Archive for ‘Consultation’

29/03/2020

China-initiated int’l energy organization promotes green power alternatives

BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) — Clean energy is becoming the mainstream of global energy supply and interconnection is the mainstream of energy allocation, according to the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO).

Over the years, China is active in clean energy development and power grid interconnection with neighboring countries, and has achieved significant breakthroughs in UHV grids, smart grids, and clean energy, GEIDCO spokesperson told a press conference via live stream on Friday.

GEIDCO remains committed to promoting the energy interconnection to meet global power demand with clean and green alternatives, making idea dissemination, planning and research, international cooperation and project promotion the focus of its work, said the spokesperson.

The 2020 Global Energy Interconnection & China-Asia Energy and Power Conference is expected to be held in Beijing in November to discuss and strengthen cooperation on sustainable development in the energy industry.

Founded in March 2016, GEIDCO so far had 860 members from 115 countries, covering fields including energy, electricity, information, finance, consultation, science and technology, and environmental protection.

The global energy interconnection is a platform that connects grids around the world to facilitate development, deployment and utilization of clean energy, with ultra-high voltage transmission as the backbone.

Source: Xinhua

12/11/2012

* Buried in a bleak text, hope for a Chinese political experiment

Thanks to Reuters for discovering this ‘gem’.

Reuters: “Chinese Communist Party leader Hu Jintao‘s opening speech at the ongoing 18th Party Congress was a disappointment to many listeners, offering no major signals that the leadership is willing to advance political reform.

People walk in front of a large screen displaying propaganda slogans on Beijing's Tiananmen Square November 12, 2012. REUTERS/David Gray

The 64-page keynote speech he delivered was couched in the usual conservative and Marxist terminology, but one paragraph buried deep in the text was just what proponents of a long-running experiment in public policy consultations have been waiting for.

The section in question urged the ruling party to “improve the system of socialist consultative democracy”.

Academics and officials say the mention of “consultative democracy” is the first ever in such an important document, and it is seen by some as a strong endorsement of the long-standing experiment with this form of democracy, in Wenling, a city of 1.2 million in Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai.

The city has formalized public consultation on public projects and government spending at the township level, although there is no voting and decisions remain the preserve of the state machinery.

Xi Jinping, almost certain to be named the next party general secretary on Thursday, was party boss in Zhejiang in 2002-2007, as the Wenling project deepened.

The congress report is the most important political speech in China. Delivered once every five years by the party’s general secretary, it sets down political markers and charts a development course for the coming five to 10 years.

“Of course this is a good thing,” said Chen Yimin, a Wenling propaganda official who has been a driving force behind the system of open hearings, where citizens can weigh in on things like proposed industrial projects and administrative budgets – providing at least a bit of check on their local officials.

“This shows that the democratic consultations… that we have been doing for 13 years since 1999, have finally gained recognition and approval from the centre. It opens up space for further development. It says our democratic consultations are correct,” he said by phone from Zhejiang.

Chen Tiexiong, a delegate to the congress and party boss of Taizhou, the city that oversees Wenling, which itself has rolled out Wenling-style consultations in recent years, agreed.

“I looked at that part of the speech closely because in terms of promoting democratic politics Taizhou has done a lot, and it has been in the form of consultative democracy,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the congress.”

via Buried in a bleak text, hope for a Chinese political experiment | Reuters.

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