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MONDAY, June 16, 2014

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Eco-tourism Hainan province’s popularity as a top tourist destination poses a quandary as officials try to safeguard the mangrove that protects the coastal ecosystem. > p6

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Li’s visit ‘to help build trust’ Business delegation to accompany premier; billions in deals likely By ZHANG CHUNYAN

In this issue

in London

NATION ................................... 2-5, 7 COVER STORY ..............................6 COMMENT................................. 8, 9 WORLD...........................................11 BUSINESS .........................13-17, 20 LIFE ..........................................21, 22 SPORTS ................................. 23, 24

Deals worth more than $30 billion are likely to be signed during Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Britain this week, highlighting growing ties between the two nations. “More than 40 agreements are expected between the Inside governments and businesses See more, covering a wide page 3 variety of sectors including energy, investment, cultural and educational cooperation,” said Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to the UK. Two hundred-plus Chinese business leaders will join the delegation. Infrastructure, highspeed rail, nuclear and finance deals, as well as London’s role as an offshore yuan trading hub, will be key topics during the visit.

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Li, who leaves Beijing on Monday, will meet Queen Elizabeth II and have five hours of talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Li and his wife will also meet on a personal level with Cameron and his wife. Li will witness the signing of agreements and attend the China-UK Global Economic Round-Table. “I believe all these arrangements will help build trust and consolidate close working and personal relations at the highest level,” Liu said. Britain is China’s secondlargest trading partner in the European Union and a major destination for China’s overseas investment. Two-way trade hit $70 billion last year. Chinese investment in the UK has made huge progress. In the past two years, Chinese companies invested over $13 billion in the UK, outdoing their

RMB ¥1.5

Straits ties to expand despite pact suspension By SUN LI and HU MEIDONG in Xiamen

ing fingers is a good way to enhance mutual understanding. “Before I came here, we used to say when we talked about Europe it’s Britain, France and Germany,” Liu said.

A top mainland official vowed on Sunday to enhance crossStraits ties after a key trade pact made little progress because of violent protests in Taiwan. The mainland will continue working on measures in the interests of Taiwan people, and the key to further development lies in both sides adhering to the 1992 consensus and opposing “Taiwan independence”, top political adviser Yu Zhengsheng said. Yu, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee, made the remarks in a keynote speech at the opening of the sixth Straits Forum in Xiamen, Fujian province, which is scheduled to continue through Friday. Zhang Zhijun, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Thursday that cross-Straits relations encountered “a wave of turbulence”, but the difficulties will be resolved.

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PANG XINGLEI / XINHUA

Premier Li Keqiang will leave Beijing for a visit to Britain on Monday. Analysts said his tour is expected to promote relations between the two nations.

total UK investment of the previous three decades. China-UK relations became strained in 2012 after Cameron met with the Dalai Lama, but they warmed after the British prime minister visited China late last year to scout for investment to boost the British economy.

The tensions flared again in April when China was listed as “a country of concern” in a “so-called human rights report” by the British Foreign Office. “We think this report was biased against China,” Liu said. It “missed the big picture. ... I don’t think point-

C H I NA DA I LY

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M O N D A Y, J U N E 1 6 , 2 0 1 4

Weary kin maintain mournful vigils Sunday marks 100th day since Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared

By JI JIN in Chongqing and LUO WANGSHU in Beijing

By HOU LIQIANG houliqiang@chinadaily.com.cn

Dozens of family members of Chinese passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 visited a Buddhist temple in Beijing to pray for the return of their loved ones on Sunday, the 100th day since the jet vanished on March 8. More than 30 family members visited on Sunday morning Yonghegong Lama Temple, where many Buddhists believe their prays can be heard and answered by the Buddha. The family members said they believe their loved ones are still alive, and they visited the temple to pray to see them as soon as possible. Zhang Lixia, a single mother from Heilongjiang province, was one of them. Zhang’s 27-year-old daughter was aboard the missing jet. After all family members were asked on May 2 to leave the Lido Metro Park Hotel, where regular briefings updated the information on the search for the aircraft, Zhang chose to rent a house and remain in the capital, which she said makes her “feel more close to my daughter”. “When I left my home, I told them (relatives and friends) I was going to look for my daughter. I haven’t found my daughter yet. How can I go back?” the 55-year-old said. “When I was in the Lido hotel, the family members were all together. We could comfort each other. Now, I’ve almost reached a point where to die seems better than to live. “I force myself to eat every day, because I still believe my

