How foreign media review China's achievements in the past five years? (II)

The 19th Communist Party of China National Congress will convene in Beijing on Oct 18. The Congress will review the Party's work over the past five years, discuss and set the future direction for the Party and the nation, as well as elect a new central leadership.

As all eyes are on the upcoming Congress, let's take a look at what international media said about the developments and achievements of China.

Photo shows an aerial view of an 800kv direct current power transmission project located in Jinhua, East China's Zhejiang province, on June 23, 2017. It assures the power supply in East China and effectively reduces pollutant emission. [Photo/Xinhua]

Going green

As the Trump administration yanks the US out of the Paris climate change agreement, claiming it will hurt the American economy, Beijing is investing hundreds of billions of dollars and creating millions of jobs in clean power.

China has built vast solar and wind farms, helping fuel the growth of major industries that sell their products around the world.

More than 2.5 million people work in the solar power sector alone in China, compared with 260,000 people in the US, according to the most recent annual report from the International Renewable Energy Agency.

While President Trump promises to put American coal miners back to work, China is moving in the opposite direction.

To help reach the 2030 goal, China is betting big on renewable energy. It pledged in January to invest 2.5 trillion yuan (367 billion US dollars) in renewable power generation -- solar, wind, hydro and nuclear -- by 2020.

--CNN: "China is crushing the US in renewable energy" (July 18, 2017)

Chinese authorities will roll out a new pollution alert system for regions ranging from the cleanest "green non-alert zones" to the most severe "red" zones, where the environment and natural resources are severely strained.

China's war on pollution has ramped up steeply this year, rattling the country's ports, commodities markets and factories across the country's smog-affected north. Even firms in higher-tech sectors like autos have started to take a hit.

--Reuters: "China to halt new projects in pollution 'Red Zones'" (Sept 20, 2017)

SOE reform

All major Chinese enterprises owned by the central government will be turned into limited liability companies or joint-stock firms by the end of the year as part of reforms aimed at overhauling their unwieldy structures.

Restructuring state-owned enterprises (SOEs) will separate government administration from management of day-to-day business operations, one step toward greater efficiency.

The party's leadership will help protect employees' legal rights and ensure the stability of corporate reforms, the cabinet said.

The SOE reforms come as the Communist Party prepares for a once-in-five-years congress in the fall.

Ahead of the congress, one of the government's priorities has been to ensure stability in the country's financial system. Further opening China's economy and markets is another focus.

--Reuters: "China's state firms to shed old corporate governance structures by end-2017" (July 26, 2017)