China Chronicles February 26, 2013
- Fresh water after oil leak
Firemen distribute tap water to residents in a community in Yongxiu County, in east China's Jiangxi Province, yesterday after supplies for 60,000 people were cut off due to pollution. At around 10am, an oily substance was seen floating near a water intake used by a tap water company on the Liaohe River, the county's environmental protection bureau said. An initial investigation blamed the pollution on an oil pipeline leak upstream. The pipeline has been shut down and the leak has been sealed. The leak is said to have occurred at around 9pm on Sunday, when an unidentified person attempted to steal oil from the pipeline. Police are investigating.
- Peaceful relations with Taiwan a duty, says Xi
Communist Party chief Xi Jinping said yesterday that carrying forward the peaceful development of mainland-Taiwan relations is a duty of the Party.Meeting Lien Chan, honorary chairman of the Kuomintang from Taiwan, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi said: "It is the duty of the new Party leadership to continue promoting the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties and the peaceful reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait."
Xi said the new leadership has full confidence in unwaveringly promoting the peaceful development of ties and overcoming difficulties in ushering in new prospects for relations, as well as in joining hands with Taiwan to embrace the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
"We will maintain consistency in policies toward Taiwan by unswervingly upholding the one-China principle and continuing to promote cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation," Xi said.
Nothing could cut the blood bond between mainland and Taiwan compatriots and nothing could change the fact that both sides belong to one China, Xi said, adding that nothing could hinder the Chinese resolve to make the Chinese nation outstanding.
Xi expressed his hope that Taiwan can develop along with the mainland and that compatriots from both sides can cooperate in realizing the "Chinese dream."
Realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation - the greatest dream in the country's modern history - requires the joint efforts of people from both sides of the strait, he said.
"If brothers are of the same mind, their sharpness can cut through metal," Xi said.
Xi, however, warned of problems that had hindered the development of cross-Strait ties, saying they would require time, patience and joint efforts to resolve.
Prospects for cross-Strait cooperation will be bright as long as the two sides can agree to oppose Taiwan independence and follow the 1992 Consensus, he said.
More Taiwanese will realize that Taiwan's future hinges on the peaceful d! evelopment of cross-Strait ties.
Lien said: "The path of peaceful development is a correct path that should not and will not be reversed."
He expressed hope that relations could be deepened from a new starting point.
Lien said Taiwan is a part of China and so is the mainland, thus making cross-Strait relations part of the "one-China" framework instead of being state-to-state relations. People from both sides should promote brotherhood and mutual understanding, as well as join hands to resist separation and reinvigorate the Chinese nation, he said.
Lien conveyed greetings from Kuomintang Chairman Ma Ying-jeou to Xi, while Xi asked Lien to give his regards to Ma.
- Striking bus drivers go to jail
FOUR Chinese bus drivers charged with instigating and inciting an illegal strike in Singapore in November were yesterday sentenced to between six and seven weeks in jail.
All four pleaded guilty to conspiring to instigate an illegal strike, while one of them, He Junling, admitted an additional charge of inciting an illegal strike.
The judge sentenced He to seven weeks in jail for each of the two offences, but said that the sentences "will run concurrently, having regard to the fact that his two offences were part of the same transaction."
The four men were among 171 Chinese bus drivers who failed to report for duty on November 26 last year in protest at inequitable pay raises and alleged discriminatory policies of their employer SMRT, a local public transport operator. Eighty-eight of the drivers continued to stay away from work the next day.
A fifth driver, Bao Fengshan, who pleaded guilty to taking part in an illegal strike was sentenced to six weeks in jail last year.
Twenty-nine others were repatriated to China.
Senior District Judge See Kee Oon said the strike had affected public transport services which were listed among essential services, which means stricter strike rules for workers. He Junling had called for a strike in online posts on a Chinese website, the judge said.
"Their conduct may have been motivated by a sense of grievance. Irrespective of whether their grievances were valid or otherwise, their pleas of guilt signify their awareness that they could not justify taking the law into their own hands."
The judge also said that an aggravating factor was that the strike was planned to put pressure on their employer SMRT in the knowledge that it would cause disruption to the transport services.
However, the drivers had expressed their remorse by pleading guilty, he noted.
Lawyers representing the Chinese drivers on a pro bono basis argued the primary failing of the drivers was that they did not give their employers notice of ! their intention to stage a strike 14 days ahead of the date of the strike.
- KFC cuts links with over 1,000 small farms
KFC has struck more than 1,000 small chicken farms from its supply network in a bid to tighten quality control after the "instant chicken" scandal.
