新闻纵贯线 The Beijing Hour updated 08:00 2015/01/20（打印版）

The Chinese premier is headed for the annual economic conference in Davos, Switzerland, where he is expected to deliver a message conveying confidence in the Chinese economy...

A consular team has arrived in Mayanmar to check on the condition of Chinese citizens who have been detained, and others who could be trapped in a conflict zone...

And authorities with the European Union are calling for an anti-terror alliance with Arab nations...

Beijing will be cloudy in the day with a high of 5 degree Celsius, also cloudy tonight with a low of minus 2

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is leaving for Davos, Switzerland, today for the annual World Economic Forum.

He will attend the session Wednesday and is expected to deliver a clear message of confidence in the world's second largest economy, amid the fragile global recovery.

Premier Li will also pay a working visit to Switzerland, with many expecting that bilateral financial cooperation will be a focus.

Li Daokui, professor at Tsinghua University and a former Monetary Policy Committee member of the People's Bank of China, believes Switzerland is also seeking financial cooperation with China.

"The Swiss economy is in a good shape and is being upgraded constantly. Its highly developed financial sector draws too much attention from global investors who bring vast amounts of capital into the country and at the same time huge pressure to its real economy. The rising Swiss franc is the real pain for the Swiss economy, a problem that can be partially eased by the internationalization of the RMB."

China and Switzerland established a financial dialogue plan during Premier Li's visit to Switzerland in May 2013.

As for the Davos Forum itself, this year's theme has been set as "The New Global Context," aiming to explore the most pressing global challenges in 2015.

The Chinese economy will be one of hot topics at the Forum, with Premier Li Keqiang set to explain to the world the so-called "new normal."

Ahead of the Davos session, CRI's He Fei spoke with the director of the China Macroeconomic Research Center at Peking University, Lu Feng, to define the new concept and to share his view on China's economy over the long run.

Lu Feng, the director of the China Macroeconomic Research Center with Peking University, speaking with CRI's He Fei.

A Chinese consular working group has arrived at Myitgyina, capital of Myanmar's northern Kachin state, to provide consular protection for Chinese citizens who have been detained for illegal logging.

The group is also working on verifying media reports that hundreds of Chinese citizens have been trapped in the area amid armed clashes between government troops and ethnic rebels.

The Chinese government has issued a call to Myanmar authorities to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals in that country.

"China has required Myanmar to effectively protect the safety and legitimate rights of Chinese nationals. The Myanmar side says it attaches importance to China's concerns and is treating the detained Chinese nationals well. The Chinese embassy in Myanmar has sent personnel to visit those people and provide necessary assistance to them."

Heavy fighting erupted in northern Myanmar on Thursday after Kachin rebels ambushed a convoy carrying a regional minister.

"The Myanmar government is conducting peace negotiations with rebel forces and had been hoping to sign a nationwide ceasefire on February 12th. But the renewed conflict in Kachin has cast a shadow over the prospect of the national reconciliation process."

The Katchin rebels, one of a large number of armed minorities in Myanmar, took up arms in 1961.

The fifth and final suspect accused of attacking police officers with knives in southern China's Guangxi has been captured.

The five men, all said to be from Xinjiang, were trying to cross into Vietnam on Sunday.

The last one was arrested Monday night in a nearby city after a manhunt was launched within the region.

Police say the five are terror suspects who had been hoping to find safe refuge outside of China.

China's Ministry of Public Security waged a special campaign to crack down on organized human smuggling in May last year in the country's southwestern border regions, as such cases had been on the rise in those regions since the beginning of last year.

"Smugglers cajole people into this by telling them how happy they and their family will be after crossing the border. But in most cases, their lives become desperate, as they don't have money and personal safety. This means young people are sacrificed to 'jihadists'. In cases like this, often times the old, women, and children are abandoned."

"In the beginning, I thought we would be living in pretty good conditions. However, things were extremely bad. We did not have access to drinking water and could only eat dry naan bread for two months. I really regret making the decision, and I even thought of going to war in Syria, and ending my life there."

To date, police have busted 262 human smuggling cases, capturing 352 suspects who allegedly organized such activities, and 852 suspects who attempted to cross the border illegally.

The European Union is calling for an anti-terror alliance with Arab countries following recent deadly attacks and arrests across Europe linked to foreign fighters.

Speaking at an EU foreign ministers' meeting, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini stressed that the two sides need to boost cooperation and information-sharing.

She adds that information and intelligence will be shared not only within the EU, but also with other countries.

