武清区龙济官方网(武清的龙济) (今日更新中)

General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Hu Jintao and visiting Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) Honorary Chairman Lien Chan underscored peace and development across the Taiwan Straits in their meeting in Beijing Saturday. Hu Jintao (R), General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, meets with Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) Lien Chan at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, in this April 16, 2006 file photo. [Xinhua]"Peace and development should be the theme of cross-Straits relations, and the common goal of the people both in the mainland and Taiwan," Hu said. Lien said peace was the basis for cross-Strait prosperity and development. Compatriots from both sides of the Straits should face up to the challenges and continue to pursue peace, so as to create economic prosperity on both sides of the Straits. The mainland is creating a miracle with a growth rate of about 10 percent for 27 years, he noted. "Peace and prosperity live together, for if there is no peace, there will be no prosperity, and only peace creates opportunities for us to pursue prosperity," he said. Lien arrived on Thursday leading a KMT delegation to attend a cross-Straits economic and trade forum, which closed on Saturday. Hu extended warm congratulations on the behalf of the CPC Central Committee for the success of the forum. "The two-day forum is an important activity for the two parties to continue exchanges and dialog," Hu said. The mainland announced at the forum a new package of beneficial policies to promote cross-Straits economic and trade relations, and the participants also passed joint proposals for closer economic and trade ties across the Straits. The 15 new favorable policies announced by the mainland pointed out a new direction for the future cross-Straits economic and trade development, Lien told Hu. Hu and Lien met for the first time in Beijing a year ago when Lien, then chairman of the Taiwan-based KMT party, had an "ice-breaking" journey to the mainland. It was also the first meeting between top leaders of the CPC and KMT in 60 years. Hu called for closer personnel, economic and cultural exchanges between the mainland and Taiwan to curb Taiwan secessionist activities and maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait.

BEIJING -- As the world marked International Human Rights Day on Monday, a Chinese expert in the field has documented his country's work in the area through a new article chronicling achievements that have been made over the past five years.Dong Yunhu, vice president of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, the largest nongovernmental organization in the human rights field in China, listed in his article some major facts outlining the fruits that have been reaped.In the newly-amended constitution of the Communist Party of China (CPC) adopted at October's 17th Party Congress, one of the landmark changes was that in the paragraph of "promoting socialist democracy", it said the Party "respects and safeguards human rights".It was the first time the CPC considered the development of human rights as an important aspect of national development.In November 1991, the Information Office under the State Council published its first-ever white paper entitled "Human Rights in China", stressing that full access of human rights was socialist China's "sublime goal".In March 2004, parliament adopted an amendment to the constitution that inserted the clause declaring "the state respects and safeguards human rights", putting human rights protection under the legal umbrella of the state.In March 2006, China for the first time wrote "human rights protection" in the country's national economic and social development plan as a part of the modernization drive.In his article Dong wrote: "Over the past five years, the most prominent progress in China's human rights protection is the 'mainstreamlization' and entry of human rights into the country's political life."The public's right to know, right to supervise has been constantly expanded. How state organs operate, how legislators work becomes increasingly transparent, Dong said.He pointed out that as a developing country with 1.3 billion population, China was still confined by historic, economic and social conditions. It had met many obstacles in the development of human rights."The economic, social and legal systems in China are far from mature and unbalanced development occurs between the rural and urban areas and among different regions," Dong said. He noted that "thorny issues in such aspects as employment, social security, income distribution, education, medicine, housing and safe production, had all effected public interests.However, he was confident that "human rights conditions in China would gradually improve along with the modernization process" as long as the country "unswervingly implements human rights protection principles and actively promotes democratic and legal construction".

China, the world's largest tobacco producer and consumer, will ban all forms of tobacco promotion by January 2011.A ban on tobacco advertising has been in place since 1996, but firms have managed to sidestep the rules and promote their brands in other more subtle ways such as sponsoring sporting events, or using their logos without mentioning "cigarettes" on television, radio and in newspapers and magazines.Xu Guihua, vice-president of China Tobacco Control Association, made the landmark announcement on Monday at a seminar in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province. She said the country is committed to fulfill its obligations to the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.China formally became a member of the convention last January.Xu said the nation lags behind other countries in efforts to control the use of tobacco, and the biggest problem is the lack of national regulations banning smoking in public areas.To date, fewer than half the cities have framed rules on smoking bans in some public spaces. Efforts to ban smoking in other areas such as karaoke parlors and restaurants have been stifled by unwilling owners and managers who fear a loss of business.Figures from the Ministry of Health show that China has an estimated 350 million smokers, almost a third of the world's 1.1 billion smokers.Cigarette makers spent more than 1.6 billion yuan (2 million) to promote their brands last year, according to China Youth Daily.In 2005 the government collected 240 billion yuan (.7 billion) in tobacco taxes.According to the WHO convention, tobacco products must carry prominent health warnings on the packaging.This measure needs to be implemented within three years from when China signed the convention.Within five years, China must fulfill it commitment to comprehensively ban all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.Last year, authorities found there were 231 instances of tobacco promotion considered illegal. The violators were fined a mere total of 1.23 million yuan (2,780).A senior official from China's State Tobacco Monopoly, who did not want to be named, said the administration was "actively taking measures" to fulfill its obligations to the convention.Regulations to further control tobacco promotion on the Internet were expected shortly, he said.Despite a willingness to cooperate, the official said tobacco producers were lawful enterprises, and it was not fair to "butcher the industry"."There is market demand for tobacco, people can choose if they smoke or not," he told China Daily.He said tobacco firms are using scientific and technological improvements in tobacco products to "lower" the harmful effects of smoking.However the WHO has long argued there is no way to make smoking healthier.Yang Yan, a researcher with Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said 12 percent of deaths in China are caused by tobacco related illnesses, and by 2025, that figure will climb to 33 percent.

Wuhan -- China's first bank-invested trust company is officially set up in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, on Sunday.The new trust company is held by the Bank of Communications (BOCOM), China's fifth largest lender, and Hubei provincial finance department, which control 85 percent and 15 percent of the total shares respectively.The BOCOM invested 1.2 billion yuan (about US0m) to buy the shares of the Hubei international trust and investment company, the first commercial bank investment in a trust company approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.Jin Dajian, chairman of the new company named "jiaoyin-guoxin", or BOCOM-International Trust, said the company would focus on "professional wealth management".Jin called the establishment of the new trust company "a breakthrough for China's trust industry", given that the country's law on commercial banks, effective since 1995, did not allow commercial banks to make trust investment.The regulation was not lifted until the end of last year, when the China Banking Regulatory Commission encouraged financial institutions, including commercial banks, to acquire trust companies.The BOCOM, a large state-owned commercial bank, was established in 1908, and the Hubei international trust investment company was founded as a non-banking financial institution under Hubei provincial government in 1981.

TAIPEI, June 23 - Taiwan "presidential candidate" Ma Ying-jeou, who is from the main opposition party, has picked a "former premier" and economic expert as his running-mate for the 2008 election. Ma, from the Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) and one of two serious contenders for the "presidency", chose former "premier Vincent" Siew because of his experience, one of Ma's aide told Reuters. Siew, 68, served as "economics minister" from 1990 to 1993 and as "premier" from 1997 to 2000 under then "president" Lee Teng-hui. He now chairs the authoritative Chung-hua Institute for Economic Research. Siew ran unsucessfully for "vice-president" alongside KMT candidate Lien Chan in 2000, when opposition leader Chen Shui-bian swept to power, putting an end to half a century of Nationalist rule. Ma faces a close contest next year with Frank Hsieh, candidate of Chen's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

来源：资阳报