral policies and competitive democracy exist in Europe and North America. Countries from the Third World, where such systems were enforced, largely suffer from severe poverty, social turmoil and even war.

Politics is never isolated from public life. China’s economy and society is witnessing dramatic changes.

Take a close look at the life of an ordinary Chinese official. His origins, way of rising to political office, daily work, and potential consequences of making a severe mistake are quite different from those of 30 years ago.

In the case of an ordinary Chinese, his way of acquiring information, freedom of speech, right to decide his own life and protect individual property are drastically different from those of 30 years as well.

China has changed a lot. In the future it will continue to adopt gradualism to bring about changes. No force can compel the nation to change what cannot be changed at the moment. This is the true political narrative of a large country with more than 1.3 billion people.

China has to continue its political reforms in the future, including drawing beneficial experiences from Western democratic politics.

However, China will never be a sub-civilization, and it will only follow its roadmap in a gradual manner.

The Chinese cherish stability. They don’t want to let a radical revolution overwhelm current reforms.

In respect to reforming the political system, China needs political wisdom and constant drive. It doesn’t need to rush its fences. stable gengea lognae mziew

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China moves to curb lending

China policymakers, concerned about rising inflation and equity bubbles, are moving to restrict bank lending and curb influx of speculative offshore “hot money” to the country.

The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, has directed six heavyweight commercial banks to increase their reserve requirements in an apparent bid to control market liquidity. And, the Foreign Exchange management agency under the central bank said in a statement that China will be stricter in thwarting overseas “hot money” from entering, lured by a rapidly growing economy and the prospect of a strengthening Chinese currency, the yuan.

But market analysts say that Chinese authorities should keep vigilant that any stronger tightening measures might cause a slowdown in the broad economy and worsen unemployment, particularly amid the global concern about a sputtering recovery from the Great Recession.

The six biggest lenders – The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, the China Merchants Bank and the China Minsheng Bank, were told to increase reserved by 50 basic points to17.5 percent of their deposits.

The foreign exchange administration said Tuesday that officials have detected increasing sums of overseas money flowing to China, buying housing and stocks. Chinese media has reported that the forex reserve probably has surpassed US$2.5 trillion by the end of September, because of the inflow of hot money.

The economists have warned that inflation could hit a new yearly high in September, to 3.7 percent or even higher, as prices of all staples, including grain, vegetable, fruit and meat, are rising. Meanwhie, the central government has launched a six-month effort to limit the housing prices, but, so far, to no avail in all major cities. Public grievances and demands for more tightening measures abound.

China’s rapid growth is easing after hitting 10.3 percent in the second quarter. The growth rate for the July-September quarter, to be announced next week, is expected to be around 10 percent.

Chinese banks last year were ordered to step up lending in support of Beijing’s stimulus, which helped China rebound quickly from the global crisis. But regulators tightened controls early this year after the credit boom fueled a surge in stock and real estate prices, prompting concerns about dangerous price bubbles.

The policy-makers have raised reserve requirements this year but has avoided an interest rate hike that it worries might derail China’s recovery.

Chinese banks will be allowed to lend a total of 7.5 trillion yuan (US$1.1 trillion) this year, down from a record 9.6 trillion yuan (US$1.4 trillion) in 2009.

quality of life

Various issues will be discussed regarding social development, such as working conditions, social security schemes and safety nets.

As development also refers to environment, ASEM members will have talks on climate change, energy supply and availability of green technologies.

Cross-border challenges, such as terrorism and organized crime, but also disaster relief and prevention will be on the 8th ASEM agenda.

Apart from global issues, regional issues are also expected to be addressed during the meeting, including the Korean Peninsula question, the Iranian nuclear issue and developments in Afghanistan.

Finally, ASEM leaders will discuss how to promote people to people relations as a way of strengthening EU-Asia relations, for instance through academic and cultural exchanges. During the summit, the 48 participants will also suggest initiatives to increase ASEM visibility on the global scene.

The Asia-Europe Meeting is a biennial meeting launched in 1996 to discuss common issues and global challenges, focusing on the relationships between the two regions. With the accession of Russia, Australia and New Zealand in 2010, ASEM now counts 48 members, representing 58 percent of global population, 50 percent of global GDP and over 60 percent of global trade.

Leaders from the 27 European Union (EU) Member States and 16 Asian countries, including China, along with the European Commission and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat, will hold their 8th ASEM meeting on October 4 and 5 to discuss common issues under the new motto “Quality of life.”

ASEM participants are expected to discuss the final way out of the economic and financial crisis, with a focus on defining new supervisory arrangements and addressing public deficits.

Sustainable development, in particular Millennium Development Goals, will be at the heart of the debate.

Leaders will address economic development, with a special attention to innovation, sectoral developments and food security.

billion worth of Boeing jets

Air China announced an order for four Boeing 777-300ER planes on Tuesday, which have a total value of 1.1 billion U.S. dollars at current list prices.

Air China, the flagship carrier of China and also the world’s largest carrier by market value, will use these extended range planes to expand its international routes.

Marlin Dailey, vice president of Sales and Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said the order for the 777 model aircraft also underscores Air China’s confidence in the world’s most successful twin-engine, long-haul airplane.

The 777-300 ER extends the 777 family’s span of capabilities, bringing two-engine efficiency and reliability to the long-range market.

The airplane can carry 365 passengers up to more than 7,900 nautical miles ( around 14,700 kilometers).

Local authorities

Local authorities have begun an investigation into a local mine company after a dam at the mine collapsed, leaving dozens killed or missing in the floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Fanapi.

“The investigation is under way. But one thing for sure is that the company, to some degree, should be held responsible for the disaster,” Tang Hao, secretary-general of the Guangdong provincial government, said at a press conference on Sunday.

