Indonesia Ratifies Asean Haze Agreement

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Sep 16, 2014

The Marina Bay Sands casino and resort is pictured on a hazy day in
Singapore June 18, 2013. (Reuters Photo/Edgar Su)

Jakarta. The House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to ratify a regional agreement on cross-border haze as fires ripped through forests in west of the country, choking neighboring Singapore with hazardous smog.

Officials in Singapore and Malaysia have responded furiously to Indonesian forest fires, which have intensified and become more frequent in recent years.

Singapore’s air pollution rose to unhealthy levels on Monday as the Indonesian government failed to control fires in Sumatra island’s vast tracts of tropical forest.

The parliament’s decision has been passed into law.

The agreement obliges the government to strengthen its policies on forest fires and haze, actively participate in regional decision-making on the issue and dedicate more resources to the problem, regionally and domestically.

Indonesia signed the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution 12 years ago and has been under increasing pressure to ratify the document, beginning deliberations in earnest in January.

“Indonesia has already carried out operations for the prevention, mitigation of forest fires and haze, and recovery activities, at the national level,” the House said in a statement.

“But, to handle cross-border pollution, Indonesia and other ASEAN nations recognize that prevention and mitigation need to be done together,” it said.

While Singapore and Malaysia are smothered in haze from Indonesian forests every year, fires in June last year caused the region’s worst pollution crisis in a decade, renewing calls for action in the archipelago.

Authorities have said most of the fires are deliberately lit to clear land for commercial plantations, such as paper and palm oil, and have arrested people caught in the act.

The June 2013 haze crisis sparked a diplomatic row with Indonesia claiming Malaysian and Singaporean companies with plantations on Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo were among those starting the fires.

Singapore last month passed a bill that gives the government powers to fine companies that cause or contribute to haze up to Sg$2 million ($1.6 million), regardless of whether they have an office in Singapore.

Agence France-Presse

Xi Jinping to make historic visit to Sri Lanka

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-09-16

Xi Jinping greets President Abdulla Yameen of the Maldives on Sept. 14. From
the Maldives, Xi will travel on to Sri Lanka. (Photo/Xinhua)

Xi Jinping will be the first Chinese president to make a state visit to Sri Lanka in 28 years when he arrives in the country on Sept. 16, reports Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao. The visit is the third stop of a nine-day, four-nation tour that began with Tajikistan and the Maldives and will end with India.

Wu Jianghao, China's ambassador to Sri Lanka, said Saturday that the visit will set up a guideline and a blueprint for the future of bilateral ties between the two countries, which have "a history of friendly relations" and "high mutual trust in the world political arena."

Wu said Xi will sign more than 20 bilateral agreements during his two-day visit to forge closer cooperation in the political, economic, cultural and social spheres.

One of the major projects to be finalized is the construction of the Colombo port city, a proposed offshore district in Sri Lanka's largest city. More than 276 hectares will be reclaimed from the sea by China Harbour Company Limited, which will invest more than US$1.4 billion under the first phase of the project and develop one third of the land, Wu said, adding that the total investment for the second phase will rise to US$13 billion.

Academics say Sri Lanka has welcomed Chinese investment in the country for both economic and political reasons. Last August, a US$500 million port built by Chinese investors was inaugurated in Colombo, giving China a strong foothold in one of the busiest international shipping routes in the world.

The amount of Chinese investment in Sri Lanka and Beijing's increasing influence in the region is of major concern to India. A spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Ports Authority said however that India does not need to worry about Colombo's new port and may even benefit from it. Sri Lanka will not allow anyone to set up a military base in the area or use the port for any military purposes, the spokesperson added.

Ta Kung Pao said military ties between China and Sri Lanka appear to be strengthening, noting that a vessel from the PLA Navy used the port in Colombo to restock in February this year.

One of the main points of criticism against Sri Lanka remains its human rights abuses — a United Nations report says around 40,000 Tamils died during the last weeks of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009. In March this year, China represented one of the 12 dissenting votes when the UN passed a resolution to investigate possible war crimes by both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels in the final stages of the 26-year conflict.

Anti-graft war far from over, says leading Chinese prosecutor

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-09-16

Qiu Xueqiang, deputy secretary of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. (Internet photo)

China must remain steadfast in its sweeping anti-graft campaign or risk a dangerous rebound of corrupt activities, says Qiu Xueqiang, the deputy party secretary of the Supreme People's Procuratorate and a standing committee member of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's top anti-graft watchdog.

