3_6_5_PQ365

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday that China\’s seabed exploration activities will help the country to further understand and utilize international seabed resources and serve the common interests of mankind.

"(The activities) will be conducive to improving scientific knowledge of deep sea resources and effectively protecting the seabed environment", said spokesman Ma Zhaoxu.

Ma made the remarks in a reply to a reporter\’s question about the recent approval China received from the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the international seabed regulatory body, for its application for exploratory work in international deep seabed areas.

The ISA Council approved the application on July 19, permitting China to search for polymetallic sulphides, a type of mineral resource, in an international deep seabed area located in the southwest Indian Ocean. The application was submitted by the China Ocean Minerals Resource Research and Development Association (COMRA).

The approval of the application means that the COMRA has exclusive exploratory rights for polymetallic sulphides in the area, as well as priority mining rights for future development programs, according to the spokesman.

"According to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, international seabed areas and their resources are the commonly inherited property of mankind", Ma added.

The COMRA filed the application in May 2010 with a guarantee from the Chinese government.

Source: Xinhua

Beijing is the most expensive city on the Chinese mainland for expatriates, ranking the 20th highest in the world for costs of living, according to an annual report released by Mercer, a US-based consulting company.

While housing remains the biggest expense for expats from transnational corporations, the price of schooling, healthcare and buying imported goods remains higher than other cities in the region.

"Prices of imports including clothes and electronics are about 10 to 40 percent higher than in Singapore as they are heavily taxed," said Kin Soon Cheong, a Singaporean expat working for an engineering corporation.

Mercer surveyed 214 cities, including nine in the Chinese mainland, and found Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are the three most expensive. The survey is used by multinational companies, governments and NGOs to calculate pay and allowances for expat employees.

Beijing is now even more expensive than New York City (32nd) and Paris (27th), but not quite as expensive as 18th-placed London. The survey takes into account the cost of goods and services including alcohol and tobacco, sports and leisure, utilities, clothing and accommodation.

Mercer said the survey is based on expatriates\’ life patterns, and the price of goods is collected from three types of stores – discount stores, supermarkets and fine stores.

"For example, we go to stores frequented by the expat population, and select international brands for comparability purposes," said Nathalie Constantin-Métral, senior researcher at Mercer.

"For accommodation, we include the price for houses and apartments in areas favored by expatriates," she said.

Foreigners sent to China are mostly senior-level employees, and their companies usually offer allowances to cover housing, schooling and transportation, said Gong Lili, senior consultant at Antal International, a British consulting company in Beijing. These expenses are often many times higher than for other foreigners in Beijing who organize employment by themselves, and do not have what is referred to as a "full expat package."

"Expats have an average housing allowance of 10,000 to 15,000 yuan ($1,549 to $2,323) per month, and more than 100,000 yuan each year if they have children in school," Gong said. Residential rental prices in Beijing and Shanghai have been increasing over the past six months, said the survey.

"House rental is the most expensive part of living in Beijing," said Rory van den Berg from Scotland, senior advisor with Montpelier Group. He is trying to keep to a budget. Although living costs are not expensive now, he may feel the pressure if prices keep increasing, Van den Berg said.

"This place is expensive, food is OK but housing prices are soaring all the time. The facilities are good and safe, and buses and subways are cheap. I feel the city costs more and more these years," said Dhurw Dev Siiygh, a yoga instructor from India.

Higher labor costs and general inflation have contributed to the increasing cost of living in Beijing, according to Zhong Dajun, director with the Center for Economy Observation and Studies at Peking University.

But he still feels that foreigners get a good deal living in Beijing. "It\’s not fair for expats to make big money and buy things at cheap prices at the same time, so the cost of living increase is normal and reasonable," he said.

"It might cost more to eat and rent a house, but the service quality is good, which is a pretty good bargain," Zhong noted.

Source: Global Times

While regulations are being finessed for the launch of the Shanghai international board, which would allow foreign companies to list on the Chinese mainland for the first time, attention is also being focused on one crucial element: a chronic lack of skilled financial professionals.