Chongqing to build 100 takeoff, landing points for helicopters

KIM KYUNG-HOON / REUTERS

A family member of a passenger aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines ﬂight MH370 comforts another relative as they gather to pray at Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing on Saturday. The ﬂight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared on March 8 with 239 passengers and crew on board.

daughter is alive and I have to stay strong to wait for her to come back.” Zhang said she surfed the Internet to search for any information about the aircraft often for a whole day and went to the assistance center set up by Malaysia Airlines once a week. “I went there to appeal for information we need. But they always reply that they have sent our appeal to other people. They even refuse to offer us drinking water when the temperature outside reaches 41 C,” she said. Cheng Liping, whose husband was aboard the jet, said she believes there is conspiracy and the plane was hijacked. The 36-year-old said she visited the Buddhist temple the first and fifteenth of every Chi-

nese lunar month to pray for her husband to come home. Cheng has two sons, aged 2 and 6. “I have felt more pain as Father’s Day approached. My sons asked me when their dad could be back on Saturday evening,” Cheng said, bursting into tears. Cheng said she can sleep only two or three hours a day now and eat only a little porridge to fill her stomach. “I stopped working. But I have no idea about what I do every day. My mind is often absent. ” Dai Shuqin’s sister and all of her five family members were aboard the missing jet. Dai said she was a “solely materialist” before, but now she has turned to various gods to pray, includ-

ing Buddha and Jesus, and she also goes to see fortunetellers. She is spending almost all of her retirement pension on calling other family members of passengers aboard the missing jet, taking part in various meetings or prayer activities and traveling to the assistance center for information. “I get about 2,000 yuan ($320) in retirement pension a month. But that is hardly enough,” said the 61-year-old. Dai said she spends more than 600 yuan a month on calling other family members. I heard that some family members are now having economic hardships and they even have to borrow money to buy milk powder for their babies, she said.

However, Dai said family members don’t plan to accept the $50,000 Malaysia Airlines offered. “Compensation is needed only when the incident is clear. But now there is not even any wreckage. It’s possible that our relatives are alive.” On Saturday, Malaysia reaffirmed its commitment with renewed vigor to locate the missing flight as the search went into a more challenging phase, the country’s acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement “I sincerely believe Malaysia will be credited for doing the best to our abilities under nearimpossible circumstances and history will judge us favorably for that,” he said.

The Chongqing government plans to build 100 takeoff and landing points for helicopters, according to a recent plan released by Chongqing Development and Reform Commission. Chongqing has been drafting a system for general aviation flights, said Li Yong, the leader of an official research group for general aviation in Chongqing. “The system, consisting of one general aviation industrial park, 10 airports and 100 takeoff and landing points, will be completed in five to 10 years,” Li said. “The system will be built in response to the need for Chongqing to develop emergency rescue operations, tourism and business flights,” added Li, also a researcher at the Regional Economic Research Center of the Chongqing Academy of Social Sciences. Earlier this year, Tang Zongwei, deputy director of the Liangjiang administrative committee and an NPC deputy from Chongqing, said Chongqing’s general aviation business is in full swing. According to Li, the municipality currently has seven airports for general aviation flights. “All of the (takeoff and landing) points will be mapped out according to specific local conditions,” Li said. The general aviation park will be built in the Liangjiang New Area, and the city plans to turn it into an international trade center, manufacturing base and service hub for the

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The system will be built in response to the need for Chongqing to develop emergency rescue operations, tourism and business ﬂights. All of the (takeoff and landing) points will be mapped out according to speciﬁc local conditions” LI YONG LEADER OF AN OFFICIAL RESEARCH GROUP FOR GENERAL AVIATION IN CHONGQING

airports

plus one general aviation industrial park will be completed in five to 10 years

general aviation industry in southwestern China, Li said. Selecting the locations for the 100 takeoff and landing points is a challenge, Li added. “It will take a lot of effort to map out the 100 points,” Li said. “The construction of the 100 takeoff and landing points will be expected to be included in the Chongqing government’s 13th Five Year Plan in 2015,” Li said. Contact the writers at jijin@chinadaily.com.cn and luowangshu@chinadaily. com.cn.

