NATION 4 THURSDAY APRIL 5, 2007 CHINA DAILY Invasive alien species in the cross hairs Beijing to target harmful pests “Because of the timely In addition to the American measures the capital took White Moths, the species Forestry bureau to investigate illegal logging claim to combat the moth, a seri- Dendroctonus valens leconte to ensure a green Olympics ous outbreak in Beijing is is also at the center of focus By Sun Xiaohua destroy the ecosystem and Meanwhile, APP told China not a foregone conclusion,” of prevention and control biodiversity are not permitted Daily that “the accusations are By Sun Xiaohua An investigation by the the SFA said “But the area efforts by the forestry man- and will be fi rmly punished.” defi nitely not true”. SFA showed that in 2005, round Beijing should keep agement department. Such China will investigate allega- He said the SFA had asked A newsletter released by 156,000 hectares of trees on high alert.” pests, which also originated tions that an Indonesia-based the Hainan provincial forestry APP said officials from the Beijing will launch a campaign were stricken by the moths. Beijing and Hebei planned in North America, are expect- fi rm has been engaged in illegal bureau to investigate the case, Hainan provincial forestry bu- against assaults by alien The moths had spread to an to prepare planes to spray ed to harm 80,000 hectares of logging in the southern island though there had not been any reau and other related govern- insect species on the city’s additional 67,000 hectares in insecticide on 115,000 hectares trees this year, or 20 percent province of Hainan, an offi cial results as yet. mental departments visited the trees to guarantee plenty of the following year. of trees that are at risk of less than last year. at the State Forestry Admin- “The Yinggeling area is forestation area last August and greenery for the 2008 Olympic The destructive moths are ex- destruction or have already Warm winter weather, istration (SFA) said yesterday the largest tropical rain forest found that APP had not planted Games, said a senior forestry pected to devour another 47,000 been attacked by the moths. a global outbreak of pest in Beijing. in Southeast Asia, growing a any fast-growing trees in the administrator yesterday. hectares of trees in Beijing and Other measures, like making disasters and a high ratio of The China office of rich spectrum of tropical spe- protected region, nor had it Wei Diansheng, director of its adjacent regions this year, light traps and cultivating the young and vulnerable trees Greenpeace, an international cies,” Jin said. felled any primary forest to the Forestation Department at Wei said. moth’s natural enemies, are in China’s forests have all environmental group, last Liu Bing, Greenpeace make space for plantation. the State Forestry Administra- “Given the grave situation, under preparation. contributed to the challenge Wednesday accused Asia Pulp forestry project director, ad- APP said its forestation tion (SFA), said Hyphantria we must stick to our prevention Beijing, Tianjin and three of containing invasive alien and Paper (APP) of illegally dressed the allegations at a work in China had abided by the cunea, or the American White goal to ensure Beijing’s other nearby provinces have species, according to the clearing primary forest to build news conference. country’s laws and rules. And its Moth, a species native to North ecological security as well pooled about 66 million yuan SFA. roads and plant a “large area “APP crudely opened target areas were mostly bar- America, could pose a threat as the success of the Green ($8.3 million) to help pay for The SFA is planning a long- of eucalyptus pulp and paper roads in the protected area ren fi elds and mountains that to Beijing’s vision of holding a Olympics,” he said. the effort. term cooperative effort with the forest” in Yinggeling, a nature by destroying natural forest,” had been approved by forestry “Green Olympics”. The SFA has no statistics on Plant diseases and insect meteorological administration reserve in Hainan. Liu said. authorities. A family of American White the economic losses caused pests are expected to pose more in a bid to predict potential “China welcomes foreign “This not only harmed a However, environmental- Moth larvae can eat all the by the American White serious threats this year than in attacks by pests and other investment in forestation on large area of the natural for- ists from Greenpeace regularly leaves off a healthy tree in Moth, though it has placed the past, the SFA has said. harmful species. The effort the condition that it protects est, but also caused signifi cant accuse APP of illegal logging in just a few days. The species the prevention and control of More than 11 million hec- had a trial run on March 6, the local ecosystem,” said Jin water losses and soil erosion, both Indonesia and at its pulp was fi rst spotted in Beijing and insect pests at the top of its tares of trees nationwide are during Jingzhe, one of the 24 Zhicheng, an offi cial in charge and could lead to reduced bio- and paper operations in Hainan surrounding areas, including working agenda, giving the expected to be attacked by plant points on the Chinese lunar of news releases at the SFA. diversity and the destruction of and the Southwest China prov- Tianjin Municipality and Hebei issue the same importance as diseases, insect pests, rats, rab- calendar, signifying the point “But any actions that an ecosystem.” ince of Yunnan. Province, in 2005. preventing fi res. bits and invasive plants. when insects hatch.