"First of all, with an input to share information and intelligence information, not only within the European Union, but also with other countries around us, starting from the Mediterranean and the Arab world, starting from Turkey, Egypt, (the) Gulf countries, North Africa, but also looking more to Africa and Asia and at a certain time."

Mogherini says she has signed "a memorandum of understanding" with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby to cooperate on combatting extremism across the Arab world.

For his part, Elaraby said Arab countries are willing to collaborate with the EU in addressing the issue of extremism, but stressed that the Arab League would not be involved militarily.

"The Arab League does not get into alliances. The Arab League has no desire to use arms. We are talking about a comprehensive confrontation: philosophical, economic, religious, media, educational, in schools. All these have to be confronted and we are taking part in this. We have nothing to do with the military side."

Monday's EU foreign ministers meeting was in preparation for a summit of EU leaders due to take place in February that will focus on terror attacks and security issues.

Delegates from North Korean and US have wrapped up a two-day informal meeting in Singapore.

The meeting is the first direct contact of the two sides amid strained relationship following disputes over the US's military exercises with South Korea.

"We from the US side emphasise the importance of dealing with these issues of the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and the importance as well of making progress on the other elements of the joint statement from the six party talks of September 2005."

North Korean negotiators reiterated being willing to suspend nuclear tests if the United States agreed to call off annual military drills held jointly with South Korea.

"To put an end to this large scale joint military exercise, I think, this is the first step to ease the tension on the Korean Peninsula."

The last such request, made on January 10th, was dismissed as a 'veiled threat' by US officials.

Yemeni Houthis have reportedly surrounded the Republican Palace in the center of capital Sannaa, where the prime minister lives.

Fiere clashes erupted between the Shiite rebels and presidential guards earlier in the day, resulting in at least nine deaths.

The clashes are said to be the most intense since the rebels overran Sanaa in September.

Under an earlier agreement with Yamen's President, the rebel groups had pledged to withdraw from the capital once a new unity government was formed.

However the rebels are still deployed throughout the city and have been accused of attempting to stage a coup.

Ukraine's Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, is accusing that Russian military forces and equipment have entered Ukraine.

He says tanks, rocket systems, and radio electronic intelligence systems are not the kinds of weapons available in local street markets in Donetsk.

The report comes as tensions are escalating in the eastern Ukrainian as battles for Donetsk airport continue.

Israel is stepping up security along its northern borders for possible retaliation by Hezbollah over an airstrike that killed a number of the group's fighters.

Reports say Israel Defense Forces have deployed Iron Dome anti-missile batteries at several spots in northern Israel.

Israel also shut down the airspace over the Golan Heights, ordering civil aircraft to stay out of the area.

China has launched a departure tax refund scheme to attract more overseas tourists and promote the country's tourism industry.

The Ministry of Finance has announced the preferential policy to offer overseas tourists a rebate of 11-percent on consumer goods purchased at designated stores.

Foreign tourists and those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who visited the Chinese mainland for no more than 183 days can now enjoy the benefit.

The refund will be paid in Renminbi and can be transferred to the buyer's bank account.

Zhao Ping, a senior researcher of consumption economy with the Ministry of Commerce, says the plan is designed to boost the domestic economy.

"In regard to expanding consumption, we should not only rely on domestic consumers. The tax rebate is aimed at attracting more overseas tourists and encouraging them to spend more money in China. Also, the policy is a very international and standardized practice. I think China as a big economy, it is a must-be choice when our economic development and internationalization have reached a certain level."

"I heard that the Chinese government is planning to launch the tax rebate scheme. I believe it would be very attractive to Pakistanis. I think Pakistani tourists would be very interested in the fast-moving consumer goods such as China's electronic products and clothes, especially children's apparels. I believe there will be more Pakistanis travel to China once the scheme is put into effect."

China first introduced a pilot tax refund program on the island province of Hainan in 2011.

Zhao Ping estimates it will take six to 12 months for the new policy to reach the public.

Customs, banks, business entities, and foreign exchange management agencies are involved in the tax-refund program.

Meantime, markets are waiting for a crucial European Central Bank (ECB) meeting on Thursday.

Investors expect the ECB will announce further monetary stimulus to resuscitate the Eurozone economy.

Germany's Dax achieved an historical high, closing up nearly three-quarters of a percent.

Chinese markets suffered a major downturn on Monday, the biggest single-day plunge in six years.

The sharp decline on the markets in China on Monday follows a late-Friday announcement of a crackdown by securities regulators.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has suspended a dozen brokerages from opening new margin trading accounts for the next 3 months.

