BEIJING Josh Allen Bills Jersey , June 22 (Xinhua) -- Although great improvement has been made in product quality, the general quality of China's products falls short of expectations, a report said.
The report on the implementation of the Product Quality Law was submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee at its bi-monthly session, which started Thursday.
Citing a survey that found 40 percent of firecrackers and induction cookers were substandard, the report said that a series of problems such as low-quality products and outdated standards have remained, especially in rural areas and online purchases.
The report called for a revision of the current Product Quality Law, which entered into force in 1993.
In addition, it suggested better information sharing, improved inter-agency cooperation on quality supervision and the establishment of a system to trace products.
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UNITED NATIONS, July 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution to establish a new UN mission to help reintegrate rebels from Colombia' s former largest guerrilla group FARC back to society.
The mission, the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, is set to work for an initial period of 12 months starting from Sept. 26, 2017, when the mandate of the current UN Mission in Colombia that has been monitoring cease-fire and disarmament in the country comes to an end.
According to the resolution, the mission will be responsible for the process of political, economic, and social reincorporation of the FARC and the implementation of personal and collective security guarantees.
China's Ambassador to the UN Liu Jieyi, also president of the Security Council for July, told reporters that the peace agreement is an important milestone in Colombia and the Security Council gives its firm support at the critical stage of implementing the final agreement.
FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was founded in 1964. The FARC rebels completed its disarmament process in accordance with the peace agreement in late June this year, marking a symbolic end to the violence which wracked Colombia for over half a century.
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by CECILY LIU
BEIJING, January 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese financial institutions are making great strides in London, a place where they can compete and learn alongside the best of their respective industries in their internationalization process, says Maggie Zhao, a partner in the London office of Clifford Chance LLP, a global law firm.
One of the prime movers in this process is the Chinese government's willingness to support liberalization of China's financial industry and the internationalization of Chinese banks and other financial institutions, Zhao says.
Another is the United Kingdom's open and welcoming attitude toward Chinese investment, she says.
"As China's financial services sector is maturing and internationalizing, there comes a time when Chinese financial institutions are ready to grow markedly and compete in international markets," Zhao says.
She says the internationalization of the renminbi and London's eagerness to remain as a leading offshore renminbi center have also created great opportunities for Chinese banks to facilitate renminbi trade and investment flows, and to develop new renminbi products there.
One key development is the granting of a branch license in London to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China this year. ICBC previously operated in the United Kingdom as a subsidiary, and had stricter capital requirements than those for a branch. With the new branch license, ICBC will now have greater lending and financing capacity there.
This is a milestone because in recent years the UK regulator has refused to let foreign banks open branches, which would have had lending and financing capacity proportional to the parent company's balance sheet.
Subsidiaries, in contrast, are subject to the strict capital requirements that apply to local banks in the UK. So in most cases the lending and financing capacity is proportional to the balance sheet of the subsidiary itself. Before ICBC, Bank of China was the only Chinese bank that had a branch license, which was granted in 1946.
The concerns expressed by Chinese lenders since 2012 on the issue caught the attention of the UK government, and those concerns were backed by the City of London.
Last year the Prudential Regulation Authority said foreign banks would be allowed to apply for a branch license, although only for wholesale business. In September, ICBC received its branch license, and several other Chinese banks with subsidiaries in the UK have also applied for theirs.
Zhao says ICBC's achievement is encouraging for other Chinese banks and the whole industry, but it also creates a new challenge because ICBC's newfound freedom to carry out a.