China, Korea, Egypt report rise in virus cases as curbs ease

June 14, 2020

BEIJING (AP) — China reported its highest daily total of new coronavirus cases in two months on Sunday and infections in South Korea also rose, showing how the disease can come back as curbs on business and travel are lifted.

Meanwhile, Egypt reported its biggest daily increase on Saturday. Infections were rising in some U.S. states as President Donald Trump pushed for businesses to reopen despite warnings by public health experts.

China had 57 new confirmed cases in the 24 hours through midnight Saturday, the National Health Commission reported. That was the highest since mid-April and included 36 in the capital, Beijing, a city of 20 million people.

Beijing's cases all were linked to its biggest wholesale food market, which was shut down Saturday, the official China News Service reported, citing the city's disease control agency. It said 27 worked there and nine had direct or indirect exposure to it.

The Xinfadi market was closed after 50 people tested positive for the virus in the Chinese capital's first confirmed cases in 50 days. The world is seeing more than 100,000 newly confirmed cases every day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

China, where the pandemic began in December, and other countries that suffered early on including South Korea, Italy and Spain have seen numbers of new infections decline. Brazil, India, the United States and other countries are seeing large increases.

China responded to the outbreak with the world's most intensive anti-disease controls, isolating cities with some 60 million people and shutting down much of its economy in steps that later were imitated by some other governments.

The ruling Communist party eased most limits on business and travel after declaring victory over the disease in March. Some curbs still are in place including a ban on most foreign travelers arriving in the country.

On Saturday, authorities in Beijing locked down 11 residential communities near the Xinfadi market. White fencing sealed off a road leading to apartment buildings and drivers were required to show identification to enter the area.

South Korea's government reported 34 more coronavirus cases, adding to an upward trend in infections. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 30 of the new cases were in the greater Seoul area, where half of the country’s 51 million people live. New cases have been linked to nightlife establishments, church services, a large-scale e-commerce warehouse and door-to-door sellers.

The Egyptian Health Ministry announced 1,677 new confirmed cases. Egypt is the Arab world’s most populous country and has its highest coronavirus death toll. The country has reported 1,484 deaths and 42,980 confirmed cases.

In the United States, the number of new cases in the southwestern state of Arizona has risen to more than 1,000 per day from fewer than 400 when the state’s shutdown was lifted in mid-May, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

Gov. Doug Ducey is not requiring Arizona residents to wear masks in public despite warnings by public health experts outside the government. Elsewhere, bar owners in New Orleans were preparing to reopen. San Francisco restaurants resumed outdoor seating Friday and the California government allowed hotels, zoos, museums and aquariums to reopen.

The states of Utah and Oregon suspended further reopening of their economies due to a spike in cases. The latest Chinese cases raised the mainland’s total to 83.132, with 4,634 deaths, according to the Health Commission. South Korea has reported 12,085 cases and 277 deaths.

Also Sunday, China's air regulator announced China Southern Airlines was required to suspend flights between Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the southern city of Guangzhou for four weeks after 17 passengers on Thursday's flight tested positive for the virus.

Beijing allows each airline to make one flight per week on each route. Under rules announced June 4, a route will be suspended for one week if five passengers on a flight test positive and four weeks if the number rises to 10.

In Europe, France’s highest administrative court ruled Saturday that virus concerns no longer justify banning public protests. The Council of State's decision allows for demonstrations and marches as long as health protections are respected. Events must be declared in advance to local authorities and not deemed a risk to public order.

The ruling came as an unauthorized protest against police violence and racial injustice wound down in Paris. Police had stopped at least 15,000 protesters from a planned march through the city Saturday, citing virus-related restrictions on any gathering of more than 10 people.

Associated Press writer Hyung-Jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and AP journalists worldwide contributed to this report.

Hu arrives in US for state visit

Tue, 18 Jan 2011

Washington - Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in the United States on Tuesday for a high profile visit that will include a wide range of economic and international security discussions when he meets with US President Barack Obama.

Hu landed at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington and was greeted by Vice President Joe Biden. Hu is to have dinner with Obama and Biden Tuesday evening.

Hu is scheduled to arrive at the White House Wednesday morning to begin his official state visit and day full of activities. There will be an arrival ceremony followed by meetings with Obama and a subsequent press conference.

