Premier Li Keqiang welcomes Philemon Yang, prime minister of Cameroon, at a ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 18. Feng Yongbin / China Daily

Donation to drive anti-graft campaign

The Chinese government donated information technology equipment worth $1.5 million to Tanzania's anti-corruption watchdog on June 16 to support its fight against corruption.

Edward Hoseah, director-general of the country's anti-graft watchdog, said the donation was testimony of the close friendship between the two countries. "Fighting corruption requires making fast decisions and applying modern equipment that can outsmart perpetrators," he said

Before the donation, which included 162 desktop computers, 13 laptops, 90 scanners and four servers, Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Lu Youqing said the two countries were working together on a global anti-graft crusade.

Zambian trade zone receives $29m loan

The China Development Bank has agreed to loan $29 million to the Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone to improve infrastructure.

Upgrading the zone's Lusaka Park will provide a better development platform for enterprises, said Zhu Liqun, president of the bank's Jiangxi branch. CDB signed its first loan agreement with the zone and Bank of China Zambia Ltd in August. The multi-facility economic zone is the first declared by Zambia, and is the first Chinese economic and cooperation zone in Africa.

As business booms, companies celebrate

Chinese agrochemical giants Wynca has captured a 40-percent share of the market in Ghana after three years of operation, its Ghanaian subsidiary said.

Business has been flourishing since the company's manufacturing plant opened in 2012 due to the high quality of its products, Li Chaodong, president of Wynca-Sunshine, said.

Speaking during celebrations to mark the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Ghana, Li said the company got a foothold in Ghana and West Africa by acquiring majority stakes in local chemicals distributor Sunshine. "The investment here has been $40 million, and the cost of operations, including salaries, is about $2 million a year," he said.

The plant produces 1,000 kiloliters of herbicides a month and 117,000 knapsack sprayers a year using recycled materials. Last year alone, the company made more than $50 million in sales in Ghana and West Africa.

Silverbird Cinemas in Accra also held a three-day Chinese film festival as part of the anniversary celebrations. More than 300 people attended the first day, including state officials, lecturers, students and business executives.

UN, China to promote women's welfare

China and United Nations Women are partnering to raise awareness of gender-sensitive issues among infrastructure investors in regions where women's welfare are not sufficiently protection.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, under-secretary-general and executive director of UN Women, talked about the collaboration at the ongoing 25th African Union Summit in South Africa.

Africa, as a less-developed region, faces tremendous challenges in terms of protecting women's rights. Child marriage, violence against women, and high maternal mortality rates are among a number of urgent issues Africa faces.

Mlambo-Ngcuka said China and UN Women will co-host a global summit in September, as this year marks the 20th anniversary of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the progressive blueprint for advancing women's rights. "We're asking countries to commit to what they can do," she said. "We're hoping that China will seize this opportunity to invest in Africa in a manner that is gender-sensitive," she said.

Malawi praises aid for social development

Peter Mutharika, president of Malawi, has applauded efforts by the Chinese government and businesses to help the country achieve social progress in fields such as health and education.

Speaking at a news briefing on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, he said China-Malawi relations have been developing well in the eight years since the countries established diplomatic ties. He said China has invested in sanitation projects, critical for public health, while its companies are fulfilling their social responsibilities while engaging in economic activities.

Malawi was commended by UN Women as one of the 10 countries that had made progress in protecting women's welfare, particularly in lowering the number of child marriages. The government recently passed a law banning child marriage, raising the minimum age to 18.

The president said education has also played an important role in reducing child marriage. According to UN figures, the adult literacy rate in Malawi was about 60 percent between 2008 and 2012.

China funded the creation of the Malawi University of Science and Technology last year with an $80 million loan.

Algeria's efforts to settle conflicts hailed

Yang Guangyu, Chinese ambassador to Algeria, has lauded the North African country's mediation to settle the ongoing conflicts in neighboring Mali and Libya, and stressed that China has been backing such moves.

The convergence of views of China and Algeria regarding international and regional issues is based on both countries' commitment to "the principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of others and non-use of force to settle conflicts", Yang said on June 13.

Beijing and Algiers "know they can count on the support of each other", he said.

He highlighted the deep-rooted relations binding the two countries, pointing out the recent visits made by top officials from both sides.

China and Algeria announced a comprehensive strategic partnership in February last year on the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of strategic cooperation.

AU chief commends infrastructure aid

The head of an African Union body has hailed the role China is playing in the development of Africa's infrastructure.

The New Partnership for Africa's Development is an implementing agency of the AU focusing on cross-cutting development issues on the continent, such as infrastructure development, capacity building, and agriculture development.

Ibrahim Mayaki, chief executive of the agency and former prime minister of Niger, said on the sidelines of the ongoing AU summit that China's help in Africa's infrastructure development was commendable.

He said Africa is working on restructuring the nature of its infrastructure projects, from national to regional, to maximize the benefits of Chinese assistance.

