Check out the breathtaking landscapes.

Ma Sichun is known as the top campus beauty.

But despite worldwide recognition of China's positive influence, much work remains to be done to win more friends worldwide

For many Chinese people accustomed to negative reports about China's international image abroad, the results of a global poll released on May 11, which suggests that more people have now had a positive view of China, might be cause for satisfaction. However, we need to remain objective and not get carried away.

According to the poll for the BBC World Service, while respondents holding positive views of the European Union dropped from 56 to 48 percent this year, the number of respondents with positive views of China rose from 46 to 50 percent. China has seen its positive ratings overtake both the EU and the United States.

Positive views of China jumped particularly sharply in the United Kingdom, as well as in Australia, Canada, and Germany, in striking contrast to the mostly negative views of China that have been common in the West over the past few years.

Chris Coulter, president of Globe-Scan/PIPA, an international opinion research consultancy that conducted the 2012 Country Ratings Poll said: "The turmoil in the EU, long seen as an attractive bastion of political and economic stability, has raised doubts in people's minds about its continued ability to be a global leader. Hopes are turning to China."

But we should not become complacent on hearing such words. China should treat such international praise calmly and objectively and should continue to be modest and pragmatic in its attitude and actions.

As a newly emerging power with domestic reform and socio-economic development at a crucial stage, and with the "China threat theory" being aired from time to time abroad, it is important that China review its international status and reputation in a sober way.

The global poll first asked respondents if he or she thought a country had a positive or negative influence in the world, based on factors, such as the country's foreign policy, traditions and culture, the way it treats its people and its economy, products and services.

The results of the poll suggest that of those that said the Chinese influence in the world is positive, a majority of 51 percent said it is because of China's economy, products, and services. But this was also the top reason for 30 percent of respondents who think China has a negative influence. The way China treats its people as well as its foreign policy were also given as reasons for disapproval.

Although the survey is not necessarily completely reliable, it is to some extent very enlightening.

First of all, the performance of economic development is indeed a key factor in assessing a country's vitality and whether it has a positive impact on the international community. Especially now against the backdrop of the global financial crisis and the subsequent worsening debt crisis in Europe. Since 2008, China's ability to maintain steady and rapid growth has surprised the international community, and justified its basic policies in dealing with the economic and financial crises, and promoting social and economic reform and development.

Of course, the Chinese government and people also need to be aware that China is now in a crucial stage of socio-economic and political reform and is still in a period of prominent social transition. We need to forge ahead with a more open and pragmatic attitude, which is the key for enhancing the image of the country.

Second, China needs to focus on promoting effective domestic governance and social justice through continued, people-oriented economic and political reform, so that ordinary citizens can benefit from the reform and opening-up and the socio-economic and political progress.

In this way, the happiness index and pride of the Chinese people will continue to improve and China's international reputation will be further enhanced.

Third, the improvement of China's international reputation has also bene-fited from China's adherence to the path of peaceful development, and its unswerving pursuit of an independent foreign policy of peace. Centering on the rise of China and its impact, there has been ceaseless controversy. And for China it seems to be a case of "the trees may prefer calm but the wind will not subside".

Over the past few years, China's diplomatic environment has become more complex, but its foreign policy has generally followed its fundamental principle of peaceful development. In the volatile geopolitical environment of the Asia-Pacific region, China should remain clearheaded and respond to any challenges in a steady and flexible way in the future.

In short, we should take pride in the improvement of China's national prestige, but we should not be complacent. China needs to remain cautious and modest.

The author is a researcher with the Center for European Studies, Renmin University of China.

(China Daily 05/19/2012 page5)

Since economic, political and strategic relations between Europe and China are not commensurate with their mutual appreciation and reciprocal attraction, a formidable potential for synergy between the two still awaits to be unleashed.

The new French president, Francois Hollande, obviously faces daunting challenges on the economic front at home and in the eurozone, but the nature of the relations he will forge with China, the 21st century's most important factor of change, will also define his presidency.

At a time when the distribution of power is shifting rapidly - when Nicolas Sarkozy became French president five years ago, France's GDP was 73 percent of China's; it will be 33 percent in 2012 - leaders have to question their assumptions and re-evaluate their priorities.

Hollande can help start a new chapter in Sino-French relations, contribute to the deepening of links between Brussels and Beijing and take the synergy between the two to another level.

Hollande, who does not share his predecessor's reverence for the United States, is in a position to have a more independent policy toward China, and if the White House has certainly gained a partner in its quest for economic growth, it cannot view Paris any more as an acquiescent and unconditional ally. At the coming 25th NATO Summit in Chicago which will focus on the alliance's commitment to Afghanistan, Hollande will announce the withdrawal of French troops from the Central Asian country before the end of the year.

To use the words of the former French foreign minister Hubert Vdrine, Hollande considers France and the US as "amis, allies, mais pas aligns" - that is friends, allies, but not aligned.

During his long campaign the socialist candidate underlined the importance of stable relations between France and China - in contrast with the fluctuations of the Sarkozy era - but also, in reference to the 27 billion euro ($34.3 billion) trade deficit with China in 2011, called for more balanced economic relations between the two countries.

Just a few hours after his victory Hollande received Kong Quan, the Chinese ambassador to France, an encounter which followed a conversation with Charles Rivkin, the top American diplomat in Paris. After a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the day of his election, the series of exchanges composed a highly relevant sequence in a century which will be largely characterized by the interaction between China, Europe and the US. Besides, by choosing a China expert, Paul Jean-Ortiz, as his top diplomatic advisor three days after his victory, Hollande signaled that he put in place a team especially in tune with Chinese dynamics.

In his discussion with the Chinese envoy, Hollande vowed to further Sino-French cooperation, asked for the two countries to strengthen collaboration in the G20 and stressed the necessity to push forward economic links. Clearly, there is considerable space for improvement: Sino-French trade represented in 2011 only 40 percent of Sino-German trade whose amount reached 144 billion euros a third of total EU-China trade.

A renewed bilateral relationship can certainly contribute to enlarging the horizon of Sino-European relations. Paris can act as a catalyst for a more autonomous EU external policy toward Beijing. It is becoming urgent for European policymakers to design mechanisms in order to attract Chinese investment to Europe China will invest abroad more than $1 trillion in the coming decade; they should grant China market economy status - which, in any case, will be accorded to Beijing under WTO rules in December 2016; lift an inopportune and counterproductive arms embargo; closely consult China on security issues; and work on ambitious Sino-European cooperation in Africa and Central Asia.

The 2012 French presidential election offers at least two obvious lessons. First, Hollande has systematically proved wrong those who underestimated him; and second, his victory marks the return of politics. And in the midst of inevitable moments of turbulence, it is the political determination to put Sino-French relations into a strategic and long-term perspective which will prevail.

In his congratulatory message to the new French leader, Hu Jintao mentioned "the long-time friendship and cooperation between China and France which is significant in safeguarding and promoting global peace, stability and development".

In 1964 following the decision of Charles de Gaulle, France was the first among the major Western countries to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing at the ambassadorial level, and under Hollande's presidency, Paris and Beijing will celebrate the 50th anniversary of this historical moment.

On Jan 31, 1964, de Gaulle concluded a press conference at the Elyse Palace with a remark on what he called the "affinities" between France and China. These cultural and historical "affinities" have to be re-activated to serve as the fulcrum of a new joint global ambition.

The author is director of the Academia Sinica Europaea at China Europe International Business School, and founder of the Euro-China Forum.

(China Daily 05/19/2012 page5)

Taken as a whole, the world's population today is healthier, wealthier, and better educated than ever before. Yet, despite incredible progress, disconcerting realities stubbornly persist.

Many people still live in extreme poverty, even where economies are growing rapidly. More than 20 percent of the world's population lives in states that are considered fragile and highly vulnerable. Global economic and financial systems remain volatile, and armed violence and organized criminal networks are a growing threat to human security in many countries, and women continue to face serious barriers to real empowerment. Meanwhile, our planetary boundaries are being stretched to the limit, and as the world's population increases from the current 7 billion people to a projected almost 9 billion in 2040, the stress on our planet and its resources will continue to increase rapidly if current consumption and production patterns continue.

