SOCIETY
Military Exchanges
Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Ma Xiaotian, and U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Michele Flournoy, led their respective delegations at the 12th round of China-U.S. defense consultation talks in Beijing on December 7.
The two sides discussed bilateral military relations, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, tension on the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea, instability in the Middle East and North Africa, and the security situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
The consultations marked the first engagement between defense authorities of both countries since the United States announced in September that its latest,$5.85-billion, arms deal with Taiwan.
China vehemently opposed the sale, saying it created severe obstacles for normal military-to-military exchanges. China-U.S. defense consultations began in 1997.
Satellite Development
China will develop the third-generation Fengyun series of weather satellites to monitor meteorological changes more accurately and to help tackle climate change.
“The new satellites will be able to monitor the meteorological system and different layers of the atmosphere in a long-term and more consistent way,” said Yu Rucong, Deputy Director of the China Meteorological Administration at a seminar on December 5.
The satellites will also collect data and images of atmospheric temperature, humidity and wind with higher definition and accuracy than previous satellites, which will support more reliable weather forecasting.
China has launched 11 Fengyun weather satellites over the past 40 years. Six are currently in operation.

Scientific Papers
The Chinese mainland published 121,500 academic papers on science and technology in major international journals in 2010, accounting for 8.6 percent of the world’s total.
The statistics are based on a survey of papers indexed by renowned international databases such as the Science Citation Index and the Engineering Index, according to a report issued on December 2 by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The number of Chinese theses published in the world’s 173 highestrated publications—including Science and Nature—reached 5,203 last year. The figures indicate that China is second only to the United States in terms of the number of scientific papers published.
Job Training
China has issued various occupational qualification certificates to nearly 500,000 disabled citizens in the past five years, according to the China Disabled Persons’ Federation.
A total of 3.76 million disabled people nationwide received some form of vocational or technical training during the 2005-10 period, said a statement released on December 6.
The federation said that it will train another 1.8 million disabled people in the next five years and will launch a variety of programs in order to make millions more employable.
Nearly 83 million citizens in China have some form of disability.
ECONOMY
Foreign Trade White Paper
The State Council Information Office on December 7 released a white paper titled China’s Foreign Trade, highlighting the country’s achievements in boosting foreign trade and contributing to the world economy.
The white paper says that China will refocus the development model of foreign trade because low-cost advantages for export-oriented industries have been “greatly”weakened as the costs of labor, resources, energy and other production factors spiral upward.
Intellectual property protection and product quality are among two other pressing issues the government will seek to address in its pursuit of sustainable growth.
Shougang’s New Base
China’s state-owned steel maker Shougang Group launched a project on December 5 to build a 1.8 billion ringgit($574.25 million) integrated steel mill in Malaysia through a joint venture with Hiap Teck Venture Berhad, one of Malaysia’s largest steel pipe makers.
The steel slab plant would be built on 1,200 acres in Kemaman, an industrial city in the country’s east coast economic development region that has moderate iron ore reserves.
The project, called “Eastern Steel,” is the largest Chinese foreign direct investment in Malaysia. The steel plant is estimated to produce 1.5 million tons of steel slabs annually. Operations at the plant are expected to start in mid-2013.
Stable Rating
Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., China’s domestic rating agency, will maintain the local and foreign currency sovereign credit rating of China at AA+ and AAA with a stable outlook.
The agency said the fundamentals of the Chinese economy have not changed despite domestic inflation and the debt crises in Europe and the United States.
The deficits of the government at all levels are narrowing, said Dagong, adding the Central Government has strong debtpayment capabilities in the local currency.
The country’s foreign debt payment capabilities are also strong given China’s huge foreign exchange reserves and net assets abroad. Both the Central Government and the private sector have very low levels of foreign debt.
Greener Paper
China’s major paper producers aim to lower the energy and resources consumed to turn out a ton of paper by 18 percent at the end of 2015 from the level in 2010.
In a written proposal signed by nearly 100 paper makers released on December 3, they pledged to fulfill their social responsibilities and push for greener industrial development.
During 2011-15, the industry also aims to lower water use by 18 percent. COD of major pollutants will decrease 10 percent.
According to Qian Guijing, Director of the China Paper Association, the paper industry brought down the energy and resources consumption to turn out 1 ton of paper by at least 18 percent during the past five years. Average water consumption was down 17.5 percent and the chemical oxygen demand of major pollutants was down by at least 53 percent.