Liu Jieyi (right), head of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, meets with Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on March 25, 2019. [Photo/China News Service by Chen Jimin] In meeting with mayor of Kaohsiung, mainland official calls for integration The Chinese mainland will continue to deepen the integrated development across the Taiwan Straits and share development opportunities with Taiwan residents, said Liu Jieyi, head of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, when he met the mayor of Kaohsiung, Han Kuo-yu, in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Monday. Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are one family. We welcome and support the exchanges between cities on the two sides to increase people's sense of gain, on the basis of adhering to the 1992 Consensus and the one-China principle, he said. The meeting was held during Han's stay in Shenzhen during his weeklong tour, which began on Friday and so far has included visits to Hong Kong and Macao to boost economic cooperation. He is also scheduled to visit Xiamen, Fujian province. People of the two sides should resolutely oppose Taiwan independence and work together to move cross-Straits relations in the right direction, Liu said. In response, Han, the mayor, said: The 1992 Consensus is the anchor of cross-Straits relations, and I hope more practical cooperation in the economy, trade and other areas will be carried out to truly improve people's well-being. Before the meeting on Monday, Han paid a visit to a center for business startups from Taiwan, a mainland technology company and an agricultural products market in Shenzhen, where he signed a contract to sell Kaohsiung fruit, including lily pads and pineapple. Over the weekend, trade deals worth more than NT$3.1 billion ($100 million) were signed in Hong Kong and Macao, the first stops on the mayor's journey. Han set foot in Shenzhen on Sunday afternoon, his first stop on the mainland. He will move on to Xiamen and end his trip on Thursday. The tour is the first across the Straits by the mayor since he assumed office in December. He gained popularity in his election campaign in November with his slogan, Goods go out, people come in, and Kaohsiung makes a fortune. Tang Yonghong, deputy director of the Taiwan Research Center at Xiamen University, said trade will help expand exchanges between Kaohsiung and cities on the mainland, and in turn contribute to its economic development. More important, it will help enhance mutual understanding through exchanges and establish cooperation mechanisms, which will facilitate future exchanges, he added. Unlike Han's cooperation with mainland cities to boost the city's economy, Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's policy is turning its back on improving people's livelihoods, Tang said. To make Taiwan less dependent on the mainland, Tsai has carried out her so-called New Southbound Policy since she came to power in 2016, Tang said. It was designed to enhance cooperation between the island and countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Oceania. Tsai has been spending taxpayer money to push forward the cooperation, he said. But it doesn't help to improve the island's economy and people's lives. Tang said that Taiwan is a small economy that must integrate and make use of outside resources and markets for development. However, competition is more than complementary between Taiwan's market and those of countries in Southeast and South Asia. Also, the market purchasing power in those countries is not high, he said. The mainland is a major center of economic globalization, and Taiwan's largest trade partner. In this context, it is self-evident that Taiwan's future lies in the mainland market. silicone allergy braceletcool rubber braceletscustom silicon wristbandssilicon wristbandscustom silicone wristbands
A Chinese volunteer (left) at the China-Guinea Friendship Hospital in Conakry, capital of Guinea, discusses a patient's condition with local medical professionals. [Provided to China Daily] China will revise its regulation to improve oversight of organ donation and transplants, according to an official from the National Health Commission. The changes will include new rules on the donation, retrieval and distribution of organs and punishment for violations, said Fan Jing, an official in medical supervision and evaluation at the commission. She spoke at a conference on organ donation and transplantation held in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Thursday. Unlike the existing Regulation on Human Organ Transplantation, the revised rules will specify the legal responsibilities of various parties in the sector, including Red Cross societies at different levels, medical institutions, organ procurement organizations and medical staff, Fan said. The new regulation also aims to be more effective in holding accountable medical institutions and local health authorities found to have violated laws and regulations, she said. Fan did not provide further details such as when the new regulation will be released. In addition, the commission will also introduce new rules to improve supervision of organ donations and transplants to ensure legal practices are used and quality services are provided, she said. These include the management of organ donation coordinators and data collected during organ donations and transplants, she said. Huang Jiefu, a former vice-minister of health and now chairman of the China National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee, said the existing regulation governing human organs, which was released by the State Council in 2007, is outdated and needs revising. More than 10 years have passed since release of the regulation, and great changes have happened in China's organ donation and transplantation, he said. One major point of progress is the rapid increase in the number of organs donated since 2015, the year when China stopped using organs retrieved from executed prisoners, making voluntary donation the only legitimate source for organ transplant surgeries, he said. But the existing regulation includes few details regarding organ donation, and it needs revision to include more rules on donation, such as specifying voluntary donation as the only source and ensuring fair distribution of organs through a computerized system, he said. Quality of transplant surgeries can be assured at certified hospitals, but there are also some uncertified clinics where uncertified doctors perform surgeries, and patients should not choose them, he said. The organs of more than 6,300 people were donated after death in China last year - a total of nearly 18,000 organs - an increase of 22 percent compared with the previous year, according to the National Health Commission. Nearly 1 million people had registered to be organ donors by the end of January, according to the China Organ Donation Administrative Center.