Our political, social, economic, and technological tools and our policies need to urgently address these challenges, and building resilience is at the very heart of this effort.

Resilience implies the inherent capacity of a system to deal with any external shock, no matter how surprising it is. It is also about being able to face adversity without losing the ability to function as a society. Achieving resilience is a transformative process that builds on the innate strength of individuals, their communities, and institutions to prevent, lessen the impacts of, and learn from the experience of shocks of any type, whether internal or external, natural or man-made. When societies invest time in learning from adversity, they are better prepared to face it in the future.

In building such resilience, the first priority must be prevention, complemented by explicit efforts to reduce societal vulnerabilities and a commitment to maintaining the integrity of communities, institutions, and ecosystems, as these are the very foundations of resilience. As the recent financial crisis showed, not all developed countries have retained systemic resilience to economic shocks.

In 2004, the magnitude-9 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami struck Aceh, Indonesia, causing 4 percent of the total population of around 4 million to lose their lives. When a powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit Aceh this January there were no casualties thanks to an effective government-led publicity campaign and UNDP sponsored disaster preparedness training.

Sustainable development based on resilience also calls for developing the capacity of the poor to overcome challenges, and should be guided by a commitment to national ownership, comprehensive and integrated responses, innovation and learning, and long-term strategic engagement.

Institutions, particularly structures and systems of governance, provide frameworks for building resilience. But state fragility is a function of not only weak institutions but also of social systems under strain. A resilient state is anchored in a cohesive society. Stark inequalities and inequities undermine that.

Building social protection systems is a key investment in resilience, as they shield the most vulnerable from the worst effects of shocks and help prevent irreversible development setbacks.

Resilient societies are also those that exhibit social and civic trust, thus enabling people to feel included and encouraged to work together.

It takes hard work to establish these attributes. It is even more difficult to do so in those wrecked by conflict and violence. Yet, without such capacities for tolerance, fragility can overwhelm the institutions and systems of a society.

When world leaders come together in Rio de Janeiro in June to discuss sustainable development, resilience must be an important part of the discussion.

By collectively committing to building resilience, the international community offers a chance for people everywhere to be equipped with the capacity to cope, to act, and to rise to the daunting challenges of the 21st century.

The author is the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and the former prime minister of New Zealand.

(China Daily 05/19/2012 page5)

(China Daily 05/19/2012 page5)

 

 

 

 

Ling Ruiming has never imagined his long-held dream of traveling around the world would come true especially after the 86-year-old engineer was diagnosed with terminal cancer three months ago.

But thanks to a micro blog his granddaughter Ling Yifan, a young cartoonist, posted on Sina Weibo, Ling Ruiming finally "fulfilled his dream" in a matter of days, something that's being seen as nothing but a miracle.

The miraculous journey started as Ling Yifan, a 29-year-old Beijing girl, posted a request on her micro blog with a portrait of her grandfather on May 12, asking people to print it out and take a photo alongside it wherever they are.

"My grandpa is sick with few days left," she wrote. "All he wanted to do for the rest of his life is to travel around the world. I want him to 'see' more of the world in his last days. Could you please do him a favor of taking him around the world by taking a photo with his portrait at your place? It's like he'll be going there by himself. "

This microblog has aroused the attention of many netizens. Within just three days, tens of thousands of photos had flooded in and the microblog had been forwarded around 89,000 times as of May 14. From the Thames in London, the Berlin Wall in Germany and New York City in the US to the Antarctic Peninsula, people have been sending back their best wishes and photos with the portrait.

Ling's microblog has struck a responsive chord in the hearts of tens of thousands of netizens. "It made me think of my own grandfather," one netizen called Luxingkong xiao M said; "he left me in 1994. Send my best wishes from to Grandpa and pray for the miracle to come ". Cui Xiaodan, who is studying at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, scanned Ling Ruiming's portrait into a picture she took while she was at Chicago University in the United States. "The love relay is inspiring, and I wish to be part of it," she said.