In the evening, Obama will host Hu for a state dinner, among the highest honors a US president can bestow on a foreign leader.

Behind all of the public display, talks between the two countries are expected to be contentious. The economic powerhouses have had sharp disagreements over economic and monetary policies.

North Korea's nuclear activities and recent tension on the peninsula will also be high on the agenda. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said ahead of the summit that the two countries will be looking to intensify cooperation on a range of issues globally as well as in Asia.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/362994,arrives-us-state-visit.html.

UN and China discuss Korean peninsula situation

Thu, 06 Jan 2011

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi exchanged views on Thursday on the situation in the Korean peninsula, expressing the need for peace and stability in the Northeast Asian region.

The meeting at UN headquarters in New York followed Yang's visit to Washington for talks to prepare Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to the US capital and a lavish reception to be hosted by US President Barack Obama at The White House on January 19.

Ban said in a statement that he had a "cordial and warm meeting" with the Chinese foreign minister.

"They exchanged views on the situation in the Korean Peninsula, stressing the need for peace and stability in the region, as well as for the resumption of the six-party talks," the statement said.

"The secretary general expressed his strong appreciation of China's active efforts in this regard," it said in reference to China's leading mediation that included the United States, Russia, Japan and North and South Korea.

They also discussed the situation in Sudan, Ivory Coast and Myanmar as well as the UN Conference on Sustainable Development scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro later this year.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/361064,discuss-korean-peninsula-situation.html.

China says faces tough fight against desertification

by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Jan 5, 2011

Population pressure, drought and climate change have made China the world's biggest victim of desertification and it could take 300 years to reclaim just one-fifth of desert land, state media said Wednesday.

Overgrazing, excessive land reclamation and inappropriate water use also make it especially difficult to halt deserts from encroaching on large areas of land in the nation's arid north and west, the China Daily reported.

"China is still a country with the largest area of desertified land in the world," Zhu Lieke, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, was quoted as saying.

About 27 percent of China's total land mass, or about 2.6 million square kilometers (1.04 million square miles), are considered desertified, while another 18 percent of the nation's land is eroded by sand, the report said.

Experts believe that 530,000 square kilometers of the nation's deserts can be returned to green land, the paper quoted the director of the national bureau to combat desertification, Liu Tuo, as saying.

But the process will take 300 years at the current rate of reversing desertification by about 1,700 square kilometers annually, Liu said.

Some of the worst land erosion in the world occurs in the basin of the Yellow River, China's second-largest river, with 62 percent of the area affected by water and soil erosion, the paper said in a separate report.

The problem is a key concern of China's government, which fears for its future ability to feed its huge population, with arable land dwindling due to desertification and rampant real estate development.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/China_says_faces_tough_fight_against_desertification_999.html.

Report: China's first stealth fighter revealed

Wed, 05 Jan 2011

Tokyo - China has completed a prototype of its first known stealth aircraft, news reports said Wednesday, reinforcing the nation's military buildup ahead of a visit by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

China is to start test flights of the J-20 this month with an eye to the deployment of the fighter as early as 2017, Japan's Asahi daily reported, citing unnamed Chinese military sources.

The J-20, which is larger than the US Air Force's F-22 Raptor, will be equipped with large missiles and could fly to as far as Guam with aerial refueling, Asahi said. It would still take another 10 to 15 years to develop technology to catch up with that of the US F-22, the article said.

The J-20 was undergoing high-speed taxi tests late last week at Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute's airfield, defense industry publication Aviation Week reported. "It is larger than most observers expected - pointing to a long range and heavy weapon loads."

The completion of the J-20 "has confirmed that the Chinese military is rapidly advancing the modernization of its air force while putting more effort into advancing to the open ocean," Asahi said. "The move could have an impact on the military balance in East Asia."

The report came just days before Gates was due to arrive in Beijing. He was also scheduled to visit Japan.

Neighboring countries are concerned about China's military buildup. To counter China strengthening its military might, Japan wants to expand military ties with South Korea.

Japan's Self Defense Forces aimed to purchase the US F-22, but the production of the fighter came to a halt, Asahi reported.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360767,chinas-stealth-fighter-revealed.html.

China backs Spanish economy despite market distrust

Wed, 05 Jan 2011

Madrid - Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday stressed Beijing's confidence in the solidity of the Spanish economy despite the distrust of financial markets.