Workloads prove deadly for police

By Zhu Zhe website yesterday that “a large even lower than in developing number of Chinese police- countries like Brazil and India, men, especially those who according to the ministry. Poor health caused by a heavy work among the public, suffer To improve the situation Wu workload has become a sig- from poor health because of said the ministry had required nifi cant cause of death among overwork”. public security bureaux at police offi cers, according to fi g- The results of a ministry all levels to give offi cers free ures provided by the Ministry investigation released last annual physical check-ups and of Public Security. year showed that in Beijing paid annual holidays. Figures released yesterday and Tianjin municipalities Huang Pei, director of the on the ministry’s website show and Hebei Province, police Xiaoguan police station in that of the 398 offi cers who died officers worked an average Beijing’s Chaoyang District, in the line of duty last year, 175, 20 extra hours every week. said most of his offi cers were or 44 percent, died of work-re- The fi gure amounted to every already taking advantage of lated health problems. Cardio- offi cer working an extra 120 these two benefits, though vascular diseases were listed days a year. things might not be as as the No 1 killer. The investigation also optimistic in rural areas. By way of comparison, 154 showed that some criminal Li Huiling, an officer in of the 414 offi cers who died in and grassroots policemen charge of personnel in the public 2005 succumbed to work-re- worked as much as 50 extra security bureau of Gongyi, a lated health problems, raising hours a week. county-level city in Central questions about the health of Ministry spokesman China’s Henan Province, said the country’s police force. Wu Heping said at a news the annual leave policy could In addition, offi cers who died conference in January that a create major obstacles. in the line of duty last year were severe manpower shortage had “Very few of us enjoy yearly younger than those in 2005. added to the offi cers’ already holidays as we’re short of According to the ministry, the heavy workloads. hands,” she told China Daily average age of offi cers who died Developed countries usually in a telephone interview. “If last year was about 40 years old, maintain a ratio of 35 police the ministry required us to four years younger than the av- per 10,000 citizens. However, grant annual leave to offi cers, erage in the previous year. in China that ratio is about 11 rearranging police deployment Hosed down The ministry noted on its per 10,000 citizens, which is would become a headache.” Police use a water cannon to subdue a suspected murderer on Tuesday at a hospital in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China’s Liaoning Province. The suspect had allegedly killed three people and fl ed to the hospital. Inset: Police seized the suspect after using the water cannon to blast him out of a window. The suspect fell onto a pad that had been placed on the ground. Zhao Jingdong Beijing gov’t leads by example

Beijing’s municipal government Beijing has taken the lead in been needed if the cars had been has vowed to take the lead in cutting government spend- privately owned. encouraging more conserva- ing which may encourage Premier Wen Jiabao said Corruption probe widens to former offi cial tion-minded government by other provinces, autonomous last month while delivering a cutting spending by 10 percent regions and municipalities to government work report that By Li Fangchao announced a nation-wide nine offi cials and State-owned leading to the country’s biggest this year. follow suit, said Ren Yuling, a “one important task we are campaign recently to examine company executives in the city, scandal in recent years. To reach this target, Bei- national political advisor. now facing is dealing with the irregularities in the country’s who were involved in the city’s Former Shanghai Party chief jing’s government will tighten “Reaching the 10 percent serious problem of extravagance A former Shanghai land use sizzling real estate market. pension fund scandal, were Chen Liangyu was removed control of spending on things target is not the be-all and end- and waste in some government offi cial is under investigation Yin reportedly took bribes expelled from the Party and from his post due to his ties like meetings, travel and all. However, Beijing’s example bodies.” as part of a probe into a series to sign off on real estate their posts. with to the scandal last year. transportation, according to is of great importance,” Ren Wen said: “we will ... work of graft cases in the city. transactions.. They included Zhu Wenjin, Zhou Zhengkun, Party secre- government sources. said. to reduce government overhead Yin Guoyuan, former deputy Yin, who took up the post in section chief of the bureau’s tary of the State-owned assets It will halt the construction of The administrative cost of and build a conservation-mind- director of the Shanghai January 1995, left to become land-utilization management supervision and administration luxury offi ce buildings and has China’s governments at all ed government.” housing, land and resources chairman of the Shanghai Land department. commission of Central China’s ordered all government units to levels is 25 percent more than Beijing tightened its man- administrative bureau, is under Institute in October 2005. Zhu, a former subordinate Hunan Province, was put stop building training centers. the world average, which has agement of overseas travel investigation, the Shanghai “Because he was in charge of Yin, was accused of bribe under investigation for severe The government will also hold caused concern among the by officials last year in a bid Securities News reported of land-use approval, almost taking and abusing his disciplinary charges, reported fewer meetings and issue fewer Chinese leadership. to reduce government over- yesterday. all land transfer contracts power. the Hunan Daily. documents. It has been reported that a heads. The municipal gov- It didn’t elaborate on potential required Yin’s signature,” a An estimated 3.7 billion Zhou was accused of Government units have been city in Central China’s Hubei ernment rejected 251 unnec- charges. former worker at the bureau yuan ($483 million) from the seeking to use his power forbidden to compete with one Province spends 15 million essary overseas travel plans The disclosure came told the newspaper. city’s social security fund was for personal gain when as another in lavishness or rash yuan ($1.94 million) on govern- involving 484 officials. after eight ministerial level Last month, the discipline misappropriated and used mayor of Chenzhou and Party spending. ment cars annually, 11 million government departments, led inspection commission of CPC for investments in risky real secretary of the commission As the capital of China, yuan more than what would have Xinhua by the Ministry of Construction, of Shanghai, announced that estate, roads and other projects, in Hunan.

