BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — China will raise the prices of gasoline, diesel oil and aviation kerosene by 500 yuan per ton, almost a 10 percent rise, starting from November 1, China’s economic planner announced on Wednesday.

    The average retail prices of gasoline and diesel oil was lifted to 5,980 and 5,520 yuan per ton, up 0.4 and 0.46 yuan per liter respectively.

    The adjustment was made to shorten the gap between high-flying international crude prices and state-set domestic oil prices, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

    The government-controlled oil prices in domestic market had been blamed for a shortfall of oil supply, as some refineries would stop processing to avoid losses while some producers and sellers would hoard up oil to gain more profits in the case of possible price hikes, said Liu Zhenqiu, vice director of the price department of the NDRC.

    Crude price in international market has reached 93.53 U.S. dollars per barrel on October 29, up by over 80 percent from the price at the beginning of the year.

    ”If the crude price is 80 U.S. dollars per barrel, domestic refineries will lose 600 yuan for each ton of crude it process, and 1,000 yuan for each ton of oil it produce,” said Liu.

    China will also raise the price of natural gas for automobiles and industrial production, according to the NDRC. (one U.S. dollar equals to 7.48 yuan)

    BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — Ministers from Asian countries and Europe released here on Wednesday the Beijing declaration to enhance exchanges among the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) members and establish effective cooperation mechanisms for small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

    The declaration said it is important to improve the trade and investment climate among ASEM members and promote cooperation in such fields as trade facilitation, services, transfer of technology and intellectual property rights.

    The declaration suggested strengthening exchanges on financing policies for SMEs, promoting innovation for financial products and services, and improving investment mechanisms for starting businesses.

    It also encouraged Asian and European SMEs to engage in development and cooperation in the fields of technology, investment, economic and trade exchanges, personnel training and IT application.

    SMEs should also “pay attention to environmental protection in the production and business activities, fulfill their social responsibilities, improve working conditions and protect employees’ rights,” said the declaration.

    The first Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) SMEs ministerial meeting was held in Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday.

    The declaration said the ASEM SMEs ministerial meeting will be hosted alternately by Asian and European members so as to build it into a regular and sustainable mechanism for policy exchange and dialogue.

    A senior officials’ meeting mechanism will also be set up for ASEM SMEs cooperation. The meeting is to be held prior to meetings between ministers, and government officials from each member will be designated to participate in the meeting, according to the declaration.

    The second ASEM SMEs ministerial meeting will be held in Europe in 2009.

Hu: China will continue to play constructive role in Middle East

[China]Ambassador: China’s growth brings opportunities

[World]Clinton publicly opposes Attorney General nominee

[Biz]Hong Kong stocks end at another record high

[Health]Early autism detection strongly recommended

[Popular]Katharine Hepburn tells her stories from the stage

    BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — A new law, which is to take effect on Nov. 1, bans the fabrication and spreading of false information on accidents and disasters and requires governments to provide accurate and timely information.

    The Emergency Response Law approved by the national legislature on Aug. 30 this year is aimed at improving handling of industrial accidents, natural disasters, health and public security hazards.

    Chinese officials will be legally obliged to provide accurate and timely information on public emergencies, while media organizations that publish false reports could lose their business licenses under the new law.

    The 70-article law would help minimize losses and prevent minor mishaps from turning into major public crises.

    ”People’s governments in charge of coping with an emergency should provide coordinated, accurate and timely information on the emergency and its development,” it says.

    The law also states that “units and individuals are prohibited from fabricating or spreading false information regarding emergencies and government efforts to cope with emergencies.”

    Offenders will be warned, it says. Media organizations or web companies could lose their business licenses if their offences lead to serious consequences.

    Government officials will incur administrative punishment for providing inaccurate information, says the law.

    Behavior that contravenes public security management rules or criminal statutes will be prosecuted, it says.

    The law requires “harsh punishments for looting of properties during emergencies and for disrupting emergency response work.”

    The law says when extremely serious emergencies occur, which severely threaten life and property, state security, public security, environmental security or public order, which are not covered by the provisions in the law, the NPC Standing Committee or the State Council can declare a “state of emergency” in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws.

    Frequent natural disasters and industrial accidents have caused huge losses of life and property in China.

    Police records show 5.61 million natural and industrial emergencies were reported in 2004, leaving 210,000 people dead and1.75 million injured. Direct economic losses topped 450 billion yuan (56.3 billion U.S. dollars).

Hu: China will continue to play constructive role in Middle East

[China]Ambassador: China’s growth brings opportunities

[World]Clinton publicly opposes Attorney General nominee

[Biz]Hong Kong stocks end at another record high

[Health]Early autism detection strongly recommended

[Popular]Katharine Hepburn tells her stories from the stage

    BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan met here Wednesday with some participants of the eighth meeting of the Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management (SEM) of Tsinghua University.

    Zeng said China would stick to the socialist road with Chinese characteristics and it would, in accordance with the requirements of the scientific outlook on development, speed up the pace of changing the mode of economic development and push for the sound and rapid development of the country’s economy and society.

    He said China’s economic development should be viewed from the perspective of industrialization, urbanization and economic globalization.

