BEIJING - The Communist Party of China (CPC) has been improving the overall quality of Party officials by selecting the most competent and sacking the corrupt. In some local governments, officials used to be selected or promoted merely because they had been in their posts during periods of rapid GDP growth, or because they had been working for the government for a long time. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012 however, GDP growth is no longer the only game in town. Quality and sustainable development, rising standards of living and social harmony are now included in the mix. In June 2014, the general office of the CPC Central Committee declared that young officials should be given more opportunities to work in remote and impoverished areas where they can gain better experience. Those who distinguish themselves will be promoted. Party secretaries and specified discipline officials are now required to sign off on guarantees of newly promoted officials' integrity. While selecting candidates on the basis of their merits attacks the problem from the bottom up, it is equally important to identify the bad apples which are already in the barrel and throw them out. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has now completed all the inspections mandated by the 18th CPC Central Committee. Over the past five years, inspections have swept through local governments, public institutions, state-owned enterprises, financial institutions and universities. The CPC has removed more than 40,000 Party leaders and cadres from part-time "jobs" in enterprises. More than 200 vice-ministerial or higher levels of officials and managers have been investigated since the 18th CPC National Congress, according to Zhang Hao, a professor from Party School of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of CPC. "The number has tripled that of the 2007 to 2012 period," he said. Apart from "tigers", or high-level officials engaged in major graft cases, "flies," or grass-root officials, have also been addressed. A report released by the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China in March said graft cases of over 17,000 low-level officials had been handled over the past year, mainly in land grabs, demolitions and fund management related to agriculture, rural area and farmers. Change is underway and there is no going back. custom wristbands canadaevent wristbandsfuck cancer braceletdebossed-wristbandembossed-wristbandcolor-filled-wristbandrubber band braceletsdual-layer-wristband
Night view of the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong on July 8, 2018. [Photo/VCG] HONG KONG - The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is expected to have a surplus of HK$58.7 billion ($7.48 billion) for the fiscal year of 2018-2019, its financial chief said Wednesday. Hong Kong's fiscal reserves are expected to reach HK$1,161.6 billion ($147.99 billion) by March 31, 2019, the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the HKSAR government's Financial Secretary Paul Chan said when delivering the annual budget. Looking ahead for 2019, Chan said the uncertain global economic outlook this year will restrain Hong Kong's economic performance. Having regard to the latest internal and external developments, I will make optimal use of the fiscal surplus for 2018-2019 to introduce one-off measures to support enterprises and relieve people's burden, he said. Together with the stimulus effect of other measures in the budget, Chan said he forecasts economic growth of 2 percent to 3 percent in real terms for Hong Kong in 2019. On inflation, taking various factors into account, he forecast that the headline inflation rate and the underlying inflation rate for 2019 would both be 2.5 percent. While forecasting the medium-term average growth rate slightly higher than the trend growth of 2.8 percent over the past decade and the inflation rate remaining 2.5 percent, Chan warned that Hong Kong has to stay vigilant against the mounting external pressures. I prepared this year's budget along the direction of 'supporting enterprises, safeguarding jobs, stabilising the economy, strengthening livelihoods', he said, adding that he would provide new resources ready for use of about HK$150 billion in the new budget. (1 US dollar equals 7.85 Hong Kong dollars)
