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People’s Daily: 60+ Population to Exceed 200 Million in 2013

China’s Vice Minister of Civil Affairs in Beijing recently said that, for a long period of time, China will be facing the serious challenge of having an aging population. As of the end of 2012, the population of elderly who were 60 years and above had reached 194 million, accounting for 14.3 percent of the total population. That figure is expected to exceed 200 million in 2013, 400 million by 2034, and 472 million by 2054.

According to statistics, China currently has 36 million elderly who are disabled, 22 million who are of an advanced age, 99 million who live alone, and 23 million who are living in poverty.

Source: People’s Daily, May 2, 2013
http://cppcc.people.com.cn/n/2013/0502/c34948-21342382.html

Xi Jinping Met Representatives of the National Model Workers and Affirmed Role of the Working Class

On April 28, 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a reception forum and met the representatives of the national model workers. In his speech, Xi re-emphasized the role that the working class played as the main force [of society] and called for creating a prosperous future through hard work, an old Chinese Communist tradition that the first generation of Communist leaders in Mao Zedong’s era had started. It is worth noting that Hu Zhiqiang, the Captain of the Daqing Oilfield 1205 Drilling Team, and Guo Fenglian, former Party Branch Secretary of Dazhai Village in Xiyang County of Shanxi Province were among the model workers invited to the reception forum. In Mao’s era, the Daqing Oilfield 1205 Drilling Team and Dazhai Village were the two most famous models representing the working class and the peasant class, respectively. In Mao’s era, Guo Fenglian herself [the most famous "iron maiden" in post-revolutionary Chinese history], was the model promoted to the whole country. The old adage was “Learn from Daqing in industry; learn from Dazhi in agriculture.” 

Source: Xinhua, April 28, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-04/28/c_115589060.htm

China Dairy Industry Association Claims China’s Infant Milk Powder Is Superior to Imported Brands

The China Dairy Industry Association (CDIA) recently commissioned a third-party testing organization to conduct a test of random samples of 25 brands of infant formula milk powder in the capital city of Beijing and the surrounding area. Of those tested, 13 were domestic brands; three were foreign brands produced domestically and manufactured in China, and 9 were imported products. 

The test results showed that the 16 domestic brands were all in compliance with national standards; the actual test values were very good. However, of the nine imported products, three failed the test; one even failed two indicators. 
CDIA said that the quality survey demonstrated that domestic products are better than imported products in quality, while the price of the imported brands was nearly double the price of the domestic brands. 

Source: People’s Daily, April 29, 2013 
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0429/c70731-21323406.html

Xinhua: U.S. Engages “Double Standard” on Anti-Terrorism; It Is Like a Dog in the Manger

Xinhua published a commentary to rebut the U.S. State Department spokesman’s statement on the recent incident in Bachu County in Xinjiang, which the Chinese government characterized as violence and terrorism. The article said, “The U.S. not only did not condemn the incident; on the contrary, it criticized China’s ethnic and religious policies for no reason. This type of behavior of engaging in a ‘double standard’ in the fight against terrorism will, in the end, end up being a dog in the manger.”

"In 2002, after the ‘9/11’ incident, the United States cooperated with the international community to support the United Nations Security Council’s decision to list the ‘East Turkistan Islamic Movement’ as a terrorist organization.  However, with the advance of the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq war, Washington began to change its stance; it vigorously implemented a ‘double standard’ in the fight against terrorism. The most prominent manifestation includes selectively ignoring the extremist groups in the Republic of Chechnya of the Russian and the "East Turkistan" terrorist organizations that threaten China’s national security.” 
The article advises the United States, in the fight against terrorism, not to do things like a dog in the manger. 

Source, Xinhua, April 26, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2013-04/26/c_124637279.htm

Eighty Percent of the Imported Milk Powder Products in China Involves Fraudulent Packaging

According to a CCTV report, most of the milk powder that is sold in China and labeled as “imported” is fake. Reporters found that, in the infant milk powder area of several large supermarkets in Beijing, the vast majority of the shelves were filled with imported milk powder; very few were domestic products. However, they had never heard of many of the brands and those brands could not be found in the country from which they allegedly came. They were only sold in China. The reporter found that the labels on many of these milk powders were falsified. They were packaged as foreign OEM-milk. [Editor’s note: Due to numerous scandals involving Chinese domestic milk products, people don’t trust local brands.] 

There are less than 100 well-known foreign brands of milk powders and only about 20 of them have entered the Chinese market. However, the number of milk powders in the Chinese market that had foreign brand names exceeded 100. The other 80 brands were [fraudulently] packaged as imported foreign products. Many of these milk powders are processed in China with the raw milk coming from abroad; some even use domestic raw milk to process the milk powder. 

Source: Xinhua, April 28, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2013-04/28/c_124644058.htm

Xinhua: North Korea Asks Mongolia for Food

Xinhua recently published a report on aid to North Korea based on a number of different international media sources. On April 22, the North Korean Ambassador to Mongolia told the Mongolian President that North Korea “may soon face a very serious food shortage.” He asked if Mongolia would consider the possibility of providing assistance in the form of food. Korea shares a common cultural heritage with Mongolia, such as their ancient language. On the same day, the United States suggested that it would consider resuming food aid as long as North Korea would allow personnel from the U.S. to monitor the distribution and allocation of the food provided by the U.S. The United States recently refused the acknowledgement of North Korea’s status as a nuclear country.
Source: Xinhua, April 24, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2013-04/24/c_124622524.htm

RFA: Seven Christian Church Members Sentenced in China

Radio Free Asia (RFA) recently reported that seven Christian house church members in Henan Province were accused of being “evil cult members” and were sentenced to up to seven years in prison. These Christian church members were arrested because they were using a version of the Bible that the government does not officially approve. The churches that use these particular Bibles are considered to be an “evil cult.” Lawyers defending the church members suggested that many countries, such as the United States, allow people to use different versions of the Bible. However the court ignored the lawyer’s arguments. Zhang Mingxuan, Chairman of the Mainland House Church Alliance, commented that this is another example of the consistent approach the Communist authorities use to crush freedom of religion. The China Aid Association of the United States described the sentence as “shocking.”
Source: Radio Free Asia, April 23, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/religion-04232013102804.html?encoding=simplified

People’s Daily: Top Ten Companies That Suffered Large Losses are State Owned

People’s Daily recently reported on the final 2012 annual reports of publicly traded companies. Of those companies that suffered the largest losses, the top ten are all state-owned. These ten companies had total losses of RMB 50 billion (US$8.11 billion). They received a total of RMB 57 billion (US$9.25 billion) in government subsidies last year as well. The number one loser was China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO), which reported a loss of RMB 9.56 billion (US$1.55 billion). The second and the third were Aluminum Corporation of China (CHALCO) and Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC); they lost RMB 8.23 billion (US$1.33 billion) and RMB 6.95 billion (US$1.13 billion), respectively. Five of the top ten were steel companies, led by Anshan Iron and Steel, which lost RMB 4.16 billion (US$670 million). All these companies blamed the downturn in the market for their losses. However, based on a deeper study of the reports, many state-owned companies spent a large amount of money in different industries, instead of their primary ones. They especially suffered heavy losses in their stock market investments.
Source: People’s Daily, April 28, 2013
http://ccnews.people.com.cn/n/2013/0428/c141677-21313410.html