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January 1: CITIC, a state-owned investment enterprise
of the Chinese government, buys Nations Energy Company, a Canadian
petroleum extraction company, giving it a majority stake in KazMunayGas, the
state-owned oil and gas company in Kazakhstan, for USD $1.91 billion. The deal is
highly controversial because of the amount of control China now has
over Kazakhstan's natural resources. Kazakh Oil Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov has
criticized the deal since it was first considered in October
2006.
February 27: Drought in
southwestern China is
threatening the drinking water
supply of 1.5 million people.
February 28: Strong wind blows a passenger train off the tracks near Turpan, Xinjiang, China, killing four and injuring 30 more.[15]
March
March 1: A human case of bird flu is confirmed in China.[16]
March 2: The Communist Party of China
expels nine senior officials and business leaders over a Shanghai corruption scandal related to misuse
of Government pension funds. The nine people will also face
criminal charges.[17]
March 7: The People's Republic of China
announces that its first probe to the Moon, Chang'e 1, will be
launched later in 2007, with the eventual goal of landing a man on
the moon by 2022. The probe is supposed to orbit the Moon at least
three times.[22]
April 18: Thirty-two steel workers are killed and two more
injured in China after a ladle
full of liquid steel failed, engulfing an adjacent room full of
workers.[33]
May 4: International delegates reach agreement at the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change on the summary report on mitigating
climate change despite some concerns raised by China.
June 16: The Chinese Ministry of Labour and Social
Security undertakes an investigation into claims that up to 1,000
minors worked as slave labour in central
China.[51]
July 18: As China struggles
to deal with flooding in the provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Anhui, Hubei,
and Jiangsu, the city of Chongqing is hit with the
largest rainstorm in the city's meteorological records, killing 32.
12 people are reported missing. The city's transportation network
has been shut down completely.[65]
July 20: China shuts down a
chemical plant associated with deaths in Panama from tainted medicine and two petfood
plants associated with the deaths of pets in the United States.
July 21: The death toll of recent floods in China rises to 40.[66]
July 31: Flood alerts are
issued for Hubei province in China as the swollen Yangtze River puts
the Three
Gorges Dam to the test. Another 27 people have died and Beijing's airport was closed on
Monday night due to heavy rain.[71]
August
August 5: Thirty-four rail workers building a tunnel in Hubei province China are trapped 200 metres underground
following a landslide.[72]
August 8: China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
celebrates its 60th Anniversary. Chinese Vice-President Zeng Qinghong
visits its capital, Hohhot,
and participates in a series of large celebration events.[73]
August 8: China sends
investigators to investigate illegally-built government offices in
30 provinces.[74]
August 9: China temporarily
bans exports from two toy manufacturers whose products were
banned or recalled in the United States and other countries.[75]
August 14: A bridge under
construction completely collapses in Fenghuang County, Hunan Province, China, killing at least 47 people. 21 workers are
injured, 13 are still missing.[77]
August 14: China establishes a minimum living standard system
to cover all rural residents in 2007. The system is designed to
pull poor villagers out of poverty.[81]
August 15: China will send
officials to the United States to discuss food and product
safety following a spate of recalls in recent months.[82]
August 20: A China AirlinesBoeing 737 airplane explodes less than a minute
after all passengers and crew are evacuated shortly after landing
at Naha,
Japan.[91]
August 22: Typhoon Sepat has killed at least
36 people in southeast China in
the past week.
September 3: Sun
Zhengcai, the Chinese Minister for Agriculture, states that China will clamp down on foods tainted with illegal and
excessive chemicals.[100]
September 12: Thousands of ex-soldiers are rioting in the People's Republic of China
in the cities of Baotou, Wuhan, and Baoji, breaking into cars,
destroying classrooms, and setting fires. The riot is the largest
protest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest.[106]
September 15: Zhao
Yan, a Chinese journalist
working for the New York Times,
is released from jail in China after serving a three year
sentence for "leaking state secrets".[107]