April 21:
The New York Times reports that China’s Public Security Bureau is modernizing its vast database on China’s 1.3 billion citizens, and has been replacing the national identity card that every Chinese must carry with a computer-readable one with color photos and microchips. The new cards are harder to forge and can be scanned by authorities. The bureau’s computers, however, are programmed to read only 32,252 of the roughly 55,000 Chinese characters, according to a 2006 government report. As a result about 60 million Chinese with obscure characters in their names cannot get new cards unless they change their names to something more common. China is preparing to publish a standardized list of characters for use in everyday life, including when naming children. About 3,500 characters are in everyday use in modern Chinese and by some estimates, 100 surnames cover 85 percent of China’s citizens, by contrast, 70,000 surnames cover 90 percent of Americans.
The Chinese Medical Doctor Association (Chinese MDA) and Wuhan Shuanglong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have launched a nationwide hepatitis B treatment program in China's rural areas. The program aims to provide free treatment including diagnoses and drugs for hepatitis B patients in poor rural areas. All rural residents under 18 years old or above 60 years old that are suffering from hepatitis B will automatically qualify for the program. The campaign will last two years in 1,000 towns in rural areas across the country and will also focus on educating rural residents on hepatitis B. "Experts from the Chinese MDA will travel to rural areas to give training courses to local doctors in grassroots medical institutions. All program costs and drugs will be covered by Shuanglong Pharma," Liu Xiaojing, a project manager from the Chinese MDA, told Russia’s Interfax News Agency.
April 24:
During a trip to Hong Kong China’s Ambassador to Japan, Cui Tiankai, indicated in an interview to the Beijing-leaning Ta Kung Pao that while China and Japan have decided on a way “to properly handle” the Yasukuni Shrine issue the Diaoyu Islands dispute with Tokyo remains active. Cui’s comments come several days after nearly 100 Japanese Diet members paid homage at the controversial shrine that commemorates Japanese war dead. Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso did not accompany the Diet members, and, as such, Cui said “Japanese Diet members' paying homage at the Yasukuni Shrine are unlikely to cause too much damage to Sino-Japanese relations.” Yet, Cui continued that: “The Diaoyu Islands have been Chinese territories since ancient times; this is the Chinese Government's principled stand. This stand has never changed and will not change.”
Russia’s Interfax News Agency reports that last year China National Petroleum Corp.'s (CNPC) proven crude oil and natural gas reserves grew by 740 million tons and 416.8 billion cubic meters, respectively. This marks the fifth straight year CNPC added over 500 million tons of crude oil reserves and the fourth consecutive year increases in CNPC’s natural gas reserves exceeded 300 billion cubic meters. CNPC produced 108.25 million tons of crude oil and 61.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2008, up by 0.57 percent and 13.7 percent year-on-year, respectively.
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