December 13:
After over two weeks of climate change talks in Durban, South Africa intended to develop a plan for limiting global emissions, China has secured nearly a decade of unlimited emissions without consequence. Although China agreed to emissions targets after 2020, it secured an extension of the Kyoto Protocol under which developing countries take voluntary actions to reduce carbon emissions. Countries agreed to start negotiations next year on a binding treaty to cut greenhouse gases, sign it by 2015, and have it come into force by 2020. By then China’s carbon emissions are expected to surpass the combined total of the U.S. and the EU, the South China Morning Post reports. At the climate talks China found itself in the uncommon position of opposing many of the same developing countries it regularly claims it represents. Developing countries generally would like to see China, India and the U.S. agree to binding limitations on their emissions.
December 15:
Late last month eight armed North Korean soldiers defected to China across the Yalu River prompting border security to be tightened. While the soldiers crossed the border in Kuandian, Liaoning (about 100 km northeast of Dandong), two of them were shot dead, presumably by North Korean border guards, while six fled into China. China dispatched soldiers to Kuandian following the incident to search train stations and other public places. After the soldiers were discovered missing, North Korea sent scores of public security agents after them, the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reports.
December 16:
China Civil Engineering Construction Cooperation has signed an agreement with the Ethiopian Railway Corporation to build the Meiso-Diredawa-Dewele railway line in eastern Ethiopia. The railway project will stretch 339 km and is part of a national railway grid that from the capital Addis Ababa to Djibouti. The Ethiopian and Chinese governments will cover the construction cost of the rail project, the official Ethiopian News Agency reports.
December 17:
According to the official China Daily, in an effort to address long-standing complaints about charities’ transparency, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs has issued new guidelines calling for groups to disclose how they raise and use funds. Specifically, the guidelines say charities should publicly announce donations within 15 working days or 3 days in the case of a serious accident or natural disaster. Beneficiaries are to be named within a month after distribution. Additionally, each program should publicly disclose relevant information every six months or less.
[Editor’s Note: In June, the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) came under fire when a young woman claiming to work for the charity posted photos of her lavish lifestyle on her microblog, prompting speculation that she had embezzled funds. Although it was later found that she was not a RCSC employee, the scandal drew attention to the lack of transparency in the operation of charity groups in China. This week, Weng Tao, chief executive of the China Red Cross Bo’ai Asset Management Ltd. Corp., announced that he had brought a slander suit against the woman at the Luohu District People’s Court in Shenzhen, the official China.org website reports.]
December 18:
Drought in southern China has paralyzed shipping and threatens drinking water supplies in Macao, Guangdong, Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi. There are more than 900 vessels stuck on a section of the drought-stricken Xijiang River in Guangxi. The Xijiang is a major tributary of the Pearl River so as the river’s runoff shrank, seawater flowed back upstream triggering a severe salt tide earlier this month. Water management officials in Zhuhai and Zhongshan, Guangdong have measured excessive salinity levels in water samples taken from pump stations along the river. Meanwhile, the official People’s Daily reports that this week water levels on the section of the Xiangjiang River that runs through Changsha, Hunan reached historically low levels.