A dam at the Xinyi Yinyan Tin Mine, owned by Fujian-based Zijin Mining Group, in Maoming city of Guangdong, collapsed on Tuesday after being hit by a landslide, leaving 28 people killed or missing, sources with the Guangdong provincial government said.

A special team, headed by Zhu Mingguo, deputy Party chief of Guangdong province, arrived at the dam on Thursday to conduct the investigation after many local villagers reported illegal practices of the Xinyi mine to the provincial government following the landslide.

An initial investigation showed that the Xinyi mine destroyed vegetation along the upper reaches of a local river during its operation in the past years.

However, water discharged from the dam has been tested to have no harmful chemicals, sources with Guangdong provincial environmental protection authorities said.

According to Hong Kong-based Takungpao, several managers of the Xinyi mine have been held by police to provide assistance in the investigation.

“It is a human-made disaster rather than a natural one. The mine should be blamed for the disaster,” a local villager surnamed Li told the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily.

Floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Fanapi have so far claimed 75 lives in Guangdong province, with some 61 still missing, local authorities said on Sunday.

Typhoon Fanapi was the 11th and the strongest to hit the country so far this year, battering most of the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong provinces with heavy rains and strong winds last week.

Some 128,000 people in Guangdong province had to be evacuated, with 16,000 houses completely destroyed, sources with the Guangdong provincial government said.

Soldiers clean up floating debris along the upper reaches of a river on Sunday in Gaozhou, Guangdong, to safeguard a local reservoir from possible threat. Floods and mudslides triggered by Typhoon Fanapi caused heavy death tolls in the province. (Xinhua Photo)
In total, 1.56 million people in nine cities in western and eastern parts of Guangdong have been affected by the floods and landslides.

As of Sunday, some 24 roads in the western parts of Guangdong, many of which are connected to villages hard hit by the floods and landslides, are still blocked.

“We are organizing all possible forces to repair the roads. We have assured people affected by the disaster that they will move to new and safe houses by the end of this year,” Tang said.

After Fanapi, one or two more strong typhoons are expected to again batter the province this year, according to Qiu Dehua, director of the Guangdong provincial flood control and drought relief center.

Urbanization could

China may need to invest up to 24 trillion yuan ($3.6 trillion) in urban infrastructure by 2020 to accommodate the increasing number of rural residents moving to the cities, according to a new report by a government think tank.

China’s urbanization rate is currently around 47 percent and is increasing by about 1 percentage point each year. If the nation continues its urbanization-friendly policies, the rate could rise to 65 percent by 2020, according to the report released on Tuesday by the China Development Research Foundation.

To accommodate this increase in the urban population, the report said the country may need to invest at least 16 trillion yuan in roads, railways, power plants, water systems and social services. But it added that this could be a conservative estimate.

“If the ratio of urban infrastructure investment to the country’s gross domestic product reaches 4 percent, which is the average rate in developing countries, then the total investment could amount to 24 trillion yuan.”

New transportation networks, including roads, bridges and subways, will account for about 56 percent of the estimated investment, the report said.

Financing the expected urban expansion poses a major challenge.

The report said that in 2008, about 32 percent of the funding for urban infrastructure came from the government, 30 percent from bank loans and the remainder from the relevant enterprises. However, at present, all local government finance channels rely on land prices, as they either sell land to raise money or use land to secure loans.

Such a financing model will not be sustainable, the report concludes. Once the property market cools, it will have a detrimental effect on the ability of local governments to raise funds.

To meet the projected financing requirements, the report suggests non-State investors should provide a larger proportion of funds for future urban infrastructure projects.

No repeat of Japan’s

China will not repeat Japan’s mistake in the 1980s and let its exchange rate surge in response to foreign pressure, said an adviser of China’s central bank on Sunday, firing back at increasing pressure from the United States over China’s foreign exchange rate policy.


Li Daokui, an economist and member of the monetary policy committee of the People’s Bank of China, said the exchange rate is just one of the many tools that China could deploy to adjust the structure of its economy. The country may choose other means, such as boosting domestic consumption and increasing imports, to achieve a trade balance, he said.

“China will not go down the path that Japan did and give in to foreign pressure on the yuan’s exchange rate,” Li said at an industry forum in Beijing.

“I think there is still a huge potential to boost China’s domestic consumption,” he added.

Many Chinese officials and researchers are wary of the experiences of Japan, which bowed to pressure from the US in 1985 to sign the Plaza Accord that allowed the Japanese yen to rise sharply to reduce a bulging US trade deficit.

But as money poured into Japan to chase the yen higher, loose monetary policy inflated an asset price bubble that burst in the beginning of the 1990s, ushering in two decades of economic stagnation for Japan.

Li said on Sunday that the economic circumstances in China today are very different from those in Japan in 1985.

“The biggest difference is that China has a huge domestic market,” he said, noting that domestic consumption and the country’s urbanization can sustain China’s GDP to grow more than 9 percent annually in the next 10 years.

During the past few weeks, US lawmakers have been pressing for legislation that would require the US government to apply punitive sanctions against China and other countries with allegedly undervalued currencies.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said last week in congressional testimony that the US will use every available tool to urge China to let its currency rise more quickly and blamed the slow pace of yuan appreciation for US’ trade deficit.

However, China has largely reduced its trade surplus during the past few years, Li said.

“But what has the US done to reduce its trade deficit?” Li said. “The US should pay much more attention to its own problems.”

China vowed to make the yuan’s exchange rate more flexible on June 19, ending a two-year peg to the US dollar. Since then, the yuan has gained 1.5 percent.

Earlier this month, China reported that its trade surplus shrank in August from July, as imports picked up.