In a prominent commentary published Monday in the Study Times, a newspaper run by the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China, Qiu called for Chinese leaders to "steadfastly push forward in the fight against corruption" and warned authorities against falling under the mistaken belief that the country has turned the corner after a slate of high-profile takedowns of former top officials.

While the public has rightfully rejoiced over the spectacular downfalls of retired oil and security tsar Zhou Yongkang, a former member of China's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, and People's Liberation Army general Xu Caihou, a former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, the success of the anti-graft campaign has created the illusion of a resounding and tide-turning victory in which all corrupt officials are either fleeing in terror or changing their ways, Qiu wrote.

Many academics are of the view that with the fall of Zhou and Xu, two of the biggest "tigers" to be nabbed for graft in the country's history, anti-graft authorities can now take their foot off the pedal, Qiu said. However, this is the wrong way to go about it as anti-corruption is a long and protracted war, and Chinese leaders must maintain high pressure in tackling both the causes and symptoms of graft or risk things slowly shifting back to the way they were, he added.

One suggestion put forward by those who believe the the campaign has been too excessive is that lower-ranked officials should now be "pardoned" for past crimes committed before the anti-corruption sweep began, as long as they repent and apologize. Qiu believes this is not necessarily fair and is in any event contrary to the rule of law as well as party philosophy, adding that such an approach has "no political foundation, no public support foundation and no logical foundation." President Xi Jinping needs to keep his promise of going after not just high-flying "tigers" but also lowly "flies," he wrote.

Qiu also shot down claims by other academics that the biggest risk to China's anti-graft campaign is that remaining "tigers" will team up to protect their common interests and launch a counterattack by challenging the legitimacy of the actions taken by the country's anti-graft authorities. In Qiu's view, this type of thinking is grossly underestimating the resolve and leadership of China's anti-graft leaders and the power of public opinion. However, he does believe that it is likely that corrupt officials may try to get hold of evidence of crimes committed by their superiors to blackmail them into silence, and that it is important for there to be measures in place to prevent this from happening or else the situation could quickly spiral out of control.

Qiu concludes that China must continue to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy towards corruption at all levels, in particular ensuring that the "red line" for bribery and abuse of power are very clear and prominent. Also important is for authorities to remain vigilant towards vicious rumors and malicious intentions to mislead the public, keeping in mind that enforcement measures need to stick to facts and scientific evidence in order to defend their legitimacy.

Four suspected Chinese ISIS members arrested in Indonesia

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-09-16

A Kurdish fighter from the Freedom Party of Kurdistan holds a position in
Dibis, Iraq. (Photo/CFP)

Four Chinese nationals of Uyghur ethnicity have been arrested by Indonesian police on suspicion of being members of Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the brutal jihadist group that claims religious authority over all Muslims across the world.

Indonesian authorities say they have confirmed that the suspects, captured by anti-terrorism forces on the island of Sulawesi on Monday, are from northwestern China's restive Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region. The suspects are believed to have traveled to Indonesia from China via Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, with the intent of connecting with a local Islamic State chief.

The arrests came just a day after Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said his country should remain vigilant and avoid thinking of Islamic State as merely a distant threat, and urged measures to stop citizens from heading to the Middle East to join the extremist group.

This may not be the first time a Chinese national has been captured by authorities for joining Islamic State. Earlier this month, two photos posted on a Facebook page purportedly operated by the Iraqi Ministry of Defence showed a badly beaten man apparently captured by the Iraqi Army, along with a short message describing the man as a Chinese member of Islamic State.

China's special envoy to the Middle East, Wu Sike, has also stated that Islamic State may have already recruited as many as 100 Chinese citizens, most of whom are Uyghurs from Xinjiang. The Chinese government has blamed the Muslim Uyghurs for a slew of terrorist attacks across the country in recent years, including several deadly assaults on police stations, bombings at public markets, knife attacks at train stations, and a mass riot in late July that reportedly led to 100 deaths and over 200 arrests. Uyghur activists accuse Beijing of suppressing their religious and cultural freedoms.

Despite being unwilling to join the international military alliance led by the United States aimed at striking down Islamic State, China has been vocal in its opposition to the militant organization. On Aug. 15, Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, called upon the international community to strengthen efforts to combat Islamic State, calling the extremist group "a serious threat to peace and security in the Middle East and the world as a whole."

