Peace mission: Wu Yu bids farewell to his wife and 3-year-old daughter before the Chinese navy hospital ship Peace Ark left recently from Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, on a four-month medical mission overseas that will take in Asian countries and the Gulf of Aden. Zhang Hao / for China Daily

Security

US should 'explain hacking activity'

The United States owes China an explanation about its hacking activities and should show more sincerity when engaging in cybersecurity cooperation between the two countries, experts in Beijing said.

Washington is now in an awkward position regarding its cybersecurity dispute with Beijing, following allegations by whistle-blower Edward Snowden that the US has been hacking into computers in China for years, Jia Xiudong, a senior researcher of US studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said.

Snowden, 29, a technician transferred by a private contractor to a US National Security Agency base in Hawaii, told a Hong Kong newspaper on June 12 that the NSA had been hacking into computers in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland since 2009. He has been taking refuge in Hong Kong since May 20.

China and the US have been engaged in a cybersecurity dispute for months, with the US accusing China of cyberattacks.

Aviation

Foreign buyers eye Chinese drones

At least five countries are negotiating with China on buying its domestically developed Wing Loong drone.

"Wing Loong is quite competitive in the international market and we have delivered it to up to three clients," Ma Zhiping, general manager of China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp, said at the 50th International Paris Air Show.

Ma's company is the biggest exporter of aviation defense products in China and has a strong presence in the military aircraft market. According to CATIC, Wing Loong was developed independently by China with full intellectual property to meet the requirement of the international market. The project was started in 2005 and its maiden flight took place in 2007. The drone's mockup was unveiled at the Zhuhai Airshow in 2008 and a production type was displayed at the same air show in 2012, drawing intense attention from aviation enthusiasts and foreign military observers.

Environment

Soil survey to examine extent of pollution

The Chinese government plans to conduct a nationwide soil pollution survey.

Soil samples will be collected at different depths to find the natural condition of the soil and the impact human activity has had on it, the Ministry of Land and Resources said on June 12.

The ministry said previous investigations indicated that some regions are heavily polluted, particularly near the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Comparing the investigation results with surveys in 1994 and 1995 will indicate that soil pollution is spreading to China's more densely populated eastern areas, it said.

Authorities had been asked to issue soil pollution data following food safety scandals caused by soil pollution.

Precedent set in penalizing polluters

Environmental authorities in a city in eastern China have hit petrochemical giant Sinopec with a penalty reported to be 90,000 yuan ($14,670; 10,990 euros) for causing air pollution.

The rare move sets a good example in regional governments' battle against large State-owned polluters, experts said.

The Environment Protection Bureau of Anqing, Anhui province, made the decision after a branch of Sinopec, Asia's largest refiner, was found late last month to have discharged excessive amounts of polluting materials in the city of 6.2 million people.

An official with the bureau's publicity department said on June 13 that environmental authorities were still dealing with the matter, and that the procedure involving a fine usually takes about three months.

Legal

Courts feel trials of global economy

Increasing globalization of the economy is leading to more legal disputes involving overseas parties, posing unprecedented challenges for the court system, a judge said.

"When investment profits fluctuated sharply, a spate of disputes erupted in small and medium-sized companies that lacked mature corporate governance structures and investment arrangements," said Liu Guixiang, presiding judge of the No 4 Civil Tribunal under the Supreme People's Court, which is in charge of overseas commercial and maritime trials.

Courts across the mainland concluded 171,000 civil, commercial and maritime lawsuits involving overseas parties from 2008 to 2012, a jump of 57 percent from the previous five-year period, Liu said. Among those lawsuits, 65,000 involved Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan parties, he said.

Calls for ill-disciplined officials to be charged

Party disciplinary violations that amount to criminal abuses of power should be treated as criminal cases, experts said.

The comments come after nearly 2,300 officials have been punished since the nationwide clampdown on graft and wasteful spending began in December.

"Any behavior that violates the rules as a criminal abuse of power must be treated as a criminal case to deter others," said Yi Shenghua, a Beijing lawyer from Yingke Law Firm with 10 years' experience in corruption cases.

China's new leadership introduced eight rules in December to improve Party officials' work habits and toughen rules covering dereliction of duty, corruption and extravagance.

Tougher sentences for work-safety crimes

The Supreme People's Court has asked courts at all levels to impose harsher punishments for crimes related to work safety.

Major criminal cases related to work safety can go immediately to higher courts, a statement from the top court said.

The notice follows a series of recent fatal accidents across the country, including a plant fire in Jilin province that killed 120 people and injured 77 others on June 3.

"Courts at all levels should severely punish crimes related to work safety that will result in major accidents, to ensure the safety of people's lives and property," Zhou Qiang, chief justice of the SPC, said in the statement.

Cross-straits ties

Nation's rise a common goal

The mainland and Taiwan should safeguard national territorial integrity and sovereignty, top Party leader Xi Jinping said on June 13, as he vowed to increase trust across the Straits.

While meeting the visiting Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Wu Po-hsiung, Xi said that the two sides should take the overall interests of China into consideration when assessing the situation of cross-Straits ties.

The forces of "Taiwan independence" and their activities remain the biggest challenge to the peaceful development of cross-Straits ties and should be firmly opposed, said Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Wu said at the meeting that both sides should oppose "Taiwan independence" and stick to the "1992 Consensus", which calls for both sides to adhere to the one-China principle.

Li urges tight watch on government audits

In an inspection tour of the National Audit Office on June 17, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged auditors to keep a tight watch on corruption.

It is the first time that Li as premier has inspected a subordinate administration of the State Council, underlining the significance of the auditing work, an expert said.

"Auditing plays an irreplaceable role in building a clean and honest administration, and no one should disrupt an auditor's work with one's power and influence," Li said during the tour. Auditors should exert tight control over power and help build a clean government and expose those who use power to line their own packets, he said. He urged auditors to keep a close eye on the government's bank accounts, which hold the public's money and should only be used for the public.

China Daily

(China Daily European Weekly 06/21/2013 page3)