Foreign banks and local securities companies are scurrying to find workers with the right skills and experience. Even Tu Guangshao, Shanghai\’s vice-mayor in charge of finance services, said the greatest inhibitor to the city\’s bid to be a world financial center was the lack of professionals.

The Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai. The difficulty in hiring and retaining high-caliber professionals has become the biggest business challenge for companies in the Chinese financial hub. (China Daily Photo)

The latest statistics show that the number of people working in finance in Shanghai is 300,000, up from the 200,000 in 2006. However, that is only 2 percent of the city\’s total work force. In New York, the figure is 10 percent.

There are fears this could hamper China\’s ambition to turn the city into a competitive international financial center that could rival New York, London, Hong Kong or Singapore by 2020.

Career opportunities

In an April survey conducted by eFinancialCareers.com, a leading global website for career advice in banking and financial markets, 56 percent of responding companies said they are looking to increase their head count in 2011. However, 95 percent of them believe there is shortage of skilled talent in the current market. As many as 28 percent described the shortage as "long-existing".

Further complicating matters is a tendency among those already employed in the sector to switch jobs.

Fluidity is typical in the financial services industry, according to George McFerran, head of Asia-Pacific at eFinancialCareers. Referring to another survey his company conducted, he said: "While 77 percent of respondents expressed their satisfaction with their current job, they said they are still continuously looking for better career opportunities. Another 13 percent said that they were unhappy and wanting to change jobs as soon as possible."

Mark Hall, a manager at Kelly Services China, a human resources and consulting company, echoed the sentiment.

Hall cited a recent study that showed the majority of financial organizations (93 percent) reported a lack of middle- to senior-level professionals with relevant skills, which had a negative effect on their ability to serve clients.

"The difficulty in hiring and retaining middle- to senior-level professionals has remained the top business challenge for companies," Hall said.

Furthermore, the greatest negative effect is experienced by the private equity and trust ends of the business, followed by funds, securities, insurance and investment banking. The skills reported to be in shortest supply are those considered most important for middle-ranking and senior executives in the sector. Initiative and enterprise – considered to be two of the most important skills – are cited among the top skills in short supply.

"As the financial services sector in China is constantly challenged by changes, organizations are looking out for middle- to senior-level professionals who possess high levels of initiative and the ability to build long-term relationships with clients as well as autonomously sell products and services that are targeted to individual client needs," Hall told China Daily.

This has mirrored findings from eFinancialCareers, which identified corporate banking relationship managers, private banking relationship managers and risk managers as the top three professionals most wanted in the talent pool.

"As the financial sector is by nature a service industry, it is highly essential to maintain relationships to draw clients and sell products," McFerran said.

【1】 【2】 【3】

Source: China Daily

China on Friday rejected a Japanese judicial panel\’s decision to indict a Chinese captain involved in a collision with two Japanese patrol boats in the East China Sea last September.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement after a judicial panel of citizens in Japan voted for the mandatory indictment of Zhan Qixiong, the 42-year-old Chinese skipper.

"I would like to reiterate that the Diaoyu Islands and adjacent islets are an integral part of Chinese territory from ancient times," Ma said.

Any form of so-called judiciary procedures taken by the Japanese side against the Chinese trawler is unlawful and invalid, Ma added.

The Naha District Public Prosecutors Office will lodge a prosecution to the Chinese skipper in accordance with the request of the judicial panel.

After the collision last September, Japan seized the Chinese boat and its crew and only returned the crew and trawler after repeated Chinese representations.

Source:Xinhua

A senior Chinese prosecutor is calling for closer international cooperation in the fight to sever the arteries that sustain the "global cancer" of trans-border corruption.

Chen Lianfu, director of the bureau of anti-corruption and bribery under the Supreme People\’s Procuratorate, said agencies and nations must work together to stem the flow of assets and cash being transferred by corrupt officials.

"Criminal suspects have sent large amounts of illegal money to other countries through money laundering," Chen said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

"Such things cause serious economic damage to the victim country and jeopardize international financial order."

