Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
Wen suggested government offices set air conditioners' temperature to no lower than 26?C to set an example for the rest of society and advised officials to don thin clothes instead of Western-style suits and neckties, the Xinhua news agency said.
Government buildings should not turn on their lights during the daytime and definitely not keep them on throughout the night, said Wen in a recent speech at a national teleconference.
Hundreds of people have been hospitalized in Shanghai as a record-shattering heatwave showed no signs of letting up yesterday, straining already stretched power resources.
The thermometer hit 39?C on Sunday, making it a record ninth straight day above 35?C and the hottest July 3 in the city since 1873.
The sweltering heat has strained power supplies as air-conditioners were turned up to maximum, but hundreds, mostly elderly, were hospitalized with heat stroke and breathing difficulties.
Over 600 ambulances have been dispatched each day, the Shanghai Daily reported. No deaths, however, have been reported.
Residents of the city of 17 million will have to endure the hot, humid temperatures at least until tomorrow when meteorologists have forecast partial relief from expected rainstorms, the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said.
China is bracing for electricity shortages this summer which are expected to be worse than last year, when the country experienced the worst shortfalls since the 1980s.
So far this year, 24 of China's 31 provinces and provincial-level administrative units have experienced power cuts.
Widescale rationing of energy and closures of factories are expected in some areas.
In the speech, Wen also called for deeper changes -- such as rethinking China's whole style of economic development and going down a "new road of industrialization."
Acknowledging the devastation the past two decades of rapid economic growth have wrought on the environment and resources, Wen said China must quicken the pace of building a "resources-saving society."
"This has a bearing on China's economic and social progress and the prosperity of the Chinese nation, and is a policy of strategic importance concerning the overall situation," Wen said.
"While promoting economic growth, we must strengthen environmental protection and improvement so that our people can drink clean water, breathe fresh air, have safe food and work and live in a sound environment."
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS