Auto Industry Policies Issued
Upon the approval of the State Council, the State Development and Reform Commission issued on June 1, 2004 the Auto Industry Development Policies. The new document becomes a substitute for the Auto Industrial Policies issued in 1994 that ceased to be valid on the same day, Comparing with its predecessor, the new auto industry policies highlights 7 noteworthy points:
* Write off any requirements incompatible with the rules of WTO and China’s commission to the former upon accession, including eliminating foreign exchange balance, localization quota and export performance.
* Eliminate unnecessary administrative approvals, allowing anything that shall be opened to open and anything that shall be placed under control to be controlled. Direct industries to develop in a healthy manner, in compliance with rules and technical standards.
* Stage on brands strategy, encouraging proprietary products and advocating auto industries’ proprietary development.
* Encourage merge and acquisition of auto industries, making domestic auto industries bigger and stronger.
* Pay more attention to brand loyalty and services, freeing consumers from worries about post-sale service.
* Encourage energy efficient and environment friendly automobiles and hybrids.
* Provide guiding comments on creating a better consumer environment.
Made up of 78 articles in 13 chapters, the auto industrial development policies has covered numerous interesting topics, including policy guidelines, development planning, technology policies, restructuring, accessibility control, trademarks and brands, product development, components and related industries, marketing, investment management, import control and automobile consumption.
It is believed that the issuance and implementation of the auto industrial development policies will speed up automobile industry’s restructuring in terms of both structures and product composition. The new policy will upgrade home grown products’ brand names and proprietary development capacity. The establishment and improvement of home made auto sales and service system will make Chinese auto industry more competent in both domestic and international marketplaces. The new policies will also facilitate the legalized management of auto products, ensuring consumers’ legitimate rights. These will turn out a coordinated development of both auto industry and social consumers environment with the help of scientific development concepts.
Priority High Tech Fields Defined
Recently the State Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Commerce jointly issued a guideline on priority high tech fields, in an effort to attract private investment and accelerate the development of high tech industry.
The guideline has identified 134 high tech industrial priorities in 10 major fields, including information, biology and medicine, new materials, advanced manufacturing, advanced energy, environmental protection and comprehensive resources utilization, aeronautics and space, agriculture, and modern traffic.
Information industry will focus on the priority development of new generation high speed and broad band information facilities, computer and associated operational system, built-in software, integrated circuits under 0.18 micro and new components, e-government and e-commerce. Biological medicine will mainly work on new and efficient vaccines for both humans and domestic animal applications, genetically modified polypeptide and genetic medicines, biomedicine engineering, major preparations for treating cancers and immune deficiency diseases, and fermentation engineering. Advanced energy industry will place its weight on hydrogen energy, including fuel batteries, renewable energy such as winds, and clean coal burning, nuclear power technology, including pressurized water reactor and natural gas utilization.
Five Steps Treating Urban Waste Water
On July 6, 2004, PAN Yue, Deputy Administrator of State Environmental Protection told reporters that the State Environmental Protection Administration would stage 5 major practices to effectively treat urban waste water, upgrading the urban waste water treatment process and ensuring a steady improvement of ground water quality. The five major steps include:
1) Further improving the legislation environment, by working out feasible policies able to forcefully promote and support infrastructure construction and operation. Developing overall and scientific regulations on wastewater treatment works’ construction, technical standards and supervision. These policies and guidelines, are expected to be incorporated into laws or by-laws, when appropriate.
2) Clarifying government and industrial responsibilities in wastewater treatment. Government shall strengthen its supervision of and service for wastewater works. Wastewater works, under the precondition ensuring the treatment results and complying with emission standards, shall strive for efficiency, specialization and scale development.
3) Widening investment channels and enhancing government financial input at both central and local levels. The central government budget and state treasury bonds will be used to support wastewater infrastructures’ construction. Bank loans, industrial bonds, credit funds and other commercial means shall also become effective channels for fund raising. Proven market mechanism such as BOT and TOT shall be encouraged. Private funds are also encouraged to find their way into wastewater treatment business, with favorable commitments on taxation, land use, utilities and indirect guarantee.
4) Continuously collecting wastewater fees, so as to provide a financial guarantee for the smooth operation of wastewater works.
5) Strengthening supervision and management, making wastewater works a full player in improving environment quality. A monitoring regulation shall be worked out as soon as possible to regulate the operation of urban wastewater treatment facilities, wastewater treatment fee collecting and payment, and treatment results. At the same time, tendering shall be organized to screen out professional operators having competence for efficient management, lower operation costs and desirable treating results. Winning candidates will be invited to run the daily operation and management of wastewater works.
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INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION |
China-UK Visions in Chronic Diseases
A visionary study of adult chronic diseases, jointly initiated by the China Diseases Control Center and the Statistics and Epidemic Research Center, a part of the Oxford University, has recently been kicked off in ten selected areas in China. The study covers representative areas, including Tianjin, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Heilongjiang, Guangxi, Gansu and Hunan. Sponsors expect an effective prevention and control of chronic diseases from the extensive visionary epidemic study.
Tongxiang City in Zhejiang Province, one of the ten selected areas under investigation, has identified three townships as sampling areas. More than 50,000 adults aged between 35-74 in the areas will be placed on benchmark investigation. The investigation will be made in four parts: investigation agreement, questionnaires, physical examination and blood sampling. The results derived from the study will become entries in a basic health information database.
Meanwhile, local hospitals, community health networks and disease control centers will make all death reasons and chronic patients reported in the database. The study subjects’ health will be tracked down for a period of at least 10-15 years. In addition, a random sampling will be made on partial subjects every 5 years. Investigators will also explore the possible relationships between exposure elements and different diseases in the same area but in different time periods.
