On Friday the Japanese government launched the "Premium Friday" campaign, which encourages people in Tokyo to leave the office at 3 pm on the last Friday of every month. It will be rolled out nationwide from April.
Co-chaired by Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli and Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, the meeting of the Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation held in Beijing on Monday signaled that bilateral ties have returned to normal after the frictions between the two countries last year.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, stressed the importance of lifting the rural impoverished population out of poverty and accomplishing the poverty alleviation targets on schedule.
THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN HANDAN, North China's Hebei province, recently said it suffered heavy losses in a 2008 project with expected investment from a South Korean company that called itself Hyundai Construction Group, which later turned out not to be part of the Hyundai Group as the government believed. Beijing News comments:
SOME DRIVERS IN TANGSHAN, a city in North China's Hebei province, including drivers of heavy trucks, reportedly paid local "test brokers" so their vehicles passed the compulsory annual tests for all road vehicles without actually taking them. Beijing News commented on Monday:
A WOMAN IN HANGZHOU, East China's Zhejiang province, recently found her husband stole 30,000 yuan ($4,361) from her Alipay account and 10,000 yuan from her bank account to pay gratuity to live streaming website hosts. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday:
China exports more to the United States than the US exports to China. This fact infuriated US President Donald Trump so much that during his campaign trail he threatened to take tough protectionist measures against China. As Trump attempts to consolidate his presidency, he is unlikely to back away from that threat. And with the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China later this year, Chinese leaders are unlikely to yield to US pressure.
'Chinese basketball has no so-called biggest problem, but problems everywhere," Yao Ming said after being elected chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association on Thursday. Although many are excited with Yao's election and hope that he will revitalize basketball in China, the former NBA star appeared calm at Thursday's ceremony.
With the 70th anniversary of the "Feb 28 Incident" in Taiwan around the corner, the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League, one of the eight non-communist parties on the Chinese mainland, held a seminar in Beijing on Thursday where participants emphasized the need to clarify and commemorate what happened on that day seven decades ago.
Except for the fact that it was bluntly straightforward, and the admission that he cherishes the "very good" phone call he had with President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump's interview with Reuters on Thursday displayed worrying misperceptions. Misperceptions that may mislead his China policies, even derail bilateral ties.
Since coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province was first raised by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, enthusiasm for the interconnected development of the three areas has grown and early fruits beneficial to local residents have been harvested, contributing to the formation of an initial vibrant and energetic development circle around the capital.
ON FRIDAY, THE TOP INSURANCE REGULATOR REMOVED YAO ZHENHUA, chairman of Foresea Life Insurance, from his position and banned him from the insurance industry for 10 years for irregular market operations, after speculative purchases of stakes in listed companies including real estate giant Vanke and leading appliance manufacturer Gree. Beijing News commented on Saturday: