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China Defends Massive Growth in Military Spending (The Associated Press)
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- China to dismantle bloated rail ministry: sources (Reuters)
China Defends Massive Growth in Military Spending (The Associated Press)March 04, 2013 http://world.time.com/2013/03/04/china-defends-massive-growth-in-military-spending/ (BEIJING) — China defended its booming military spending on Monday, saying vast investments in the armed forces have contributed to global peace and stability, despite concerns among the U.S. and Beijing’s Asian neighbors over sharpening territorial disputes. However, in a break with previous years, no figure for this year’s defense budget was presented at a news conference held Monday on the eve of the annual legislative session. Spokeswoman Fu Ying said the figure would appear in the overall budget to be released Tuesday. Approving the budget is among the key tasks of the session, which this year will see new leaders placed into top government positions after they were elevated at November’s Communist Party congress. Party leader Xi Jinping will take over from Hu Jintao as president, as well as head of the government’s Central Military Commission, as part of China’s once-a-decade power transition. In addition, the session approves top Cabinet appointments such as the defense minister.Chinese defense spending has grown substantially each year for more than two decades, and last year rose 11.2 percent to 670.2 billion yuan ($106.4 billion), an increase of about 67 billion yuan. Only the United States spends more on defense. Fu said China maintained a strictly defensive military posture and cited U.N. peacekeeping missions and anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden as examples of Beijing’s contribution to world peace and stability. “As such a big country, China’s inability to ensure its own security would not be good news for the world,” Fu said. “Our strengthening of our defense is to defend ourselves, to defend security and peace, and not to threaten other countries.” This year’s legislative session comes amid a continuing standoff with Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea. Ships and planes from both sides have repeatedly confronted each other in the area, and another Chinese spokesman on Saturday warned that Japan would bear full responsibility for any “unintended clashes.” China’s feuds with Vietnam and the Philippines over territory in the South China Sea have also flared periodically in recent months, while Beijing has been unnerved by the U.S. military’s renewed focus on the Asia-Pacific, including plans to station marines in northern Australia on training missions. Outside concerns about China’s military buildup are also fed by doubts over the reliability of the defense budget figure, which is widely believed to exclude foreign military purchases and other items. In its 2012 report on China’s military, the Pentagon estimated actual spending of $120-180 billion in 2011, well above China’s official figure that year of $91.5 billion. China to dismantle bloated rail ministry: sources (Reuters)By Lucy Hornby and Benjamin Kang Lim BEIJING | Mon Mar 4, 2013 http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/04/us-china-regulator-idUSBRE92300H20130304 (Reuters) - China is likely to dismantle its sprawling, scandal-plagued Railways Ministry into operations and commercial arms that will be supervised by different agencies, two sources said, part of an overhaul of the bureaucracy as new leaders take charge in Beijing. The restructuring is aimed at ending long-standing inefficiencies and addressing the ministry's reputation for insularity and corruption, they said. "The Railways Ministry will be demoted (in status)," said one of the sources. The changes are set to be approved at the annual full session of the National People's Congress, or parliament, which begins on Tuesday. A cabinet reshuffle is expected as Xi Jinping takes over formally as president and Li Keqiang as premier. "Part of the Ministry of Railways will be merged with a super-Ministry of Transport," said a second source who has leadership ties, requesting anonymity to avoid repercussions for speaking to foreign reporters. The source was referring to the operations of the railways. A state-owned enterprise will absorb the ministry's commercial arm, which has responsibility for passenger ticketing and freight operations, the sources added. YEARS OF PROBLEMS The Railways Ministry has faced numerous problems over the past few years, including heavy debts from funding new high-speed lines, waste and fraud. The government has pledged to open the rail industry to private investment on an unprecedented scale. Railways Minister Sheng Guangzu told the state news agency Xinhua on Monday he was not sure if he would be the last to lead the ministry, but said he supported its restructuring. Shares in Chinese rail firms listed in Hong Kong fell on Monday, in what analysts said was investors reducing risk exposure in the face of the long-anticipated reforms. China Railway Group fell 4 percent in Hong Kong and China Railway Construction closed down 2.3 percent, underperforming a 2.1 percent drop in the China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings in Hong Kong. "Our deep hope is that the (railway) reforms become the clarion call for a new round of trade reform and a trigger for the huge potential of reforming the monopoly state sector, to create the maximum benefit for China's future development," wrote Hu Shuli, editor in chief of Caixin, a respected financial weekly. The 21st Century Business Herald newspaper reported the ministry will likely be split. A "Railways Bureau" would oversee operations and personnel, while the lucrative freight business and passenger transport would be incorporated into state-owned enterprises overseen by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, or SASAC. Previous reform plans had involved hiving the ministry off into a number of competing entities. For the moment, the ministry's 18 bureaus will remain a part of the operating arm, it said. SACKED Railways Minister Liu Zhijun was sacked in February 2012 and expelled from the ruling Communist Party last May for taking bribes and using his position to help the chairman of an investment company get "enormous illegal profits". Liu successfully resisted a merger with the Ministry of Transport five years ago, but the Ministry of Railways was dealt big blows by his sacking and by a 2011 crash on its flagship high-speed service in which 40 people died. Separately, the South China Morning Post reported that China would set up a new watchdog similar to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, streamlining a complex regulatory system that has seen a series of scandals over food contamination and fake medicines. Last-minute wrangling could keep pharmaceuticals out of the watchdog's purview, after an unsuccessful first attempt several years ago, the Hong Kong-based newspaper said. China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) was founded in 2003 as a ministerial-level agency directly under the State Council but was downgraded and affiliated the Ministry of Health in 2008 after a number of corruption scandals involving the sale of drug approvals. The SFDA is currently responsible for policies and programs on the administration of drugs, health food, medical devices and cosmetics, while the Health Ministry mainly handles food safety and other agencies look after packaging and animal health. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) also has responsibility for inspecting product quality in China and for imports or exports. Zheng Xiaoyu, former head of the SFDA, was executed in July 2007 for taking bribes and dereliction of duty after a series of drug safety scandals on his watch. (Additional reporting by Clement Tan in Hong Kong and Mark Bendeich in Sydney; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Kevin Liffey) Directory: 2013 2013 -> Annual InStructional unit plan 2013 -> The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine 2013 -> #1 a lifesafer of virginia inc 2013 -> Name(s): your name here team or Group #(if applicable): Professor’s name 2013 -> Alcott Local School Council (lcs) Meeting Minutes 2013 -> Table Of Contents introduction 2 2013 -> Supplemental demographic information 2013 -> 【Education&Working Experience】 Download 404.14 Kb. Share with your friends:
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