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Transport system put to test

China's transport system will be put to the test during chunyun, or Spring Festival Transport, the 40-day travel period around the Chinese New Year, which falls on January 31.

Billions of trips will be made during the holiday season, the most important festival for family reunions in the country, placing a tremendous strain on trains, planes and automobiles, and leaving train tickets in scarce supply.

About 3.62 billion passenger trips will be made during the travel period starting on Jan 9, said Lian Weiliang, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission.

The figure is about 200 million more than last year, Lian said.

The peak of the travel season will strain the country's transport system and passengers may have difficulties in getting tickets in some regions, Lian warned.

Most of the trips, about 3.2 billion, are expected to be made by road, including long-distance coaches, chartered buses and tour coaches, said Liang Xiao'an, Ministry of Transport spokesman.

Xi calls for reform to fight graft

President Xi Jinping called on Jan 14 for the Party's disciplinary mechanism to be reformed as China's anti-graft campaign expands.

Officials should abide by the clean-governance rules, and violators must be punished strictly, he said.

"The regulations should not become paper tigers or scarecrows," the president said.

Xi was speaking at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China.

The meeting, held from Jan 13-15, was attended by chief disciplinary officials of provincial governments, ministries, state-owned enterprises and public institutions.

Xi said the anti-graft system should be reformed to ensure that power can be supervised effectively and that disciplinary authorities can work independently.

Unrest in Bangkok threatens tourism

Thailand may see its projects with China delayed and fewer Chinese tourists visiting the country, analysts said on Jan 13 as protesters started the Bangkok shutdown.

Thousands of demonstrators blockaded several major intersections, demanding a "shutdown" of the Thai capital in an attempt to force Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down.

The upheaval is the latest chapter in an eight-year conflict pitting Bangkok's middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly poorer, rural supporters of Yingluck and her self-exiled brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

"The unrest not only damages economic development in Thailand, but also affects regional cooperation, such as the cooperation between China and Thailand," said Song Qingrun, a Southeast Asian studies researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

Hope for new leaders in Central African Republic

China hopes the Central African Republic will have new interim leaders at an early date, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Jan 13.

Interim President of Central African Republic Michel Djotodia and Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye resigned on Jan 10 during a two-day regional summit held in Chad.

"China is following closely the developments of the situation in the country, and hopes its new transitional authority can come into being smoothly at an early date," Hua said.

"We hope all the political factions could proceed from the nation's and the people's fundamental interests, committed to improving security in the country and maintaining social stability and national unity," Hua said.

China, Senegal pledge to bolster mutual trust

Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Senegalese President Macky Sall agreed in Dakar on Jan 10 to deepen mutual trust and practical cooperation between their countries.

Senegal hoped to enrich its partnership with China by deepening mutual trust and strengthen cooperation on infrastructure construction and livelihood improvement, Sall said during his meeting with Wang at the presidential palace.

Senegal has received strong support and help from China since the two countries resumed diplomatic relations, and bilateral ties have been raised to new heights, Sall said.

Wang, for his part, said that Senegal is a major country in Africa, and China is willing to forge ties with Senegal into a model for West Africa-China relations within the framework of the new-type strategic partnership between China and Africa.

Solar kit systems donated to Rwanda

The Chinese government on Jan 9 donated solar energy kit systems to Rwanda in a bid to enhance the East African nation's energy sector.

The 416 pieces of solar equipment worth about $650,000 will be installed in the country's rural areas of the southern, northern and eastern provinces, where there is no access to the state power grid.

The solar energy mobile power project will help in rural electricity accessibility, according to Rwanda's Ministry of Infrastructure.

China Daily-Xinhua

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/17/2014 page2)