"China is also a victim of terrorism. We strongly oppose all forms of terrorism and will continue to actively participate in international counter-terrorism cooperation and to combat the threat of terrorism together," Liu added.

The New York Times reported, citing US intelligence officials, that there are around 15,000 foreign militants from 80 countries currently in Iraq and Syria, most of whom are fighting for Islamic State. Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao claims the majority of the foreign fighters are said to be from nearby Muslim countries such as Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, with others from further parts of the world such as Belgium, Russia and the United States, as well as China.

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Four Turks Arrested in Poso Over Islamic State Link

Indonesian Government Officially Bans ISIS

China, ASEAN police team up to fight terrorism

Pope breaks taboo by marrying couples who lived 'in sin'

Yahoo – AFP, Ljubomir Milasin, 14 Sep 2014

Pope Francis married 20 couples from different social backgrounds during a ceremony

at St Peter's basilica in Vatican City, on September 14, 2014. (AFP, Alberto Pizzoli)

Vatican City (AFP) - A single mother, people who have been married before and couples who have been living together "in sin" were married by Pope Francis in a taboo-challenging ceremony at the Vatican on Sunday.

In another signal of the openness of his papacy, Francis asked to marry 40 people from different social backgrounds who would be a realistic sample of modern couples.

Popes very rarely perform marriages -- the last one was in 2000.

Marriage "is not an easy road, it's sometimes a contentious trip, but that's life", the pope told the couples, both young and old, as their families gathered for the solemn two-hour ceremony.

"It's normal that couples fight. That always happens, but don't end the day without making peace, even a small gesture is enough," said the pontiff, who donned a red robe for the occasion rather than his usual white.

One of the couples he married was single mother Gabriella and her partner Guido, whose previous marriage was annulled by an ecclesiastical tribunal.

The last time a pope performed a marriage was under the leadership of John Paul II in 2000, and before that in 1994.

It comes three weeks before a major synod of the Catholc Church will discuss the divisive issues of marriage, divorce and conception.

The church ban on allowing divorcees who have remarried to receive communion is one of the key topics up for debate, and resolving deep divisions over the issue inside the church is seen as a key test of Francis' leadership.

Francis has shown himself more open than his predecessors on the subject of marriage, and has spoken of more realistic attitude to social problems, raising the issue of broken marriages and abandoned women.

Last January he baptised the child of a single mother in the Sistine Chapel along with the daughter of a couple who had not been married in a church.

Related Article:

Pope Francis marries 20 couples in taboo-challenging Vatican ceremony

Bangladesh meet begins to save endangered tigers

Yahoo – AFP, 14 Sep 2014

The wild tiger population has declined to just 3,200 in 2010 from 100,000 a 

century ago, according to wildlife conservationists (AFP Photo)

Dhaka (AFP) - Some 140 tiger experts and government officials from 20 countries met in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Sunday to review progress towards an ambitious goal of doubling their number in the wild by 2022.

The nations, including the 13 where tigers are still found in the wild, had vowed at a landmark meeting in 2010 in the Russian city of St Petersburg to double the population of critically endangered wild tigers.

Experts say the number declined to as few as 3,200 in 2010 from 100,000 only a century ago. But since then, poaching has reached critical levels and has emerged as the greatest threat to wild tigers.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina 

addresses the Global Tiger Recovery

Programme (GTRP) in Dhaka, on Sep 14, 

2014 (AFP Photo)

Statistics from TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, show that a minimum of 1,590 tigers were seized between January 2000 and April 2014. That represents an average of two per week.

Officials, however, listed some progress in the four years since the St Petersburg summit, including a rise in the wild tiger population in major "tiger range" nations -- countries where the big cats are found in the wild.

"There has been some increase in the number of tigers in significant countries such as India, Nepal and Russia," said Andrey Kushlin, programme manager of the Global Tiger Initiative.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the conference, saying efforts to conserve the wild cats have reached a "turning point".

But her own government has been under fire from experts at home and abroad for setting up a giant coal-fired power plant on the edge of the Sundarbans mangrove forests, home to one of the largest tiger populations.

Local experts fear the 1,320-megawatt power plant now being built will pollute the water of the world's largest mangrove forest, jeopardising its delicate biodiversity and threatening the tiger population.

Bangladesh says some 440 Bengal tigers live in its part of the Sundarbans -- a figure disputed by local experts who say the number will be less than 200.

