04/14/2009  Source: Xin hua

A senior Chinese official on Tuesday hailed the publication of the nation’s first human rights action plan as a major step in promoting the cause’s all-round development in the country.

“It signals that the human rights cause has become a major theme of China’s national construction and social development, and has been ushered into a new phase of planned, all-round development,” said Wang Chen, minister in charge of the State Council Information Office, which issued the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010) on Monday.

“It will help foster and promote the concept of respecting and safeguarding human rights at various levels of governments, in different sectors and the whole society at large, and forcefully propel the human rights cause in China,” Wang said in an interview with Xinhua and the People’s Daily.

The plan defines the Chinese government’s goals in promoting and protecting human rights in less than two years, and the specific measures it is taking to this end.

The 54-page document is divided into five sections: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Civil and Political Rights; Rights and Interests of Ethnic Minorities, Women, Children, Elderly People and the Disabled; Education in Human Rights; Performing International Human Rights Duties, and Conducting Exchanges and Cooperation in the Field of International Human Rights.

Wang said practicability and feasibility constituted the most distinctive features of the action plan.

“It is dedicated to improving human rights through solving actual problems concerning the general public’s interests,” he said.

Wang said the plan involved broad participation of more than 80relevant government departments and non-governmental organizations.

“The drafting process has become one of awareness enhancement and responsibility implementation,” he said.

Wang urged governments and government departments at all levels to make the action plan part of their responsibilities and proactively implement it, and public institutions, social and non-governmental organizations, press and media agencies, and the general public to give vigorous publicity to this action plan, and expedite its implementation.

According to Wang, the action plan was framed in response to the United Nations’ call in 1993 for establishing a national human rights plan. China was one of the 26 countries that have responded to the call.

The plan reflected the principle that “the state respects and protects the human rights of its citizens” prescribed in the Constitution of China, and the essentials of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, he said.

Wang said the realization of human rights in the broadest sense had been a long-cherished ideal of mankind and also a long-pursued goal of the Chinese government and people.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and the adoption of the reform and opening-up policy at the end of1978 in particular, the Chinese government has made efforts to promote and protect human rights.

“The human rights conditions are at the best of the Chinese history,” he said.

However, as a developing country with a population of 1.3 billion, China’s human rights development still faces many challenges, Wang said, listing areas to be improved including civil participation, social justice, employment, social security, education and healthcare.

He believed that if the action plan was seriously implemented and problems concerning people’s direct and real interests were addressed, the human rights cause in China would record an even bigger progress.

04/14/2009   Source: www.chinaview.cn

Europe’s largest auto maker Volkswagen AG said Tuesday its sales in China rose 9 percent year on year to a record monthly high in March, buoyed by the country’s overall strong demand for cars.

New vehicles sold in China totaled 112,466 units in March, the first month of this year that saw sales exceeding 100,000 units, said the Volkswagen Group China in a statement.

The group said its three major brands in China — Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda — all saw monthly record in sales in March.

It said sales of new vehicles in the first quarter increased 6 percent year on year to 284,143 units.

“The development of passenger car market in the first quarter has exceeded our expectations and we benefited successfully from the growth trend,” said Winfried Vahland, president of Volkswagen Group China, in the statement.

He said the company had raised its forecast for 2009 performance in China and would add 50,000 units to its annual production capacity.

China’s auto sales in March exceeded the United States, the world’s biggest auto market, for the third consecutive month, due to government stimulus policies and tumbling U.S. car sales.

Sales of domestically made motor vehicles set a new record of 1.11 million units in March, up 5 percent from a year earlier, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

On Jan. 20, China halved the purchase tax on passenger cars to 5 percent for models with engine displacements of less than 1.6 liters.

04/11/2009   Source: www.chinaview.cn

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in an interview with Hong Kong and Macao reporters Saturday, said that the Chinese economy showed signs of better than expected positive changes in the first quarter as a result of the economic stimulus package adopted by China.

Firstly, the domestic demand rose on a sustainable basis. Meanwhile, investment in fixed assets increased rapidly and consumer demand grew steadily and relatively rapidly. Although lower from the same period of last year, imports and exports grew on a month-on-month basis in the three-month period, Wen said.

