China Reform Monitor: No. 935

November 26:

Authorities in Xiamen, Fujian are considering hiring Taiwan residents for government jobs. “We could do some trials to have Taiwan residents in our civil service. The positions that might be those that have to do with economic and cultural exchanges between Xiamen and Taiwan,” said Yu Weiguo, Xiamen’s Communist Party chief. In March, Xiamen opened six positions at hospitals and schools to Taiwan residents who obtain a masters degree from a mainland university. Other cities in Fujian, such as Pingtan Island, are also looking to include Taiwan residents in their civil service and manage social and public affairs, according to the Fujian Provincial Administration of Civil Service’s website. Taiwan’s laws forbid residents from taking government jobs on the mainland and to date no Taiwan resident has taken a government job in Fujian, the official China Daily reports.

[Editor’s Note: Fujian already allows Taiwan residents who study there to stay after they have graduated. In 2009, the province started hiring Taiwan residents for jobs in hospitals, public schools, regional investment-promotion organizations and other institutions affiliated with the government. In July 2010, Fujian authorities opened 15 jobs in government-affiliated institutions to Taiwan workers.]

November 28:

Beginning January 1, 2012 China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has ordered a national ban on TV commercials during TV dramas. TV stations that violate the order will face stern punishment. The ban is SARFT’s latest effort to regulate the country’s TV commercials. Last month, the watchdog agency banned sex-related radio and TV commercials and those aired under the guise of news reports or interviews. The official China Daily said there are concerns about whether local TV stations will abide by the newest ban, which will cost them an estimated 20 billion yuan ($3.13 billion) in lost revenue.

November 23:

China and Japan have agreed in principle to extend the deadline for Japan to dispose of chemical weapons abandoned by the Imperial Japanese Army in China during World War II. The original deadline was set for April 2012, Japan’s Jiji Press reports. So far Japanese investigators have dug out more than 40,000 chemical shells in China based on the Chemical Weapons Convention that obliges countries to dispose of all chemical weapons abandoned in other nations. In 2006, Tokyo and Beijing agreed to extend the deadline for the disposal to April 2012 but because an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 chemical shells remain buried in China, Japan wants to push back the deadline again. China is demanding Japan agree to a firm deadline on the disposal while Tokyo is reluctant to do so. Japan will also seek approval of the extension from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague.

November 21:

Four radar systems purchased by the Ecuadoran Air Force for controlling airspace along the border with Colombia stopped working around six months ago. China’s Electronic Technology Group Corporation (CETC) supplied Ecuador two long-range YLC-2V-3D systems and two Gap Filler YLC 18 systems worth $60 million and they were deployed in 2010. According to Ecuador’s El Universo newspaper, from the start the systems displayed several “irregularities.” For instance, they were supposed to be air cooled, but were actually water-cooled and were supposed to have an operational ceiling of 12,000 feet, but were limited to 9,990 feet. Oswaldo Jarrin, former defense minister, said without the radar systems Ecuador’s airspace is currently unprotected and called for an investigation into “why radars are being sent that are of no use and why contract conditions are not being met.”

November 29:

Cheng Lijun, the production manager at Gansu Baohui Industrial Group in Huixian, was suspended and is under investigation after 266 company workers were found to have excessive cadmium levels in their blood, according to a statement issued by the company's board and reported by the semi-official Global Times. A local hospital is treating 71 workers and other 195 are being treated at home. An investigation showed inadequate protective measures were to blame for the incident. Prolonged exposure to cadmium may cause damage to the lungs, kidneys and liver.