Kushlin said at the conference the 13 range nations are expected to agree by 2016 to provide an accurate census of their wild tiger populations.

"We need accurate figures so that we know where we stand," said Kushlin, who also works for the World Bank.

The 13 tiger range countries are: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has listed the tiger as critically endangered. Poaching, encroachment on its habitat and the illegal wildlife trade are blamed for the declining number.

The conference will end Tuesday with the adoption of a Dhaka Declaration, which will set actions for the remaining eight years of the goal.

Related Article:

Global wild tiger population to be counted by 2016

China, ASEAN police team up to fight terrorism

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-09-14

The police are on street duty in Kunming, Yunnan province, Sept. 12.
(File photo/CNS)

Police in China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are teaming up to fight terrorism and transnational crimes, said sources attending a security forum here Saturday.

Fighting terrorism was one of the major topics at the two-day forum, which closed Saturday in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said Li Wei, vice minister of public security in China.

He said it is crucial for police authorities in China and ASEAN to work together to maintain regional security.

Terrorist attacks targeting China and ASEAN have risen from 146 in 2003 to 575 in 2012, according to the Global Terrorism Database.

"It's noteworthy that terrorists nowadays are not just targeting police and government," said Zhu Lin, associate professor with the institute of China's armed police forces. "Many attacks in recent years have targeted ordinary people, foreign tourists included."

The wide use of information technology has also made it easy for terrorists and other transnational criminals to hijack information without revealing their own identities, said Zhu.

"It's therefore crucial to set up long-term cooperation mechanisms. By sharing information and increasing exchanges, it will enable police to stop terrorism and other crimes," Zhu said.

More than 120 representatives from China and the 10 ASEAN members attended the forum.

Related Articles:

Four suspected Chinese ISIS members arrested in Indonesia

Iraqi forces claim to capture first Chinese ISIS militant

Myanmar Supends Work Permits for Maids Going to Singapore

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Sep 14, 2014

Indonesian migrant workers wait to exit a Saudi ship at Tanjung Priok Port,
in Jakarta. (JG Photo/Udhi Sukma Wijaya)

Yangon. Myanmar has temporarily banned its women from working as maids in Singapore due to concerns over abuse and exploitation, an employment body in Yangon said on Saturday.

The suspension comes amid a global spotlight on the working conditions of migrant domestic helpers in Asia after reports of widespread abuse, including the case of an Indonesian maid who allegedly endured months of torture by her Hong Kong boss.

Myanmar — which only last year passed a law allowing its nationals to work as domestic helpers overseas — will impose the ban until an agreement is reached with Singapore over issues including worker rights and salary.

“We have been informed of cases of abuse and ill-treatment of Myanmar maids in Singapore … That’s why we want proper protection for workers,” Soe Myint Aung, a vice chairman of the Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Federation, told AFP.

“The labour ministry has temporarily suspended permits for women until the federation signs a Memorandum of Understanding with [its counterpart in] Singapore.”

He did not specify when the suspension came into place but said discussions to thrash out an agreement began around a month ago.

After amending its migration law in 2013, the former junta–ruled state has officially only sent domestic helpers — most of whom are women — to Singapore and Hong Kong.

The official said there is also a suspension on permits for maids wanting to work in the southern Chinese city, which received its first official group of 19 helpers in February, but did not say when this came into effect.

The case of Indonesian maid Erwiana Sulistyaningsih — whose Hong Kong employer now faces charges including grievous bodily harm with intent — triggered international concern about the treatment of domestic helpers.

Around 30,000 maids from Myanmar are thought to work both legally and illegally in affluent Singapore.

Many more are estimated to be employed without official permits in neighbouring Thailand.

Migration experts have previously warned about poor working conditions for Myanmar nationals in these roles.

The country’s labour ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

Agence France-Presse

Putin, Xi urge stronger ties within security bloc

The BRIC Post, September 13, 2014

The SCO Council of Heads of State met in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on
12 September 2014 [PPIO]

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have said members of the Russia-China-led SCO share identical views on economic and political cooperation, including the Ukraine crisis and subsequent sanctions.

“At the meeting in narrow format we discussed some other current international affairs too, including the situation in Ukraine. We are very pleased to see that we share identical or similar views on the main areas of cooperation. This consensus of views is reflected in the Dushanbe Declaration that we are adopting,” said Putin.