Love makes the world go around, and it is also the resonance of love that bounds the tens of thousands of people around the world together. Let's enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime journey with Grandpa Ling and experience the great kindness and enthusiasm from netizens around the world. Feel free to leave your wishes>>>

Suzhou, China

  Yunnan, China

Malaysia    Singapore

Houston, the United States

  San Francisco, the United States

Whitstable, Kent, England    Berlin Wall, Germany

France    Belgium

Norway    Sweden

Sydney, Australia    the Antarctic Peninsula

In the Internet age, a trivial matter can rapidly spread across the whole country and even the world. And an uncomplicated event may become sensitive and elusive after being interpreted and commented on by different people.

The Chen Guangcheng incident occurred because a Chinese citizen believed he had not been fairly treated. With the assistance of the US Embassy in China, Chen Guangcheng entered and stayed several days in the US Embassy via abnormal means. Two issues arise: firstly, was it legal for the US Embassy to offer asylum to Chen?; secondly, Chen’s future treatment has become a topic of diplomatic discussion between the two governments.

Asylum is a law-related notion rather than a political one. There are certain international laws and regulations about it, which are accepted and followed by many countries including China and the United States.

According to the international law, embassies should not conduct what is not in accordance with its duties. This is also the rule of Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Offering asylum to citizens of host countries not only undermines the sovereignty of host countries but is also beyond the legitimate jurisdiction of embassies. In history, there were indeed similar cases, which are called territorial asylum, and they caused many international disputes. In the case of Haya de la Torre, the International Court of Justice ruled that diplomatic asylum undermined the sovereignty of the host country, intervened with its exclusive affairs and violated general international laws. The International Court of Justice’s verdict is an authoritative judgment based on modern international law.

Therefore, the international law acknowledges the right of a person in a foreign country to seek asylum in that country. However, it opposes diplomatic missions to offer asylum to citizens of host countries. It is easy to understand this: can any country accept extraterritoriality?

Chen Guangcheng entered the US Embassy in China. It should be made clear that according to modern international law, an embassy is not the “extending territory” of a foreign country. Offering diplomatic privileges and immunity to the diplomatic mission does not mean the transfer of territorial sovereignty. Believing an embassy is the territory of a foreign country is actually an idea deviating from international law.

The moment Chen entered the US Embassy, a political and legal problem was created. As a big power, the United States cannot disregard the international law regarding diplomatic privileges and immunity, and cannot grant “territorial asylum”.

Chen, a self-taught lawyer, is familiar with domestic law but not necessarily knowledgeable about international law. In modern society, the diplomatic action of a sovereign state must bear the responsibility under international law. Any case that violates the law, even if matching the political demand of a country for the moment, is bound to undermine the international legal system and the right and guarantees the system offers to that country.

Territorial asylum cannot be accepted by a sovereign state, politically or legally. The US government understands this. Whether it is appropriate or not, the US government expressed its concerns over the situation of Chen Guangcheng and let him leave the embassy “of his own volition” after learning that the Chinese government would ensure the lawful rights of Chen. A legal and political conflict was thus defused.

However, it is reported that Chen said he wanted to live in the United States, which made the US diplomats feel embarrassed. It added another wrinkle to the incident that has already calmed down. It is Chen’s own affair to dream of which country to live in, but the feasibility of realizing it depends on reality and law.

We wish Mr. Chen a quick recovery and that he lives a good life. We also hope that the diplomatic incident quiets down and the unnecessary political speculation and exaggerated comments about the incident come to an end as soon as possible.

Share the most amazing nature photography.

Rui Sha is the most popular model in Taiwan.

(China Daily 05/18/2012 page8)

 

With the world's second largest economy bidding farewell to its decades of roaring double-digit growth, it is only natural that Chinese banks will find it increasingly difficult to make big profits just by lending more.

Chinese policymakers should keep a close eye on the possible effects of sluggish loan growth on both commercial lenders and the national economy.

And, rather than rushing to turn on the liquidity tap, policymakers should urge domestic banks to face up to this test and adapt themselves to the ongoing transformation of the country's growth pattern.