    He said China would improve its macro-control, avoid overheating which could arise from relatively fast economic growth, prevent inflation from price rises, and keep the momentum of its economic development going.

    Zeng said he hoped the participants would continue to pay attention to China’s economic development and management education, and make new contributions to bilateral cooperation.

    The Advisory Board of the Tsinghua SEM, set up in 2000, consists of business leaders, politicians and scholars from the world’s leading multinational corporations and academic institutions.

Hu: China will continue to play constructive role in Middle East

[China]Ambassador: China’s growth brings opportunities

[World]Clinton publicly opposes Attorney General nominee

[Biz]Hong Kong stocks end at another record high

[Health]Early autism detection strongly recommended

[Popular]Katharine Hepburn tells her stories from the stage

    By Xinhua writer Huang Xin

    BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — In the wake of headline food scandals, China’s cabinet on Wednesday approved in principle a draft law on food safety to address the “weak points” in food production, processing, delivery, storage and sales.

    ”Food safety is vital to improving people’s lives and health, so relevant legislation must match national efforts of safeguarding food safety,” said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

    The draft law, based on the existing Food Hygiene Law, was discussed at Wednesday’s executive meeting of the State Council, which was presided over by Wen.

    The draft law proposed a food safety risk supervision and evaluation mechanism to provide a “key basis” for constituting food safety standards and food born disease control measures. The mechanism demanded a “unified, timely, objective and accurate” disclosure of emergency information.

    Related institutional systems covering food production, processing, delivery, storage and sales should be set up to prevent food safety problems, according to the premier.

    The government would standardize practices such as food production licensing, inspection and quarantine results recording, product labeling and recalling, said the premier, adding the producer would bear major responsibilities for food safety scandals and be punished more severely.

    The draft law says imported food and additives must meet China’s national food safety standards while food products exported from China to other countries and regions should satisfy the compulsory requirements set by importers and pass local entry inspection and quarantine.

    Local governments have legal obligations to supervise food safety and build fast and convenient aid channels to protect consumers’ rights, said the premier.

    The draft law will be submitted to the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature, for debate and adoption.

    World Health Organization (WHO) chief Margaret Chan on Wednesday expressed appreciation on China’s efforts to crack down on food safety problems.

    Chan told Li Changjiang, head of the China’s product quality watchdog, that she was “very impressed” with an ongoing nationwide product safety inspection campaign launched in August.

    ”Food safety is a serious matter not only for the WHO, but for the world as a whole,” said Chan, who is in China for an international health forum.

    The campaign she mentioned was a four-month overhaul described by Chinese vice premier Wu Yi as a “special battle” to ensure product quality and food safety. It had seen 667 tons of substandard and fake food products destroyed and 446 tons removed from marketplaces by Oct. 8.

    The Chinese government has taken a highly responsible attitude towards food safety and strengthened international cooperation in this regard, the State Council heard.

    Last week Wu ordered the advancement of a crackdown on products in distribution as well as in production. A total of 626 criminal cases involving the production or sales of substandard food, drugs and farm produce had been filed during the campaign, with 774 suspects brought under control, according to the vice premier.

    China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday issued a joint statement, vowing to strengthen cooperation in food safety, promote food trade and protect consumers’ rights and benefits.

Hu: China will continue to play constructive role in Middle East

[China]Ambassador: China’s growth brings opportunities

[World]Clinton publicly opposes Attorney General nominee

[Biz]Hong Kong stocks end at another record high

[Health]Early autism detection strongly recommended

[Popular]Katharine Hepburn tells her stories from the stage

    BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — Chinese bike makers will start to place serial numbers on their products from Dec. 1 this year, in an effort to thwart bicycle thieves.

    Each bike, including electrically powered ones, will have its unique 15-digit code, including producer’s code, type code, production date and individual serial number, according to the regulation on bikes code issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

    Every new bike, produced after Dec. 1, will have a form with its serial number and identities of its buyer, printed by producers and filled in by dealers.

    The dealers are also required to submit the form to the police who will input the information into databases to facilitate the finding of owners of the stolen bicycles.

    The regulation requires bike producers to engrave the code on the frame, rather than using a licence plate, which can more easily be stolen.

    The move has drawn a mixed response from the public. Ao En, assistant manager in Stinelly Coffee, Beijing Co., Ltd, believes that more people will choose to use bicycles again with the fast development of Beijing’s subway system.

    ”It’s more convenient for people to ride to subway stations than traveling in their cars, so the demand for bicycles will rise in the future, and the new measure is destined to be well received,” she said.

    However, this measure to combat bike theft got a cold shoulder from many.

    ”Used bikes will account for a fairly large proportion on the road, so how will we guarantee they will not be stolen?” said ChenHui, a staffer of the State Grain Administration.

    ”And nowadays many people are more willing to buy second-hand bicycles instead of new ones, because they won’t lose much if they were stolen,” said Chen. “What’s more, the new regulation will make it pretty complicated for people to sell their used bikes.”

Hu: China will continue to play constructive role in Middle East

[China]Ambassador: China’s growth brings opportunities

[World]Clinton publicly opposes Attorney General nominee

[Biz]Hong Kong stocks end at another record high

[Health]Early autism detection strongly recommended

[Popular]Katharine Hepburn tells her stories from the stage