The Nation Newspaper

Tag: china

  • China: ‘Coast chiefs’ to fight pollution, illegal fishing

    China: ‘Coast chiefs’ to fight pollution, illegal fishing

    A coastal Chinese province is to appoint coast chiefs to fight pollution and illegal fishing.

    Zhejiang provincial government said on Tuesday that the arrangement would take effect on August 7 and by the end of this year all coasts in Zhejiang should have their chiefs.

    Coast chiefs would be responsible for supervising waste discharged into the sea, illegal fishing gear, unlicensed fishing boats, illegal use of coasts, illegal ship building, repairing and recycling, the government said in a circular.

    Zhejiang has a coastline of more than 6,600 kilometers, the longest of any Chinese province.

    The coast chief practice is regarded as an extension of river chiefs, which are being rolled out across the country after a successful trial in Jiangsu Province.

    The responsibilities of river chiefs include water resource protection, pollution prevention and control, and ecological restoration.

    Their performance is assessed and they would be held accountable for environmental damage in the bodies of water they oversee.

    Zhejiang tested the practice in 2008 and expanded it across the whole province in 2013 and there are now 61,000 river chiefs there.

  • FG partners WTO, CNN to boost creative industry

    FG partners WTO, CNN to boost creative industry

    The Federal Government has struck a global tripartite partnership with UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the global news leader, CNN to boost the nation’s creative industry.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this at the Creative Industry Roundtable held on Monday in Lagos.

    The minister, who declared the round table opened, said that the partnership would give the nation’s creative industry a big boost.

    He said under the partnership, his Ministry, UNWTO and CNN would use the film industry as a lens to project various aspects of the Nigerian culture, tourism and similar areas.

    He said they would kick start the project with a 13-episode production showcasing the various stages in movie production.

    “The productions include the choice of location, which will allow us to showcase the various beautiful sceneries available in Nigeria.

    “It will showcase the choice of wardrobe to show the rich options in the country’s fashion industry and the choice of sound track that will highlight our rich music genres

    “The casting will showcase our abundant talents and the technical part will provide the platform to show that there is no camera and other gadgets that we don’t have here,” he said.

    The minister said that, as part of the project, his ministry would run a programme on CNN showcasing the 20 Nigerians to watch in the creative industry.

    He said the Nigerians to be showcased would be selected by the industry players to ensure authenticity.

    Mohammed reiterated government’s position to transform the creative industry to “Nigeria’s new oil”.

    “This is an empirical statement, rather than a mere jive and the experience from other lands confirms this,” he said.

    As parts of the dogged determination to grow the industry, Mohammed also disclosed that his ministry would be organising a Creative Industry Financing Conference between July 17 and July 18 in Lagos.

    He said the conference organised in partnership with the Think Tank Media would be declared open by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

    The minister said that he called the Roundtable to fast-track the transformation of the Creative Industry.

    He reiterated the government readiness to support the industry and facilitate the enabling environment for the true business growth of the creative sector.

    “The Roundtable will provide the stakeholders the opportunity to engage in business-focused discussions.

    “The stakeholders are to initiate private sector-led growth and development of the creative Industry.

    “We will dialogue and engage key industry personnel on the business of the creative sector, while addressing key issues affecting the sector.

    “The Roundtable is also expected to highlight international best practices that would enhance the business of the sector,” he said.

    Earlier, Mr Folorunso Coker, the Director General of Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), identified access to fund as one of the major challenges of the industry.

    He said the stakeholder should push for acceptance of content as collateral for funding of creative works as it was being done in other climes.

    Coker also advocated public policy reform for harmonisation of multi level regulatory institutions in the creative industry.

    He decried huge infrastructure gap, which he said was holding the industry from developing.

    According to him, China built about 40,000 cinemas in the last six years, whilst Nigeria has about 130 screens.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the round table broke into technical session after the opening remarks.

    Some of the personalities at the event were Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, the Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture.

    Also at the event were Nollywood Thespian, Saint Obi, Mo Abudu of Ebony Life, Bolanle Austen-Peters, Tajudeen Adepetu, Obi Asika and Ken Mkparu.

  • 14 ABUAD Students off to China

    Fourteen student of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) travelled yesterday to china on a three-week scholarship to sharpen their proficiency in Chinese language.