The company, a subsidiary of fast food giant Yum Brands Inc, told reporters yesterday that they would hasten the elimination of chicken farms and suppliers, test chicken meat for illegal drugs and encourage farmers to improve their methods.
"We saw hidden safety danger in the chicken supply chains from the incident and we are now taking action to eliminate those dangers at source," said Sam Su, chairman of Yum Restaurants China. "Starting now, we will stress strict management and the principle of zero tolerance in food safety. We will immediately drop any supplier that lacks the determination or the ability to manage breeding well."
The "instant chicken" scandal got its name after China Central Television reported chickens reared for KFC were being fed chemicals and 18 kinds of antibiotics to keep them alive and speed up their growth.
On January 10, Yum Brands apologized for the scandal and conceded that it hadn't reported excessive antibiotics detected in samples to the authorities. It said it had found faults in food testing procedures, and a lack of communication inside the company and with the public.
Also in January, an announcement on KFC's website said Yum Brands had destroyed batches of raw chicken suspected of being contaminated with an antiviral medicine, amantadine, which can affect the central nervous system.
Yum Brands CEO David Novak has said the company would need the "gift of time" for the controversy to die down, according to The Associated Press. Even before the chicken scare, sales growth in China was slowing and it fell into negative territory in October.
Executives blamed slower economic growth and comparisons with earlier explosive expansion. But KFC and other Western fast food chains also face mounting competition from young but ambitious Chinese rivals.
According to The Beijing ! News, Yum Brands, which also owns Pizza Hut, estimated that its January sales in the Chinese market had fallen by 37 percent, while KFC's sales alone were estimated to have dropped by up to 41 percent.
- Spoiled elites lamented after gang-rape case
THE official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party yesterday lamented a generation who had never tasted "hard work" after the son of a general was detained on suspicion of involvement in a gang rape.
Li Guanfeng, the teenage son of army Major General Li Shuangjiang - a popular military singer and household name in the country - went into custody on Thursday in the latest allegation against privileged children of officials to spark public outrage.
The news has dominated Internet message boards, online news portals and state-run newspapers in China, where crimes by the offspring of the country's elite cause particular anger among people.
"Family education" among successful, well-known figures in China needs to be "cautious," said the People's Daily in an editorial. "Many of these children have not experienced the hard work needed in the struggle to achieve success, but are shown the results of this success.
"Used to getting everything they want and having all their problems handled, they will use their father's name as an excuse, take flaunting wealth for granted and regard defying the law as brave behavior."
Li Guanfeng is among five suspects detained over allegations of a sexual assault on February 17. They took a drunk woman to a hotel room, beat her and gang-raped her after they met her in a bar, Beijing Morning Post reported.
It was reported that Li Guanfeng has cooperated with police in the investigation. However, he mentioned his famous father from time to time, the Beijing Times reported.
His 47-year-old mother, Meng Ge, Li Shuangjiang's former student and second wife, has asked for leniency from the public for her son.
"My son made big mistakes! His case should be dealt with under the law," she said. "But, I hope the media and the public could forgive him," Meng said in an interview with Southwestern Metropolis Daily.
It is not the first time the 17-year-old has come to public attention. He was sent to a government correctional facili! ty for one year in 2011 for beating a couple while their young child looked on. Hundreds of thousands of people went online to express outrage at the time, and the general apologized for his son's actions.
His parents changed his name from Li Tianyi to Li Guanfeng to give him a new start. However, netizens said it was his parents who spoiled him too much.
"I never beat him. I even cry myself when I just threaten him," the elder Li said. He added that his son is a good ice hockey player at Shattuck-Saint Mary's School in Minnesota in the United States.
Li Guanfeng's primary school classmates said he had pushed a second-grader down stairs when he was in the third grade, and he monopolized others' video game machines. But teachers never punished him because of his powerful family, they said.
A netizen also said Li Guanfeng fought with his classmates in the US over small disputes. He was once heard shouting, "I will crush you to death if you dare to come to China. Do you known who my father is?" the netizen said.
In another high-profile scandal, the son of a police chief tried to use his father's status after a fatal car crash he caused in 2010 in the northern province of Hebei. Li Qiming, 22, ran over a student and shouted, "Sue me if you dare. My father is Li Gang!" He got six years in prison.
- Official in bureau car hurt 26
AN official has been taken into police custody after injuring 26 people by driving a government car into a movie theater in central China's Henan Province, local authorities said yesterday.
