HAVANA - The Communist Party of China (CPC) has played an essential role in the changes the country has experienced, a Cuban academician told Xinhua in a recent interview. "Nothing could be sustained and no growth or development could be realized in China if it had not established a mechanism of governance and order under the leadership of the CPC," said Maria Teresa Montes de Oca, director of the Institute of Chinese Studies at the University of Havana. China's achievements over the past five years "are innumerable and unquestionable," she said. Specifically, she emphasized, the quality of life of the Chinese people has been increasing day by day and their educational level has been growing year after year. "In the technological sector, China has made great strides. Although the West wanted to stigmatize China, it has emerged and demonstrated to the world that it can be relied on for economic and technological development," she said. She also lauded the food production capacity of the Asian nation, which is able to feed such a large population. In addition, she said it is now impossible to ignore China because it has been playing an increasingly significant role in global affairs. Over the past five years, "the new leaders led by President Xi Jinping have played a role that China's own history has demanded of them," commented the scholar. "The place of the CPC's leadership in governance and internal order is fundamental," she said. The Cuban academician said she believes that the upcoming 19th National Congress of the CPC will address important issues for the future of China and its development. "After each CPC congress, its proposals and projects were put into practice and much more has been done," she said. band wristbandsmake rubber braceletsrubber wristbands in bulkadjustable wristbandscheap custom wristbandsrubber bracelet makerflash drive wristband
Customs staff check seized pangolin scales in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Nov 29, 2017. [Photo/Chinanews.com] Customs officials in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, announced on Wednesday that they had intercepted 11.9 metric tons of pangolin scales smuggled from Africa, the largest volume of any single case found by border inspectors. The scales were taken from an estimated 20,000 pangolins, a species listed last year in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, which bans all international trading of pangolins and their products. Two suspects in the case, one surnamed Li from Shandong province and another, He, from Anhui province, were the subjects of arrest warrants, according to Chen Qunfang, deputy chief of Dapeng Customs, which is affiliated with the Shenzhen authorities. The case arose in July when customs officers found bags stuffed with charcoal in a container that had been declared as empty at Yantian port. The charcoal was used to cover 239 bags of pangolin scales. Lacking full information from the shipping parties on the bill of lading, customs officers spent a lot of time identifying the suspects, Chen said. Li and He were found to have made frequent money transfers totaling more than 5 million yuan ($758,000) around the time the case came to light. During an interrogation, He admitted that he helped smuggle the pangolin scales at the request of Li, officers said. Demand exists in China for pangolin scales as a food or as a traditional Chinese medicine ingredient, Chen said. Bozhou, Anhui province - He's native province - is home to one of the country's largest herbal medicine markets. The low cost of procuring pangolin scales overseas, especially from Africa, has made the illegal trade highly profitable, Chen said. The scales will be destroyed after the trial concludes. [email protected]