Li made the comments to about 100 Spanish and Chinese entrepreneurs on the second day of a key visit to Spain, according to sources present at the meeting.

China and Spain were expected to sign 16 commercial agreements valuing a total 5.65 billion euros (7.5 billion dollars) during the visit.

Prior to the visit, Li said China would continue buying Spanish public debt as a sign of confidence in the country's economy.

Beijing was seen by Spanish analysts as trying to diversify its currency reserves and to stabilize the euro, the currency of one of its most important export markets.

China was also expected to seek Spanish support for an eventual decision by the European Union to lift the arms embargo it imposed after hundreds of people were killed in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

Later on Wednesday, Li was scheduled to meet with King Juan Carlos, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez, following meetings with Economy Minister Elena Salgado and Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian on Tuesday.

Spain was Li's first stop on a European tour which will also take him to Germany and Britain.

Spain has adopted austerity and structural measures in an attempt to deal with its economic problems, including a budget deficit of 11.1 per cent. There has been concern that Spain might follow Greece and Ireland in needing an international bailout.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360791,spanish-economy-market-distrust.html.

Taiwan set to lift ban on solo Chinese tourists

by Staff Writers
Taipei (AFP) Jan 2, 2011

Taiwan is expected to lift its decades-old ban on visits by individual Chinese tourists from April in yet another sign of the island's fast-warming ties with China, officials and local media said Sunday.

Currently Chinese are only allowed to travel to the island in groups as Taiwan's authorities are concerned they might otherwise over-stay their visas and work illegally.

"We're ready for the further opening measures," an official at Taiwan's China policy decision-making body Mainland Affairs Council said on condition of anonymity.

She would not provide details, but the Taipei-based China Times said that up to 500 residents from Shanghai and Beijing would be permitted to travel to the island each day on a trial basis.

"The two sides have reached a consensus on the long-anticipated policy, with the measures starting around the Tomb Sweeping Day" which falls on April 5, the Times said, without identifying its source.

Solo Chinese tourists would be allowed to stay in Taiwan for up to 15 days, it said.

When asked to comment on the report, Chen Chiung-wen, an official at Taiwan's Tourism Bureau, said she expected the new measures to be realized soon "as they meet the targets of the two sides".

She said "tourists from China for the first time will be given the chance of making in-depth tours of Taiwan," adding that further discussion would be needed.

The daily quota of Chinese visitors was increased from 3,000 to 4,000 from Saturday, according to an agreement reached in Taipei last month.

Beijing still considers self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary even though the island has ruled itself since 1949 at the end of a civil war.

But the former bitter rivals have taken a series of measures to boost tourism since Taiwan's Beijing-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008.

Chinese tourists made 1.6 million visits to Taiwan last year and authorities on the island expect the figure to rise to up to 2.0 million this year.

Source: Sino Daily.
Link: http://www.sinodaily.com/reports/Taiwan_set_to_lift_ban_on_solo_Chinese_tourists_999.html.

Beijing traffic rules turn car showrooms into ghost towns

by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Jan 2, 2011

For the past year, car showrooms in Beijing have been heaving with people keen to buy their slice of the country's new middle-class dream. But now they are deserted.

Last month, Beijing said it would slash the number of new registrations for 2011 to ease chronic gridlock and thick pollution in the capital -- good news for frustrated drivers but terrible news for car dealers and would-be buyers.

Li Hao, a sales manager for Chinese automaker Chery, told AFP he had not sold a car since December 24, when the tough restrictions took effect.

"We definitely won't make money this year," Li told AFP, as he sat in the showroom, which was nearly empty except for a few bored-looking sales assistants and a handful of customers finalizing earlier purchases.

"Our income and sales will definitely drop and I'm worried about my own income and job. Every car salesperson is thinking about this problem."

In an attempt to ease severe traffic congestion, Beijing will allow 240,000 cars to hit the roads this year through a license plate lottery system -- about one-third of the number of new cars registered in 2010.

Expectations about the new car curbs sparked a surge in December sales, with about 20,000 sold in the first week of the month alone, state media said -- more than double the 9,000 cars sold in the same period in 2009.

China's decision to scrap tax cuts for small cars from January 1 also boosted sales.

