The Ministry of Environmental Protection has told authorities to "ensure a warm winter" for the public rather than delay heating supplies in some northern areas due to natural gas shortages or unfinished projects.Areas that have not yet completed reconstruction projects to replace coal with gas or electric heating can use coal or any other available measures, the ministry said in an urgent circular issued on Monday, but publicly released on Thursday."In areas where the projects have been completed, the supply and price of natural gas and electricity must be kept stable," the circular said. "In the event of a supply shortage, priority should be given to civil use rather than industrial use."The circular was sent to 28 cities - such as Beijing and Tianjin and those in Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Henan provinces - in areas surrounding the capital.The ministry also said that whether local authorities have "ensured a sufficient and timely heating supply" will be a focal point in its supervision and inspection work on air pollution control.Coal has long been burned for heating in northern China, a practice that is blamed for the lingering winter smog. The 28 cities are those included in an action plan released by the ministry in August. The plan asked these cities to cut concentrations of PM2.5 - hazardous fine particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns - by at least 15 percent year-on-year from October to March. Under the plan, 3 million households in the 28 cities will use electricity or gas for heating this winter, so massive reconstruction projects had started.However, as the heating season began, many people in these areas found their homes and schools freezing due to unfinished projects or gas shortages. The total number of people affected is not yet known.A man surnamed Cao from the China Huadian Corp thermal power plant in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei, said his company is helping transform heating facilities for a local company and the work could not be finished by the start of winter."To replace coal with clean energy for heating in all of Hebei is a huge project, and it takes time," he said.With the increasing demand, the price of natural gas has surged. Domestic liquefied natural gas prices reached a record high of 9,000 yuan ($1,361) a metric ton on Dec 1 in some regions. The National Development and Reform Commission has coordinated with major natural gas suppliers to secure adequate supplies and stabilize prices. Hebei has issued an orange alert for natural gas supplies, suggesting a supply gap of 10 percent to 20 percent. pac wristbandsjordan wristband rubberbracelet maker onlinecustom rubber wristbandsmake rubber braceletspersonalized rubber braceletsadjustable wristbands
The military chiefs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) started arriving in Manila Sunday to attend conferences to strengthen cooperation among ASEAN militaries in addressing common security challenges facing the region. Col. Edgard Arevalo, chief of the public affairs office of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said in a statement that the military chiefs from the 10 ASEAN nations will attend the ASEAN Chief of Defense Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM) and related meetings that will run from May 15 to May 19. He said regional issues such as maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, counter-terrorism, infectious disease management and peacekeeping will stay high in the agenda of the meeting. He said Gen. Eduardo Ano, the AFP chief of staff, will chair the five-day meetings. The ACDFIM is an informal networking and confidence building platform among ASEAN chiefs of defense forces. It has since developed into an important avenue for ASEAN militaries to build capacity and strengthen practical cooperation. Before the ACDFIM, he said, ASEAN senior operations and intelligence officers will convene for this year's ASEAN Military Operations Informal Meeting (AMOIM) and ASEAN Military Intelligence Informal Meeting (AMIIM). He said the meetings "encourage common perspectives and understanding for promoting and fostering strong relationships and security cooperation in the region." The Philippines is the chairman of ASEAN this year. The bloc groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
