Politics

Reported by Katherine Li and Wallis Wang Edited by Alexandra Lin and Zinnia Lee China will step up efforts to alleviate poverty using targeted measures and promote the development of local industries, education and healthcare, Premier Li Keqiang revealed in his government report speech. "This year, we will further reduce the poor rural population by over 10 million, including 2.8 million people who are to be relocated from inhospitable areas," Premier Li said. Cheung Siu-wai, a China analyst,  explained that there will be more cooperation between local and central government and a case-by-case focus on poverty alleviation. "The government will allocate resources in coordination with local authorities, which means they will find out specific issues and difficulties in different locations in order to find a solution," Mr. Cheung said. Zuo Hongding, deputy director of Jinsha County Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau that works on poverty alleviation in Guizhou province, said different areas need different approaches to alleviate poverty. "For mountainous areas that cannot be easily reached, we have no choice but to relocate the people. A family of five who we helped in 2015 was relocated to a 100 square meter house and was provided with livestock and fertilisers. And now they are well above the poverty line," Mr. Zuo said.   The bureau where he works has helped more than 1,000 families in the town of Qinchi in Guizhou province. They plan to lift another 10,000 people out of poverty in the county over the next three years. Premier Li also announced that the government will "take targeted measures against corruption and misconduct in poverty alleviation and improve the methods used in evaluation and oversight" to manage the poverty alleviation funds more effectively. Mr. Cheung supported the new approaches on fund and resource allocation in targeted poverty relief. "In …

Reported by Anna Kam, Tomiris Urstembayeva, and Nadia Lam Edited by Jade Li China wants both rural and urban areas to have high-speed internet access to boost economic development, said Premier Li Keqiang in the National People's Congress. Rural Areas in China have a low percentage of internet connectivity compared with urban areas. Only 40% people in Yunnan Province are internet users while Beijing has 77.8%. China has poured a lot of money in improving the internet infrastructure, cloud computing and broadband, according to Decoding the Chinese Internet, a report published by a Boston Consultant Group in 2016. The internet users in China spiked up to 772 million by the end of 2017. Despite the largest number of internet users in the world, the percentage of the population that is connected is less than that of any Asian country, according to statista.com. Mr. Cheung Siu-wai, a China analyst, said the initiative will increase the agriculture development because farmers are able to reach more people and develop their markets simultaneously. The internet connectivity will not purely boost agriculture, but also overall economic development, said Mr. Cheung. "I've seen a big impact on smartphone companies. The connectivity will boost the sales of smartphones particularly in rural areas," Mr. Cheung explained. The policy also addressed that there will be no roaming fee in China, thus decreasing the cost of the internet "by at least 30%". However, if the government only develops the internet, but does not improve the roads and infrastructure, there is no way that the farmers are able to transport their crops to the metropolis, said Mr. Cheung.  

Reported by Vanessa Yung, Oasis Li and Yetta Lam Edited by Scout Xu and Yolanda Gao China proposed to abolish the current term limits for presidency in the 13th National People's Congress. Removing the requirement that a president "shall serve no more than two consecutive terms" from the constitution could mean Chinese president Xi Jinping remains in his position for years to come. The revision is supported by the public and committees, said Wang Chen, the Secretary-General and Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. He added that the revision would help centralise and unify the leadership of the Communist Party. Fu King-wa, Associate Professor of Journalism and Media Studies Centre of the University of Hong Kong, said this means future presidents could serve for life. Zhang Baohui, political science professor at Lingnan University, said this proposal violates Deng Xiaoping's reforms to stop another dictator like Mao Zedong. "And it means that China is possibly back to strongman politics," Mr. Zhang said. The committee also proposed adding "Xi Jinping Thought" to the constitution, making Xi the third leader to have his name added behind Mao and Deng. Mr. Zhang said this promotes the cult of personality. "I think the whole package is to create the atmosphere that Xi is the most powerful person in China," Mr. Fu said, "and also to change the legal framework to support him." Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo reached a peak in the number of censored posts last Sunday, Mr. Fu said. He helps run Weiboscope, a project making censored Weibo posts publicly accessible. Sensitive keywords like "proclaim oneself emperor", "long live" and "Xi Zedong," a combination of the names Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong, flooded the platform and were quickly deleted. said Fu. "A lot of people don't want …

Reported by Rachel Yeo, Amy Ho and Phoebe Lai Edited by Erin Chan, Maggie Liu and Windy Li China has set a target to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by at least 3% over the coming year. Carbon emission will also be cut by 3.9% as part of China's goal to reduce pollution, Premier Li Keqiang said in his speech at the opening of the National People's Congress. It is part of the country's effort to improve the quality and effectiveness of development. The premier called for "greater emphasis on economic indicators that concern structure, quality, and efficiency that reflect the requirement to promote high-quality development". Premier Li laid out plans to control chemical pollution along the Yangtze River where authorities closed down 959 illegal ports along the river and the subsequent ecological restoration is almost finished. He also hopes to promote integrated development in the Yangtze River Delta. Coal and steel production will also be reduced by 30 million metric tons and 150 million metric tons respectively this year. Both of these industries are major causes of air pollution, yet China is still one of the world's top producers and consumers for coal and steel.  "We will use a combination of market and law-based methods to strictly enforce standards on energy conservation, environmental protection, quality, and safety to continue cutting overcapacity in the steel, coal, and coal-fired power industries," said Li. He added that China has already upgraded coal-fired power plants to achieve ultra-low emissions and steel products that did not meet environmental standards were also immediately banned. But China analyst Cheung Siu-wai points out that the country faces many obstacles in improving the environment. China's carbon emission levels is still one of the highest compared to of the United States, India, Russia and Japan. He mentioned …