SCHOOL BULLYING

China Newsweek

July 13

Bullying in schools is becoming a serious issue in China. From 2014 to mid-2015, over 40 such cases were exposed by the media.

China Newsweek looks into it and finds schoolchildren are bullied not because of their appearance or academic performance but due to lack of interpersonal skills. Those lacking self-confidence and basic social skills are liable to fall victim to bullying. However, the bullies who attack and injure others are not entirely without any saving grace. Most of them have good social skills. What they lack is the ability to manage negative emotions.

What's unsettling is that public awareness of child protection has remained low though the Law on the Protection of Minors has been in place for over two decades. Obviously, legislation alone is inadequate. More non-governmental organizations specializing in child protection are needed to help prevent bullying in schools and other harm done to children.

CYBER SECURITY CONCERNS

Caijing

June 22

A recent plethora of cyber security incidents has caught public attention. On May 27, users of Alipay, China's PayPal-like online payment platform with nearly 300 million users, were either unable to access the site or found errors in their displayed balance. Cyber security concerns are not new. With the advent of cloud computing and the Internet of Things, safeguarding cyber security has become increasingly important. In the future, in addition to traditional IT equipment, home appliances and factory equipment will be connected to the Internet, leading to more complicated issues. In China, except for a select few market leaders, most Internet companies have incomplete network structures, leaving them open to huge security loopholes and risks.

Take peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms for example. Most P2P lending companies prefer using low-cost public cloud computing platforms to store their backup data, while banks generally invest 10 to 15 percent of their annual profit in their IT systems to protect client information. The government should formulate laws to protect online data, enforce harsher punishment for infringement of privacy online, and set up early warning systems to identify cyber security problems in time.

NO SMOOTH SAILING

Oriental Outlook

July 9

In 2006 when Italian Costa Cruise started the first cruise from China, Chinese embraced a new vocation experience. From less than 20,000 in 2006, the number of Chinese going on cruises increased nearly 36-fold to 739,600 by mid-2015.

However, this lucrative market is overwhelmingly dominated by international businesses instead of Chinese. Foreign cruise operators, with their mature operating systems, control 95 percent of the Chinese market.

Although some Chinese businesses have entered the sector, they are facing a series of obstacles, such as high taxation and restrictions on gambling on board. To keep the huge revenue from this sector in Chinese pockets, there should be management reforms, more personnel training and cruise manufacturing.

CROSS-BORDER E-TRADE

Guangzhou Daily

July 13

Cross-border e-commerce is experiencing a boom in China, especially in trade hubs such as Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province and Hangzhou and Yiwu in east China's Zhejiang Province. In Guangzhou alone, retail exports on e-commerce platforms from January to April this year reached 934 million yuan ($150 million) and imports amounted to 621 million yuan ($100 million).

Burgeoning cross-border e-commerce has injected fresh vitality into China's foreign trade. Since the initiation of reform and opening up in the late 1970s, the Chinese Government has encouraged Chinese companies with various incentive policies to sell their products in foreign countries. Many of these policies were introduced owing to inadequate domestic consumption power. Many Chinese enterprises sought to enter foreign markets with a low-price strategy. But this practice is unsustainable under new circumstances.

Cross-border e-commerce has not only enabled Chinese consumers to purchase goods from all over the globe with a click of the mouse but also facilitated Chinese companies' efforts to sell their products worldwide. The government should support this new form of foreign trade through institutional innovations like easier custom clarification, which are already underway.