Green development vital to new growth model's success

The top environmental watchdog decided to assign 5,600 inspectors to conduct a year-long investigation into the sources of air pollution in northern cities on Wednesday, just four days after the top authorities announced that Xiongan New Area will be built in North China's Hebei province, which is known for its heavy industries and perennial smog.

Rights of migrant minors

According to a demographic survey conducted by the Guangdong provincial bureau of statistics, the migrant population in the province in South China aged below 17 was 4.47 million by the end of 2013, 21.8 percent of the province's population in the same age bracket.

Environmental protection key to Xiongan New Area plan

BY WEDNESDAY, the Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, as well as several cities in neighboring Hebei and Henan provinces, had sounded yellow alerts for air pollution. The Ministry of Environmental Protection sent inspection groups to these cities and found that some local governments failed to take the proper measures and actions to curb air pollution. An editorial on Beijing News comments:

Customer right to question bank charges

A BEIJING-BASED NEWS ANCHOR recently sued a local branch of China Construction Bank, a year after the bank charged him 300 yuan ($43) simply because he forgot to pay the 69-yuan repayment. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Thursday:

Official social media accounts should not express personal views

THE OFFICIALS running official micro blogs and instant-messaging accounts should always bear in mind that no matter how advanced the technology, these channels should only convey the government's point of view, rather than their personal views, Guangming Daily comments:

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Don't cry for profits, corporate America

Corporate tax cuts are coming in the United States. While this push pre-dates the presidential election in November, US President Donald Trump's "Make-America-Great-Again" slogan has sealed the deal. Beleaguered US businesses, goes the argument, are being squeezed by confiscatory taxes and onerous regulations - strangling corporate earnings and putting unrelenting pressure on capital spending, job creation and productivity, while sapping America's competitive vitality. Apparently, the time has come to give businesses a break.

Mutual benefits important to Sino-US ties

The first set of meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump looks likely to prove a great disappointment to the crisis mongers in the media, since both leaders recognize the value of economic cooperation over rivalry, the importance of a balanced and thriving global trade system and the mutual interdependence and shared interests of their nations.

Iran nuke deal shows how to resolve DPRK issue

The Iranian nuclear deal, finalized between Teheran and six world powers on April 2, 2015, is two years old. While people's memories of the diplomatic triumph over what had become a dangerous nuclear issue are still fresh, the landmark deal now faces uncertainties because of the changing stance of the United States, which played an important role in making it reality.

Top-level meeting can forge good personal rapport

There has been much speculation about what issues should be resolved, or even talked about, when President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump meet at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. However, the goal of their first meeting should be to build a good personal relationship that facilitates a constructive and productive relationship between the two countries.

A new area of opportunities that calls for deeper reforms

In the lexicon of Chinese authorities, only matters of extremely vital and long-lasting impacts, such as national education, qualify as being of "centennial" significance.

E-traders need tax incentives

At a recent meeting co-chaired by the State Administration of Taxation and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce aimed at deepening the country's tax reform to boost the development of private enterprises, Liu Qiangdong, CEO of JD.com, China's second-largest e-commerce company, called for small e-commerce companies to be granted the same preferential tax reductions or exemptions as those given to small - and micro-sized enterprises.