with the island by officially acknowledging that military personnel have been posted in the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan since 2005.
The monkeys implanted with human genes developed bett
better short-term memory and faster reaction times compared with the control group, acco
rding findings published March 27 in the China-based journal National Science Review.
The study also found that transgenic monkeys’ brains took longer to develop, in a similar fashion to humans.
The experiment has divided the scientific community however, with a number of Western scientists criticizing it as uneth
ical, while some went as far to suggest, perhaps ironically, that it could lead to a Planet of the Apes-type scenario.
The Kunming Institute of Zoology told China Daily in a statement that the experiment was ethically approved in 2010.
In 2015 the animal rights committee of Kunming Biomed International, a research organiza
tion specializing in nonhuman primates, also declared the animals were being treated humanely in every
step of the experiment, in accordance with domestic and international regulations, the statement said.
Lu made the remarks in response to recent media repo
reports that India decided not to send a delegation to the second Belt and Road Forum for Internati
onal Cooperation later this month in Beijing. The reports said the initiative undermines the South Asia
n nation’s sovereignty via the BRI-related China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Lu said that, “If this decision about whether to participate in building the Belt and Road
was possibly made through a misunderstanding”, China firmly and sincerely advances the constr
uction of the Belt and Road on the basis of consultation and contribution for shared benefits.
He added that the initiative is open to all parties that are inter
ested in and willing to join in win-win cooperation.
It will not exclude any party, he said, adding that China is willin
g to wait if relevant parties need more time to consider their participation.
Analysts guessing over central bank’s next move
Debates on whether the central bank needs to further ease monetary policy or not are continuing amo
ng analysts, with their emphasis on guessing the next liquidity injection through reducing banks’ reserved deposits.
Supporters of monetary easing expect that another cut in the re
serve requirement ratio (RRR) may come no later than this week, as a liquidity shorta
ge may occur after commercial banks pay back 366.5 billion yuan ($54.65 billion) to the central bank on Wedn
esday. That amount of interbank lending was conducted previously under the medium-term lending facilities (MLF) scheme.
Opponents, however, contend that the current liquidity is sufficient, and any further ea
sing will fuel inflation risks, especially as Chinese economy has started its upcycle.
The central bank’s monetary policy committee held the first quarter’s regular meeting on Friday.
The members achieved a consensus to continue the counter-cyclical measures and stren
gthen coordination between monetary and fiscal policies. Policy fine-tuning should be at the proper time, to prev
ent risks with the priority of stabilizing growth, according to a statement after the meeting.
“Essentially, it depends on the growth of money sup
pply (M2),” said Sheng Songcheng, a central bank adviser and a former director of the central bank’s statistics department.
The central bank released M2 data on Friday, which recorded a 13-month high of 8.6 percent by the end of March, accelerating from 8 percent by February.
Aggregate social financing, a gauge to measure broader financial activities including trust funds and local govern
ment bonds, also grew faster than market expectations. That total financing amount grew to 2.86 trillion yuan in Mar
ch, or a 11.1 percent growth from a year earlier, compared with 10.6 percent in February, said the central bank.
“According to the latest economic data, there is less necessity for RR
R cuts, but it requires further observation on future changes,” said Sheng.
If the central bank further cuts the RRR, when economic growth is already stabilized, inflation wi
ll surge, and possibly lead to funds flowing into the property sector instead of supporting the real economy, he added.
Index results bode well for quarterly GDPprise mark
hina’s economic growth will remain stable in the first quarter, and is expected to land at 6.3 percent or even higher year-on-year when it is released this week, e
conomists said after some economic indicators for March surprised the market on the upside.
“Downside pressure began to ease in the first quarter, as signaled by the r
ather substantial recovery in various economic indicators in March,” said Yao Jingyuan, form
er chief economist at the National Bureau of Statistics and a researcher for the Counselors’ Office of the State Council.
Chinese banks’ lending in yuan, a leading indicator for the real economy
, surged in March by 1.69 trillion yuan ($252 billion), up 52 percent from a year earli
er, according to the People’s Bank of China, the central bank. The manufacturing purchasing managers inde
x for March, which was back into expansion territory, may be a sign of accelerating industrial activities.
Exports in March also picked up, rising 14.2 percent in US dollar ter
ms from a year ago, versus 0.1 percent for the January-February period, customs data showed.
schedule must not be imposed on workersschedule
Editor’s note: The “996” schedule (working from 9 am to 9 pm, six
days a week) has sparked a heated public debate, because many workers don’t get any ove
rtime pay and, worse, could end up in the “”. The “996” phenomenon is rampant in the high-tech and internet compani
es. Some internet company chiefs have added fuel to the debate by saying they want their workers to “work hard”. T
hree experts share their views on the issue with China Daily’s Yao Yuxin. Excerpts follow:
Labor Law should never be violated
Given the fierce competition in the high-tech sector industries, start-
ups have to take drastic measures to survive, let alone thrive. To develop new products, and pr
oduce and market them, companies need a great deal of resources and ski
lled manpower. Perhaps this is the reason they make their employees work overtime.
But forcing the “996” schedule on the workers is illegal. To p
rotect the rights of workers, the Labor Law stipulates that employers
should not force their workers to work more than eight hours a day, or more than 44 hours a week. If emplo
It’s time high-tech and internet companies designed a reaso
onable salary system to motivate their employees to give full play to their creativity and pro
ductivity, instead of forcing the workers to work long hours without adequate remuneration.
Chinese internet firms should learn from the managerial experiences of their foreign counterparts such
as Google and Facebook to incentivize their staff if they want them to work overtime and improve their productivity.
Huang Wei, a lawyer at Zhejiang Shenggang Law FirmWorkers’ rights and interests must not be compromised
The average leisure an average Chinese person enjoys is 2.27 h
ours a day compared with about 5 hours in developed countries suc
h as the United States, according to a research conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Due to the “996” schedule in some high-tech and internet companies, the workers have even less leisure time, which affects not only t
heir daily life but also their health. Worse, many workers don’t even get paid for the extra work they do.
Premier Li signs revised regulation on gov’t informati
Premier Li Keqiang has signed a revised regulation on the disclosure
of government information to better respond to public concerns.
The revision, based on the 2008 version, is aimed at increasing openness of government
affairs and resolving prominent problems in government information disclosure.
It also represents the headway and achievements made in this field over the past years and clarified the scope of governm
ent information disclosure, calling for constantly expanding information disclosure.
Stressing the need to improve the legal rights and interests of the a
pplicants and related parties when applying for information disclosure in accordance with pr
ocedures, the revision also made necessary stipulations on the improper exercise of application rights by a small num
ber of applicants affecting the normal conduct of government information disclosure.
Efforts should be made to improve the effectiveness of government information disclosure by using information techn
ology, to enable government information to play its due role in serving the people, it added.
The school established an AI research institute in Decem
ber 2017 for graduate students. Many instructors at the school are working on AI-related res