Central gov’t investment Mentally ill get Nation committed to fi ghting illiteracy in illiteracy eradication

When China established the and write more than 1,500 Chinese compulsory education in rural about finance manage- 40 Unit: in million yuan emergency team $20,000 UNESCO Confucius Prize characters. Offi cial fi gures for 2005 areas would be completely exempt ment or basic healthcare. for Literacy in 2005, it demonstrated show that the illiteracy rate among from tuition and other related fees. Similarly, ethnic 40 40 Beijing will establish a new emergency team, its total commitment to eradicating young and middle-aged people is To help people retain their new- minority groups, while 30 made up of police and health experts, to respond illiteracy, a senior offi cial has said. just 4 percent. found literacy ability, the govern- keen to lose their illit- to disturbances by mentally ill patients. The fi rst of its kind to be funded Over the years, the country’s ment has also stressed the need for erate status might also The initiative will begin next month at both by the Chinese government, the achievements have received inter- skills trainings. want to study a local dia- 20 25 the municipal and district levels. The team award shows how high a priority national acclaim. In 2001 and 2004, Large-scale efforts will be made lect alongside Mandarin, will respond quickly to calm both the victims has been given to this issue, Gao respectively, the city of Tianshui in to strengthen the vocational educa- Gao said. and the mentally ill. Social workers will also 10 Xuegui, a senior offi cial with the Gansu Province and Qianhai Prov- tion and training networks in both To address these di- 15 participate. Ministry of Education, said. “The ince as a whole urban and rural verse challenges, a na- The city intends to offer training to police under country has made serious commit- — both of which are POINTOF areas, Gao said. tionwide team of experts a newly-approved directive. ments both at home and abroad.” in Northwest China IMPACT Despite its ef- has been established to 0 The directive stipulates that team will ex- Since 2000, the central govern- — were awarded forts thus far, the collect local knowledge -1995 amine the status of the mental patients and ment has allocated 8 million yuan UNESCO literacy prizes. government acknowledges that the and provide assistance 1991 1996-20002001-20052006-2010 contact family members to obtain any medical ($1.03 million) a year to eradicating The government’s commitment country still has many challenges to to local trainers. background, according to an official with the illiteracy, with additional funding to the provision of compulsory face to eradicate illiteracy. “The team comprises non-governmental organizations police bureau. coming from local governments. education for all has also been The massive population, for exam- some 30 experts from universi- involved in eradicating illiteracy. Meanwhile, police will also collect detailed data There have also been huge efforts central to the reduction of the ple, and ever-changing demographic ties, government educational Although no official figure on the mentally ill during the coming months as to ensure basic education is made illiterate population. means there is a huge demand for departments and institutions and for the total number of illiterate part of its management plan on the run-up to the available to all. Between 2000 and 2006, the textbooks and a growing need for a private individuals,” Gao said. people in China has been released 2008 Olympic Games. In 2006 alone, 1.7 million young enrolment rate at primary schools wide variety of training courses. “They gather effective and practi- since 2000, the government points According to fi gures from the city’s health bureau, and middle-aged people (those aged was 99 percent, effectively stopping While a migrant worker, for cal techniques and share them with out that fi gures suggested by in- Beijing has about 150,000 mentally ill people and 15 to 50) learnt to read and write. the emergence of a new generation instance, might be keen to acquire trainers in the fi eld,” he said. dependent research bodies are another 500,000 people who suffer from severe Between 2001 and 2005, a further of illiterate youngsters. In addition, the basic skills needed to secure a The government has also uncorroborated. depression. 9.75 million people lost their “illit- a government work report said that job in the city, women in rural areas provided ongoing support and erate” status, having learnt to read as of this year, students receiving are more likely to want to know more encouragement for a number of China Daily China Daily-Xinhua