Political Meetings

Journalists from China and abroad have been invited to cover two major political events in Beijing in March.

The Second Session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature, will open on March 5.

The Second Session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the national advisory body, will open on March 3.

The general offices of the NPC Standing Committee and the CPPCC National Committee announced on February 1 that a media center for the two meetings will open from February 26 at the Media Center Hotel.

Journalists are required to submit applications for reporting passes to the media center before February 28.

Two websites have also been launched to help domestic and overseas journalists cover the sessions.

The websites—http://www.npc.gov.cn/pc/12_2/ for the NPC session and http://www.cppcc.people.com.cn/ for the CPPCC session—will post information related to the events, the offices said.

Landing Tumble

A passenger plane with 44 people aboard nose-dived to the ground during taxiing due to a landing gear fault in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, airport sources said on February 4.

All the 37 passengers and seven crewmen were safe and they were evacuated after the accident, authorities said.

The China-made Xinzhou-60 plane's front landing gear withdrew accidentally as the aircraft was sliding, causing the nose of the plane to touch the ground, according to an official with the Central and South China Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Work safety authorities have launched an investigation into the accident.

Safety Certification

From September 1, China will require child safety seats to pass compulsory safety checks before distribution, the top quality watchdog and accreditation regulators said.

Thereafter, child safety seats without China Compulsory Certification (CCC) will not be sold, imported or used, according to a decision made by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the Certification and Accreditation Administration.

China has a low rate of child safety seat use, despite their reduction of harm to children in traffic accidents.

CCC is the statutory compulsory safety certification system and a basic approach to protecting consumers' rights and interests that came into force on May 1, 2002.

Int'l Medical Zone

The Beijing Municipal Government is seeking central government support to lead China's experimentation with building wholly foreign-owned medical establishments, according to Han Xiaofang, chief of the city's medical reform office.

Citing a municipal government document issued in early January on establishing an international medical service zone in Beijing, Han said that preferential treatments proposed by Beijing also involved looser foreign shareholding restrictions, lower thresholds for total investment and longer investment periods when it comes to the setup of medical joint ventures.

Under the existing national regulations, Chinese investors should possess no less than 30 percent of the equity stakes in a medical joint venture. The total investment for such operations must be at least 20 million yuan ($3.3 million) while the cooperation period is limited to 20 years.

The international medical service zone situated in Tongzhou District of Beijing covers a land area of 15 square km. The municipality hopes to develop it into a world-leading medical industry base by 2030.

Anti-Corruption Audits

China will impose stricter audits in key areas to intensify its crackdown on corruption, according to the National Audit Office.

The audits will focus on five areas, including fiscal fund management, public project construction, extension of bank loans, land transfer and state asset management, said the office in a recently issued work plan for 2014.

Auditors nationwide spotted over 1,400 signs of possible malpractice in the first 11 months of last year and transferred the cases to judiciary or discipline inspection organs for further investigation.