As the US and EU step up pressure on Moscow with a new round of sanctions, Russia is seeking to strengthen ties with allies in the region, predominantly the SCO members.

Putin on Friday also warned against complacency regarding the global economy. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Thursday said global growth is unlikely to pick up significantly this year.

“The global economy has not yet overcome the crisis and its problems, and the current political risks and various restrictions and barriers are only worsening the situation, causing direct damage to the global business climate and undermining confidence in international trade and the financial system,” said Putin.

SCO members will improve cooperation on security in food, transport, energy and finances, asserted the Russian President.

“We see great potential in the idea of developing a common SCO transport system that would make use too of Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railway and Baikal-Amur Mainline and be tied into China’s plans for developing the Silk Road route. I am sure that big projects of this kind serve the interests of our organisation’s members and would benefit all countries in Eurasia.

Meanwhile, in Dushanbe, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday called for joint efforts to fight extremism and internet terrorism among the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

“Currently, (we) should focus on combating religion-involved extremism and internet terrorism,” said Xi when delivering a speech at the 14th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe.

He suggested the SCO members launch consultations on an anti-extremism convention and initiate studies on “a mechanism for actions against internet terrorism”.

“(We) should take it as our own responsibility to safeguard regional security and stability, enhance our ability to maintain stability, continue to boost cooperation on law enforcement and security, and improve the existing cooperation mechanisms,” said Xi.

The president also called on the SCO members — China, Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — to urgently grant the group’s Regional Counter-Terrorism Structure (RCTS) new functions to combat drug trafficking.

“(We) should make concerted efforts to crack down on the ‘three evil forces’ of terrorism, extremism and separatism,” Xi said.

The presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and China signed a package of agreements following the summit. The documents signed include the Dushanbe Declaration.

Russia takes over as acting chair of the organization and will host the next SCO leaders summit in 2015 in Ufa.

TBP and Agencies

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Pakistan arrests Malala's attackers

Yahoo – AFP,  Gohar Abbas, 12 Sep 2014

Malala Yousafzai, 16-year-old Pakistani campaigner for the education of women, 

speaks during a news conference with  World Bank President Jim Yong Kim 

(not pictured), celebrating International  Day of the Girl in Washington October 11, 

2013. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

Islamabad (AFP) - The Taliban gunmen who tried to kill Pakistani schoolgirl campaigner Malala Yousafzai in the country's restive northwest two years ago have been arrested, the army said on Friday.

Militants boarded the teenage activist's school bus and shot her in the head in October 2012 for her outspoken views on girls' education, in an attack that also wounded two of her friends.

Malala survived and went on to earn international plaudits for her courageous and determined fight for all children to have the right to go to school.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the attack almost immediately but no arrests have been announced until now.

The detention of the 10 suspects involved the army, police and intelligence agencies and was part of the Pakistani military's ongoing offensive against the TTP and other extremist outfits.

"The group involved in the attack on Malala Yousafzai has been arrested," Major General Asim Bajwa told a news conference.

Bringing the men to trial will likely be a long process -- in Pakistan's sclerotic legal system, cases grind through the courts for years making little progress.

Bajwa said the group had a hitlist of 22 targets in addition to Malala, all ordered by the TTP's current leader Maulana Fazlullah.

All its members were from Malakand, close to Mingora, the main town of Swat where Malala was attacked, he said. The leader Zafar Iqbal ran a furniture shop.

A spokesman for the TTP's new hardline Jamat-ul-Ahrar faction Ehsanullah Ehsan denied the military's claims.

He denied the attack was ordered by Fazlullah -- who is no longer recognised as TTP chief by Jamat-ul-Ahrar -- saying it was planned by local militants.

On Twitter he denied the arrests, saying the two surviving attackers were free.

Icon

After narrowly surviving the murder bid -- one bullet grazed her brain and passed through her neck before lodging in her shoulder -- Malala was taken to Britain with her family for treatment, where she now lives.

The TTP have said they will try again to kill her if she ever returns to Pakistan.

Her courageous recovery has made her a global figure -- she won the EU's prestigious Sakharov human rights prize last year and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

An address she gave to the United Nations General Assembly in July last year, in which she vowed she would never be silenced, earned her a standing ovation.

Malala first rose to prominence in 2009, aged just 11, with a blog for the BBC Urdu service chronicling life under Taliban rule in Swat, the beautiful valley in northwestern Pakistan where she lived.

