Chinese officials crack down on bad English
BEIJING, China (AP) -- On the floor at Beijing's Capital Airport, a sign reads: "Careful Landslip Attention Security."
On a billboard, this mysterious message: "Shangri-La is in you mind, but your Buffalo is not."
In an elevator, parents are warned: "Please lead your child to tare the life."
Beijing officials have promised to crack down on bad English in preparation for the 2008 Olympics and they've asked the public to help police bad grammar and faulty syntax.
With 500,000 foreigners expected for the Olympics, taxi drivers who can't speak English -- or signs that mangle the language -- could be an embarrassment and distract from the $40 billion being poured into rebuilding the city for the games.
Liu Yang, who heads the "Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program" for the city government, said 6,500 "standardized" English-language signs were put up last year on Beijing roads.
Liu said a language hotline may be set up for the games to encourage the public to report nonsense English. China's diplomatic missions abroad are assisting, Liu said, "and our people working in foreign companies are helping with correct usage."
Officials have also undertaken efforts to stamp out spitting and bad manners in the run-up to the games.
Deputy Chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) Luo Bingsheng said on April 30 that China would speed up the efforts to eliminate outdated steel companies this year and China would make “substantial achievement” in this aspect.
The State Development and Reform Commission recently signed a letter of responsibility with governments in ten major steel producing provinces and municipalities on the closedown and elimination of outdated steel production companies. In future, the ten provinces and municipalities will shut down outdated companies, which will involve 22.55 million tons of iron production and 24.23 million tons of steel production.
So far, the major steel-producing regions and municipalities have been informed about their related responsibilities in the elimination work. The local governments will be required to publicize the namelist of the steel companies that will close their business. In future, these measures would be expanded to some other regions as well. In order to properly solve the remaining issues in the outdated steel companies, the central government will compensate them with a certain sum of money, Luo said.
Currently, there is a high proportion of steel companies in China that use outdated technologies in their production. These companies have mainly contributed to the high energy consumption and heavy pollution problem in the steel industry. It is expected that in 2007, Chinese steel industry will eliminate some outdated steel companies, which will involve 35 million tons of steel production and 30 million tons of iron production in total, Luo said.
Expert: China to become world's 2nd largest trader
GUANGZHOU - China will this year replace Germany as the world's second largest trader with 2.1 trillion US dollars in foreign trade and may overtake the world's largest trader, the United States, by the end of the decade, says a senior Chinese researcher.
"China maintained a growth rate of more than 20 percent in foreign trade in the first quarter and is likely to maintain the momentum throughout the year," said Li Yushi, vice president of the Research Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.
Despite a growth rate that declined to 6.9 percent in March, foreign trade in the first three months totaled 457.7 billion US dollars, up 23.3 percent year-on-year.
Exports reached 252.1 billion US dollars, up 27.8 percent, while imports were valued at 205.7 billion US dollars, up 18.2 percent, according to figures released by the Chinese customs.
While the Ministry of Commerce projected foreign trade to grow by about 10 percent a year between 2006 and 2010, Li's institute predicts the growth rate will be between 12 and 15 percent.
"Based on these predictions, we can tell that China will overtake the United States to be the world's largest trader in 2010," Li told a seminar on China's foreign trade prospects in Guangzhou.
China started to lower export tax rebates on numerous items last September to help bring down its trade surplus, said Li." The government is also developing policies aimed at expanding imports by encouraging domestic companies to import state-of-the-art equipment and technologies."
China's soaring exports in 2006 expanded its trade surplus to a record 178 billion dollars, up 74 percent from the previous record of 102 billion dollars set in 2005.
China's trade surplus for the first two months of the year hit 39.6 billion US dollars, more than the entire first quarter of last year.
In March, however, the surplus dropped to 6.87 billion US dollars, dipping below the 10 billion US dollar mark for the first time since March 2006.
The World Trade Organization said in a report last week that China's product exports started to exceed those of the United States in the second half of 2006, but figures for the the entire year show China ranked third in exports, after Germany and the United States.
Civil servants get 1st code of conduct
Government officials who engage in illegal or immoral activities such as having a mistress or gambling will risk being demoted or even fired, under a landmark regulation released Sunday.
The regulation is "China's first to systematically stipulate what administrative punishments civil servants abusing their power will receive," according to a Xinhua report.
Approved by the State Council and scheduled to take effect on June 1, the regulation details a variety of misconducts and corresponding punishments.
Qu Wanxiang, vice-minister of supervision, said it is the first regulation of its kind that aims to "make sure government officials perform their duties according to the law".
Government staff members who leave the country without permission, stay overseas longer than permitted and secretly obtain foreign citizenship will receive a grave demerit or even be sacked.
If their failure to perform duties results in accidents, disasters, environmental pollution and "mass protests", they can also be reprimanded, demoted or sacked.
Other activities that civil servants must avoid, according to the 55-article regulation, include:
Using influence to benefit a lover;
Engaging in corruption, organizing superstitious gatherings and taking drugs;
Abusing or abandoning family members or refusing to support elderly relatives;
Embezzling or losing public funds meant for disaster relief, poverty relief, resident resettlement, social security and land appropriation compensation;
Engaging in fraud and misleading their superiors and the public; and
Repressing criticism or retaliating against whistleblowers, destroying evidence or disclosing personal details of whistleblowers to the accused.
Qu said: "The regulation is important for persuading officials to adopt a clean, honest and down-to-earth work style to better serve the people".
Gao Fengtao, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, said the regulation shows the "government's resolve to improve the rule of law."