This indicates that some sectors and enterprises in China are in a process of gradual recovery.

Secondly, industries above the designated size registered month-on-month growth, with a year-on-year increase of 3.8 percent in both January and February, and a year-on-year increase of 8.3 percent in March.

Thirdly, the purchase management index and the entrepreneur confidence index of the manufacturing industry both rose, indicating that the Chinese economy has begun to stabilize and recover in some fields, according to Wen.

And fourthly, the market confidence went up and the economy became more active over the first three months, with increases in both the stock market and housing market transaction volumes.

The positive performances in economic fields suggest that the policies adopted by the central government of China have been timely and correct, and have led to successes, the premier noted.

The premier was here to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) related summits. The Chinese premier went back home late Saturday ahead of schedule, after the Thai government postponed the summits because of domestic political unrest.

The premier said we should see that China’s economy is still facing very serious hardships, which can be attributed to the shrink of external demand and a relatively sharp fall in exports. This has negatively impacted export enterprises, export-oriented industries and export-oriented zones, and has resulted in decreases in business profit making, declines in financial revenues and heavier pressure on employment, he said.

As the international financial crisis is deepening and spreading, we should never lose vigilance, Wen warned.

As the crisis has not touched its bottom, we can hardly say that the Chinese economy alone has got out of the crisis. China cannot save the world, nor can it survive without the world, Wen said. What we should do is to exert our utmost efforts to minimize the effect of the crisis, he said.

When answering questions whether China will introduce additional economic stimulus plans, Wen said the government should now step up efforts to carry out the policies and measures of the existing stimulus package. The earlier they are put into effect, the more beneficial and active they will be, he said.

04/11/2009   Source: Xinhua

Thirty-seven people from Taiwan got their certificates of legal professional qualification here on Saturday after passing National Judicial Axaminations.

Some 818 Taiwan residents registered for the National Judicial Examination and 658 attended the examination after China’s Ministry of Justice publicized Some Provisions on Taiwan Residents’ Taking the National Judicial Examination in June.

The 37, taking 5.6 percent of the total, passed the examination with scores above 360.

The permission for Taiwan residents to attend the national examination is a bridge for the legal communication of the two sides, said Hong Shaorong, who got the certification.

04/06/2009  Source: China Daily

Chinese premium liquor brand Wuliangye won a lawsuit in South Korea against a fake Wuliangye import company recently, said the www.ipr.gov.cn last month.

Due to Wuliangye’s diligence and trademark registration in South Korea, it won a lawsuit against a South Korean distributor that had imported fake Wuliangye liquor to the nation neighboring China.

The court in Seoul convicted the South Korean defendant of illegally importing fake Wuliangye products with a punishment of 30 million won ($2,200) fine and confiscated all the fake imports to South Korea.

Chinese premium liquor brand Wuliangye owns the richest brand value in the nation’s baijiu, or white liquor, sector, with its brand valued at 40 billion yuan last year by the RREEF Global Billboard Consulting Company and Beijing Famous-Brand Evaluation Co.

Last year, the company achieved a new milestone, becoming the first Chinese alcohol company to win a trademark dispute in a developed nation.

In January 2007, Wuliangye’s trademark agency Sichuan Chofn Law Firm received a call from South Korea Customs officials, who doubted the authenticity of a batch of Wuliangye liquor slated to enter the local market. The trademark did not seem identical to the one Wuliangye registered in the Asian country in 2005. Customs held the products and sent samples to China Wuliangye.

After the products were identified as counterfeit by the Chinese distiller, Wuliangye requested that Customs detain them and transfer the case for prosecution.

According to the Seoul Central District Court’s verdict on Sept 23, 2008, from Aug 26, 2005 to Oct 10, 2006, the defendant imported fake alcohol with the trademark “Wuliangye” 14 times, involving a total of 1,680 bottles. The corporate executive of the infringing company was sentenced to one year in prison.

“This is the first China liquor enterprise trademark rights case in South Korea,” said Wu Hong, education and advisory committee member of the International Trademark Association.