She had become well-known in Pakistan as a young campaigner for girls' right to attend school after the Taliban took control of Swat in 2007, speaking out against the militants' ban on female education and their bombing of local schools.

Under the Islamist militants' bloody rule, opponents were murdered, people were publicly flogged for supposed breaches of sharia law, women were banned from going to markets -- and girls were stopped from going to school.

In her autobiography published last year, Malala described receiving death threats in the months before the attack.

"At night I would wait until everyone was asleep," she writes. "Then I'd check every single door and window."

Now living in Britain's second city Birmingham, where she was flown for specialist treatment after the shooting, Malala also spoke in the book of her homesickness and her struggle to adjust to life in England.

The book also revealed she is a fan of Canadian pop sensation Justin Bieber and the "Twilight" series of vampire romance novels.

But it is for her education campaigning that the 17-year-old is best known.

Accepting the Sakharov prize last year, she urged politicians to cut military spending and invest instead in education to create "a country with a talented, educated and skillful people".

Despite her global profile -- hailed by the likes of Angelina Jolie and former British prime minister Gordon Brown -- Malala is viewed with suspicion by some in her homeland, who see her as a Western puppet.

Malala Yousafzai gives a speech after receiving the RAW in WAR
Anna Politkovskaya Award at the Southbank Centre in central
London on October 4, 2013 (AFP/File,Justin Tallis)

Related Article:

Pakistan's Malala wins EU's Sakharov rights prize

Overseas professional buying to be hit by new customs rules

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-09-11

A man from a computer dangles a handbag in front of a group of zombies. (Photo/CFP)

A month after China's General Administration of Customs announced a new law on cross-border e-commerce goods, overseas professional buyers have become wary of the risks they take, while coordination between authorities is needed to fully carry out the new regulations, reports People's Daily.

The Declaration No. 56 on Cross-border E-Commerce Goods Supervision released on Aug. 1 regulates that overseas purchases on someone else's behalf should be taxed and items have to be declared. Professional buyers not following the rules will be seen as guilty of tax evasion and smuggling. The rule comes partly in response to the rising volume of unreported merchandise entering the country in the guise of personal gifts or items that are free of tariffs and quality checks at customs.

These items are often purchased by professional buyers living overseas who receive requests online from buyers from China, purchase the items on their behalf and send them to China in return for a commission.

Many such professional buyers are Chinese overseas students or residents and supplement their income with the commissions from buyers.

The new law also seeks to guard the consumer, as many of the branded items bought in this way are knockoffs, the report said — perhaps somewhat speciously.

Xiao Lin is a Chinese student in Canada and a professional buyer of luxury bags. She claims to help people buy authentic branded merchandise. According to the People's Daily, she is selling knockoffs.

In many cases, the imitations were originally made in China, sent abroad to be repackaged and flown back to China to be sold as the real thing, said the report.

"Overseas purchasing via professional buyers is based on mutual trust between the buyer and the service provider." said Xu Xiao, another professional buyer. "It can be a barrier for the Chinese buyers, who cannot distinguish the fake from the real, and are not likely to take the items for inspection at a proper store."

A staffer at the customs administration said overseas professional purchasing occurs under the regulations on cross-border personal items. Some professional buyers split large quantities of merchandise into small packages disguised as personal items which seldom attract attention as long as the volume is kept within "reasonable" limits.

Xu Xiao, who has been in the trade for four years, said she has never been caught with a large amount of foreign goods with her when she goes through customs. In other words, the definition of a "reasonable amount" can be tricky and has there is certainly a gray area, according to the report.

Xiao Lin said the cost of her business will go up significantly if she has to report the items she sends and pay tax on them. "I will wait and see for a while," she said. "If the situation is not good, I'll have to change my job."

A customs officer in Shenzhen said however that the industry and authorities such as the finance department, customs, quality inspection departments and the banks are largely working independently. The rules should be strengthened and the authorities must cooperate in the system that carries out the supervision of the regulations.

India-Pakistan flood disaster prompts frantic rescue bid

Yahoo – AFP, Bhuvan Bagga, 8 Sep 2014

Residents stand on a roof as raging waters from the overflowing Tawi river

inundate a Hindu Temple in Jammu on September 6, 2014 (AFP Photo)

Authorities in India and Pakistan made frantic efforts Monday to pluck tens of thousands of people to safety from floods which have killed at least 350 as desperate residents huddled on rooftops.

