中国日报20120218

World President resigns over scandals German President Christian Wulff steps aside, Merkel expresses regret. > PAGE 8 Life A symbol of preservation in debris The leveling of a former architect’s old-style house in Beijing has provoked a public outcry. > PAGE 11 Nation Eye surgery safety in question Eye doctors back laser treatment despite safety concerns from specialist. > PAGE 4 CHINADAILY chinadaily.com.cn RMB ¥1.5SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2012 Contacts News: (86-10) 6491-8366 Subscription: (86) 400-699-0203 Advertisement: (86-10) 6491-8631 E-mail: editor@chinadaily.com.cn iPhone app: chinadaily.com.cn/iphone In this issue NATION ...........................................2,4 SPECIAL.......... ...................................3 COMMENT...................................5 WORLD......................................6-8 BUSINESS.....................................9, 10 LIFE.............................................11-14 SPORTS.......................................15, 16 国内统一编号:CN11-0091 国际标准 编号:ISSN0253-9543 邮发代号:1-3 © 2012 China Daily All Rights Reserved Vol. 32 — No. A member of the Asia News Network 9919 Xi climbs behind the wheel in Midwest By ZHANG YUWEI AND TAN YINGZI CHINA DAILY MAXWELL / DES MOINES, Iowa — Maybe he just feels com- fortable in the driver’s seat, but Vice-President Xi Jinping sur- prised his hosts on Thursday when he suddenly climbed into the cab of a tractor on an Iowa farm. “I hope everything you plant this spring will have a good harvest when the season comes,” said Xi during his visit to the Kimberley farm, about 60 kilometers northeast of Des Moines, Iowa. The Kimberley family felt “excited and honored but also a little nervous” when Xi toured its multigeneration corn and soybean farm. “Th is is a tremendous oppor- tunity for us,” said Rick Kimber- ley, 61, owner of the farm. Th e vice-president’s amiable manners immediately put the family at ease. Sitting in their liv- ing room by a fi replace prior to heading into the fi elds, Xi chat- ted with the family. “How’s life here? Is it conve- nient?” asked Xi about daily life on the farm. Martha Kimberley, Rick’s wife, said Xi was “very personable.” Th e Kimberley family said it has received delegations from time to time, but never at this high level. Their grain farm is consid- ered a large farm in the area. Rick Kimberley started farm- ing in 1972 with his father, who purchased this 64-hectare farm back in 1950. Kirk Leeds, CEO of Iowa Soy- bean Association, said he hopes this visit will bring the relation- ship between Iowa and China to “a higher level”. “We are here to help supply to Chinese people,” said Leeds, who was on the tour and is going with Iowa Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds to China next month on an eight-day trade mission to explore more opportunities in agricultural cooperation. “We produce more than we consume so we have to rely on trade, and on China, with its population and growing econ- omy. It’s great to be its trading partner,” said Grant Kimberley, 36, the son of the family who has visited China regularly for soybean business since 2008. “Th is visit is about friendship and building a relationship, that’s where trade begins,” said Grant Kimberly. By the time they were saying goodbye to Xi, the Kimberley family’s nervousness of earlier in the morning had dissipated. “We want to visit China as soon as the harvest season is gone. We think the visit has built a good relationship already.” Xi encouraged “a long-term and stable” agricultural cooper- ation between Iowa and China. “We will be behind you,” he said to the Kimberleys as he left the farm. China and the US should strengthen cooperation in trade and food security as well as enhance exchanges in technol- ogy and information sharing, said Xi at a China-US agricul- tural symposium