The incident occurred around 11am on Sunday, when Liu Xianchong, Party secretary of the Culture, Radio, TV, Film, Press and Publication Bureau of Wancheng District in Nanyang City, drove into the theater and injured people participating in a puzzle game held there for the Lantern Festival.
Liu was driving a Volkswagen Santana and mistakenly stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, according to police.
The injured were sent to the hospital, local police said. Two of the 26 were still in critical condition, but their injuries were not life threatening.
Six had left the hospital after medical exams, according to the hospital.
The Nanyang government said Liu had been on sick leave for about seven months after having a stroke.
The Party committee of Wancheng and the district government have set up a task force to handle the incident and its aftermath, including organizing a medical treatment team for the injured, punishing the official in accordance with laws and regulations, releasing information on the incident and instructing other officials and cadres.
Local police have had Liu in custody and have seized the car he was driving as the investigation proceeds.
The car was registered with Liu's bureau, officials said.
Chinese officials and cadres may be supplied with government vehicles, but such vehicles should not be driven for private or personal use.
- Soil pollution survey a 'state secret'
A SURVEY into soil pollution in China is a "state secret," according to the country's environmental authorities, which have refused a Beijing lawyer's request for it to be published.
The lawyer, Dong Zhengwei, told the Legal Daily newspaper that he e-mailed the Ministry of Environmental Protection on January 30 asking it to publish information about its survey, including testing methods, results, causes of soil pollution and its prevention.
The survey dated from as early as 2006 but its conclusions have never been made public, the newspaper said.
Dong said he received a reply from the ministry on Sunday, a 22-page letter that didn't include any information about the survey's results.
The ministry wrote that it refused to publish the survey results because the information was a state secret.
Dong told the newspaper: "The ministry has claimed to Chinese media several times that it would publish data covering its survey of China's soil pollution after it is permitted to do so by the State Council.
"Now it seems like the soil pollution in China is so serious that the environment authorities dare not publish the result."
Dong said the ministry's refusal may have violated the rules governing the publication of government information.
Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the newspaper that soil pollution in China was directly linked to residents' health and the ministry could not deprive residents' right to know by simply labeling the information as a state secret.
"Soil pollution may directly damage residents' health while it would also affect food, crops and underground water to pose a danger to health. The public has the right to know about soil pollution," Ma said. He said that compared with other pollutions such as air and water, soil pollution is much more difficult to judge by members of the public, which is one reason why the ministry should publish the information to keep them informed.
"! The country has never made public any information about soil pollution. Questions such as what buildings are set up above polluted earth or what crops are still being cultivated in polluted soil may spark panic among residents," said Ma. "But this should not be a reason for the ministry refusing to publish."
Ma called on the ministry to publish at least part of its survey result with explanations of how pollution came about and what measures should be taken to prevent it in future.
So far, there has been no response from the ministry.
Air and water pollution in China raised concerns recently after a map was widely circulated online showing that China had at least 247 "cancer villages" throughout the mainland.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Environmental Protection admitted the existence of such villages and said pollution was to blame for high cancer rates among their residents.
- Celebrity apologizes for defense of privileged son
CHINESE celebrity talk-show hostess Yang Lan has apologized for her widely panned defense of Li Guanfeng, a popular military singer's teenage son, accused in a gang rape after serving a year's confinement for assault.
"Is one year of confinement too heavy a punishment for an underage boy? Such a kid is very likely to regard himself as hopeless and act recklessly," she wrote in an Internet post on Saturday night.
Her comments triggered outrage. Netizens said she wanted to shield Li because he is the son of Li Shuangjiang.
Faced with massive condemnation, Yang made a public apology on Sunday. She said she didn't know details of Li Guanfeng's case and made irresponsible remarks. "I'm sorry. Everyone is equal and no one can override laws," she said.
- Beijing blames fireworks
FIREWORKS were to blame for significant short-term jumps in PM2.5 particles and other major pollutants in the capital's air, the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said yesterday.
In 16 days of fireworks being set off, the capital experienced eight days of air pollution above national standards, the bureau said.
Beijingers were allowed to set off fireworks within the Fifth Ring Road from lunar New Year's Eve on February 9 to Sunday's Lantern Festival.
- KFC writes 1,000-plus chicken farms off supplier list
FAST-FOOD chain KFC said today that more than 1,000 small chicken farms used by its poultry suppliers have been eliminated from its network in a campaign to tighten quality control after the "instant chicken" scandal.