Latest figures from the People's Bank of China show the country's new yuan-denominated loans totaled 681.8 billion yuan ($108.2 billion) in April, down 61.2 billion yuan compared with a year earlier.

Such a surprising drop in new loans has understandably sparked worries among international investors that China's economic slowdown might be more serious than expected.

With the fragile global recovery still deeply uncertain due to the ongoing eurozone crisis and growing US political paralysis, the latest sign of cooling in China, a key growth engine for the world economy, does make a case for more caution.

In response to the economic deceleration, China's central bank cut the reserve requirement ratio for banks last Saturday, the third such reduction in six months.

Clearly, Chinese policymakers have recognized the urgency of fine-tuning monetary policy to accommodate slower economic growth, a price that the country has to pay while shifting the economy away from excessive reliance on exports and investment toward domestic consumption.

But Chinese banks have found that the shrinking appetite for loans has not only threatened their profit margins but also raised questions about the quality of their assets.

Just a few months ago, Chinese banks were widely criticized for the huge profits they made from a lending binge last year, though their less-mentioned overall return on assets remained razor-thin.

Now, the drop in bank lending has forced many of them into such a tight corner that some people have even suggested interest rate cuts to spur borrowing.

Should Chinese banks expect business as usual and another lending boom to stimulate growth of the real economy, which would prolong their days of easy profits?

The answer is definitely no because the country cannot afford to postpone its economic transformation and Chinese banks cannot continue to drag feet over their own reforms.

Chinese banks must improve their risk assessment capabilities and adjust their service structure to serve the country's economic transformation and justify the profit they make.

This is the test they have to take.

(China Daily 05/18/2012 page8)

A rock is a rock is a rock, no matter what you call it.

Since the 1980s, Japan has been making painstaking efforts to turn a couple of rocks, some 1,700 kilometers from Tokyo, into an island.

It has spent a great deal of money building up the rocks that can barely be seen in high waters into what it calls "Okinotori Island". It has even constructed a lighthouse, in a bid to make it look like a real island and it plans to create a port this year on what it is trying to claim is its "southernmost island".

Japan's intention is obvious: If it can successfully convince the rest of the world that the rocks are an island, the country will then be able to claim the surrounding area as its exclusive economic zone.

This is a big deal as we are talking about the jurisdiction over a marine area of some 700,000 square kilometers.

But lies have short legs. Japan's claim of an outer continental shelf based on Okinotori Atoll was not acknowledged by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which means Japan cannot call the atoll an island.

In fact, if Japan had looked at the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea it would have realized its bid was absurd and doomed to failure.

Article 121 says that rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf. And according to Article 60, artificial islands, installations and structures do not possess the status of islands. They have no territorial sea of their own, and their presence does not affect the delimitation of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf.

By claiming rights over the atoll's surrounding area, Tokyo would gravely damage the interests of the international community as a whole, as the move would shrink international waters and hamper freedom of navigation.

Japan must give up its selfish attempt and abide by international law.

(China Daily 05/18/2012 page8)

Resolute measures should be adopted to make nation's income distribution more transparent and equitable

The hope of transforming the economic development model in the 12th Five-Year Plan Period (2011-15) lies in increasing urban and rural residents' incomes to release their consumption potential and so form an endogenous impetus for economic growth and a new pattern of equitable and sustainable development.

Income distribution remains systematically and institutionally unbalanced, with the distribution of the nation's wealth tilted toward the government and the enterprise sector.

There is a continuous widening of the income gap across regions, between urban and rural residents and between different social groups, chaos in income distribution in some sectors, and the expansion of vested interests. This has led to weak domestic consumption that fails to stimulate economic growth, which has made the imbalance between investment and consumption more and more serious.

Instead of enriching people first, the current growth pattern enriches the State first, and the improvement of the productivity of the whole country is faster than the strengthening of the consumption capacity of the general public.

This can be seen from the following: the growth of GDP has been much more rapid than the growth of urban and rural residents' incomes, the growth of State revenues has been twice as fast as the growth of GDP, and the expansion of State-owned capital has been accelerating. It can be said that the growth model based on enriching the national coffers first as a transitional model has made historical contributions to the expansion of the total economic size and to ending the shortage economy.