"China is already playing a great role, as it is financing most of the big projects we have in infrastructure," he said. "We need to provide an adjustment on financing of regional projects."

Mayaki said his agency had identified 16 infrastructure development projects earmarked for implementation on the continent.

JF-17 fighter debuts at air show in Paris

The JF-17 fighter, co-developed by Aviation Industry Corp of China and Pakistan's Air Force, made its debut at the Paris International Air Show, which opened on June 15, attracting more than 30,000 visitors from 47 countries.

During five minutes of aerobatics the aircraft went through an impressive display of its capabilities, which delighted the watching crowd.

More than 50 JF-17s, an all-weather multiple-role light fighter, have been delivered to Pakistan's Air Force, the corporation's Vice-President Li Yuhai said at a joint news conference. In China the fighter is named FC-1 Xiaolong, and in Pakistan it is the JF-17 Thunder, he said.

Nansha reclamation to end soon, as planned

China will complete its land reclamation project on some islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands in coming days as planned, the Foreign Ministry said on June 16.

It will then start building facilities "to meet relevant functional requirements", Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

"Apart from satisfying the need for necessary military defense, the main purpose of China's construction activities is to meet various civilian demands and to better perform China's international obligations and responsibilities."

Electrically propelled satellite planned

China is developing electrically propelled satellites and plans to send the first one into space around 2020, a senior satellite designer at the China Academy of Space Technology says.

"We have commanded the most advanced propulsion technology through our own research, following the United States, Russia, the European Space Agency and Japan," said Wang Min, deputy chief designer of communications satellites.

"We plan to send the country's first electrically propelled communications satellite into orbit around 2020, providing a broadband communication data transmission service to China and neighboring regions,"

China urged to put environment first

China needs to put the environment at the center of its coming 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) and fully implement existing laws and regulations to control pollution, a German environmental official says.

China and Germany have great potential to work together on broad environmental issues, said Jochen Flasbarth, state secretary of the German federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.

"We have many ongoing cooperation programs. Environmental protection in the areas of air, soil, water or waste management, as well as climate protection, are priorities within our bilateral cooperation."

Dutch, Chinese establish think tank

With the cooperation of Erasmus Graduate School of Business of Netherlands, Beijing Jiaotong University has established a think tank to provide consultation services, especially in transport field, for government and companies.

The Institute of Global Supply Chain and Logistic, established on Wednesday (June 17), will focus on business opportunities brought by the Chinese government's strategy of reviving the ancient Silk Road.

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, as the initiatives are officially termed, are a land-based route from China via Central Asia and Russia to Europe, and a strategic path through the Strait of Malacca to India, the Middle East and East Africa. The initiatives began to take shape in 2014 with a focus on infrastructure.

Officers investigated over cover-ups

Law enforcement officers involved in aiding or covering up environmental crimes will come under increasing scrutiny from prosecutors, the top prosecuting agency said on June 16.

Dereliction of duty and malpractice in ecological and environmental protection have caused 15 deaths and 1.3 billion yuan ($209 million; 186 million euros) in economic losses since last year, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said.

"To seek huge benefits and enhance GDP performance, some local officials and law enforcement officers have abused their power to cover up such crimes or reduced lawbreakers' punishment," said Li Zhongcheng, a senior official at the SPP's malfeasance and infringement investigation department.

Regional road map to combat air pollution

Beijing has drafted the first regional road map for the control and prevention of air pollution in the area that includes the capital and neighboring Tianjin and Hebei province, the municipal environmental authority says.

The medium- and long-term plan has set harder goals for cutting major airborne pollutants emissions by 2030. That will take the region beyond the current period set in the Action Plan on Air Pollution Control and Prevention, which set goals for 2017, said Li Lixin, head of regional coordination with the Beijing Bureau of Environmental Protection.

Based on the current action plan, by 2017 the concentration of PM2.5, airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter that can penetrate the lungs and harm health, would be reduced by 25 percent in the region.

Alibaba set for streaming launch

An online video streaming service is being launched by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, similar to products offered by Netflix and HBO.

The move is part of Alibaba's ambitions to build a digital entertainment empire in China, where about half a billion viewers are eager for new amusement channels.

Alibaba Pictures, a film affiliate of the company, whose headquarters are in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, said the platform will be a subscription product, with 90 percent of content available only for viewers who pay.

The new platform, to be named Tmall Box Office, will be launched in about two months, he company said.

Finance deal for Kenya solar plant

China has agreed to help Kenya set up a 50-megawatt solar power plant, one of the largest in Africa, Liu Xianfa, the Chinese ambassador to Kenya, said.

He said the plant will be build in northeastern Garissa county.

"China Import-Export Bank will provide a concessional loan to complete the renewable energy project," he said.

The project will boost the development, especially in employment creation, and help to reduce extremism and terrorism.

Garissa is where 148 people were killed in a terror attack conducted by Somalia-based militant group Al-Shabaab in April. After the attack, Chinese nationals in Kenya donated about $67,000 to the families of victims and survivors.

China Daily-Xinhua