The company, a unit of Yum Brands Inc., told the media today that it will step up poultry test for illegal drugs and encourage farmers to improve their technologies.
KFC caught media spotlight in December when the state-run CCTV reported that chickens used by the company were fed chemicals and 18 kinds of antibiotics to make them grow faster.
Yum Brands estimated its January sales in China plunged 37 percent. KFC's sales may have dived 41 percent in the month, according to a report in the Beijing News.
KFC acknowledged that improper use of drugs is a major problem for chicken quality in China as some small producers would abuse drugs whenever an epidemic occurs.
It said more than 1,000 chicken farms were eliminated from its network because they were found with safety problems.
- Official drives into theater, injures 26
AN official has been taken into police custody after injuring 26 people by driving a government car into a movie theater in central China's Henan Province, the local government said Monday.
The accident occurred around 11am on Sunday, when Liu Xianchong, Party secretary of the Culture, Radio, TV, Film, Press and Publication Bureau of Wancheng District, Nanyang City, drove a government car into a movie theater and injured people participating in a puzzle game held there for the Lantern Festival.
Liu was driving a VW Santana and mistakenly stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, according to police.
Twenty-six people were injured in the accident, and they have been sent to the hospital for treatment, local police said.
Two of the 26 injured are still in critical condition, but their injuries are not life-threatening. Six people have left the hospital after receiving medical exams, according to the hospital.
The government said Liu had been on sick leave for about seven months due to a cerebral infarction.
Local police have taken Liu into custody and seized the government car involved in the accident. - Yunnan police capture 4,815 smuggled snakes
Police in southwest China's Yunnan Province have captured 4,815 snakes in a recent raid against smugglers, local authorities said today.
Forest police in Ruili City captured 4,815 snakes loaded in boxes in a vehicle from Myanmar at around 4am on February 22. They included 2,264 oriental ratsnakes, 230 cobras and 2,321 vipers, with the animals weighing a total of 3.8 tons, according to the Ruili municipal public security bureau.
They also caught one suspect.
The Ruili police got word on Jan. 21 that smugglers were expected to transport overseas wild animals into China. They intercepted the vehicle at a section of the Nongdao-to-Ruili highway after surveillance and deployment.
Eating snake is popular in south China and raising snakes is a profitable business. But transporting and selling endangered snakes is banned by Chinese law.
- Xi meets KMT's Lien, stresses cross-Strait ties
XI Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, today stressed the Party's duty of and confidence in carrying forward the peaceful development of mainland-Taiwan relations.
Speaking during a meeting in the Great Hall of the People with visiting Honorary Chairman of the Kuomintang Lien Chan, he said, "It is the duty of the new CPC leadership to continue promoting the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties and the peaceful reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait."
According to Xi, the new CPC leadership have confidence in steadily promoting the peaceful development of mainland-Taiwan ties, in overcoming difficulties to usher in new prospects for the relations and join hands with Taiwan compatriots to embrace the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The CPC is aiming for new achievements in cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, thus bringing welfare to compatriots of both the mainland and Taiwan, he stressed.
"We will maintain consistency in policies toward Taiwan, by unswervingly upholding the one-China principle and continuing to promote cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation," Xi told his guest.
Unremitting efforts will be made to consolidate and strengthen the political, economic, cultural and social foundation for the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, he vowed.
Nothing can cut the blood bond between Mainland and Taiwan compatriots who all belong to the Chinese nation, and nothing can change the fact that both sides on the Taiwan Strait belong to one China, Xi said.
Moreover, nothing can change or hinder the whole Chinese people's resolve of making the Chinese nation outstanding in the world, he added.
- 20,000 evacuated after Guizhou factory blast
FIVE people were injured and about 20,000 were evacuated after a chemical plant blast in southwest China's Guizhou Province this morning, local authorities have said.
The accident happened at about 10:20am at a factory of Bestchem Co. Ltd in the provincial capital city of Guiyang, a municipal government official said at the site.
The five injured people are all staff of the company and are receiving treatment in two hospitals in Guiyang, he said.
Leaking and burning of materials contributed to the blast, according to initial investigation.
Firefighters are still working at the site, with heavy smoke filling the sky and a pungent odor pervading the air.
About 20,000 people within a 1.5km vicinity of the factory have been evacuated to safe places. They included students from the Guizhou Normal University Baiyun District Campus, the official said.
The Guiyang municipal government has begun monitoring air and water quality in the affected area.
The factory, located in Baiyun District of Guiyang, mainly produces pyrethroid.
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