In the next 5-10 years, the prerequisite for China's consumption-led economic transformation to succeed is the improvement of urban and rural residents' consumption capacity. This calls for speeding up income distribution reform.

In the first place, more efforts have to be made to readjust the national income distribution structure in order to enlarge the share of the labor remuneration in primary distribution. Second, incorporation of migrant rural workers into cities should be accelerated. Third, the process of equalizing access to urban and rural basic public services should be strengthened so as to ensure people's well-being.

Changing the national income distribution pattern needs to increase the number of middle-income earners. These earners now comprise only about 20 percent of the population. There needs to be relevant policies and institutional arrangements to increase the number of middle-income earners to support China's consumption-led economic transformation. Therefore, efforts should be made to increase the number of middle-income earners by 2 percentage points a year to 40 percent of the total population by 2020. With the ongoing fast urbanization and development of the tertiary sector, this goal is realistic. Some studies have shown that there will be 520 million middle-income earners by 2025.

In my view, we have to reform the taxation structure that has been constraining the expansion of middle-income earners, implement structural tax reduction and tilt income distribution in favor of ordinary people. Protection of residents' property rights in general and rural residents' land property rights in particular should be further strengthened. Mechanisms to enable rural residents to fairly share the added value of land should be established. In this way, rural residents can accumulate their wealth from the added value of their land.

Changing the national income distribution pattern needs to be open and transparent. The current unbalanced distribution reflects the institutional arrangements of vested interests. Due to the lack of basic institutions for making income distribution open and transparent, departmental and sectoral interests, corruption and the sources of grey income are increasing rather than decreasing.

Take the governance of sangong for an example. The term refers to the management of government spending on overseas visits, the purchase and maintenance of government vehicles, and official receptions, the monitoring of which has been very difficult over the past years. This is because they are not put in the "sunlight". In the face of the serious imbalance of interest relations, it is high time to make the budgets of all levels of government open and transparent. And in the next 2-3 years, mechanisms for all government officials to disclose their property should be in place.

It is also imperative to establish institutions for registering people's incomes and reporting tax payments with more determination. Efforts should be made for these institutions to cover all urban residents by the end of the 2015 and all rural residents by 2020.

Straightening out income distribution relations so they are open and transparent is not really a technical issue but one of determination and courage.

The author is president of the China Institute for Reform and Development.

(China Daily 05/18/2012 page8)

G8 leaders must seek a pragmatic approach to pressing problems

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will be Russia's top representative at the G8 summit in the United States on Friday and Saturday, as newly elected President Vladimir Putin has said he is too busy to attend.

The G8 forum originated with a 1975 summit that brought together representatives of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. This original group of six became seven the following year when Canada joined the group. With the discussions mainly focusing on global governance, major economic and financial issues, the seven countries sought to strengthen multilateral coordination to maintain the group's leading position in global affairs. Russia joined the forum's political discussions in 1994 and formally joined the group in 1997, completing the membership of the current G8.

The member states of the G8 are all globally powerful and have wielded decisive influence over major international issues in the past. But with the ongoing process of globalization and power rebalancing, the G8 no longer wields the same clout as it did.

This is a sign of the times. In 1981, the International Meeting on Cooperation and Development, the so-called North South Summit, was held in Cancun, Mexico. The North-South Summit was the first meeting on a global scale where the leaders of developed and developing countries gathered to discuss cooperation and development and the revitalization of the world economy. It was considered very important for the future management of the world economy but was totally controlled by the developed countries. But the situation has changed over the past 10 years, with the rise of developing countries such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Since the US subprime crisis in 2008, the developing countries in the G20 have grown in importance and the G20 now is a relatively equal forum between emerging economies and traditional international powers. As former French president Nicolas Sarkozy admitted, any solution to major international issues cannot rule out the big emerging economies like China, India, and Brazil.