Trans-border corruption, he said, not only affects single nations or enterprises, but economic development, social stability and national security on a global scale.

"The fight against corruption is not simply an internal matter for one nation but an issue that requires attention and active responses from all nations and their anti-corruption agencies," Chen said.

He called for tighter trans-border cooperation to counter money laundering in accordance with bilateral and multilateral conventions and treaties.

"By doing so, we will be able to cut the channels taken by illegal proceeds at the root and leave criminals with nowhere to flee and hide," Chen said.

The senior prosecutor said a large number of corrupt Chinese officials from the construction and finance sectors are still at large and spending their ill-gotten gains in foreign countries.

"Most of them flee to the United States, Canada, Australia and Southeast Asia countries and the illegal funds they transfer overseas are in the hundreds of millions of yuan," he said.

Chen did not disclose exactly how many such corrupt officials are now living overseas but said more than 90 percent of them were accused of corruption, bribery and embezzlement and transferred their hauls mainly through money laundering, illegal investment and underground financial institutions.

Chen said it is never easy to get people before the courts after they have fled.

"In many cases, we face difficulties in getting fugitives back to China to face a trial," Chen acknowledged.

China has signed extradition treaties with 37 countries, and inked 106 legal assistance agreements with 68 countries and regions.

But the country has not yet signed bilateral extradition treaties with some Western nations, including Canada and the US, Chen said.

Moreover, many countries are at different stages on the road to taking part in the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

"In particular, in some individual cases, we have been making efforts to request legal assistance from some countries, considering the background of the case, the people suspected of the crimes, the political or economic impact and we haven\’t achieved any progress in getting these fugitives back," Chen said.

Chen proposed that all countries in the world put aside political, economic and legal differences and team up against trans-border corruption.

He said nations should set up swift, efficient and well-coordinated information and data exchanges and enhance their capacities to collect information and data on corruption.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

Source: China Daily

Six people died and 17 others were injured in a road accident Saturday afternoon in east China\’s Jiangsu Province, local publicity officials said.

The accident happened at about 1:38 p.m. when a coach hit into the side of a semi-trailer at a crossroad in the town of Daxu in Xuzhou City, the Publicity Department of Xuzhou Communist Party Committee said in a statement.

Six people on the coach died on the spot, including the driver, according to the statement.

The injured were rushed to local hospitals, yet their conditions are not immediately known.

An investigation into the cause of the accident is under way.

Source: Xinhua

Rescuers have been unable to detect signs of life for 24 miners trapped in a flooded iron ore mine in east China\’s Shandong Province as rescue efforts entered their fourth day late Wednesday.

Rescuers drilled a 68-meter-deep hole to try and find signs of the miners. The miners are currently trapped in a mine belonging to the Zhengdong Mining Co. The mine is located in the Fangzi district of the city of Weifang, according to the city\’s rescue command center.

The command center said in a press release issued Wednesday evening that rescuers are still working to drain water and sludge from the mine to get to the trapped workers.

Water levels in the mineshaft remain unstable, although they have decreased, according to the center.

The government of Weifang said 31 people were working underground when the mine was flooded at around 11 p.m. Sunday. Seven of them managed to escape.

Mining authorities said the workers were conducting maintenance work in the mine when the accident occurred.

An initial investigation found that an open-air stone pit located near the mine became filled with water after several days of heavy rain. The pit collapsed, sending an estimated 20,000 cubic meters of water into the mine.

The mine received a production permit in February 2009, with mining operations scheduled to begin this October.

Source: Xinhua

A grandmother watches her chubby, one-year-old grandson playing on the sofa. She should have a look of joy on her face but instead it conveys a combination of bitterness and anxiety — days ago, the family learned the boy has lead poisoning.

The disheartening diagnosis informed the family that 348 micrograms of lead are present for every liter of blood in the baby boy, which is two and a half times more than the highest lead level for a healthy man.

"The local government delivered us some medicine and asked the boy to be immediately sent away, but we have no place to go," said Lu Shenqun, the grandmother.

