May 4:
Local officials burst unannounced into a middle school in Hubei province one afternoon and started sifting through the staff-room’s ashtray to enforce a ban on rival cigarette brands. The "cigarette marketing team" discovered three "non-compliant" cigarette butts and subjected the school to "public criticism" for "undisciplined practices," London’s Telegraph reports. Officials and teachers in Hubei province will be fined if they "fail to meet their targets" or are caught smoking brands from neighboring provinces. One village was ordered to purchase 400 cartons of cigarettes a year for local officials. "The regulation will boost the local economy via the cigarette tax," said Chen Nianzu, a member of the Gong'an cigarette market supervision team. In total, Gong'an officials and teachers have been ordered to puff 230,000 packs of Hubei-branded cigarettes.
[Editor’s Note: China has 350 million smokers, about a million of whom die each year from smoking-related illnesses. Despite anti-smoking campaigns, cigarette taxes form a major component of China's annual tax-take at local level.]
May 5:
The People's Court, China's highest judicial body, has raised the possibility that individuals who upload copyrighted videos without authorization will be held to account. Russia’s Interfax news agency reports that the high court posted on its website on May 1 that video sharing website Ku6.com must require that its users to register under their real names so that they can be asked to contribute towards any compensation claims made as a result of videos they upload. This is the first time that a Chinese court has suggested that individuals be held accountable for copyright infringements. The comment came s a part of a recent decision by Beijing Haidian District People's Court that Ku6.com should pay RMB 50,000 ($7,330) to China Film Corp. for hosting an illegally uploaded copy of its film, Red Cliff.
May 6:
China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) will break ground on the Chinese portion of the
Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO) on May 18, a CNPC employee told Interfax. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan will take part in the official start of construction ceremony in the Mohe area of northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province. The portion of the ESPO pipeline in China will stretch 992 kilometers and it’s slated for completion in 2010. CNPC will also begin construction in September 2009 on the underwater section across the Amur River that is slated to be completed in June 2010. Russia’s oil pipeline operator Transneft began construction of the ESPO pipeline section in Russia in late April. The section will have the capacity to ship 15 million tons of oil a year to China, which would amount to approximately 300 million tons of Russian crude to China over a 20-year period.
May 9:
Beijing pushed Nepal’s Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda to sack the country’s army chief and has volunteered “PLA cadres who could be integrated into the Nepal army.” The Times of India reports that Beijing’s assurance was among several that led Prachanda to go ahead with the sacking, “with disastrous consequences to the government and the infant democracy in Nepal.”
May 11:
After the earthquake last year China’s Central Military Commission sent 140,000 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops to Sichuan. The South China Morning Post reports that the operation exposed serious weaknesses in command structure, equipment and efficiency. The PLA directed helicopters to the disaster area, but only after President Hu Jintao – as head of the military – issued the order, not after Premier Wen Jiabao’s televised tearful request since Wen holds no military rank. After air support was committed heavy storms forced pilots to abort several attempts after which two days passed before the first military helicopters arrived with rescuers and provisions. Many pilots flew up to 12 hours a day because of the lack of personnel. Pilots from other provinces could not communicate with the Sichuan military force because of different communication technology systems. The first batch of 1,300 soldiers arrived on foot over 24 hours after the quake hit. It remains a state secret how many PLA troops died in the relief effort.
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