CHINA US Focus - Perspectives shaping the world's most important bilateral relationship

(Beijing) – China’s local government financing platform companies are making a comeback in the bonds market, but experts say the best way to let local governments raise funds is to let them directly issue bonds. In the first half of the year, more than 60 platform companies have issued enterprise bonds, raising a combined roughly [...]

Cigarette tax should be increased to combat nicotine addiction in the world's largest tobacco consumer and producer, the World Health Organization chief said. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan called for more taxes on Wednesday after awarding Health Minister Chen Zhu a certificate in recognition of his efforts to combat smoking. "There is still plenty of room [...]

President Hu Jintao is expected to announce new measures from China to strengthen cooperation with Africa at the opening ceremony of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on Thursday. The new measures will cover areas such as investment, finance, assistance, African integration, peace and security, and people-to-people exchanges. During a [...]

THE number of Chinese cities seeing a month-on-month increase in home prices rose to its highest in 11 months in June, according to National Bureau of Statistics data released yesterday. Excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, prices rose in 25 of 70 cities tracked by the bureau, the highest since August 2011. In May, six cities recorded monthly [...]

BEIJING, July 18 (Xinhua) — The State Council, or China's cabinet, has issued the first national plan for public services, the country's top economic planning agency said Wednesday. The government will intensify its efforts to improve basic public services and promote equal access to these services for all people during the 12th Five-Year Plan period [...]