    The trip is of the  intense  of the flourishing relationship between ABUAD and China, the world fastest growing economy.

    A statement by the  Head Corporate Affairs of the tertiary Mr Tunde Olofintila,  said the students were accompanied by Chinese Language Coordinator, Mr. Charles Ejemezu.

    ABUAD students and staff were considered worthy of making the list of institutions selected all over the world because of ABUAD’s cordial relationship with China and a Memorandum of Understanding between ABUAD and China since 2011.

    In 2011, barely a year after ABUAD commenced academic work, the university introduced the compulsory study of Chinese or French languages to its students as part of its efforts to institutionalize quality and functional education and prepare its students for the competitive global employment market.

    Since the introduction of Chinese language to the curriculum of the university, ABUAD students have benefitted from the programme. In 2012, two ABUAD students got scholarships to study in two universities in China.

    In 2013, two students of the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy of the university got Chinese Government scholarships to study for one year in two different Universities in China. The lucky duo were Miss Queen Ada Modestus and Miss Somiari Elizabeth Belema, who have since bagged their Proficiency Certificates in Chinese Language from Hangzhou Normal University China and Fujian Normal University China.

    Sixteen ABUAD students and employees embarked on an Educational/Excursion tour to Beijing, China between September 19 and October 3, 2014.

    In 2016, Oghenetejiri Odjighoro, a 2015 First Class Graduate of Electrical and Electronics Engineering of ABUAD, was employed as an Assistant Engineer by the Lagos-based Huawei Technologies Limited, a leading multinational Networking and Telecommunications Equipment and Services company, because of her basic knowledge of Chinese language.

    In her December 12, 2016 letter of appreciation to the University, Odjighoro was full of effusive and lavish praise for ABUAD Founder, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, the Management and staff of the University for empowering her with all the skills, including the studying of Chinese language, she needed to succeed and excel in her chosen Engineering career.   

     

  • Aussie sparkling water is world’s best

    Aussie sparkling water is world’s best

    Sparkling water from an Australian beverage producer located in the Snowy Mountains region in the State of New South Wales (NSW) has been named as world’s best sparkling water on Tuesday at the International Fine Water Tasting Competition in China.

    The minister for regional NSW, John Barilaro, said in a statement that a panel of five internationally-renowned water sommeliers chose Beloka Water out of 104 other entries, due to its extremely high quality.

    “Beloka Water has demonstrated on the world stage what incredible water we have here in NSW and to set the bar so high at a global event is outstanding.

    “Beloka Water is 100 per cent Australian, everything from the caps, labels, and boxes are sourced here, and it’s bottled using recycled glass in a sustainable manner,’’ Barilaro stressed.

    Barilaro believed that the success of the company would build on the great progress made by Aussie producers that are already exporting into China.

    NSW Trade and Industry Minister Niall Blair said the free trade deal with China has opened the door to a market with a huge appetite for high-quality products which will continue to grow.

    “China is NSW’s largest two-way trading partner in goods and a major focus for our food and beverage producers,’’ Blair said.

    Owner of Beloka Joe Commisso, who has been exporting to China for one year, acknowledged that being named the winner of the world’s best sparkling water was a huge windfall for the business.

    “We’ve been well and truly recognised on the international stage, so we hope to see Australian fine dining establishments adopt our local premium water over well-known imported brands,’’ Commisso said.

  • Xi says China-U.S. relations affected by ‘negative factors’

    Xi says China-U.S. relations affected by ‘negative factors’

    China-U.S. relations have been affected by some “negative factors,” Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Donald Trump during a phone call on Monday.

    The conversation came after a series of recent actions by the U.S. related to Taiwan, North Korea and the South China Sea that have been labeled by Beijing as “wrong decisions” or “provocations.”

    Xi told Trump he hoped the U.S. would handle Taiwan-related issues appropriately and that China places great importance on Trump’s reaffirmation of the “One China” policy, which prohibits countries that have diplomatic relations with Beijing from pursuing official ties with Taiwan, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

    On Thursday, the U.S. government angered Beijing when it approved a 1.4-billion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a breakaway province.

