Sea issues

China strongly denounced* the communique* released after a G7 summit, saying it interfered in the East China Sea and South China Sea issues in the guise* of international law, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on early Sunday.

The 2017 G7 summit concluded with a joint communique on Saturday, saying the G7 members are committed to “maintaining a rules-based order in the maritime domain based on the principles of international law,” and expressing concerns about the situation in the East China Sea and South China Sea.

Fake data

Authorities have found a number of companies have faked monitoring data during recent air pollution inspections.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection reported four cases where automatic monitoring facilities malfunctioned or companies interfered with data collection, according to its website. In Tangshan, North China’s Hebei Province, inspectors found that a steel company was pumping fresh air and nitrogen* into pipes to dilute sample smoke collected by automatic monitoring facilities, creating fake results.

Moody’s downgrading

The Finance Ministry on May 24 dismissed* a decision by international rating agency Moody’s to downgrade China’s credit ratings.

The downgrade was based on the “pro-cyclical*” rating approach, which is “inappropriate,” the Ministry of Finance said. Moody’s said that it had downgraded China’s long-term local currency and foreign currency issuer ratings to A1 from Aa3 and changed the outlook to stable from negative.

Gay marriage

Taiwan has became the first place in Asia to recognize a “constitutional*” right to same-sex marriage.

Taiwan’s “Council of Grand Justices” ruled on May 23 that an existing law that forbids two individuals of the same-sex from forming a union is “unconstitutional.” Its decision will now force Taiwan’s legislators to reform its civil code*, and make way for new laws allowing for same-sex marriage within two years. Legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan has been anticipated for some time.(SD-Agencies)