With phone lines down and roads cut off, the full scale of the disaster in the cross-border Kashmir region and in Pakistan's Punjab province was still to emerge but video footage shot from army helicopters showed entire villages under water, with only tin roofs visible.

As Pakistan's premier toured some of the worst-hit areas, India deployed naval commandos as part of a massive relief effort.

Indian residents look on towards threatened

 houses as waters from the overflowing Tawi

 river rage past in Jammu on September 6, 

2014 (AFP Photo/STRDEL)

Some of the famous shikara wooden boats, which ferry tourists across the Dal Lake in Indian Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, were pressed into service to reach isolated homes.

Divers toiled to help bring people to safety while residents on both sides could be seen waving from rooftops as vehicles and livestock were washed away by surging waters below them.

Disaster officials say at least 350 villages have been submerged on the Indian side of the de facto border in Kashmir by monsoon rains, making it the deadliest flooding there in over half a century.

Thousands of troops, police and other emergency personnel, backed by helicopters and boats, fanned out across the state to deliver relief supplies, including protein biscuits and bottles of drinking water.

Others were being fed in mass volunteer-run kitchens set up by mosques.

An Indian soldier carries a toddler as

 evacuated families alight from an Indian

 Air Force Mi-17 helicopter flying a rescue

 sortie in the Rajouri district of Jammu

 and Kashmir on September 7, 2014

(AFP Photo)

The home ministry said around 20,000 people had been rescued so far but the head of the army's northern command said many more remained marooned.

"For the next 48 hours, our focus remains on Srinagar and South Kashmir because there are still large numbers of people who are stranded and who are without any food and water," General D.S. Hooda told reporters.

"It's our idea to get them out as soon as possible. We will continue... until everyone is pulled out of this situation."

An Indian Navy spokesman said teams of divers were working "day and night" to rescue survivors.

Airport cut off

Srinagar airport was cut off from the city by heavy flooding just 700 yards outside the terminal, according to an AFP correspondent.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks

 over a flood-affected area from an 

aeroplane during a visit to the state of 

Jammu and Kashmir on September 7, 

2014 (AFP Photo/PIB)

Delhi resident R. S. Gandhi was stuck at the airport after flying up from the capital to rescue his in-laws.

"The last time I was able to speak to them was yesterday and they had already moved up to the second floor of their building. Twelve feet of water had come into their building in just three hours," he told AFP.

"Now that I am here I don't know what to do next, how I can help or get them back to Delhi."

Communications were lost Sunday when the rain-swollen Jhelum river flooded large parts of Srinagar. Srinagar's main hospital and army barracks were among the buildings badly hit.

There was no fresh rainfall Monday and forecasters said only light drizzle was likely in the next few days. But Indian officials warned the death toll of 150 was bound to rise.

Refuge on roofs

Residents sit by the rubble of collapsed

houses which were destroyed by flood

waters from the raging Tawi river in Jammu

 on September 7, 2014 (AFP Photo/STRDEL)

In Pakistan officials said the number of dead on their side now stood at 206, with most killed in Punjab province.

Helicopters, troops and other emergency personnel have been deployed, according to Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif handed out compensation cheques to flood victims at Rawalakot in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

"There is no compensation for life, but government will help the affected brothers and sisters to rebuild their homes," he said.

In the remote mountainous district of Haveli in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, landslides have caused major damage to roads and electricity supplies, leaving residents without power or drinking water for days.

Pakistani residents wait to be evacuated

 by boat from the flood-affected town of 

Jalalpur Bhattian in the Hafizabad district

 of Punjab province on September 8, 2014

(AFP Photo/Arif Ali)

Local politician Masood Rathor said there was a shortage of food and medicine in the area, with only one doctor to treat the population.

Tariq Umer, 38, a labourer, told of his desperate struggle to save his family and possessions.

"I was sleeping with my wife and three children when the floodwaters came at around midnight. I barely managed to get my family out and could not save anything from the house," he told AFP.

"My house and all my belongings have been swept away in the water and I have been left with nothing. Now I am taking my family to relatives for refuge."

Raja Moazam, deputy director of the disaster management authority, told AFP the death toll in Pakistani Kashmir now stood at 64.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi toured his country's sector of Kashmir Sunday, describing the situation as "a national-level disaster" and also offering relief assistance to Sharif.

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