    China asked the U.S. to cancel the deal lest it would damage “China-US relations and cooperation in important fields,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Friday.

    A U.S. government official said US arms sales to Taiwan reflect no change in the “one China” policy and are based on an assessment of Taiwan’s defence needs.

    The U.S. government also announced on Thursday it had imposed sanctions against China’s Bank of Dandong over its alleged dealings with North Korea.

    China’s Foreign Ministry retorted that the sanctions were a “wrong decision” made arbitrarily by the US outside the framework of the UN Security Council.

    on Sunday, a U.S. warship sailed close to a disputed island in the South China Sea claimed by China, prompting an angry response from Beijing, which described the action as a “serious provocation.”

    The guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem came within 12 miles of an island in the Paracel Archipelago, which is claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam, CNN reported.

    The ship was part of a U.S. Navy “freedom of navigation exercise,” the news network added.

    The operation “infringed upon China’s sovereignty, disrupted peace, security and order of the relevant waters and put in jeopardy the facilities and personnel on the Chinese islands, and thus constitutes a serious political and military provocation,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

    China had dispatched military vessels and fighter planes to warn the U.S. vessel, said Wu Qian, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense.

    “The Chinese side will continue to take all necessary means to defend national sovereignty and security,” Lu added.

    China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a key shipping lane that is believed to be rich in resources. An international court in 2016 invalidated China’s claims to the region in a case filed by the Philippines, but Beijing does not recognise the ruling.

    This is the second “freedom of navigation operation” that has taken place during Donald Trump’s presidency.

    The exercises were done routinely under the Obama administration, however, Trump was at first mostly silent on the South China Sea issue while he turned to China for help in reining in the nuclear threat from North Korea.

    Trump and Xi also discussed the nuclear threat from North Korea during the phone call.

    Both leaders “reaffirmed their commitment to a denuclearised Korean Peninsula,” the White House said.

  • China asks U.S. to cancel weapons deal with Taiwan

    China asks U.S. to cancel weapons deal with Taiwan

    China on Friday strongly opposed a plan to sell weapons worth 1.4 billion dollars to Taiwan, and has asked the U.S. to cancel the deal.

    A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson,, said the sale of military equipment, which the U.S. State Department approved Thursday, threatens U.S.-China diplomatic relations.

    “The U.S. should revoke the weapons deal plan in order to avoid damaging China-US relations and cooperation in important fields,” Lu said.

    China has filed “solemn representations” with the U.S. on the matter and “stresses that no one can shake the Chinese government’s determination to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.

    Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China’s territory and prohibits countries with which it has diplomatic relations from pursuing official ties with Taiwan.

    A U.S. government official said the arms sales to Taiwan reflect no change in the long-standing One China policy, which recognises the People’s Republic of China.

    He said that the sales comply with the Taiwan Relations Act and are based on an assessment of Taiwan’s defence needs.

    The equipment includes technical support for early warning radar surveillance, missiles and torpedoes.

    The official said the sales represent upgrades, including equipment needed to convert current defensive systems from analogue to digital.

    “There is continuity here, the United States has been doing defence sales with Taiwan for 50 years or so, so nothing has changed,” said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.

    Taiwan government spokesman Sidney Lin said the sale increases the country’s self-defence abilities and “confidence and ability to maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

    Lai I-chung, a senior political analyst of Taiwan Thinktank, said the approval of the arms sale showed that relations between Taiwan and the U.S. remained steady, according to the Central News Agency.

    Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. assures “Taiwan’s ability to maintain a sufficient self-defence capability.”

    The last U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, worth 1.83 billion US dollars, was authorised by the Obama administration in December 2015.

  • Fed Govt to inaugurate yam export to Europe, U.S., China

    The Federal Government will today inaugurate export of yams to Europe, United States of America and China, Minister of Agriculture Chef Audu Ogbeh said yesterday.

    He said the Federal Executive Council (FEC) gave its approval at yesterday’s meeting.

    The minister explained that yam exportation would not increase hunger in the land.

    Rather than seeing yam export as a problem, he said Nigerians should see it as an economic opportunity.

    The minister said: “We informed council that last week we completed arrangements for the first formal export of Nigerian yams to the United Kingdom. Some people have asked whether by exporting yams, we are not going to subject Nigerians to hunger and I had to inform Council today that will certainly not arise.

