China News Digest II

Today's news roundup is as follows --

1. Chinese reports suggest that economic health of the country is being hurt by smoking. Lost productivity from smoking-related health problems will hamper China's economic growth, and related costs incurred by smoking far exceed the tobacco industry's contribution in terms of profits and jobs it generates.

The report highlighted a conflict of interest concerning the State monopoly over the tobacco industry.

The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration is under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the agency in charge of the government-initiated tobacco control campaign. This setup allows the tobacco industry to use the government's authority to promote tobacco production and sales, impede adoption and implementation of tobacco control policies and laws, and publicly conduct activities undermining FCTC implementation, such as marketing tobacco brands in the name of charity, said the report.

2. Chinese foreign ministry has quashed speculation by Japanese media and said that it follows a " NO-FIRST-NUKE-POLICY".

3. A senior Chinese publicity official has urged building a better image of the country on the world stage this year and strengthening friendly relationships with foreign countries.

4. Chinese President will pay a State visit to the US from 18th-21st January on invitation from the US president.

5. The income gap is widening among different industries in Shanghai, while the proportion between residents' income and the city's GDP is declining, a survey has found.

The survey, conducted by the Shanghai Committee of the China Democratic League, one of the country's eight democratic parties (wow , 8 "democratic" parties ,i would never have guessed !), said people who work in the city's highest-paying industries earn an average of 6.4 times of those who toil in sectors with meager salaries, the local Oriental Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

And a majority of the city's residents, or about 68 percent of its working population, is employed in the lowest-paying sectors, including manufacturing, construction, catering and retail, the report said.

This concludes today's post.