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Nations team up on arms control
2004-07-21 Xinhua News
As terror groups' access to weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
have become more of a major threat to world security, China
is teaming up with other countries such as the United State
to improve global non-proliferation, Tuesday's China Daily quoted
Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui as saying. He made his remarks
at the opening ceremonies of a two-day 5th Sino-US Conference
on Arms Control, Disarmament and Nonproliferation that opened
Tuesday in Beijing. Zhang said China has already participated
in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and is willing to take
part in the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). He said
China has formulated and enacted a number of laws and regulations,
which form a complete system for export controls on nuclear,
biological, chemical, missile and other sensitive items and
technologies. Looking back on co-operation between China and
the United States on such issues anti-terrorism, chemical and
biological weapons, mines and small weapons, Zhang noted that
the Taiwan question is at the core of Sino-US relations and
also a most delicate one. "We hope the United States adheres
to the three joint communiques and does not send any wrong signals
to Taiwan separatists. ( )
Lee's trip undermine basis for bilateral ties
2004-07-22 People's Daily
China said that the trip to Taiwan by Singapore's Deputy Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong had damaged ties and infringed on Beijing's
interests. The visit "has infringed China's core interest
and undermined the political basis of China-Singapore relations,"
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan was quoted as saying
by Xinhua news agency. The comments were the latest development
in a row between the normally friendly nations over Lee's three-day
trip last week, during which he met Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian
and opposition leaders. Kong was responding to Lee's recent
defence of his trip to Taiwan, Xinhua said. ( ) Singapore, whose
population is almost 80 percent ethnic Chinese, has tried to
maintain a delicate balance in its relations with Beijing and
Taipei. Beijing had expressed its "strong dissatisfaction"
immediately after Lee arrived in Taiwan. ( )
China to enrich strategic ties with ASEAN
2004-07-19 Xinhua News
China is willing to enrich the strategic partnership with ASEAN,
said Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan here Monday. He made
the remark during his meeting with Ong Keng Yong, secretary-general
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Tang
said China attaches high importance to its relations with ASEAN,
which witnessed fast and comprehensive growth in recent years.
China is willing to work with ASEAN to enhance the all-round
cooperation, said Tang. He reiterated that China supports the
ASEAN integration processand the efforts made by ASEAN to form
a community. China also supports ASEAN to play a bigger role
in the regional cooperation, he said. ( ) According to statistics
from the General Administration of Customs, China has become
the sixth largest trade partner of ASEAN. ASEAN is the fifth
largest trade partner of China.
Die Kritik an der Taiwanpolitik der USA
2004-07-19 Xinhua Wang (Übersetzung)
Die Sprecherin des chinesischen Aussenministeriums, Zhang Qiyue,
erklärte, dass China sich der jüngsten Resolution
des US-Kongresses des amerikanischen Gesetzes der Beziehungen
zu Taiwan widersetzte. Als Konsequenz habe Beijing bei seinem
amerikanischen Partner eine Protestnote eingelegt. Die Resolution
der USA beabsichtige eine militärische Bedrohung von Seiten
Chinas zu provozieren, indem mehr Waffen an Taiwan verkauft
und die militärischen Beziehungen zwischen den USA und
Taiwan gefördert wird. Dies gefährde den Frieden und
die Stabilität in der Region der Taiwan-Strasse und beeinträchtige
die chinesisch-amerikanischen Beziehungen. Im Endeffekt schade
dies den eigenen Interessen der USA. ( )
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China hits new record high in power consumption
2004-07-22 Xinhua News
China set a new high for electricity consumption at 6.406 billion
kwh Wednesday, the State Grid Corporation of China (SG) announced
Thursday. This was 107 million kwh more than the previous record
high set on June 29, the SG said. Also Wednesday, the Chinese
capital city of Beijing imposed its first brownout this year,
which lasted 47 minutes in the afternoon, saving 70,000 kilowatts
of electricity consumption while affecting some of the capital's
suburbs, according to the Beijing Municipal Power Supply Bureau.
The security of the power supply has become a serious issue
for the rapidly growing economy of China, according to the State
Electricity Regulatory Commission. The National Meteorological
Center predicts that high temperatures will linger in most parts
of southern China regions for the coming 10 days. ( )
China has 87 million Internet users
2004-07-21 China Daily
The number of Internet users in China has risen 28 percent over
the past year to 87 million, and use of broadband and online
commerce is soaring, the government said Wednesday. The number
of broadband subscribers has jumped 78.7 percent in the past
six months to 31.1 million, the China Internet Network Information
Center said on its Web site. China already has the world's second-biggest
online population after the United States. ( ) The number of
computers in China linked to the Internet has grown to 36.3
million, the agency said. Despite the booming growth, China's
population of Internet users still accounts for only 6.7 percent
of the population, just over half the world average of 12.2
percent, the agency said.