Alcatel’s New Satellites for China
Not long ago, official of Shanghai based Alcatel (Asia-Pacific) told reporters that the telecommunication giant has recently inked a cooperative agreement with China Satellite Communication Corporation to the agreement, Alcatel will design and manufacture for China Satellite a new generation satellite named Chinasat 9. e new satellite specially made for televised broadcasting will turn China Satellite into the first Chinese company providing satellite broadcasting service.
The spacebus 4000C1 system based Chinasat 9 will be equipped aboard 22 Ku-band transponders for satellite broadcasting, presenting 18 channels at 36MHz and 4 channels at 54MHz. With a launch weight of 4,500 kg and work power of 11 kw, the new satellite is going to work in space for 15 years. The satellite will be launched by Chinese made CZ series rocket. Alcatel Space will be responsible for the l aunch, orbiting, measuring in addition to providing a satellite simulator to China Satellite.
Sparkle Program Helps AIDS Villages
The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology declared on July 9, 2004 that it has decided, through its Sparkle Program’ S&T information technology, to improve the living conditions of villages heavily hit by AIDS epidemics in Henan Province.
Official at the Department of Rural and Social Development, a part of the Ministry, told reporters that the Sparkle Program would help these AIDS stricken villages through following assistances and services: local farmers will be trained through distance education and training courses. They will also be taught to make themselves rich using “information service expert system” and practical farming techniques. The massive farming technique training will help increase farmers’ income and improve their scientific and cultural literacy. As a possible result, their production and living conditions will be improved. So far the Sparkle Program Office affiliated to the Ministry has collected more than 3,000 books in 67 popular science titles,, in addition to numerous farming technique books and CDs. These books and CDs have been distributed to AIDS stricken villages via the Henan Provincial Department of Science and Technology. The effort marks a role model in advancing AIDS prevention campaigns with science and technology not only in Henan Province but also in other parts of the country as well.
Indoor Pollution to be Contained
A China Indoor Environment Pollution Control System Project was kicked off on July 8, 2004 in Beijing.
Having made an extensive investigation of pollutions appeared in indoor environment, public environment, special environment and auto’s internal environment, the Chinese Coalition of Popular Science and Engineering Associations found out that a systematic control effort should be made to address indoor pollution that have continuously been threatening people’s health. Sponsoring parties, through consultations, have decided to join their efforts to work on indoor pollution control in a phased and systematic manner.
The project will study the diversity of elements causing indoor pollution and strengthen environment quality control in construction sites. When coming to interior decorations, the production and distribution of environment unfriendly materials will be blocked, allowing environment friendly knowledge and techniques to become a plus in designers’ interior decoration skills. The project will result in an in-depth investigation of automobile’s internal pollution, helping the national standard authorities to issue appropriate standards and criteria for automobiles’ internal decors. While strengthening the investigation of indoor environment quality, efforts will be made to diffuse effective indoor pollution control techniques and to encourage the sound development of indoor pollution control businesses.
Superconductor Cable in Power Grid
A bundle of superconductor cables, the first of its kind in China developed by the Yunnan Power Grid Group and Beijing Yingna Superconductor Technology Co. Ltd., was officially put into grid operation at the Kunming Puji Transformer on July 10, 2004. The event marks China becoming a third nation following the US and Denmark deploying superconductor cables in power grids.
Specified as an outdoor phased AC power cable, the system is made up of domestic manufactured superconductor line materials. It was put into trial operation at the Kunming Puji Transformer substation on April 19, 2004. Some two-month long operation shows that the 3-phase AC superconductor cable system (33.5m for 35KV/2KA) has stood up the tests of different weather conditions, presenting a smooth performance. So far the northwest section of the Kunming City, where a several ten thousand population dwell, and a number of industrial businesses in the city have got their power supply through the power grids made of superconductor cables.
Rice Father Heads National Rice Project
A food harvesting S&T project, jointly initiated and implemented by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance and the State Food Administration, was officially launched on May 28, 2004. Headed by Prof. YUAN Longping, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and aiming at pulling together rice growing expertise in Hunan Province and creating an upbeating unit yield, the project will accelerate innovative technical reserve studies for national food security.
The project will be implemented in two phases with the first part ranging from 2004 to 2006 and the latter from 2007 to 2010. Having a state treasury input as much as RMB 400 million, Phase I project will focus on making S&T support available for restoring food production capacity, though addressing long term key techniques that restrict the potential increases of the nation’s food production is also a matter of concern. The project has so far staged a demonstration area over 100 million mu (1mu=0.0667ha.), expecting an additional yield increase up to 15.7 million tons, or an additional direct economic return over RMB 10 billion for farmers.
China’s First Rail Biological Collider
China’s first modern rail biological collilder lab was recently inaugurated at No. 3 Military Medical School in Chongqing. The multi-functioned biomedical lab constitutes a reliable platform for comprehensive studies of medical treatment and prevention of injuries appeared in traffic accidents.
The new lab, jointly designed by the Institute of Field Surgery, a part of the Daping Hospital affiliated to the No. 3 Military Medical School, Tsinghua University and China Auto Testing Center with an investment over RMB 8 million, has registered a colliding condition in line with the technical specifications defined by the US and Europe.
The establishment of the new lab, changing the static and partial duplication of animals’ biological collisions in model, will not only accelerate the in-depth study of injury causing mechanism and elements, and relevant treating techniques, but will also become a promoter of auto industry’s development.
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