SOCIETY
Tibet Investment
The Chinese Government plans to invest 138.4 billion yuan ($21.45 billion) in Tibet over the next five years.
The investment will primarily support 226 major construction projects in Tibet that will involve a total investment of 330.5 billion yuan ($51.24 billion), according to a statement issued on July 20 after a State Council meeting approved the plan.
The projects will cover construction of facilities for the region’s public services, as well as infrastructure such as railways, highways, airports and hydropower plants.
The investment will also be used to promote the region’s local industries and protect the environment, the statement said.
Terrorist Attack
Local police opened fire on a group of rioters after they attacked a police station in Hotan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, sources with the Ministry of Public Security said on July 18.
According to ministry officials, rioters rushed into the police station, took hostages and set fire to the station. The police quickly converged on the scene and shot a number of rioters while freeing six hostages. A member of the armed police, a security guard and two hostages were killed during the disturbance.
The national counter-terrorism office of China has dispatched a working team to Xinjiang.
Disaster Warning
About 85 percent of China’s rural areas are covered by a natural disaster warning system, the China Meteorological Administration said.
The system consists of 22,000 weather information stations and 437,000 weather messengers. Local meteorological authorities alert rural weather messengers through text messages and the Internet. The messengers then pass on the warnings to rural residents. Warnings are also issued through radio broadcasts and electronic displays.

Flood Control
China has allocated 3.8 billion yuan($584.6 million) to reduce flood risks in mountainous areas through non-structural measures, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said.
The fund was spent on strengthening flood forecasting, enhancing flood warning and emergency response systems across 1,100 counties nationwide.
The construction of most of these projects has already started, and the measures prevented casualties during the floods in Hunan, Jiangxi and Yunnan provinces that took place earlier this year, said the headquarters.
Free Insurance
More than 400,000 orphans and children from underprivileged families in China have been given free insurance to cover 12 critical illnesses, according to the China Children Insurance Foundation (CCIF), a charity that aims to extend insurance coverage to all China’s vulnerable children.
In cooperation with the ministry, the foundation launched a joint program in 2009 to give all 712,000 orphans registered with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, under the age of 18, free medical insurance.
The 12 major illnesses covered include malignant tumors, illnesses requiring organ or stem cell transplants, acute kidney failure, aplastic anemia, acute hepatitis and infantile paralysis.
ECONOMY
Green Efforts
China will start a pilot carbon emissions trading project and gradually set up a market for carbon emissions trading, said Xie Zhenhua, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission(NDRC), on July 16 at the 2011 Eco-Forum Global held in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province.
It would also accelerate building a standardized system for energy saving and environmental protection, and tighten regulation on identifying and labeling low-carbon products, Xie said
China was determined to straighten out prices of resource-based products, for example, further applying differential power pricing and punitive electricity tariffs, he added.
The government would provide more incentives to develop energy-conservation technologies and products, such as preferential taxation policies, said Xie.
Fasteners’ Anger
The China Fastener Industry Association strongly demanded an end to discriminatory anti-dumping duties from the EU on fasteners, like screws, nuts and bolts, from China in an open letter sent to the Council of European Union on July 18.
Feng Jinyao, president of the association, said the country’s fastener industry has suffered considerable losses in the past two years due to the EU’s unfair treatment of Chinese fastener makers.
China is the world’s biggest producer of fasteners, while the EU is its major market.
The strong voice from the industry came after the WTO’s appellate body ruled recently that the EU is not complying with international commerce rules by imposing anti-dumping duties on the fasteners from China, and that the EU is illegally taxing Chinese steel fasteners.
Ultimatum to Hoarders
The NDRC on July 18 issued an ultimatum to the country’s herbal medicine speculators, ordering them to quickly sell their stocks, as the prices of some herbs have surged as many as 10 times over the past two years.
The price of codonopsis pilosula, a root that is used to prepare several varieties of traditional herbal medicine, jumped to 90 yuan($13.9) per kg in June 2011, compared with 9 yuan ($1.39) in August 2009, according to the NDRC.
The NDRC sent letters to 10 medicinal supply companies and individuals that were stockpiling codonopsis pilosula, demanding that they sell 200 tons of the herbs to pharmaceutical companies that produce traditional Chinese medicine with GMP (good
manufacturing practice) certificates.
The sales must be completed before July 21, 2011, with the price capped at 60 yuan($9.23) per kg, said the NDRC. Those who fail to sell their stocks before the deadline will be punished.
Auto JV
China’s fifth largest automotive group, Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC Group), announced on July 19 the establishment of a joint venture with Russia’s AMS Auto.
The total investment in the joint venture, BAW-RUS Automotive Co. Ltd., is worth about $176 million, with a registered capital of $20 million.
The joint venture is expected to produce 60,000 units per year by 2017.