Li said his dealership had been packed with customers wanting to buy a set of wheels before the new rules took effect.

One of those people was Tian Mao, a 33-year-old wine salesman who wanted a car to make his lengthy commute more palatable.

As soon as he heard reports about the new restrictions, he went to the Chery showroom and paid 70,000 yuan (10,600 dollars) for a car.

"I'm very happy. I bought the car a week before the new rules were introduced. It was quite cheap," Tian told AFP as he finished his ownership paperwork.

As well as easing bottlenecks -- deemed the world's worst in an IBM survey conducted in mid-2010 -- authorities hope the new rules will help clean up the notoriously dirty air in the city of 19 million people.

Air quality has been getting worse amid high demand for private vehicles from the city's increasingly affluent residents -- and has been blamed for deterring people from riding their bicycles instead of driving cars.

But environmental activists said the rules would have little impact on pollution levels in the capital.

"This is a policy that really came too late," Yang Ailun, climate and energy campaign manager for Greenpeace China, told AFP.

"It came at a time when the traffic and the local pollution problem in Beijing are already out of control."

Other cities around China, which overtook the United States as the world's biggest car market in 2009 and which this year is expected to see total sales of 20 million units, are introducing measures to relieve congestion.

Shanghai, which has about one-third the number of registered vehicles as Beijing, even though the populations of the two cities are about the same, has restricted new number plates for many years.

In the southern city of Guangzhou, authorities are trying to reduce traffic by ordering cars off the roads based on the last digit of the license plate.

A similar system is also in place in Beijing but is widely ignored -- and blamed in part for the exploding number of cars clogging the streets, as some residents have simply bought another car to stay behind the wheel.

Analysts nevertheless believe Beijing's new rules will only put a small dent in car sales this year.

"The overall impact on the auto industry is not going to be very big -- about 200,000-300,000 units per year," said John Zeng, an analyst with IHS Global Insight in Shanghai.

Zeng estimated sales would be boosted by people buying new cars to replace their old ones, while others will register their cars in neighboring provinces to get around the restrictions.

The real victims of the measures will be small dealerships, said Zeng, who believes 20-30 percent will be forced to close.

Other predictions are more dire. The National Passenger Car Information Exchange Association forecasts 50 percent of car dealers will be driven out of the market, the China Daily said.

As he looked across the empty showroom, Li said he expected monthly sales to plunge to 45 units this year from 200 units in 2010. Apart from reducing staff salaries, Li doesn't know how he will make up the shortfall.

"I haven't come up with a very good idea so far to increase sales or income," he said.

"We can only wait and see what happens."

Source: Space Mart.
Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Beijing_traffic_rules_turn_car_showrooms_into_ghost_towns_999.html.

China reports breakthrough in reprocessing technology

Mon, 03 Jan 2011

Beijing - Chinese scientists have achieved a breakthrough in nuclear fuel reprocessing technology, effectively increasing its nuclear fuel reserves by making their use 60 times more efficient, state media reported Monday.

The new technology for extracting uranium and plutonium from spent fuel rods, developed by the China National Nuclear Cooperation, would help stretch uranium reserves to 3,000 years, up from current estimates of 50 to 70 years, CCTV reported.

"We need to reprocess the spent fuel during the heating period to extract the recyclable part from burned material, as well as the newly generated part through a series of chemical processes," CNNC chief engineer Wang Jian was quoted as saying. "The next step is fuel assembly."

The facility had been developed "100 per cent" by Chinese engineers after 24 years of research, the report stressed.

France, Britain, Russia and China have each developed their own closely guarded reprocessing technologies.

China has been concerned over fuel supplies for its nuclear power program, which Beijing plans to expand to meet swiftly rising electricity demand.

The country is the world's largest energy consumer, consumer of coal and greenhouse gas emitter.

China is building 12 new reactors and 24 are in the planning stage. Both figures are more than in any other country.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, China produced 70,000 gigawatts of electricity from nuclear plants and Beijing wants to increase its nuclear energy capacity eightfold by 2020, when it plans to supply 6 per cent of its energy needs from nuclear power.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360501,reports-breakthrough-reprocessing-technology.html.