    “You will remember about February or March this year some of you asked the same question, is Nigeria going to face famine? And I said it cannot happen. Apart from the crisis in the Northeast, we definitely are not short of food, although prices are high in some areas.

    “Tomorrow, we shall flag off this export in three container loads

    containing 72tonnes of Nigerian yams. Two containers went out in

    February; one arrived in New York on the 16th of this month. This is

    important because for those of you, who travel and many Nigerians out there, you go to shops where they sell African foods and you never see anything from Nigeria, it is mostly called Ghana yams.

    “Now, we account for 61 per cent of the total output of yams in the world, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation. The rest is shared between some countries in the West Africa and the West Indies.”

    He added; “For us to go abroad and not find Nigerian yams in the market, it is an embarrassment. Because Ghana is targeting $4 billion of yams in the next three years and if they can do that, we who are the masters of yam production have no business lagging behind.

    “Essentially, we are making this point because we are diversifying the economy. We are talking about economic recovery and growth and we will have to export whatever is needed from Nigeria by other countries so that we can earn more foreign exchange rather than expend everything we have on importation.

    “If they want yams, we will sell yams. If they want pepper, we will sell pepper. If they want ginger, we will sell ginger. Just like we buy so much from them, it is time for them to buy from us. I assure you this is how the economy of Nigeria we are dreaming of is going to recover.”

    He noted that the only challenges that may be faced will be the question of labour as the young men, who make yam heaps are reducing in number because they are moving to the cities for greener pastures.

    He added:”To solve that problem, we are mechanising the production of yams. We have designed a new plough that will be attached to the tractor to make the yam heap. The current ploughs we have cannot make a heap.

    “In Ilorin the Nigerian Centre for Agric Mechanisation is producing a new plough that can make the yam heaps and once that is in operation, we will mechanise the production.”

    Stressing that food exports have gone up in Nigeria in the last one year by 82 per cent, he said the government will ensure it meets the finest standard in the market.

    On other crops, he said:”But the other good news is cashew nuts. These things look small. We are in conversations with Walmart, the biggest supermarket chain in the U.S. They came here and asked us to roast cashew nuts for them. Their demand is a 130,000tonnes of cashew nuts per annum.

    “The total value is $7 billion, but what we are doing now is shipping raw cashew to Vietnam. They are the ones roasting and selling to the U.S. This year, we are going to create six cashew processing factories in Nigeria. One to be sited in Enugu,Imo,Benue,Kogi, Kwara and Oyo states. These are the cashew belt for now.

    “These things are coming because at last, Nigeria is beginning to focus on non-oil export. Once you can diversify your economy,if something goes wrong in one sector, you can hang on to the other.”

    “The Indians are asking us for beans; all categories of it in the market in India is worth $100 billion dollars. When the Indian Vice President came here, he asked me to visit so we could talk. So, the market in agric is huge, the prospects are large. It’s about improving on our strategies at home and getting all our states to get involved. Not all of them are doing what they ought to be doing now,” he said.

  • Trump growing frustrated with China, weighs trade steps – officials

    Trump growing frustrated with China, weighs trade steps – officials

    President Donald Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with China over its inaction on North Korea and bilateral trade issues, three senior administration officials told Reuters.

    The officials said Trump was looking at options including tariffs on steel imports, which Commerce Secretary

    Wilbur Ross already has said he is considering as part of a national security study of the U.S. steel industry.

    Whether Trump would take any steps against China remains unclear.

    In April, he backed off from a threat to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement after he said Canadian and Mexican leaders telephoned him asking him to halt a planned executive order in favor of opening discussions.

    The officials said there was no consensus on the way forward with China and they did not say what other options

    were being studied.

    A senior official said that no decision was expected this week.

    Chinese steel already is subject to dozens of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy orders. As a result it has only a small share of the U.S. market.

    “What’s guiding this is he ran to protect American industry and American workers,” one of the U.S. officials said, referring to Trump’s 2016 election promise to take a hard line on trade with China.

    The official said on North Korea, Trump “feels like he gave China a chance to make a difference” but has not seen enough results.

