FM spokesman: China strongly supports Russia in fighting terrorism, separatism, extremism
2004-09-09 People's Daily
China firmly sides with Russia in battling against international terrorism, separatism and extremism and supports the Russian government in its efforts to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan Thursday. ( ) The Chinese government is providing medicine and medical facilities worth of 10 million yuan (about 1.22 million US dollars) and 100,000 US dollars of cash to the Russian government, Kong said. ( ) The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which aims to combat these three evil forces, should play a further role by enhancing cooperation and developing new ways of cooperation among members, said the spokesman.

FM spokesman: China hopes ROK nuclear experiment problem solved
2004-09-08 People's Daily
China hopes the Republic of Korea could cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to solve its nuclear experiment problems, said spokesman Kong Quan on Tuesday. China received messages from both the ROK and the agency saying that the IAEA had already wrapped up its investigation in ROK, Kong said at a regular press conference. Kong said China wishes the issue would not hamper the scheduling of the fourth round of six-party talks about the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. The working group meeting should be held before the end of September. There have already been three rounds of discussions in Beijing involving China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the USA, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan.

Chinese army to strengthen ties with Kyrgyzstani army: senior PLA officer
2004-09-08 People's Daily
The Chinese army hopes to maintain strategic dialogue and consultation with Kyrgyzstani army, said Liang Guanglie, chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Tuesday in Beijing. Liang, also member of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in a meeting with Kyrgyzstani Deputy Minister of Defense Suerkurov Zamir. ( ) The Chinese side attaches great importance to developing relations with the Kyrgyzstani armed forces, and holds positive attitudes toward the strategic dialogue between the two armies, Liang said. The two armies should strengthen mutual trust, and push their relations to a new high, Liang added. Suerkurov said the Kyrgyzstani army is willing to make concerted efforts with the Chinese army to further promote the friendly cooperation in military fields. ( )

China willing to deepen ties with Turkmenistan: Li Changchun
2004-09-06 People's Daily
A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said in Beijing on September 6 that China attaches great importance to developing its relations with Turkmenistan and will, as always, uphold the policy of "treating its neighbors as friends and partners", so as to work for deepening bilateral friendly and cooperative relationship. Li Changchun, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks when meeting with a delegation of the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan led by its First Secretary Ondjik Musaev.( ) Since the two countries established diplomatic ties 12 years ago, bilateral relations have progressed smoothly, with a huge cooperation potential and broad prospects in all fields, he said. ( )

Zeng Qinghong stresses cooperation with India
2004-09-06 People's Daily
Friendly Sino-Indian relations not only conform to the fundamental interests of the people of both countries, but are also helpful to Asia and the world at large, said Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong. Zeng made the remark in a meeting with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) delegation, the Indian National Congress (Indira Gandhi) delegation, the Bharatiya Janata Party delegation, the Nationalist Congress Party delegation, the Communist Party of India delegation and the All India Forward Bloc delegation. ( )

China to send more police to peacekeeping mission in Haiti
2004-09-06 People's Daily
At the request of the United Nations, China will send 125 police officers to form a contingent of riot police for a peacekeeping mission in Haiti. It will be the first time China has ever sent riot police abroad to participate in a UN peacekeeping mission. ( ) China has so far sent 267 policemen and women for UN peacekeeping missions in the world since January 2000.

Senior Party, govt posts open to competition
2004-09-09 PLA Daily
China will change its method of cadre selection from appointment to open competition, according to a provisional regulation released Wednesday. Staff members in state and private businesses, government institutions and social organizations, as well as returned overseas students, can all compete for senior party and government posts, which were formerly appointed by a higher-ranking official. On Wednesday, the Xinhua News Agency was authorized
to publish the regulation and five other documents on related issues that were adopted at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in March this year. Municipal and country leaders are to be elected through anonymous voting by local party committees after the next higher body has nominated candidates, says one of the regulations.( ) In order to select younger and more capable talents, the regulations will relax qualifications for candidates in regard to the length of their terms and work experiences.( )

Legal retirement age may be raised
2004-09-08 Xinhua News
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is considering raising the legal retirement age in China to reduce pressure on the social security retirement pension. Ministry spokesman Hu Xiaoyi said China's aging population has put more and more pressure on the pension, reported China Radio International. () The government believes the first priority is to raise the legal retirement age of women. But he did not give a timetable for the change, stressing only that it's a gradual process. He adds that women at age 50 are in the prime of their working life and it's too young for them to retire.

