Leveling the field Thai industrial Pachyderm blues park welcomes Life­size denim elephants tout Meeting led by Li Keqiang moves to further BRI investment need to protect environment assure foreign investors POLICY REVIEW, PAGE 7 CHINABUSINESS, PAGE 15DAWORLD, PAGE 11ILY

TUESDAY, April 9, 2019 www.chinadailyhk.com HK $8

Residency shift part of plan to boost urban base

By OUYANG SHIJIA department. “In this process, it is key [email protected] to offering new migrants treatment equal to that of city residents.” China will take key measures in a China has made steady progress in new push to improve its cities through urbanization, as permanent urban boosting the urban population and residents amounted to 831 million at bolstering the nation’s high­quality the end of 2018, up by 17.9 million and stable economic growth, the from the previous year, according to country’s top economic planner said. the National Bureau of Statistics. Measures include relaxing resi­ Xu said the country’s urbanization dency curbs, promoting investment may hit 70 percent by 2030. and financing mechanisms and “China’s urban development increasing infrastructure spending should take the road of sustainable in cities. development,” Xu said. “We should The National Development and pay more attention to green city con­ Reform Commission issued on Mon­ struction, green industrial develop­ day key tasks for 2019’s new urbani­ ment and low­carbon energy­saving zation boost, which will help development. And we should also maintain the country’s sustainable ensure that migrant workers have and healthy economic growth and the same social rights as native resi­ overall social stability. dents.” China aims to increase the urbani­ The NDRC proposed the introduc­ zation rate by at least 1 percentage tion of various monetary policies to point by the end of this year, accord­ resolutely curb the rise in hidden ing to a document posted on the local government debt, encourage NDRC’s website. The proportion of commercial financial institutions to urban population to total population appropriately increase the credit reached 59.58 percent in 2018. supply and support qualified enter­ The objective is part of its larger prises to issue bonds for financing. goal, set in 2014, to move 100 million To implement the new urbaniza­ rural residents, mostly migrant tion tasks, China will improve the workers, to cities by 2020. appropriate positioning of different Under the plan, cities with a popu­ cities in various fields, develop high­ lation under 3 million should remove end manufacturing and producer all limits on hukou — household reg­ services in big cities and guide small President Xi Jinping and students take part in a tree planting event in Tongzhou district, Beijing, on Monday. XIE HUANCHI / XINHUA istration — and cities with popula­ and medium­sized cities to consoli­ tions between 3 million and 5 million date manufacturing centers. should relax restrictions on new Xu Lin said with rapid urbaniza­ migrants. Having hukou in a city tion, 80 percent of China’s urban citi­ generally confers more social bene­ zens will live in some 20 city clusters Xi: Make homeland greener fits on residents. in the future. Megacities including Beijing and “Gathering various resources, the Shanghai should improve the points city clusters will benefit from econo­ President outlines goals for improving, vegetation in recent times. to improve the living environment, system to qualify for household regis­ mies of scale and agglomeration, and However, Xi said the country still develop the green economy and tration, allowing more people to set­ the coordinated development of protecting country’s natural heritage has a lot to do to make up for the step up the management and pro­ tle in those cities. those city clusters will help share and environmental arrears of the past, tection of forests. “In the future, the main driving build the basic urban foundation, By XU WEI in a forest park in the capital’s and its lack of forest cover and vul­ Environmental protection has force of China’s urbanization will be bring stronger competitiveness and [email protected] Tongzhou district. nerable ecology remain problems long been a priority for Xi, who has conferring the benefits of urban citi­ improve people’s lives,” said Chen He underscored the importance requiring substantial efforts to con­ called on several occasions for zenship on rural migrant workers,” Yuyu, an economics professor at President Xi Jinping has called of giving play to China’s honored quer. efforts to protect the natural envi­ said Xu Lin, former director of the Peking University’s Guanghua for mobilization at the national lev­ tradition of loving, planting and He called on officials at different ronment “the way we protect our NDRC’s development planning School of Management. el and joint participation from the protecting trees to ensure that levels to lead the public in making eyes”, and cherish it “as we cherish whole of society to move forward national forestation programs unwavering efforts to continue our own lives”. with large­scale campaigns to yield concrete results continuously. with tree planting programs. China has set a goal of making make the homeland greener. He noted that this year marks the It is also important to act on the itself a developed country in the Xi, also general secretary of the 40th anniversary of China’s crea­ understanding that clear waters forest sector by the middle of this FM condemns foreign Communist Party of China Central tion of the tree planting festival on and lush mountains are invaluable century in a guideline on promot­ Committee, made the remark as he March 12 each year. Over the past assets, promote the high­quality ing the greening of the homeland took part in a voluntary tree plant­ 40 years, China’s forest coverage development of forestation pro­ issued in November. The country intervention over HK’s ing event in Beijing on Monday. and its net volume of timber have grams and continue to promote the also aims to increase its percentage Working alongside students, Xi doubled, he said, adding that China development of forested cities and of forest cover from 21.7 percent in shoveled soil and emptied water has made the largest contribution rural areas, he said. 2018 to about 23 percent in 2020, extradition legislation buckets before planting seven trees to the world’s increase in the area of He also called for greater efforts and 26 percent in 2035.