China promises to buy Spanish debt to help EU overcome crisis

Mon, 03 Jan 2011

Madrid - China will continue buying Spanish public debt as a sign of trust in the country's economic recovery, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said Monday on the eve of a key visit to Spain.

China supported the measures adopted by Spain to stabilize and strengthen its economy, Li wrote in an article published by the Madrid daily El Pais.

"We trust Spain's financial market, which has been expressed through the acquisition of its public debt, an action we will maintain in the future," Li wrote.

China's ambassador to Madrid Zhu Bangzao said Beijing wanted to play a "key role" in helping Spain and other European Union countries to deal with their financial crisis and to regain market confidence.

However, Zhu did not say how much Spanish debt China had already acquired. The ambassador made the comments to the Chinese news agency Xinhua in an interview quoted by Spanish and Portuguese news agencies.

Li is scheduled to arrive in Madrid on Tuesday. Spain will be the first stop on a European tour which is also to take him to Germany and Britain.

Madrid and Beijing were expected to seal business deals in sectors including banking and energy, as well as institutional agreements to favor cooperation in sectors such as renewable energies.

China was expected to seek Spanish support for an eventual decision by the EU to lift the arms embargo it imposed after hundreds of people were killed in the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989.

Spain has adopted austerity and structural measures in an attempt to deal with its economic problems, including a budget deficit of 11.1 per cent. There has been concern that Spain might follow Greece and Ireland in needing an international bailout.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360505,help-eu-overcome-crisis.html.

Taiwan president seeks peace with China

Sat, 01 Jan 2011

Taipei - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, in his New Year speech on Saturday, called for Taipei and Beijing to put aside their differences and seek peace.

"Cross-Strait peace and stability is the cornerstone for peace in East Asia and is the responsibility of both Taiwan and the mainland," Ma said at a ceremony at the Presidential Office.

"The two sides should replace confrontation with cooperation, and should put aside differences and seek long-term peace," he said.

He also stressed that Taiwan, formally called the Republic of China, is a sovereign state, and that Taiwan's success in achieving democracy can serve as an example for China.

Since Ma took office in 2008, he has been pushing for economic cooperation with China, and Taiwan has signed 15 trade pacts with Beijing.

The most important one, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, took effect Saturday.

Under the deal, which is similar to the free-trade agreement, the two sides agreed to cut tariffs on a total of 806 industrial items over a period of two years.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360341,president-seeks-peace-china.html.

Uyghur Student Sentenced to Death

2010-12-30

A 19-year-old Uyghur becomes the second woman sentenced to die following ethnic violence last year.

A female Uyghur student in northwestern China was sentenced to death with a two-year suspension following a trial last April on charges of participating in ethnic riots that left hundreds dead, according to a classmate.

Pezilet Ekber became the second Uyghur woman to receive the death penalty in connection to the unrest. Another woman was executed by Chinese authorities earlier this year.

“Nobody knows what exactly led to Pezilet Ekber receiving such a heavy punishment, other than her ‘involvement in violence,’ because the trial was secret and her parents were only just informed of the decision,” her classmate, who asked to remain anonymous, wrote in a letter.

“After the trial, her parents were just given the judgment, and were warned to keep silent and to refrain from telling the content of judgment to anyone,” the letter said.

Pezilet Ekber, 19, had been enrolled in Russian language classes at Xinjiang University in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) capital of Urumqi just before the violence erupted, her classmate wrote.

But she had temporarily left the school because of her family’s financial difficulties and was working for a Han Chinese-owned business in the city’s Grand Bazaar as a translator and saleswoman at the time of the riots, the letter said.

Urumqi’s Grand Bazaar was one of the locations central to Uyghur demonstrations and violence during the July 5, 2009 riots, which left nearly 200 people dead, according to official Chinese estimates.

Pezilet Ekber was arrested two months after the unrest while visiting her parents in her hometown of Suydung, in the XUAR’s Qorghas [in Chinese, Huocheng] county, Ili prefecture.

In the letter, Pezilet Ekber’s classmate wrote that the two had met on July 4 last year, and that her friend had no plans to attend the demonstration the following day.

“Her workplace was at the center of the event so she was probably unable to keep herself away when she saw the demonstrators and witnessed the tragic event of the demonstrators being shot by police,” the letter said.