Shanghai eases up family planning policy
2004-09-07 China Daily
Though still insisting on the one-child policy, Shanghai has stopped awarding couples who wish to remain childless, giving a hint that the city encourages them to contribute to increasing its population. () The city has become China's first city to become an ageing society, with 2.55 million people aged 60 or over last year, representing 18.98 per cent of its total population. Xie said this will rise to 20 per cent in 2005 and 33 per cent in 2020. The director said the city will also cancel restrictions on when qualified couples can have their second baby. That means if the couple meet the criteria to have a second baby, they can have it whenever they like, she said. In 1949, a family had an average of 4.9 members. The number dropped to 3.1 in 1990 and 2.8 in 2000. "However, Shanghai still has the largest population among Chinese cities, with the highest population density of 2,588 people per square kilometre," said Xie. ( ) The city's latest census, conducted in 2000, found there were 16.41 million permanent residents in Shanghai, meaning there were 2,588 people per square kilometre. The census also noted there were 3.87 million migrant workers in 2000, up from 2.37 million in 1997.

Central Party Committee to hold plenary session
2004-09-07 Xinhua News
The Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is scheduled to convene between September 16-19, according to a meeting of CPC Central Committee Political Bureau held here Tuesday. At the meeting, which was presided over by General Secretary Hu Jintao, the Political Bureau heard a report about the drafting of the"Resolution on the Building of Ruling Capacity of the Party by the CPC Central Committee." The meeting decided that the resolution will be handed over to the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixteenth CPC Central Committee for approval. ( ) The meeting pointed out that the Party must increase efforts to build its ruling capacity in order to meet the demands of the new situation and tasks as China is witnessing a crucial stage for its reform and development drive.

Foreign military attaches visit Guizhou
2004-09-06 People's Daily
Military attaches of the embassies of 26 countries in China visited southwest China's Guizhou Province in Guiyang on September 6. Wang Zhengfu, Guizhou executive deputy governor, briefed the guests on the situation in the province and China's western development strategy. Chen Qingyun, commander of the Guizhou Military Area Command of the People's Liberation Army, gave a brief account of the area's military command and how military forces have carried out their duties. He expressed willingness to promote exchanges with foreign militaries. During their stay in Guizhou Province, the military attaches visited a plane factory, Zunyi city and other places.

Construction on Sino-Russian trade zone begins
2004-09-08 Xinhua News
Construction on the first closed trade zone on the Chinese Russian border began Wednesday. The trade zone covers 4.53 square kilometers on the Sino-Russian border. Nearly a quarter, or 1.53 sq. km., is located in Suifenhe City in China's northernmost Heilongjiang Province. Sun Lichun, vice-mayor of Suifenhe, said the trade zone integrates trade with business, logistics, recreation and tourism. Residents from both countries can enter the zone for trade operation by showing their ID cards. Suifenhe is a major channel of Sino-Russian trade and China's largest port connecting northeast China with the Japan sea. The city's import and export value totaled 1.91 billion US dollars last year. ( )

China, Myanmar sign petroleum exploration contract 2004-09-06 People's Daily
A Chinese oil company and a state-run Myanmar oil company reached a
production-sharing contract here Friday on cooperation in petroleum exploration. Under the contract, signed between the Dian-Qian-Gui Petroleum Exploration Bureau of SINOPEC of China and the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, petroleum exploration will be carried out at Block D, an onshore block in Myanmar's western Rakhine state. ( )

China to have 140 mln cars by 2020
2004-09-05 Xinhua News 5
China expects to have 140 million automobiles plying its roads by 2020, seven times more than now, fueling demand for transportation infrastructure and services, state media reports. Li Xinghua, deputy director of the Communication Ministry's Comprehensive Planning Department, predicted that China's auto population would eventually reach around 250 million, or about 150 cars per 1,000 people. Government statistics show that China produced a record four million autos in 2003, when the number of private cars grew by 80 percent thanks to the country's strong economic advance and growing middle class, according to China Daily. ( ) It is predicted that the current construction of highways between provinces in western China, as well as those in the Yangtze River Delta in the east and Pearl River Delta in the south would be completed by 2010. ( )

Chen criticized for remarks on "Republic of China"
2004-09-06 PLA Daily
A spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office Friday criticized Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian, for his recent suggestion that the word"Taiwan" is the best option for the short form of the "Republic of China." Chen's remarks lay bare his separatist nature and his desire to promote the independence of China's Taiwan province, the spokesman said. ( ) The spokesman reiterated that there is only one China in the world, that both Taiwan and the Chinese mainland belong to the same China, and that the sovereignty and territorial integrity are inseparable. Chen's pro-independence position is unacceptable and can never succeed, the spokesman said.

Patrick Dreher
Embassy of Switzerland