April 19:
Those convicted of corruption and sentenced to life in prison will not be eligible for parole or early release, according to a new rule announced by China's judiciary. China's top prosecutor and court also said officials convicted of graft involving more than $3 million yuan ($463,000) could be sentenced to death immediately. This marks a change from the current practice of sentencing convicts to death and then suspending the sentence for two years. The rule is retroactive, meaning ex-officials such as Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang, "will remain in prison until they die," the official Xinhua news agency reports. Under the previous system, corrupt officials whose death sentences were commuted were then eligible for parole subject to good behavior.
April 20:
China's environment ministry has launched a probe into reports that nearly 500 children fell ill after their new school opened next to a former industrial waste dump in Changzhou, Jiangsu. Xinhua reports that soil and groundwater still contain toxic compounds, with the level of cancer-causing chlorobenzene nearly 100,000 times the safe limit. Meanwhile, the local government sparked online outrage by insisting that the site passed an environmental evaluation and is safe, and "only several students" are out sick. An official Global Times editorial said it is "undeniable" that the government enjoys much less credibility than the media. "Even if what the government said is correct, it still takes much effort to convince the public. Regardless of the result of the case in Jiangsu, we hope society – especially the government – will learn lessons from it. We must not allow such crisis in confidence to repeat endlessly."
April 26:
The State Council has amended the Regulation on the Administration of Circulation and Vaccination of Vaccines to require health officials to get all vaccines directly from manufacturers instead of purchasing them from wholesalers. Clinics and hospitals will also have to keep better purchase and inventory records. To “plug the loopholes” Beijing announced stricter punishments for “other issues with food and drug safety," calling on officials involved in such incidents to resign now, the official Beijing Newsreports. The reforms are an attempt to restore confidence in the aftermath of a five-year-long illegal vaccine ring in Shandong, which affected 24 provinces and cities. Roughly $88 million worth of vaccines for polio, rabies, mumps, encephalitis, hepatitis B and meningococcal diseases were not properly refrigerated. Guangdong authorities are investigating the death of a four-year-old boy who died in early March after he received meningococcal and polio vaccines, the BBC reports. “The public has no fault in being sensitive,” the official Beijing's Youth Daily reports.
April 27:
In 10 of the past 12 years domestic grain production has lagged behind domestic demand, said Ren Zhengxiao, head of the State Administration of Grain. China needs to increase agricultural production to make up the 9.9 billion kg annual gap, the officialGlobal Times reports. China is the world's biggest importer of soybeans, buying some 84.5 metric tons in 2015-16 and imports are expected to rise to 89.2 metric tons, theSouth China Morning Post reports. But Ren rejected relying on cheaper imports, and said the key to food security is boosting domestic production, and improved storage conditions to reduce wastage and contamination. Low productivity in Chinese agriculture has increased food prices, and some argue that genetically-modified (GM) food is the solution. "Promoting GM food may help lower the cost of agricultural production and consequently decrease the price of domestic food and improve its competitiveness [with imports]," Yan Jianbing at Huazhong Agricultural University.
April 30:
According to U.S. Federal officials, China was running a spy program to evade U.S. security precautions and collect high-tech nuclear secrets, Voice of America reports. Ching Ning Guey, a Taiwan-born American citizen, has admitted selling restricted nuclear information to China while he was a senior manager at the U.S. government's Tennessee Valley Authority. Guey admitted traveling to China and receiving payments for U.S. nuclear technology. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to illegally participate in the development of nuclear material outside of the United States, and one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government. Guey, who was recruited by China more than 10 years ago, has cooperated with investigators and remains free until his sentencing date, which has yet to be set. Meanwhile, Szuhsiung Ho, a Chinese-born nuclear engineer and long-time acquaintance of Guey, was arrested this month in Atlanta, indicted on espionage charges, and is awaiting trial. Prosecutors allege that he recruited American nuclear scientists to provide information to help China upgrade its nuclear reactors. Since 2013 Ho allegedly paid Guey for information about the Tennessee Valley Authority, which is owned by the U.S. government and operates a large electrical supply network powered, in part, by nuclear reactors.