on Th ursday. The high-level meeting among senior officials and business leaders from both sides focused on food security, food safety and sustainable agricul- tural development, which lift ed cooperation to a new height. “It will have great signifi cance and far-reaching infl uence if the cooperation between the two large agricultural countries can rise to a strategic level in order to achieve the mutual benefi t and shared progress,” he said during the speech at the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates. “China attaches great impor- tance to food security, and ensur- ing a suffi cient food supply for 1.3 billion people,” Xi said. SEE “VISIT” PAGE 3 Inside Special coverage, page 3 SUIT OVER BRAND PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY An attorney representing Proview Technology (Shenzhen) meets the press in Beijing on Friday. Th e Chinese computer fi rm, which is embroiled in a copyright row with Apple over the iPad name, threatened to sue Apple in the United States. See story on page 4. LAN HONGGUANG / XINHUA Vice-President Xi Jinping tries his hand at operating a tractor during a visit to the family farm of Rick Kimberley in Iowa on Thursday. Xi is on a fi ve-day visit to the United States. On chinadaily.com.cn Bilingual News: Working pregnant women face rampant discrimina- tion: agency Weibo Buzz: Virginity still matters? Video: Ohno will appear at 2014 Winter Games Beijing defends UN vote on Syria By ZHAO SHENGNAN CHINA DAILY BEIJING — China’s nega- tive vote on a draft resolu- tion on Syria at the United Nations General Assembly on Th ursday was consistent with China’s independent foreign policy of peace and in the best interests of the Syrian situation, offi cials and experts said. China opposes armed intervention or forcing a so- called regime change in Syria, China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN Wang Min said in explana- tory remarks. “We condemn all acts of violence against innocent civilians and urge the govern- ment and all political factions of Syria to immediately and fully end all acts of violence, and quickly restore stability and the normal social order,” Wang said. The resolution on Syria, which was passed with 137 votes in favor, 12 against and 17 abstentions, supports an Arab League plan for political transition in Syria and calls for the appointment of a UN special envoy to the country. Unlike an earlier resolution of the UN Security Council about Syria, the measure can- not be vetoed in the assembly, but is non-binding. Bashar Ja’afari, the Syrian permanent representative to the UN, said that the pass- ing of a draft resolution on Syria would only encourage more chaos in the region and embolden armed groups to take more action against the state and civilians. “In this context, we would like to confi rm that any biased, unobjective resolution would only send the wrong message to all of these extremists and terrorists, a message that their violence and their deliberate sabotage received the support of the members states of the UN and their encourage- ment,” said Ja’afari. Egypt’s deputy ambas- sador to the UN, Osama Abdelkhalek, said the General Assembly had sent an “unam- biguous message” to Damas- cus: “It is high time to listen to the voice of the people.” The approved resolution reflects attempts “to isolate the Syrian leadership, to reject any contact with it, and to impose an external formula for a political settlement”, said Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s UN permanent representative. “The violence must be stopped by all sides and nec- essary solutions can only be found through an inclusive political process led by the Syrians themselves,” said Churkin. Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhai Jun arrived in Syria on Friday as part of Bei- jing’s eff orts to end the crisis. SEE “SYRIA” PAGE 2 China says it condemns all acts of violence against innocent civilians Reform good for service sectors By WEI TIAN AND XIE YU CHINA DAILY SHANGHAI — Vice-Pre- mier Li Keqiang on Friday reiterated the urgency of extending Shanghai’s pilot value-added tax reform across the nation to promote a better and faster development of the service sector. “Th e (VAT) reform was a big step in China’s economic tran- sition and structural adjust- ment, as well as a major part of the structural tax reduction,” Li said at a meeting in Shanghai to review the eff ectiveness of the reform. “It could help to eliminate duplicate taxation, to enhance competitiveness of the service sectors, to support the devel- opment of smaller businesses and to drive the expansion of employment,” he said. The government will care- fully evaluate the pilot program to identify problems and sum- marize experiences, Li said, adding that the reform in pilot sectors and regions will be gradually expanded across the country within the 12th Five- Year Plan (2011-15). Th e State Council approved the pilot program in October to replace the turnover tax with VAT in several service sectors in Shanghai, such as transpor- tation, technical support and the creative industry, starting from Jan 1 this year. Turnover tax refers to a tax on the gross revenue of a business, while VAT refers to a tax lev- ied on the diff erence between a commodity’s price before taxes and its cost of production. The current VAT rates in China include two levels — 17 percent and 13 percent — and the pilot program added two lower levels — 11 percent and 6 percent — for the selected sec- tors. Zhou Zhenhua, director of the Development Research Center affi liated to the Shang- hai government, said that if the VAT reform pilot was fully implemented in Shanghai, it would reduce Shanghai’s tax revenue by about 10 billion yuan ($1.59 billion) a year. Analysts believe that the lower tax will boost the devel- opment of logistics and cre- ative industries in Shanghai by attracting nearby companies to the city. However, Wang Depei, director of Forecast Think Tank in Shanghai, said some companies may face a higher charge than before. SEE “TAX” PAGE 2 PAGE 2 | CHINADAILY.COM.CN/NATION CHINA DAILY nation 24 / 28 24 / 31 25 / 29 25 / 30 23 / 30 24 / 33 26 / 33 26 / 33 21 / 35 20 / 36 10 / 22 6 / 24 - 2 / 3 0 / 5 10 / 15 11 / 13 18 / 29 16 / 28 12 / 16 11 / 16 23 / 30 25 / 29 25 / 29 23 / 29 0 / 6 - 1 / 7 9 / 15 9 / 18 -29 /-12 -26 /-11 3 / 8 2 / 8 SATURDAY SUNDAY - 7 / 4 - 7 / 6 -14 /- 7 -15 /- 6 TRAVELER’S FORECAST Chengdu Urumqi Beijing Xining New Delhi Kathmandu Thimphu Yangon Singapore Jakarta Kuala Lumpur Bangkok Vientiane Ulaanbaatar Shanghai Bandar Seri Begawan Macao Hong Kong Guangzhou Manila Hanoi Taipei Seoul Pyongyang Tokyo Lhasa CHINA AMERICAS FEB 18 - 19SAT - SUN LOW/HIGH TEMPERATURES, IN DEGREES CELSIUS, AND EXPECTED CONDITIONS C Cloudy D Drizzle Du Dust F Fog O Overcast R Rain Sh Shower S Sunny Sn Snow St Storm T Thunderstorms weather ASIA-PACIFIC-MIDDLE EAST EUROPE BuenosAires 24 / 33 T 26 / 31 C Chicago - 1 / 7 Sn - 2 / 4 C Caracas 18 / 29 C 23 / 29 C Houston 11 / 15 R 11 / 17 O Las Vegas 4 / 13 S 6 / 18 S Los Angeles 8 / 18 C 9 / 17 S Mexico City 16 / 27 O 12 / 23 C New York - 1 / 7 C 4 / 7 C Ottawa - 8 / 0 C - 1 / 1 O Rio De Janeiro 22 / 26 S 22 / 28 C San Francisco 7 / 16 Sh 8 / 14 C Sao Paulo 20 / 27 Sh 20 / 29 C Vancouver 3 / 6 R/Sn 3 / 7 D Washington - 1 / 7 S 4 / 10 S Athens 3 / 9 S 1 / 11 S Berlin 0 / 4 Sh 2 / 5 D Brussels 5 / 9 Sh 3 / 10 O Geneva - 5 / 5 C - 2 / 6 C Istanbul - 1 / 2 Sn - 1 / 4 C London 6 / 12 Sh 6 / 8 C Madrid - 3 / 7 S - 1 / 14 S Moscow -16 /- 9 Sn -10 /- 7 O Paris 6 / 9 Sh 4 / 8 D Rome 5 / 11 C 2 / 11 C Vienna - 1 / 4 R/Sn 3 / 6 O CHINA AFRICA -10 /- 4 -10 / 1 Cairo 8 / 15 O 9 / 15 C CapeTown 14 / 27 S 16 / 27 S Johannesburg 16 / 31 T 