Before 2003, Wuliangye just paid attention to providing qualified products to the overseas market and had no idea to register its name and logo abroad.

According to Wu, it was a dangerous time for Wuliangye, since foreigners could register the famous Chinese brand in their local market and use it to produce and sell their own products. “That would greatly damage the reputation of the brand – Wuliangye – and raid the market, and Wuliangye might be seriously squeezed by those infringers,” Wu told China Intellectual Property News.

The Sichuan-based Chofn law firm observed that some South Korean liquor producers managed to register the brand of Wuliangye, in South Korean pinyin, Chinese characters

04/06/2009  Source: China Daily

How good was business at last week’s Beijing Wedding Expo?

The ATM machines ran out of money.

“I didn’t bring enough cash,” lamented 26-year-old Wang Lin, attempting to console his fiancee, Zhao Yue, as they waited in line at one of the few machines that was still operating.

“I never thought we’d make so many spur-of-the-moment decisions,” said Wang, an IT worker, as he and Zhao leafed through brochures for gifts, photo albums, clothing, banquets and honeymoons.

They were not alone. An estimated 34,000 couples mobbed the Expo over three days. They spent an estimated $29 million, 30 percent more than last year, as more than 1,000 merchants promoted everything from Lincoln Limousines to tours of France.

Weddings have always been big business in China, and this year is no exception.

More than 10 million people marry annually in China. Expenditures totaled $220 billion, or 13.36 percent of GDP, in 2006, the last year for which statistics are available, according to the Ministry of Commerce and the China Wedding Industry Investigation and Research Center.

Industry experts say the global financial crisis has forced some couples to scale back their plans, but it seems to have increased the number of weddings, as couples seek the security of marriage and a family during hard economic times.

Two astrological factors have also increased the number of weddings. Chinese believe the number nine is auspicious for weddings because it connotes longetivity. And according to the lunar calendar, this year has two “spring begins” – dates on which farmers traditionally begin planting.

By far the biggest change in the wedding market, however, is the expectations of the newlyweds as the “1980s generation” ties the knot.

As the first generation to grow up as the only child in their families, this generation typically has the resources of four adults to draw on, in addition to their own savings. An average couple spends $18,500 on a wedding, or 20 times their average monthly salary.

Wedding photography has grown geometrically in the past four years, according to Neil Xiao, an official of the Organizing Committee of the China International Wedding Expo.

In 2005, Xiao took representatives of 16 Chinese photo studios to visit wedding expos in several Western countries. They liked what they saw, and are now marketing lavish photo albums to Chinese couples.

Some are affiliated with studios in France, Italy, and North America. The Professional Photographers of America (PPA), a nonprofit association of professional photographers with 20,000 members in 54 countries, has opened offices in China and is now training wedding photographers.

Business is good, since Chinese couples tend to order three albums – one for themselves and one for each of their families.

Photography no longer ends with the wedding. In China, it is increasingly common for a photographer to accompany the couple on their honeymoon, snapping shots of them at scenic spots and memorable restaurants, while still leaving them plenty of time alone.

“We find people from the mainland are now spending more on clothing and wedding photography than people from Taiwan,” said Hou Tsun Jen, manager of the Sophia Wedding Photo Studio in Taipei.

Mainland couples tend to buy formal clothing and wear it to the banquet, rather than just rent it for the photo session, he added.

Hou’s company has factories making wedding garments in Taipei, Bangkok, Tokyo, and Shanghai, and plans to open a shop in Beijing to take orders.

“We were surprised to find that, because of the economic slowdown, orders have declined at all of our factories except Shanghai,” he said.

Honeymoons now know no bounds. A five-day tour of Taiwan, with photos at various scenic spots, was popular at the Expo, possibly because it costs only $2,000 per couple.

Hawaii, France, and Italy are also popular destinations. Group tours are the rule, but destinations and accommodations can be tailored to each couple’s desires.

The market for honeymoons abroad has barely been tapped, according to some in the industry. The Hawaii Tourism Authority, for example, came to last year’s Expo but had no specific tours to sell.