The G8 meeting this time faces many global uncertainties, including the sluggish pace of the global economic recovery, the necessary reforms of the international financial organizations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the rise of trade protectionism, and other major issues such as the European debt crisis. Given the fact that the G20 summit will be held in Mexico a month later, the situation may be improved if the eight powers can take a pragmatic and collaborative approach to facilitate a fruitful G20 meeting.

In the meantime, the discussion on whether China should join the G8, which was a hot subject of debate a few years ago, is a moot question. This is because, first, regardless of its rapid development and the fact it is now the second-largest economy in the world, China is still a developing country; second, China has plenty of effective channels like the UN Security Council, the G20 and the BRICS mechanism through which to participate in international policy and decision-making; third, China has been communicating and coordinating with G8 countries for years, particularly through the G20, and it's more representative and influential for China to stay in the G20 mechanism, rather than join the G8.

Meanwhile, Putin's absence has been considered a snub by some US media, who have suggested the Russian president doesn't want to pay a visit to the US because of the proposed NATO missile shield in Europe. It is noteworthy that US strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski recently called for NATO to enroll Russia as a member. While the US didn't like Putin being re-elected as Russian president, it has no other choice but to engage with Putin if the two countries are to "restart" relations.

The author is executive director of the Strategy Research Center of China International Studies Research Fund.

 

(China Daily 05/18/2012 page9)

Developed countries must deliver on their promises to Africa

As the G8 leaders meet in the United States this week, agriculture and food security must be at the forefront of the discussions, and ways to prevent price volatility, including halting grain-based biofuels production, establishing grain reserves for emergency use, eliminating food export bans and increasing the transparency of food and agricultural market information, should be addressed.

Most importantly, the G8 leaders should fulfill their commitments on global food security.

In 2009, G8 leaders made considerable financial commitments to global agriculture and food security, pledging to mobilize $22 billion over three years through a coordinated, comprehensive strategy focused on sustainable agriculture development. But as of May 2011, it was estimated that only 22 percent of these commitments had been disbursed.

In addition to the G8 leaders, the heads of states from Ethiopia, Ghana, Benin and Tanzania will take part in the summit discussions. The direct participation by these African leaders underscores the seriousness of the food security situation on the continent, where more than 220 million people are undernourished. Millions suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, a total of 100 million women and children are iron deficient, and 33 million children have Vitamin A deficiencies. The 2011 Global Hunger Index, a combined measure of the proportion of undernourishment, child malnutrition, and child mortality, shows that Sub-Saharan Africa is home to all the countries with "extremely alarming" scores and many of the countries with "alarming" scores.

In addition, it is projected that smallholder farmers, particularly those living in the highland areas and semi-arid savannahs in Sub-Saharan Africa, face increasing natural resource scarcity risks, including land degradation, which can cost as much as 10 percent of national GDP. Many parts of the region are extremely vulnerable to both man-made and natural shocks. Last year, more than 13 million people were affected by the drought in the Horn of Africa. This year more than 15 million people across seven countries in the Sahel region are already suffering from severe food insecurity or at risk.

It is crucial that developed countries take action to fight starvation in Africa. The cost of hunger is high, and the damage is irreversible.

For over three decades now, the International Food Policy Research Institute has been engaged in promoting the transformation of smallholder agriculture across Africa through evidence-based research and support to country-driven development initiatives. Priority areas include: building capacity for agricultural and food policy analysis and supporting country-led development strategies; improving nutrition along value chains to increase poor people's access to nutritious foods and increasing the availability, access, and intake of nutrient-rich, biofortified staple foods for the poor; resilience-enhancing schemes such as productive social safety nets, weather insurance index, and other risk management tools that help reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience to shocks and contribute to overall long-term growth and prosperity.

Technological innovations such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, and biofortification are crucial to increasing agricultural productivity, building resilience to weather-related shocks, enhancing the nutritional value of food crops, and ensuring food safety. Biotechnology has great potential to improve crop yield, nutrition and resilience to weather shocks, which will be even more frequent in the future due to climate change.

As the world's population increases, there is enormous pressure on the planet's ecosystems. The most reasonable solution to feeding the ever-growing population is sustainably producing more food on the existing land. Scaled-up investments in science and technology and support for improved country capacities are essential to accelerate progress and achieve development objectives.While the governments of developing countries have taken important steps to boost food security-related investments, support from the G8 countries remains critical.