16 / 22 C Lagos 26 / 31 Sh 24 / 30 C Nairobi 16 / 27 T 16 / 28 C Abu Dhabi 18 / 32 R 18 / 31 R Bangkok 26 / 33 T 26 / 33 C Colombo 23 / 32 C 24 / 31 Sh Dubai 21 / 28 S 21 / 27 C Hanoi 15 / 18 Sh 15 / 18 D Islamabad 3 / 12 Sh 5 / 16 C Jakarta 24 / 28 D 24 / 31 C Karachi 16 / 26 S 9 / 27 S Kuala Lumpur 23 / 30 T 24 / 33 O Manila 23 / 30 Sh 25 / 29 O Mumbai 18 / 34 C 16 / 36 S New Delhi 10 / 22 C 6 / 24 C Pyongyang -14 /- 7 S -12 / 0 S Riyadh 16 / 25 C 16 / 20 C Seoul -10 /- 4 S -10 / 1 S Singapore 25 / 29 T 25 / 30 C Sydney 19 / 25 Sh 20 / 25 O Teheran - 5 / 4 D 3 / 9 O Tokyo - 2 / 3 Sn 0 / 5 C Wellington 15 / 19 S 15 / 17 S Yangon 21 / 35 C 20 / 36 S Beijing - 7 / 4 S - 7 / 6 S Changchun -21 /- 7 S -16 /- 4 C Changsha 4 / 9 C 5 / 11 C Chongqing 6 / 9 O 4 / 13 C Dalian - 8 /- 1 S - 6 / 2 C Fuzhou 6 / 9 O 5 / 11 O Guangzhou 9 / 15 C 9 / 18 O Guilin 6 / 9 O 6 / 11 O Guiyang - 2 / 1 R/Sn - 2 / 3 Sn/R Haikou 13 / 16 D 12 / 16 D Hangzhou 0 / 7 C 0 / 7 C Harbin -20 /- 7 S -15 /- 5 S Hefei - 3 / 7 S - 3 / 8 S Hohhot -14 /- 3 S -12 / 0 S Hongkong 12 / 16 O 11 / 16 O Jinan - 8 / 4 S - 4 / 8 S Kunming 5 / 21 S 5 / 20 S Lanzhou - 7 / 4 C - 8 / 8 C Lhasa - 4 / 10 C - 5 / 10 C Lijiang 6 / 17 C 4 / 15 S Macao 12 / 16 O 11 / 17 O Nanchang 4 / 7 O 4 / 10 C Nanjing - 3 / 6 S - 2 / 8 S Nanning 9 / 12 O 8 / 13 O Qingdao - 6 / 1 S - 4 / 5 S Sanya 19 / 25 D 19 / 25 D Shanghai 0 / 6 S - 1 / 7 S Shenyang -20 /- 3 S -16 / 0 S Shenzhen 10 / 17 C 10 / 17 C Shijiazhuang - 5 / 7 S - 4 / 9 S Suzhou - 2 / 7 S - 2 / 8 S Taipei 10 / 15 O 11 / 13 O Taiyuan -10 / 3 S - 8 / 5 S Tianjin - 7 / 4 S - 5 / 6 S Urumqi -14 /- 7 S -15 /- 6 S Wuhan - 1 / 8 O - 2 / 10 C Xiamen 8 / 14 O 8 / 16 C Xi’an - 2 / 6 S - 2 / 9 S Xining -12 / 2 S -14 / 7 S Yantai - 6 / 0 S - 6 / 3 S Yinchuan -14 / 1 S -12 / 6 S Zhengzhou - 5 / 8 S - 3 / 9 S Zhuhai 10 / 16 C 9 / 16 C SATURDAY,FEBRUARY 18, 2012 briefl y Syria: Expert says draft not in line with Charter Tax: Other regions getting ready to participate in VAT reform Beijing mayor leads delegation to Taipei By CHEN XIN CHINA DAILY BEIJING — Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong said on Friday that he is deeply impressed with Taipei and he hopes the two cities can strengthen economic and trade ties. Guo, heading a delegation of more than 20 high-ranking officials, scholars and artists, arrived in Taipei on Th ursday on a six-day visit to strengthen ties between the two cities. He said on Friday at a lunch reception hosted by Hau Lung- bin, mayor of Taipei, that he was impressed by Taipei’s smooth traffi c and tidy streets. Hau said Beijing is rich in traditional culture and Taipei is known for its mix of cultures. It is signifi cant for the two cit- ies to have cultural exchanges, he said. Tickets to a play and an opera that a cultural delega- tion from Beijing will perform in Taipei later this month are already sold out. During the reception, Hau gave Guo a colored-glass drag- on fi gure while Guo presented Hau a traditional Chinese painting. The Beijing mayor visited Taipei Palace Museum and Songshan Cultural and Cre- ative Park on Friday after- noon. On Saturday, Guo will attend the opening ceremony of Bei- jing Culture Week in Taipei. As part of the Beijing Culture Week, an exhibition on Bei- jing’s modern and tradition- al arts and crafts opened on Th ursday in Taipei. Th e exhibi- tion will run until March 11. It features 40 paintings, photographs, sculptures and installation works by artists from Beijing’s 798 Art District, an artistic community in an abandoned factory complex. Th e exhibit also showcases about 200 traditional arts and craft s works from Beijing, such as shadow plays, Peking opera masks, palace lanterns, clay, dough and silk fi gurines, tra- ditional kites, paper cuttings and traditional Chinese musi- cal instruments. And 14 masters of tradition- al Beijing arts and crafts