Interview: Chinese efforts to enhance nuclear security contribute to common good: IAEA official

by Lyndal Rowlands
UNITED NATIONS, March 29 (Greenpost) — China is contributing to the common good through its efforts to improve nuclear security both at home and abroad, a senior official from the International Association for Atomic Energy (IAEA) has said.
China has taken effective steps to ensure the security of nuclear materials, including those at nuclear power plants and medical research centers, and to protect people and environment from being harmed by nuclear materials, Khammar Mrabit, director of the IAEA’s Nuclear Security Office, said in a recent interview with Xinhua.
The interview was conducted ahead of the fourth Nuclear Security Summit, which is scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C., from Thursday to Friday. Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the meeting.
Nuclear security refers to ensuring that peaceful uses of nuclear materials and technology are not diverted into the wrong hands, Mrabit said.
“Nuclear security is a common good. It’s good for everybody whether you have a nuclear power program or you don’t,” said Mrabit. “You have to protect your people and the environment from malicious acts and anything that would harm the public society and the environment.”
He said countries such as China that own nuclear power programs should bear special responsibilities on nuclear security, while calling on all countries to use radioactive sources at a minimum level, even for medical purposes.
“(Ensuring the) security of such materials and facilities is the responsibility of China because this is the responsibility of each country when you have such materials and such facilities,” he said. “That nuclear power program, those installations, have to be protected from falling, of course, into the wrong hands, meaning criminals and terrorists.”
In this regard, Mrabit said that China is a very important partner of the IAEA and enjoys sound cooperation with the international nuclear watchdog.
He described China’s recently completed Nuclear Security Center of Excellence as “a big achievement.”
“(The center) would not only improve nuclear security but would sustain nuclear security infrastructure in China and certainly would contribute… to improving nuclear security in the region,” he said.
The center, which is the largest in the Asia-Pacific region, opened in Beijing, the Chinese capital, on March 18, with the aim to boost nuclear security cooperation in the region and the world.
The IAEA supports its member states, including China, to reach nuclear security standards, in some cases providing support as requested, and in other cases providing more hands-on assistance.
For example, China has requested that the IAEA visit China to conduct a peer-review of its national nuclear program and facilities, the official said, adding that the IAEA can provide a higher-level of support to other countries in need.
“There are countries where we need more assistance, where we have what we call integrated logistical support plans, where we identify all that is needed to help them improve their nuclear security infrastructure,” Mrabit said. But he did not disclose the names of these countries.
Mrabit, a national from Morocco, has a PhD in nuclear physics and has been working for the IAEA since 1986.
The IAEA is the world’s center for cooperation in the nuclear field and a part of the United Nations family. It is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, and currently has 168 member states.  Enditem

Source: Xinhua

Feature: Chinese dance drama to boost Belt and Road Initiative in ASEAN

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 (Xinhua) — A dance drama featuring Chinese father and son who set sails on the ancient Maritime Silk Road centuries ago debuted in Southeast Asia on Tuesday with the expectations to boost the Belt and Road Initiative in the region.
Thousands of audience watched the dance drama “Dream of the Maritime Silk Road” at a performance hall in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, the first leg of the tour in members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Singapore and Indonesia.
The drama, through distinctively Chinese classical dance, tells a story in Quanzhou port, China’s southeastern Fujian province 800 years ago. The captain of a commercial fleet sets sail on the Maritime Silk Road under the invitation of a Persian prince but was killed in storm when trying to protect his crew, leaving behind his wife and a son in cradle. His son followed his step to become a sailor too after he grew up.
The two-hour drama highlights a prosperous Quanzhou port and friendship forged among people along the Maritime Silk Road when they seek common prosperity and happiness, with cultural elements from China and other Maritime Silk Road countries.
The drama was performed around the globe including at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Chen Qiuping, head of Department of Culture of Fujian province, said the drama was well received by the Malaysian audience.
“The performance is indeed enlightening,” said Bong Hon Liong, president of Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce. “It reminded us of the importance of openness and the friendship among people along the Maritime Silk Road.”
Xia Menglong, a university student who is on an exchange program in Malaysia, said he was surprised to find many Chinese traditions were well preserved and observed in Malaysia.
Huang Huikang, Chinese ambassador to Malaysia, expected the show to boost cultural exchanges between the two countries.
Meanwhile, officials believed such event would help promote the Belt and Road Initiative, namely the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in Southeast Asia.
The initiative, proposed by China in 2013, is aimed at reviving the ancient trade routes that span Asia, Africa and Europe.
Chen said the performance in Malaysia was of significance as it was an important country along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. He hoped the tour could help boost cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.  Enditem