By KATHY ZHANG in Hong Kong and intervening in China’s internal [email protected] affairs,” Lu said. Last month, the Office of the Com­ FARMERS OPT FOR SOLAR The nation’s Ministry of Foreign missioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday voiced strong Affairs in the HKSAR, in making its POWER AS NEW CASH COW opposition against foreign interven­ stance over the proposed amend­ tion over the amendments to the ments, said cross­border cooperation ◆ extradition law in the Hong Kong Spe­ to combat crime was desired by the cial Administrative Region. international community and served Clean energy source adopted The amendments will allow Hong the interests of all parties. Kong to extradite fugitives and crimi­ It urged respect for the SAR’s rule of in US amid falling prices nal suspects on a case­by­case basis law and legislative process. back to all jurisdictions around the The SAR government earlier pro­ By BELINDA ROBINSON world. Currently, Hong Kong has posed revising the existing Fugitive [email protected] reached agreements with only 20 Offenders Ordinance to plug legal jurisdictions over the surrender of loopholes and to transfer suspects to he fertile fields of the fugitive offenders. or from the Chinese mainland, Macao United States’ Midwest Foreign countries have no right to and Taiwan. have always been ideal for intervene in the city’s extradition legis­ The revision was prompted by a farmers to grow corn, soy­ ington and New York. lation as it is an internal affair of the murder in Taiwan last year. Taiwan Tbeans and wheat. Daniel Kirschen, a professor of Firefighters in Handan, Hebei province, receive fruit and greet­ HKSAR and China, MFA spokesman was unable to prosecute a Hong Kong But as they deal with tariffs and electrical engineering at the Uni­ ings from residents on Thursday. HAO QUNYING / FOR CHINA DAILY Lu Kang told the ministry’s press con­ resident suspected of having killed his the worst agricultural prices in a versity of Washington in Seattle, ference, responding to a question on pregnant girl friend in Taiwan who decade, many farmers are turning said: “It’s a question of economics. Britain’s recent actions over the extra­ then fled back to Hong Kong. to a new, nontraditional “crop” Farming is not always very profita­ dition bill. Last Wednesday, the extradition bill instead — solar panels. ble. In some situations, it is more Greetings, gifts flooding Earlier, the UK’s Consul­General in finished its first reading in the Legisla­ The number of farmers choosing profitable to lease the land to a Hong Kong Andrew Heyn expressed tive Council. Meanwhile, opposing the to lease their land to companies solar farm than to use it to produce concern over the extradition law revision, the city’s Election Committee installing solar panels to provide agricultural products.” firefighters after tragedy changes to senior SAR officials. These Subsector Election (Legal) issued a electricity is not known, but the Farmers are grappling with low included Secretary for Security John joint statement on Monday, calling on practice is being adopted nation­ prices. The price of corn is 7 percent By WANG KEJU in Beijing along with a note that said, “Protect Lee Ka­chiu and Secretary for Com­ the government to withdraw the bill. wide. lower than usual and soybeans are and ZHANG YU in Shijiazhuang yourselves and return safely. You merce and Economic Development Facing opposition from representa­ Peter Gray, a spokesman for the selling for 15 percent lower, accord­ have safeguarded people, and peo­ Edward Yau Tang­wah. tives in the city’s legal sector, Secretary Illinois Solar Energy Association, ing to the University of Illinois. A delivery man left several cartons ple will safeguard you, too!” Moreover, 14 British parliament for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk­wah said, “Hundreds of solar projects Max Quillen, a farmer in Lynd­ of milk and rice cereal at Huaibei The public outpouring of com­ members urged the UK government said she believed the secretary for are being developed on agricultural hurst, Virginia, who owns Waynes­ Road Fire Brigade in Shijiazhuang, passion came after 31 people died to consider whether proposals to security will listen to suggestions and land in Illinois.” boro Nurseries, a 647­hectare farm, Hebei province. The gifts came with in a forest fire in remote moun­ amend Hong Kong’s extradition laws make the right decision. Elsewhere, solar companies are feels the need to diversify and is a note that said, “Toughest firefight­ tains in Sichuan province on could have implications for existing Hong Kong, a society based on the also working with farmers in the ready to invest in solar panels. ers, promise me to come back safe March 31. The dead included 27 extradition arrangements between rule of law, must have a mechanism to states of California, Colorado, Tex­ and sound after every mission.” firefighters and four locals. the two jurisdictions. surrender suspects to or from other as, Oregon, North Carolina, Wash­ See Power, page 2 An anonymous customer had “When we saw the gifts and But Lu dismissed these concerns, regions and countries, she noted. placed the order for the Thursday notes, everyone was deeply saying the revisions are necessary to On the same day, Director of the © 2019 China Daily,All Rights Reserved afternoon delivery. touched,” said Wei Zishuai, 32, enhance cooperation between the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Vol.23 — No. 6842 On the same day, Fuqiang Street commander of the Huaibei Road HKSAR and other jurisdictions. Affairs Office Zhang Xiaoming met Fire Brigade in Shijiazhuang also Fire Brigade. “We firmly oppose any foreign with a delegation from the Law Socie­ A member of the received 14 boxes of milk tea and Asia News Network countries making a fuss over the issue ty of Hong Kong. yogurt from an anonymous person, See Fire, page 3