Lu\’s family lives in the village of Jiankou near Lingbao, a city in central Henan Province that is famous for its lead industry. Chimneys of two large smelters loom over Jiankou and its neighboring villages.

For years, the choking smoke has prompted a majority of the villagers to complain, and revelations of children being afflicted with unknown diseases continued to irritate local residents, driving them onto city streets to demand answers.

In July, a government-sponsored test found 178 of the village\’s 431 children aged 14 or below to be suffering from elevated blood lead levels, and among them 27 were categorized as lead poisoned.

Health experts said an increased level of lead in the body can damage the circulatory, nervous, and reproductive systems and is particularly toxic to children.

Worse yet, the heavy metal becomes deposited in the soil, making the polluted area unable to grow crops and unfavorable for residence for a long period of time.

In a scramble to deal with the crisis, local officials said they had asked parents to temporarily move their children out of the polluted area, while in the long term, the relocation of the village might be inevitable.

Xinling and Xinhua, the two smelters suspected to have caused the pollution in Jiankou Village, had also been ordered to suspend production.

Yet the two factories said their pollution levels and locations had been approved by the local bureau for environmental protection.

"The factory had spent a lot to introduce clean technology and had only started trial production for three months," said Chen Zhihua, owner of Xinhua Lead Company. "Suspension of operation at this moment has caused us huge losses."

【1】 【2】

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Commerce Secretary Gary Locke as ambassador to China, making him the first Chinese-American ever to take the post.

Locke, 61, won unanimous confirmation in the Senate voice vote. He succeeds Jon Huntsman, a Republican who has resigned to run for the White House in 2012.

U.S. President Barack Obama tapped Locke for the post on March 9, saying that no one is better qualified for the diplomatic post than Locke.

At a May 26 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on his nomination, Locke called "a sign of the importance of the bilateral relationship" between U.S. and China. Obama\’s nomination of a current member of his cabinet to serve in the new post vacated when Huntsman left for home in April.

"If confirmed by the Senate, I pledge to help build the positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship that Presidents Obama and Hu have agreed that our two nations should aspire to," Locke told the committee, saying that he would help U. S. companies do more business in China as well as work to expand bilateral cooperation on a host of critical international issues, "from stopping nuclear proliferation to rebalancing the global economy to combating climate change."

Born into an immigrant family on Jan. 21, 1950, Locke spent his first six years in Seattle\’s Yesler Terrace, a public housing project for families of World War II veterans. He worked in his father\’s grocery store, became an Eagle Scout and graduated with honors from Seattle\’s Franklin High School in 1968. Through a combination of part-time jobs, financial aid and scholarships, Locke attended Yale University, earning a bachelor\’s degree in political science in 1972.

After receiving his law degree from Boston University in 1975, Locke worked for several years as a deputy prosecutor in King County of Washington state, prosecuting felony crimes. In 1982, he was elected to the Washington State House of Representatives, where he served on the Judiciary and Appropriations committees, with his final five years spent as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Locke, a Democrat, was elected Washington state\’s 21st governor on Nov. 5, 1996, becoming the first Chinese-American governor in U. S. history. He won reelection on Nov. 7, 2000.

Obama nominated Locke as commerce secretary in February, 2009, and Locke was sworn in on May 1 the same year.

Locke and his wife, Mona Lee Locke, a former reporter for the NBC affiliate KING 5 television in Seattle, were married on Oct. 15, 1994. They have three children.

Source: Xinhua

Chinese authorities said on Sunday that it is baseless speculation to say that an "ultimatum" had been given to force relatives of those who died in a fatal high-speed train crash in east China to agree to accept government compensation.

The statement was made to Xinhua by the working team that\’s handling the aftermath of the bullet train crash in Wenzhou of Zhejiang Province that killed 40 people and injured over 190 a week ago.

The working team, which was formed by senior officials from central and local governments, said it would stick to the principle of "people first" in handling the aftermath of the train accident.

Authorities said earlier Sunday that 15 families of those who died in the train crash had agreed to accept government compensation as of late Saturday.

Source: Xinhua