companyspecial

Chinese developer promises speedy transformation of London dock area By Cecily Liu

China’s speed of construction for the past few decades has surprised the world, but now Chinese developer Advanced Business Park is bringing this development model to London, convinced that the same success can be achieved in the UK. The task ABP has set for itself is to transform 14 hectares of land in London’s derelict Royal Albert Dock into a lively office complex over the next decade in a project with an investment of more than 1 billion pounds ($1.7 billion).

According to ABP, approval of the plan is expected by October, and construction could start before the end of the year. The first phase is expected to be finished by 2018, and all three phases are to be complete by 2025. Xu Weiping, chairman of ABP, said that standardization of property development, which creates speed, is central to the company’s model of development. “Most European office complexes are built step by step, driven by customer demand, but we at ABP would build the whole development at once to

achieve economies of scale and speed,” Xu said. “Building the whole development at once also means we can maximize the use of space surrounding the office buildings,” Xu said as he sat inside ABP’s temporary office in the Royal Albert Docks, located inside Building 1000, which is owned by the local government of the London borough of Newham. The office itself has an interesting history, which Xu said helps highlight the benefits of the ABP model. Building 1000 is a large and modern-looking, stand-alone

office block constructed by a developer who previously secured the right to develop the Royal Albert Docks, including the land that ABP currently has plans to build on. Building 1000 became the first building under construction in those overall plans, but the developer was hit hard by the financial crisis and left the plans inactive. The London Development Authority subsequently took back the derelict land and more recently gave it to ABP for its project. “When I visited the Royal Albert Docks seven years ago, Building 1000 was already

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Upon its completion, the ABP development in London will be a combination of offices, restaurants, leisure and cultural facilities.

here looking very much like how it is today. If the original developer has understood the importance of scale, there would not have been one stand-alone building in this sparsely populated area today,” Xu said. To make sure the same does not happen again, Xu said the ABP project will champion speed. “We are allowed to finish the project in 20 years, but we want to do it in 10,” he says. Apart from office space, the ABP project also has planned space for restaurants, leisure and cultural activities, and various other services that Xu said are also crucial to the development model. “If I have one office block and I invite restaurants to open next to it, then no one will come. But because I have many buildings and lots of demand for support facilities, I can easily attract many of them,” he said. Modular construction To quickly carry out the project, Xu said his team is exploring the possibility of modular construction, which is a method whereby different sections of the same building are constructed in a factory, transported to the site and pieced together to complete the structure. “We can save a lot of time because the construction of the modules are offsite, and standardization means we can construct a lot of them together to achieve efficiency and scale,” he says. The private ABP, founded in 2003, has a record of investing

Xu Weiping, chairman of ABP

in and transforming large areas in need of regeneration. It now has projects in Beijing and in Haining and Qingdao in eastern China, and Shenyang in northeastern China. Xu said he originally came up with the idea of large-scale office complex development when he realized that China’s property development market has a heavy focus on residential property but more and more small and mediumsized enterprises need their own offices. “As companies grow, they become independent and they need to get their own office space. It is easy for big companies to get their office space, but increasingly many SMEs are maturing and need to get their own property. We saw this demand,” said Xu. He said this model of providing standardized office space to a large number of companies makes ABP London different from most other office block developments in London. “London’s new financial dis-

trict, Canary Wharf, may look like collective development, but actually it is constructed in different stages as the sum of individual buildings, each catering toward the specific needs of a client. This is very different from ABP’s model,” Xu said. In addition, good planning of the site has helped ABP maximize the amount of floor space available on the same site, says John Miu, executive director of ABP London. Originally, the 14-hectare site was to accommodate 297,000 square meters of floor space, but revised plans increased the floor space to 436,000 sq m. The buildings range from six to 12 stories tall, with the lowest buildings being closest to the runway of London City Airport. “Scale has allowed us to maximize the use of space, by arranging the buildings together efficiently. We’ve also maximized the building height according to regulations of building blocks next to the airport,” Miu said.