will demonstrate their skills at the exhibition. Guo, who is also deputy secretary of the Commu- nist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee, first met Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung at the Grand Hotel upon arriving on Th ursday aft ernoon. Guo is visiting the island at the invitation of the Kuomintang central commit- tee. He is the mainland’s fi rst high-level local offi cial to visit Taiwan this year. “Fruits of the peaceful devel- opment across the Taiwan Straits have been hard won,” Wu said, adding that efforts should be made to prove to people on both sides that such a peaceful road is correct and especially benefi cial to people in Taiwan. Xinhua contributed to this story. Palace Museum suspect on trial BEIJING — A Beijing court began hearing on Friday the case of a man suspected of stealing more than 1 million yuan ($158,800) in artifacts from the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City. Shi Bokui, a 27-year-old farmer from Caoxian county, East China’s Shandong prov- ince, appeared in Beijing Sec- ond Intermediate People’s Court to face charges that he had stolen nine artifacts from the museum in May, China National Radio reported. Court documents said Shi was stopped by a security guard before he fl ed the scene of the crime. The farmer, who has a criminal record for larceny, admitted to stealing from the museum but denied that he had planned to commit the theft. He said he had been visiting the Palace Museum and a rainstorm broke out, prompting him to seek shel- ter in a seldom-used pathway, the radio network reported. “I found a power switch in a power distribution room, and I turned it off just out of curios- ity,” he told the court, accord- ing to China National Radio. “I didn’t know the entire alarm system would stop working if you switched it off .” Prosecutors refused to accept his explanation. Th e prosecutors in the case said the total value of the sto- len items was 1.6 million yuan ($254,000), and “the facts are clear and the evidence is cer- tain”. They called for Shi to receive a prison sentence of between 13 and 15 years. Th e artifacts he is accused of stealing include small, gold purses and cosmetics contain- ers covered with jewels, all of them made between 1920 and 1945. Th ey were on loan from the private Hong Kong Lian- gyi Museum. Shi was arrested on June 1 after his fingerprints had been found at an Internet bar in Beijing’s Fengtai district. The fingerprints matched fingerprints discovered at the crime scene, according to police. Police have recovered six of the stolen artifacts. Th e three remaining pieces together have an insured value of 150,000 yuan. CHINA DAILY FROM PAGE 1 The effects of Zhai’s visit depends on the willingness of both Syrian authorities and the opposition to deepen dia- logue and immediately stop the bloodshed, said An Hui- hou, former Chinese ambas- sador to Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt. A meeting named “Friends of Syria Group” will be held in Tunis on Feb 24 to fi nd a way of peacefully ending the confl ict. Final details of the meet- ing have not yet been laid out, but China believes that the measures the interna- tional community and the UN adopt should help to ease tension, promote dia- logue and safeguard stabil- ity, Foreign Ministry spokes- man Liu Weimin told a news briefi ng on Friday. The draft forcing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down is not in line with the non-interference spirit of the Charter of the United Nations, said Zhang Xiao’an, director of China United Nations Association, adding that it had not been fully dis- cussed before the vote. “Th is draft doesn’t specify any demand for the oppo- sition to stop violence even though the authority is not the only party involved in the Syrian confl ict,” she said. Th e resolution wa