Flooding and droughts plague China, together
2004-07-21 China Daily
Most of North China's severe droughts have gone hand in hand
with recent downpours except in parts of Inner Mongolia and
Northwest China. The death toll from this summer's flash floods
has risen to 381 throughout China. Some 288, or 75 per cent,
of those deaths were caused by mountain torrents, mudflows and
landslides, authorities said. By press time Wednesday, 98 people
were still missing in the worst-hit areas while damage caused
by the disasters amounted to 14.85 billion yuan (US$1.78 billion),
according to statistics released early Wednesday by the State
Flood-Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. ( )
China at least 30 years away from zero population growth
2004-07-21 People's Daily
An article on the latest issue of Outlook Weekly stressed that
in a period to come China's total population will keep growing
at a speed of 8 to 10 million each year, pressing up to the
security line of 1.5 to 1.6 billion, and the country needs at
least 30 years to achieve zero population growth. Entitled First,
the population base is huge and keeps growing. As the world
most populous country, China has made much achievement in population
control. Analysts say China's total population has long exceeded
the most proper scale (7 to 10 million) and is now pressing
up to the security line (1.5 to 1.6 billion). Second, the population
quality needs to be raised. Besides, the cultural standard of
the population is rather low and the overall schooling lags
far behind developed countries. Third, new perils appear in
population structure. One is the serious imbalance of gender
ratio in new borns. The fifth national census showed that the
gender ratio of China's newborns had reached 117:100, much higher
than the international accepted normal scope (between 103 and
107). ( ) By now China has entered into an aged society, with
the population over 60 reaching 134 million, or over 10 percent
of the national total, which is believed to reach 15.6 percent
by 2020. Fourth, the urbanization of population has put greater
pressure on strategic rare resources. So far 40.5 percent of
China's population has been urbanized, and the percentage is
expected to reach 65 percent by 2020. This means that in a dozen
years the country's urban population would increase by 360 million,
adding the total number of urban dwellers to 900 million. Fifth,
migrant population has cast a tremendous impact on traditional
system and changed the layout of labor resources. Currently
China has more than 120 million migrant people, which has become
an import driving force for economic development in cities and
developed regions.
Die Bildungsförderung der Minoritäten
2004-07-21 Xinhua Wang (Übersetzung)
Im Jahr 2003 hätten mehr als 20 Mio Minoritäten eine
Ausbildung durchlaufen, darunter 700.000 Studenten an den Hochschulen
Chinas. Als Beispiele für die Förderung der Minderheiten
ist die gewachsenen Aufwendungen der chinesischen Regierung
und die Einführung des zweisprachigen Unterrichts. Ein
umfassendes Bildungssystem, das vom Kindergarten, Grundschule
über Hochschulbildung reicht, wurde eigens für die
in China anerkannten Minoritäten geschaffen. ( ) Gegenwärtig
gibt es 100.000 Grundschulen in den Minoritäten Gebieten.
Ebenfalls ist die Prozentrate der Kinderarbeit minim. In der
Inneren Mongolei oder Xinjiang gehen 98% aller Kinder zur Schule.
Indigent population grows by 800,000 in 2003
2004-07-20 Xinhua News
The number of indigent Chinese with less than 637 yuan (77 US
dollars) of annual net income rose by 800,000 in 2003. This
is the first time the number increased since China began opening-up
in the late 1970s, said a senior Chinese official. Due to the
serious natural disasters, the number of poor in Henan, Anhui,
Shanxi and Heilongjiang provinces increased to more than two
million in 2003, causing the increase of the national total
of poor population, said Liu Jian, director of China's State
Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.
In 2003, the number of inadequately fed and clothed poor was
29million, 3 percent of China's population, statistics show.
In 1978, just prior to the reform and opening to the rest of
the world, China had 250 million people who were inadequately
fed and clothed -- representing 30 percent of the population.
In 2001 and 2002, two million Chinese got above the poverty
line each year. ( ) The upper line of poor people's net income
in 2003 was 637 yuan (77 US dollars) while the average annual
income reached 2,622 yuan (316 US dollars). ( )
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