Apr32017

New Party chiefs named in 4 provinces

East Asia
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The central leadership has named new Party chiefs in four provinces in the latest reshuffle of provincial leadership ahead of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China later this year.

The changes of the top officials in Heilongjiang, Hainan, Gansu and Shandong provinces, decided by the CPC Central Committee, were announced on Saturday.

Zhang Qingwei, 55, former governor of Hebei province, was appointed Party chief of Heilongjiang. Zhang was formerly an aerospace engineer.

Liu Cigui, 61, was named Party chief of Hainan. Liu, the former head of the State Oceanic Administration, has been governor of Hainan since February 2015.

Lin Duo, 61, former governor of Gansu, was appointed Party chief of the province. He was the former Party chief of Beijing’s Xicheng district from October 2006 to July 2010 and later worked in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang and Liaoning provinces.

Liu Jiayi, who holds a doctorate in economics, was named Party chief of Shandong province. The 60-year-old has been head of the National Audit Office since March 2008.

The former Party chiefs of these four provinces－Wang Xiankui, Heilongjiang; Luo Baoming, Hainan; Wang Sanyun, Gansu; and Jiang Yikang, Shandong－have reached or are nearing 65, the standard retirement age for ministerial-level officials.

Also on Saturday, Xu Qin, 55, former Party chief and mayor of the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, was appointed deputy Party chief of Hebei. Wang Weizhong, former Party chief of Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi, was named Shenzhen’s Party chief on Sunday. A new Shenzhen mayor is yet to be announced.

Shen Xiaoming, former deputy minster of education, was named deputy Party chief of Hainan.

Xu and Shen are widely expected to be nominated governors of Hebei and Hainan. Government leaders must be approved by local provicial legislatures.

Xu, who holds a doctor’s degree in business administration from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, worked from 2003 to 2010 at the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner.

He became mayor of Shenzhen in June 2010 and Party chief of the city in December 2016.

Xu’s appointment as a senior official in Hebei is believed to be beneficial to the development of the Xiongan New Area－whose creation in Heibei has national significance－as Xu has rich experience at Shenzhen, the country’s first special economic zone.

Shen, 54, formerly a pediatrician, worked in Shanghai for 28 years before he joined the Ministry of Education in 2016.

Apr32017

China urges schools to improve food safety

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China’s Ministry of Education has issued a document encouraging schools and kindergartens to install surveillance cameras in kitchens and pantries to monitor the entire process of food production and to improve food safety.

As the weather gets warmer, the possibilities of food poisoning and infectious diseases increase, said the document, adding that schools should be more careful in purchasing ingredients and processing food.

The food must have clear labels, stating the production date and producer, and expired food must not be used, according to the document.

Principals will be held accountable in any food safety incidents, said the document.

The document also requires schools to keep an eye on the health of their students by having daily body check-ups. The schools need to launch educational campaigns on food safety and disease prevention and control among students.

Apr32017

President of Afghanistan’s visit to Australia

Australia
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I am pleased to welcome His Excellency Dr Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Australia from 2-5 April.

This visit, the first to Australia by an Afghan President, reflects the strong bond between our two nations.

Afghanistan and Australia share a solid connection which has been forged over more than a century of shared history and contact between our two peoples.

From the early Afghan cameleers in the 1860s, through to the Australian military effort to free Afghanistan of terrorism, the two nations have long maintained a healthy partnership, built on a foundation of mutual respect.

During this visit, discussions will focus on our ongoing security and development cooperation to help Afghanistan in its efforts to become more prosperous, secure and self-reliant.

In particular, we will seek to enhance partnership between our nations in a number of fields including women’s and girls’ empowerment, public sector capacity building and agricultural productivity.

I look forward to meeting with President Ghani during this historic visit.

Apr32017

Tax cuts to boost jobs and wages

Australia
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The government will deliver a tax cut for around 3.2 million small and medium Australian businesses, employing over 6.5 million workers.

Company tax is a tax on workers, a tax on jobs and a tax on wages.

Small and medium Australian businesses with turnovers of less than $50 million a year will benefit.

This reform will deliver jobs and increase wages. It is an excellent outcome for Australian workers and their families.

Companies with a turnover of less than $10 million will receive a reduction in their tax rate (to 27.5%) this financial year.

All types of businesses benefit from these changes, including 2.3 million unincorporated businesses. 

This reform fully delivers in this term on a key election commitment. But the job is not over – we remain committed to delivering our full plan for economic growth and employment.

Earlier this week we passed the Diverted Profits Tax. By making sure multinational companies pay their fair share of tax, we can ensure the tax paid by small and medium enterprises is as low as possible.

Businesses and the people they employ are not the only beneficiaries of the package that passed the Senate this evening.

The Government will pursue additional measures to put downward pressure on energy prices, building on our existing policies.

Recognising that our energy reforms will take time to fully implement, we will provide a one-off payment of $75 for single recipients and $125 for couple recipients of the Aged Pension, the Disability Pension and the Parenting Payment.

The additional measures to tackle power prices include increasing gas supply, including a potential NT-SA pipeline, accelerating solar development, improving price transparency and a Productivity Commission inquiry to complement the ACCC review.

We thank the crossbench for its support. Unfortunately, once again, Labor let down businesses and the people they employ, voting against measures that will increase jobs and generate growth.

It is further evidence of the obvious: Bill Shorten has no plan for jobs and no plan to grow the economy.