China Focus: Inland city helming Yangtze shipping growth

YIBIN, Sichuan, March 30 (Greenpost) — A ship loaded with three tanks weighing about 60 tonnes each is nearing Shanghai during a pioneering two-week journey starting from southwest China’s Yibin City along the Yangtze River.
Such a shipment from China’s inland along the mighty Yangtze would have been impossible just a few years ago when only small docks for barges, ferries and fishing boats dotted Yibin’s banks.
Yibin, an industrial city known for coal mining and liquors, used to rely on trucks and trains to transport goods, even though it is where two upper tributaries meet to form the main section of the Yangtze.
Local authorities began developing a major port in Yibin in 2010, amid broader work by China to turn the Yangtze into a “golden waterway” with an enhanced role as the cargo artery between the wealthy coast and the vast under-developed inland. Central and local governments see increasing trade as the key to strengthening economies away from the coast.
On March 25, the Communist Party of China Central Committee passed a guideline on developing the Yangtze River Economic Belt, stressing that the program must be driven by market principles and have green credentials.
Yibin was years ahead of the curve. Its port with five docks is designed to handle half a million containers and 2.24 million tonnes of cargo every year. Ships of up to 3,000 tonnes can set sail even in the dry season.
Transporting giant goods like the tanks by land is extremely difficult, as they would overload lorries or trains and have to be dismantled to pass through tunnels or bridges. The costs tend to be very high, explained Yuan Daiqian, general manager of Jiangyuan Chemical Engineering Machinery, which manufactured the tanks for a fertilizer plant being built by Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi in Turkmenistan.
Thanks to the Yibin Port and new shipping routes, “we can do business that was not possible before,” Yuan said. His company has manufactured 71 pieces of large equipment for Mitsubishi’s project, including the tanks.
They will head for Turkmenistan from Shanghai, where the Yangtze empties into the sea. Shanghai International Port Group and the government of Yibin co-funded the construction of Yibin Port.
Yibin’s shipping industry has grown rapidly as investment has flowed to infrastructure along the Yangtze River.
The volume of goods passing through Yibin harbor has been growing at an average 130 percent a year since the port became operational in 2010. It handled 200,000 containers in 2015 and 66,000 in the first quarter of 2016.
China’s development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has accelerated since a plan approved by the government in September 2014.
There is certainly a lot riding on it. The belt includes nine provinces and two municipalities. It spans 2.05 million square km and accounts for more than 40 percent of China’s population and economic aggregate.
Yibin, a city of about five million people, is nudging into the global market through better connection with big cities along the river.
It has launched shipping routes to Japan and the Republic of Korea via central China’s Wuhan and east China’s Nanjing and Shanghai. It is also planning four routes to Southeast Asia.
As a result, Yibin’s foreign trade reached 890 million U.S. dollars and 950 million U.S. dollars in 2014 and 2015, growing at 9.1 percent and 7 percent year on year, at a time when China’s overall foreign trade has stalled.
To help e-commerce, Yibin is also building a bonded warehouse where imported goods can be stored without paying duty. With a storage area of 53,000 square meters, the warehouse is due to open before the end of June.
“The golden waterway has boosted Yibin’s shipping cooperation with cities along the Yangtze, opening up markets for local companies and improving their competitiveness by saving transport costs,” said Liu Zhengyu, board chairman of Yibin Port.
“When e-commerce gets going, this industrial city will become a major trading center in southwest China,” Liu said.  Enditem

Source    Xinhua

Moody’s China outlook downgrade misses big picture: MOF

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) — Credit rating agency Moody’s decision to downgrade the outlook for China’s sovereign bonds misses the bigger picture and has little impact on financial markets, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Wednesday.
Moody’s changed China’s credit rating outlook to negative from stable earlier this month, citing a weakening of fiscal metrics, a continuing fall in foreign exchange reserves and uncertainty over capability to implement economic reforms.
Rating firms should learn more about China’s economic and financial conditions to avoid information asymmetry, according to a statement released by MOF.
Domestic stock and bond markets, and the onshore and offshore yuan foreign exchange rate remained stable despite the downgrade, reflecting investors’ confidence and upbeat expectations of the Chinese economy, the statement said.
Meanwhile, balancing economic growth, structural reform and market stability is not a contradictory task — as claimed in Moody’s report — but a complementary process, MOF said.
Steady economic growth is the basis, pushing structural reform is the means to the end, and a stable financial market is a precondition to secure the sound development of the whole process, MOF pointed out.
Local government debt level and corporate leverage ratio are both below the international warning line and the government is taking active measures such as debt-for-equity swap to help ease debt pressure, the statement added.  Enditem