"The markets in Shanghai plunged so dramatically because the Chinese want to restrict the shadow banks, as well as speculation with borrowed money. They know that many Chinese indebted themselves beyond reason to massively speculate in equities and there is the danger of forming a bubble that could burst. That would not be not good for the Chinese economy, therefore it is a positive step to limit this."

Among the brokerages being punished, CITIC, Haitong, and Guotai Securities have been banned for allowing traders to repay their credit after their contracts expired.

The Chinese government is moving to tweak its foreign investment laws in an attempt to ease restrictions on foreign investors.

The Ministry of Commerce says overseas companies will no longer be approved on a case-by-case basis, but be screened by way of a "negative list."

Under the changes, foreign companies will not be considered foreign if they are controlled by Chinese investors.

The "negative list" for foreign investment was introduced in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone in 2013.

The ongoing annual Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong has brought together hundreds of heavyweights in the world's financial and business community.

The two-day event highlights discussions on China's financial reforms and Hong Kong's special role in the process.

As a global financial hub, Hong Kong boasts a sound banking system, strong financial and legal services, a deep talent pool, and world-class financial infrastructure.

Chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission Xiao Gang says Hong Kong is an important gateway for the mainland financial industry to integrate with the world.

"The launch of Shanghai- Hong Kong Stock Connect has greatly expanded the scope and the depth of our financial cooperation, further integrating our two markets. The demand for personal wealth management is huge on the mainland, but our services are limited at the moment, so we need to strengthen cross-border financial cooperation."

The historic trading link between Shanghai and Hong Kong has been operating for more than two months, but the daily quota usage is way below expectation.

According to KC Chan, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, it will take time for investors to learn the rules in both markets.

"Before the Shanghai-Hong Kong connect was implemented, the market feared that this channel will open up immense capital flows and cause disruptions to the market. And yet I think the market has been very rational, and the system is going very strong and smoothly. The market participants, policy makers and regulators can take the experiences and introduce more innovations to improve this tremendous channel. "

A similar scheme is expected to connect the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock markets later this year, a move which could speed up the internationalization of the Chinese currency.

Jiang Jianqing, Chairman of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest bank in terms of assets, says Hong Kong has the advantage to strengthen its role as a leading RMB offshore market compared to its competitors.

"Currently, Hong Kong is the largest and most influential RMB offshore market with the most diversified products provided, but it is facing challenges from cities in the UK, France, Germany and Singapore, to name just a few. The Shanghai Free Trade Zone is another window for China's opening-up, which also poses challenges to Hong Kong. But Hong Kong can still take advantage of its early development and make better cooperation."

Chinese authorities have said reforms will be deepened in many sectors this year, including new special trade zones in many locations and in the banking sector, stock market, and capital market.

Corporate employees' pension balance won't be illegally used by government staff: official

Chinese authorities are issuing assurances that civil servants and government employees will not touch the three-trillion yuan pension balance created by corporate employees.

The government announced changes to the pension system last week, ordering government workers who had not been paying into the system to start contributing, a move affecting 40-million workers.

"If we implement the reform and separately establish accounts, it will be impossible for the government organizations and institutions to illegally use the pension balance accumulated by corporations."

Historically, millions of government workers have enjoyed a higher-level of old-age security benefits than their private counterparts while not actually paying into the pension system.

According to the reform, the money now to be paid into the system by those government employers will be managed in a separate account, meaning the existing account created by the private sector will continue to be for the benefit of private-sector-workers only.

The vibrant merger & acquisition activity in China last year is set to continue in 2015 as several state-owned enterprises are likely to restructure.

Financial data provider Mergermarket says China saw more-than 15-hundred M&A deals in 2014.

The value of those deals has been pegged at nearly 340-billion US dollars, an increase of 74 percent over the previous year.

Large-scale deals of over 2 US billion dollars involving SOEs amounted to $102 billion in 2014.

The top-three deals last year involved CITIC Group, Sinopec Marketing Co, and China CNR.

Foreign investors' M&As also hit a record high last year with inbound value surging 80 percent year on year to over 38 billion US dollars.

Xiaomi has agreed to buy a near- 3 percent stake in Kingsoft Corp, a provider of software and cloud computing services, for 68 million US dollars.

Xiaomi will buy the stake in Kingsoft from Chinese Internet giant Tencent, which owned nearly 13 percent of Kingsoft before the sale.

Kingsoft is set to play an important role in Xiaomi's future ecosystem which aims to connect all smart devices with smartphones.

It will also provide cloud computing services for smart devices and allow users to store, access and edit data from the devices.

Before this, all mail sent from China to Russia had to be delivered by air or by road.

The new service is the result of a strategic cooperation agreement signed between authorities representing Russian and Chinese Railways last year.