Medical care, and pension for farmers

I would like the government to quicken its pace to set up a full-fledged medical care and pension system for China's 800 million rural people.

Only after medical care and pension problems are resolved, will farmers be able to spend more on buying appliances, and when they are able to earn even more in time, they may also be able to build their own villas in the countryside.

However, before that, the government also needs to invest a lot more on rural roads, tap water supply, power generation, and sewage treatment.

Freeman

on China Daily website

US double standards

First of all, I want to congratulate all concerned on the opinions and editorials China Daily recently ran.

I was happy to see the Chinese foreign ministry and China Daily, both bluntly pointing out that, the government which violates international law by invading and occupying other countries like Iraq has little to "teach" us about human rights.

I have long felt that Chinese media could be more forthright in publicly pointing out the particular extreme violations of human rights by the United States, and the double standards by which the US government violates human rights while castigating others for far less serious lapses.

Eric from Canada

via e-mail

Great opportunities, great challenges

The Olympic Games is moving China to the front of world attention.

We are treating the Games as a proud confirmation of Chinese development.

However, challenge coexists with opportunity.

On the architectural and civil engineering front, China's preparations for the Games have won nothing but praise from the International Olympic Committee: The "Bird's Nest" is spectacular and all construction work is on or ahead of schedule.

But Beijing still faces the challenges of handling numerous visitors and further improving air quality.

In addition, many people in the world are curious about how the Games will turn out in a country where so much of what is happening is unprecedented. Some in the West are upset that China is being given an opportunity to show its image internationally.

Luo Runjie

via e-mail

Editorial has much merit

Comment on "No merit to proposal" (China Daily, March 11)

I applaud this forthright editorial.

For a foreigner living in China like me, the proposal for a culture city costing billions, when the money can be spent in so many ways to uplift the lives of the people, is callousness motivated by rapacious greed.

One only expects to find such greed, and megalomaniacal mindset, among the representative ranks of out-and-out countries, surely not the CPPCC. It is very, very sad and, as you say, "time to stop such silly things".

Simon Li

via e-mail

Readers?comments are welcome. Please send mail to Letters to the Editor, China Daily, 15 Huixin Dongjie, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100029 China. Send faxes to (86-10) 6491-8377. Send e-mail to opinion@chinadaily.com.cn or letters@chinadaily.com.cn or to the individual columnists. China Daily reserves the right to edit all letters. Thank you.

(China Daily 03/19/2008 page10)