“Most organized tours involve both a domestic and a foreign agency, which adds to the cost,” said Samuel Warn, an international photographer who has recently opened a studio in China. “I hope foreign countries will make business easier.”

Platinum is the metal of choice for wedding rings and other jewelry. China accounted for 68 percent of the platinum jewelry worldwide in 2008, according to an industry association.

Li Xin, a white-collar worker, ordered two heart-shaped platinum rings, which cost him $2,924. “That’s about average for my friends,” he said.

Beyond the basics, couples at last week’s expo faced a truly daunting range of possibilities for their special day.

There were candies and cookies from every corner of the globe.

The Vineyard Wine Experience Shop offered couples the chance to make their own wine and design their own labels.

And Beijing Sweetie Gifts Co Ltd offered cartoon bouquets unique enough to entice one flight attendant to send them to friends in New York.

Of course, no wedding would be complete without a wedding planner.

Hu Ming quit a $20,000-a-year job with a foreign company eight years ago to become a wedding planner, and has never looked back.

“I usually charge $500 to plan a wedding and $400 to host it,” Hu said. “I do at least four weddings a month. I’m making at least twice what I did at my old job, and I get to meet a lot of people. It’s an ideal job for me.”

03/29/2009   Source: www.chinaview.cn

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan has called on the international community to “act together” at the upcoming London summit to get through the global financial crisis, in an article published by the British newspaper The Times on Friday.

In the article entitled “G20 must look beyond the needs of the top 20,” with a subtitle “China believes the developing world should have a stronger say in how the international financial system is run,” Wang urged all heads of states to be present at the G20 London summit to “act together to get through the time of hardship.”

After the financial crisis broke out, China was quick to put in place a decisive plan to boost domestic demand, advance economic restructuring and improve people’s well-being, which have started to produce results, said the vice premier.

However, the Chinese economy still faces severe challenges, including to meet the demanding goal of maintaining economic growth by boosting domestic demand, ensuring employment and readjusting the economic structure. China also has to cope with shrinking external demand caused by the global economic downturn and trade and investment protectionism, Wang said.

“China will continue to take forceful measures to maintain steady and fast economic growth and contribute its share to an early recovery of the world economy,” Wang pledged in the article.

Since the G20 summit in Washington last year, said Wang, China has provided a lot of assistance and support through a variety of means to a number of countries and regions, and played a part in the creation of significant Asian and global economic and trade initiatives.

The Chinese leader stressed the significance of the international community to enhance coordination and cooperation to overcome the current difficulties.

“Efforts should be made to expand trade and investment cooperation to bolster economic growth, step up cooperation among small and medium-size businesses to ensure employment stability, and strengthen cooperation in energy conservation and emissions’ reduction, environmental protection and development of new energy technologies to nurture growth points for the world economy,” Wang suggested.

He firmly rejected trade and investment protectionism of all kind. “The international community should recognize that the trend towards economic globalization is irreversible and should take credible steps to reject all forms of trade and investment protectionism,” he said.

Wang also called on the international financial system to be reformed, “with the focus on readjusting the governance structure of international financial institutions and increasing the representation and voice of developing countries.” He asked the London summit to set a clear goal, timetable and road-map for such reform.

To prevent similar crisis from happening again, Wang, also a Chinese economic expert, suggested prudent regulation of all financial markets and institutions involved to be tightened and regulatory coordination and cooperation at both the regional and international levels to be increased.

On the hot topic of increasing financial resources for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he said China supports the increase as far as the fund is safe and reasonable returns can be ensured.

“China is ready to play an active part in exploring ways to raise resources and will contribute to this effort within its ability,” Wang said. He asked the IMF to mobilize resources through the “quota-based” system as well as voluntary contributions, striking a balance between the rights and obligations of the contributing countries.

As a return, said the Chinese vice premier, the IMF must enhance capacity-building, reform governance structure and ensure that the resources play a significant role in easing the international financial crisis and countering the global economic downturn. China inclines to see the resources mainly to be used to help developing countries which are seriously hit by the crisis, Wang said.

Leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies will meet in London on Thursday to discuss, among other things, a coordinated response to the current global financial crisis.