    The U.S. has pressed China to exert more economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to help rein in its nuclear and missile programmes.

    Beijing has repeatedly said its influence on North Korea is limited and that it is doing all it can.

    The official said: “They did a little, not a lot.

    “And if he’s not going to get what he needs on that, he needs to move ahead on his broader agenda on trade and on North Korea.”

    U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad, who arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, spoke reporters outside his residence on Wednesday and said the United States hoped to collaborate with China.

    “We need to work together to deal with some of the pressing, difficult issues, such as the threat from North Korea.

    “We want to work together to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

    The death of American university student Otto Warmbier on June 21, after his release from 17 months of imprisonment in Pyongyang, has further complicated Trump’s approach to North Korea, his top national security challenge.

    Trump signaled his disappointment with China’s efforts in a tweet last week: “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!”

    Trump had made a grand gesture of his desire for warm ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping when he played host to Xi in April at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.

    “I think China will be stepping up,” Trump said at the time.

    Since then, however, North Korea’s tests of long-range missiles have continued unabated and there have been reports it is preparing for another underground nuclear test.

    An official said Trump dropped by on June 22 as White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner were meeting Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi.

    China’s inability to make headway on North Korea was one of the topics that was discussed, according to two people familiar with the meeting.

    In a statement last week, China’s foreign ministry said Yang had met McMaster and Kushner, but it gave no details.

    Ministry spokesman Lu Kang did not directly answer a question about that meeting, but said China and the U.S. had discussed North Korea, among other issues, during a security dialogue Yang attended.

    Yang also had a separate meeting with Trump.

    The ministry said on Saturday that Yang told Trump that China was willing to work with all sides, including the U.S., to lessen tension on the Korean peninsula and promote an “appropriate” resolution.

    Trump met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday at the White House and made a point of noting that the U.S., India and Japan would be joining together in naval exercises soon in the Indian Ocean, a point that seemed aimed at India rival Beijing.

    Trump also thanked India for joining the U.S. in imposing new sanctions against North Korea.

  • EU worries over 372 trade barriers against exporters

    EU worries over 372 trade barriers against exporters

    The EU has expressed worry over 372 trade barriers against its exporters in 2016 largely by some of the G20 countries.

    The union in its annual report published on Monday stated that largest share of the barriers came from Russia, Brazil, China, India and Indonesia.

    The EU expressed concern that Russia introduced the largest number of new trade barriers faced by European exporters in 2016.

    According to the report, the measures introduced by Russia could potentially affect trade flows worth up to 12.26 billion euros (13.71 billion dollars).

    The report stated that along with Russia, the other countries topping the list of places that have introduced the most new protectionist measures in 2016 include Switzerland and Algeria.

    “We clearly see that the scourge of protectionism is on the rise. It affects European firms and their workers.

    “Wines and spirits, agriculture as well as fisheries were the sectors recorded with the highest number of new reported barriers.

    “It is worrying that G20 countries are maintaining the highest number of trade barriers,” Cecilia Malmstroem, the EU Trade Commissioner said.

  • Police arrest three Chinese nationals with 474 iPhones, 350,000 SIM cards

    Police arrest three Chinese nationals with 474 iPhones, 350,000 SIM cards

    Police on Monday arrested three Chinese nationals in Thailand after being nabbed with 474 iPhones and nearly 350,000 SIM cards which they used to manipulate product information on WeChat.

    Police officer Wassapan Sirikulkamonchat said in addition to the iPhones and SIM cards, police also found 21 SIM card readers and nine computers in the raid at their apartment.

    He said the three reportedly confessed that they were hired to falsify the popularity of certain WeChat pages selling products in China by boosting social media “likes’’ and page views,.

    WeChat is a Chinese social media app with almost a billion users.

    Wassapan said that Wang Dong, 33, Niu Bang, 25 and Ni Wenjin, 31, were arrested in Sa Kaeo province, 200 km east of Bangkok, following a tip-off by locals who suspected them of working illegally in Thailand.

    The three were charged with working without a permit in Thailand and smuggling electronic gadgets from China.

    He said they are scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.

    The officer said that although working without a permit in Thailand could lead to five years in prison, the three men are likely to only pay fines related to their charges and be deported back to China.