China rolls out new policies to encourage innovation

    BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) — China’s State Council on Wednesday announced a string of new policies to encourage innovation as the country seeks to foster new engines for growth.
China will set up three new “national innovation demonstration zones” in the provinces of Henan, Shandong and Liaoning, bringing the number of such areas to 14, according to a statement issued after a State Council  meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.
The zones, including Beijing’s Zhongguancun, known as “China’s Silicon Valley,” and Shanghai’s Zhangjiang high tech zone, have been created to pilot new ideas and development models for use nationwide.
Expansion of the program is aimed at fostering trailblazers for China’s economic restructuring and transformation, according to the statement.
The State Council will test innovative reforms in China’s financial hub of Shanghai over three years, including exploring new financial service models and simplifying foreign investment rules.
Government intervention will be further reduced to create an amicable environment for business start-ups and innovation, the State Council pledged.
To boost employment and sustain growth, the Chinese government has stressed the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in its 13th five-year plan. A wide range of measures has been unveiled, including financial support, facility construction and administrative assistance, for start-ups.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the council also decided to foster city clusters centered around Chengdu and Chongqing to stimulate economic potential in western regions.  Enditem

Chinese vice premier presents proposal to deepen China-Israel innovation cooperation

JERUSALEM, March 30 (Xinhua) — Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong has presented a four-point proposal to deepen and broaden cooperation between China and Israel on innovation in various fields.
Liu made the proposal while addressing the second meeting of the China-Israel Joint Committee on Innovation Cooperation in Jerusalem Tuesday. The meeting was co-chaired by Liu and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In her speech, Liu said that initial achievements have been made in bilateral pragmatic cooperation in such areas as science and technology, education, culture and health,since the joint committee successfully held its first meeting in January last year in Beijing.
China has made innovation-driven development as a national strategy and such a perception is shared by Israel, which is known for innovation, Liu said, adding that the two countries have great potential in deepening innovation cooperation.
China and Israel should further strengthen the joint committee’s role in planning holistically and coordinating and constantly expand the scope of bilateral innovation cooperation, she pointed out.
The Chinese vice premier, who arrived in Israel Monday evening for a two-day visit, suggested that the two countries increase the complementarity of their innovation strategies and facilitate the incorporation of Israel’s experience as a “startup nation” and its technologies into China’s strategy of pursuing innovation-based growth.
Liu said that China will step up the protection of intellectual property rights, encourage local governments and enterprises to strengthen exchanges with their Israeli counterparts and establish a more fair, regulated and predictable environment for development.
Other proposals offered by Liu included setting up more industrial innovation parks in China in cooperation with the Israeli side, learning from each other’s useful experience, and intensifying joint efforts in research and development.
On the same occasion, the two sides signed 13 cooperation agreements in the presence of Vice Premier Liu and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Among them was an agreement which allows both sides to issue 10-year multiple-entry visas to each other’s applicants, making China the first country to have such an arrangement with Israel.
In another major step to boost bilateral economic ties, the two sides agreed Tuesday to officially start talks on a free trade agreement, when Liu and Netanyahu met earlier Tuesday.  Enditem

 

Central bank pumps more money into market

BEIJING, March 31 (Greenpost) — China’s central bank pumped more money into the market to ease a liquidity strain on Thursday.   The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 100 billion yuan (15.4 billion U.S. dollars) of seven-day reverse repurchase agreements (repo), a process in which central banks purchase securities from banks with an agreement to resell them in the future.
The reverse repo was priced to yield 2.25 percent, unchanged from Wednesday’s injection of 60 billion yuan, according to a PBOC statement. The injection has resulted in a net 40 billion yuan being pumped into the market Thursday, offset by 60 billion yuan in maturing reverse repos.
The move follows a week-long rise in money-market rates as maturing reverse repos continued to drain liquidity from the market while commercial lenders hoard cash to meet quarter-end regulatory reserves.
In Thursday’s interbank market, the benchmark overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor), which measures the cost at which Chinese banks lend to one another, climbed by 1.3 basis points to 2.017 percent, the highest level in a month. Shibor for two-week loans rose the most, by 5.8 basis points to 2.788 percent.  Enditem