CHINA and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have been main-taining communications on the Korean Peninsula issue through diplomatic channels, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

“Enhancing communication and cooperation is in accor-dance with the common inter-ests of China and the ROK. Both sides agree to return communi-cation and cooperation in vari-ous fi elds to the normal track as soon as possible,” a ministry press release said.

“Both sides attach great importance to China-ROK ties and stand ready to promote their strategic cooperative partnership,” it added. “China and the ROK reaffi rmed the principles of realizing denucle-arization on the Korean Penin-sula and reaching a peaceful settlement of the Korean Pen-insula nuclear issue.”

According to the release, both sides agreed to enhance strategic communication and cooperation with an aim of facilitating a solution to the

nuclear issue through all nec-essary diplomatic efforts.

The release said that the ROK has acknowledged Chi-na’s stance and concerns on the deployment of the THAAD missile system.

“The ROK made it clear that the deployment of THAAD will not target any third country, and will not harm China’s stra-tegic security and interests,” the release said.

It said that China reiterated its opposition to THAAD, as a matter of national security.

(Xinhua)

04 x ChinaCONTACT US AT: 8351-9435, AR_YANGZ@163.COM

Wednesday November 1, 2017

THE latest draft law on e-commerce, submitted for the second reading yesterday, further clarifi es the liabilities of e-commerce operators and punishments over the infringe-ment of consumer rights.

The bill, submitted at a six-day bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, classifi es e-commerce opera-tors into three entities: “those doing business on their own websites, e-commerce platform operators, and stores on e-com-merce platforms.”

According to the draft, e-commerce operators should be registered with the industry

and commerce administra-tions, except for those who sell homegrown farm produce or handmade products and others who by law do not need to be registered.

Operators should not infringe on consumers’ rights by posting false advertisements, fabricat-ing transaction information or user comments.

They should deliver products and services as promised and bear the risk and liabilities of transportation.

Consumers should be informed of how to cancel their accounts without unreasonable conditions.

When e-commerce platform

operators offer search services for consumers, they may display the results according to indicators such as price, sales volume and credit, but the results of “paid listings” should be clearly labeled as advertisements.

Platform operators are also required to respond to intel-lectual property right (IPR) violations. They must cancel, block, disconnect or close transactions of business opera-tors who violate IPRs when they are aware of or should be aware of the offenses. Those who do not take necessary actions shall bear joint liabilities.

The bill also paid great atten-

tion to dispute settlement. It requires e-commerce operators to establish convenient and effi -cient channels to handle com-plaints. During disputes with consumers, they shall provide original transaction informa-tion to the court, arbitration authority and other mediation agencies. They will be punished for faking, destroying, tamper-ing with or refusing to hand in such information.

China has the world’s largest e-commerce market with online retail sales reaching nearly 5.2 trillion yuan (US$755.3 billion) in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 26.2 percent.

(Xinhua)

E-commerce law highlights safe trade

CHINA’S top legislature is con-sidering amending the country’s criminal law to include criminal penalties for disrespecting the national anthem.

A draft amendment was submitted for deliberation at the bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, which started Monday.

Violators may face punish-ments of up to three years imprisonment, according to the draft.

Also, the top legislature yes-terday heard draft decisions to apply the newly-adopted National Anthem Law in Hong Kong and Macao special admin-istrative regions.

According to the bills, the National Anthem Law, taking effect Oct. 1, will be included in Annex III of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administra-tive Region (SAR) and Annex III in the Basic Law of the Macao SAR, which regulates national laws to be applied in the two regions.

“To safeguard the authority of the national anthem — one of the national symbols — is to safeguard the authority of the state, the people and the Chinese nation,” said Zhang Rongshun, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Com-mission of the NPC Standing Committee,

“In recent years, incidents of disrespecting the national anthem occurred in Hong Kong, challenging the bottom line of the principle of ‘one country, two systems’ and social moral-ity and triggering rage among Chinese including most Hong Kong residents,” Zhang said. “It is urgent and important to apply the national anthem law in Hong Kong, in a bid to prevent and handle such offenses.”

According to the National Anthem Law, those who mali-ciously modify the lyrics, or play or sing the national anthem in a distorted or disrespectful way in public, can be detained for up to 15 days, and even be held crimi-nally liable.

“As the criminal law stipu-lates penalties for offenses to the national fl ag and national emblem, violations regarding the national anthem should also be incorporated with the passing of the new law,” Wang Chaoying, deputy head of the NPC Standing Committee’s Legislative Affairs Commission, said in a report to the session yesterday.

According to the draft amend-ment, punishments for national fl ag and national emblem offenses in public will also apply to acts of public disrespect to the national anthem. Punishments range from removal of political rights and public surveillance to criminal detention and impris-onment of up to three years.

(Xinhua)

CHINA’S cyberspace authority Monday issued two regulations to strengthen the management of online news services.

One of the regulations requires online news providers to provide more training and supervision of their staff.

The training on Marxist news theory should be strengthened, according to the document released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).

Cyberspace authorities will set up a management system for online news editors, which will include a blacklist.

The other document deals with a security evaluation mechanism on the use of new technology in online new services.

It requires service providers to conduct such evaluations before the introduction of new technology or applications in their platforms.

The CAC regulation also demands safeguard measures for information security.

Both documents will go into effect Dec. 1. (Xinhua)

Regulations on online news issued

China, ROK agree to bring cooperation back to normal

RIDERS taking taxis in Hong Kong urban areas and New Territories can use the Alipay app to pay their fares, accord-ing to an announcement by Ant Financial Services Group, an Alibaba affi liate, Monday.

The Hong Kong version was jointly developed by Alipay and two local online solution companies, YedPay and Valoot. Thousands of cabs in Hong Kong will be connected with the

payment system in November.Also,Verifone, a world leader

in payment and commerce solu-tions, and Alipay announced an extension of their global part-nership with Verifone Taxi Solu-tions On Oct. 18. Through the agreement, Chinese consumers traveling in New York and Las Vegas will be able to pay for taxis in the U.S. for the fi rst time with their Alipay Mobile Wallet. By the end of October, 2,100 taxis

in Las Vegas accepted Alipay upon checkout, and an addi-tional 14,000 taxis in New York City are slated to accept Alipay in November.

So far, Alipay has been connected with taxis in eight countries and regions in the world including Finland, Italy, the U.S., Japan, Singapore, and China’s Taiwan, and Macao and Hong Kong special administra-tive regions. (Han Ximin)

Alipay available for cab rides in Hong Kong

At a Glance

Declaration of cashVISITORS entering China’s Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) must declare cash amounts of 120,000 patacas (US$15,000) or above, the authorities said in a statement yesterday.DNA databaseA SUPER-SIZED DNA sequencing platform will be built in Nanjing, capital of East China’s Jiangsu Prov-ince, in order to create a genetic information database for ethnic Chinese, accord-ing to the provincial health authority.

The DNA project is part of the National Health & Medicine Big Data (Nanjing) Center, a six-billion yuan (US$905 million) project under construction in Nan-jing’s Jiangbei New Area.

Airport opens in famed liquor townThe exterior of an airport named after China’s national liquor, Moutai. It opened in Southwest China’s Guizhou Province yesterday. The airport is located in Moutai Township in Renhuai City. Construction of the airport cost 2.4 billion yuan (US$360 million) and lasted fi ve years. Air routes will be expanded to a total of 18 cities in the near future, Moutai Group said.

China News Service

Criminal penalty considered for disrespecting national anthem