The author is director-general of International Food Policy Research Institute based in Washington.

(China Daily 05/18/2012 page9)

Zhang Lili, a teacher at No 19 Middle School in the city of Jiamusi, Heilongjiang province, was seriously injured when she saved two students from being run over by a school bus on May 8. She remains in critical condition in hospital, says an article in Beijing Youth Daily. Excerpt:

Risking her own life to protect young students demonstrates Zhang's personal qualities. It is also an action of grand love that can inspire others.

Zhang's courageous act reminds me of other great teachers. Zhang Jinwei, protected his students from being attacked by scoundrels in Nanchong, Sichuan province. Tan Qianqiu, sacrificed his own to save four students in the Wenchuan earthquake.

When in danger, like Zhang Lili, they all choose to protect their students first. It shows perfectly how valuable teachers are to society.

Zhang Lili's act was not an isolated aberration since she is a dedicated and loving teacher in daily life. She sponsors a student every month, and according to her students and colleagues, she is considerate and kind-hearted. That's why she was willing to sacrifice herself at that moment of life and death.

Although there have been reports in the media of people failing to help people in need, the goodness of teachers such as Zhang indicates that there is kindness and love in our society. Such goodness can build more trust among people and be a positive strength to our society. I hope the "most beautiful teacher", as Zhang Lili is called by millions of netizens, can recover quickly and return to the school as soon as possible.

(China Daily 05/18/2012 page9)

Many parents in China try to register their hukou, or household registration, close to good schools in order to get the best education they can for their children. A couple in Guangzhou, even registered their household as living in a public toilet in order to get their child into a good school, says an article in Guangzhou Daily. Excerpt:

The main reason for parents favoring "elite schools" is the serious imbalance in the allocation of educational resources, which leads to some schools getting better resources than the others.

Parents naturally want the best education possible for their children, so they are willing to spend as much money as they have to get their kids in the best primary, middle and high schools. Such fantastic acts as registering the family home as a public toilet shows their desperation. For many families, such acts may save them a fortune and enable their kids to enjoy better quality education.

With the high expectations of parents and fierce competition in society, it seems that no one wants their children to fall behind at the starting line. It is important to close the gaps among different schools. The education authorities should endeavor to balance the distribution of resources among various schools.

For example, by introducing the headmasters and highly qualified teachers from "elite schools" into other schools to raise their educational level. Or by making schools in the same city share the educational resources, which is also worth trying.

(China Daily 05/18/2012 page9)

The United States ought to realize that making the US dollar an international currency means detaching the dollar from a purely national context and limiting its own monetary and financial tools to regulate its national economic situation.

The rise of China to be the world's second largest economy means that China's economy has a global significance rather than simply a bilateral one. The US should resolve its own domestic economic problems rather than resorting to destabilizing the global economy. It is time to detach the US economy from the global economy in the context of an international currency. This is today's reality. There are enough currencies to facilitate global trade. It is time to give more substance to alternatives to the US dollar as the international currency, so the US can print as much money as it likes without sending inflation sky high in other countries.

Jane Tse, on China Daily website

Readers' comments are welcome. Please send your e-mail to opinion@chinadaily.com.cn or letters@chinadaily.com.cn or to the individual columnists. China Daily reserves the right to edit all letters. Thank you.

(China Daily 05/18/2012 page9)

Comment on "There's more to life than money" (China Daily, May 17)

While money isn't everything, it is the most important thing. The British pop group The Beatles had a great song Money can't buy me love. But looking around we can see that for many money did buy love. For girls in Singapore a man must have the 5 Cs, cash, credit card, condo, character and career. Chinese girls are also increasing their stake.

HsunTze, on China Daily website

Readers' comments are welcome. Please send your e-mail to opinion@chinadaily.com.cn or letters@chinadaily.com.cn or to the individual columnists. China Daily reserves the right to edit all letters. Thank you.

(China Daily 05/18/2012 page9)