An Illuminating Environmental Issue

The Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) have launched a green drive that will involve subsidizing the use of 150 million energy-efficient lighting products, in a bid to reduce electricity consumption by 29 billion kwh by 2010.

A circular posted on the NDRC's website said the government will offer a 30-percent subsidy on wholesale purchases and a 50-percent subsidy on retail sales of energy-saving light bulbs.

The government said it will subsidize manufacturers that bid the lowest supply price for the program. A list of approved manufacturers and the price of their products will be decided through an open bid process, an NDRC spokesperson said.

The Big Shutdown

The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) outlined its plan to significantly reduce air and water pollution in 2008, aiming to cut up to 2.3 million tons of sulfur dioxide emissions and 1.3 million tons of chemical oxygen demand, a measure used in the monitoring of pollution.

The 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) outlines plans to reduce both by 10 percent by 2010, based on 2005 figures.

SEPA head Zhou Shengxian said that more energy-consuming and polluting power plants will be shut down this year, including a number of small-sale thermal power plants with a combined output of 13 gw, steel plants with a total capacity of 6 million tons, cement plants with a combined output of 50 million tons, iron production facilities with a total capacity of 14 million tons, and papermaking factories producing a combined 1 million tons.

New Round of Health Care Reforms

China's long-awaited reform plan of its health care system will be released in March, said Health Minister Chen Zhu. The plan covers four aspects of the medical system: public health care, medical treatment, medical insurance and the supply of medicines, Chen said at a meeting in eastern Jiangsu Province.

People's medical expenses have been soaring in recent years as a result of the government's failure to implement an adequate medical insurance network after it cut subsidies for medical costs in 1992. The guidelines of the new reform include ensuring the "non-profit" nature of public medical institutions, cutting hospitals' involvement in drug sales, increasing governmental responsibility and input, and establishing a basic medicare network for the whole population.

Online Pornography Crackdown

China's authorities shut down 44,000 domestic websites and homepages and arrested 868 people while investigating 524 criminal cases in a campaign against Internet pornography in 2007, a national conference was told. Another 1,911 people involved in 1,609 Internet pornography activities were penalized.

A total of 199,000 websites were registered by the authorities last year, but another 14,000 were refused access to the Internet for failing to get official registration or to apply for official approval.

Interim Price Control

China's top economic planner called on local governments at provincial and county levels to formulate their own interim price control plans, as part of nationwide efforts to curb inflation.

The NDRC on January 15 announced national price controls on grain, food made of grain, edible oil, meat, milk, eggs and liquefied petroleum gas.

In a circular to price regulatory departments at all levels, the NDRC said local governments should make plans on interim price intervention, including drawing up a list of products and major producers of those products for close watch, to make sure prices of those products do not rise at an excessive rate.