“She usually always took a careful approach to such subjects related to the ethnic problem, even if it was a class discussion, because of her family background—being the granddaughter of a former independence fighter.”

A concerned father

Pezilet Ekber’s father, Ekber, 45, was a former state security officer in Qorghas county, but was forced out of his job due to his family background when ethnic tension began to build in the XUAR in the late 1990s.

Her grandfather had served in Ili prefecture's Gulja city as a member of the East Turkestan Liberation Army shortly after its founding in 1944, seeking independence from China.

A friend of Mr. Ekber, reached by telephone, said he had traveled to Urumqi on April 16 to visit his daughter in detention, but police ordered him to leave the city within a day of his arrival.

“He left without seeing his daughter. It happened just a few days before Pezilet’s trial,” the friend said.

“After that, I never saw him again—I guess it was in order keep his daughter’s life safe. Now he has isolated himself from the public to avoid leaking ‘state secrets.’ I don’t know whether or not he was able to visit his daughter after the trial.”

Pezilet Ekber’s boss at the shop in the Grand Bazar, a man surnamed Zhang, briefly answered questions about her detention and subsequent trial.

When asked if Pezilet Ekber was available to speak, Zhang said she hadn’t worked at the store since September.

When asked when she would return to work, he answered, “My guess is that will never happen,” but hung up the phone before responding to questions about why she was unable to return.

Employees who answered the phone at the Urumqi Intermediate Court, which handed down the punishment to Pezilet Ekber, and the Ghalibiyet Police Station, which ordered her father to leave Urumqi in April, both refused to speak with reporters.

Family a factor?

Ilshat Hassan, U.S.-based spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, said Pezilet Ekber may have been singled out by the court due to her family history.

“Usually family background is the most considered factor at the time of a decision, especially in political and ethnic cases tried by Chinese courts,” Hassan said.

“A Communist-oriented family background might save your life, even if you are a murderer, while an anti-communist or pro-independence family background can lead to a death sentence, even if you are innocent,” he said.

“I think Pezilet Ekber’s family background was one of the factors which influenced the decision.”

Pezilet Ekber is the second woman known to receive the death penalty in the aftermath of the Urumqi unrest, according to information made public by Chinese authorities.

In January, Hayrinsa Sawut, 20, was executed for committing murder during the riots.

A third woman, Gulmire Imin, received life in prison for her role as an “illegal organizer” during the 2009 demonstrations.

Reported and translated by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Copyright © 1998-2010 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

Source: Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Link: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/death-12302010153000.html.

China steps up anti-carrier missile tests: US commander

by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Dec 28, 2010

China is stepping up efforts to deploy a "carrier-killer" missile system, the commander of the US Pacific Command has said in an interview with a Japanese newspaper, published Tuesday.

"The anti-ship ballistic missile system in China has undergone extensive testing," Admiral Robert Willard told the Asahi Shimbun in Honolulu, according to a transcript of the interview on its website.

Willard said China appeared to have achieved "initial operational capability" but it would take "several more years" before fully deploying the system.

US military analysts have warned China is developing a new version of its Dongfeng 21 missile that could pierce the defenses of even the most sturdy US naval vessels and has a range far beyond Chinese waters.

Washington has expressed rising concern over China's military intentions following a string of double-digit increases in Chinese military spending and the rapid modernization of its armed forces.

In the interview, Willard also said China aims to become a global military power by extending its influence beyond its regional waters.

"They are focused presently on what they term their near seas -- the Bohai, Yellow Sea, South China Sea, East China Sea," Willard said.

"I think they have an interest in being able to influence beyond that point, and they have aspirations to eventually become a global military," he said. "In the capabilities that we're seeing develop, that is fairly obvious."

Referring to tensions on the Korean peninsula, Willard warned that North Korea is ready to take another provocative step and called on China, Pyongyang's sole major ally, to play its role in defusing the situation.

"I think, for now, we're past this particular crisis, but we have no doubt, given North Korea's history, that a next provocation is readied," Willard told the daily.

"It's a matter of assessing how it might be deterred or how the North Koreans might be dissuaded from exercising the next provocation," he said.

"We think the US-Republic of Korea (South Korea) alliance is part of that deterrence effort," he said. "We think the international community and China in particular are another part of it."

Tensions have been high following the North's shelling of a South Korean border island, which killed four people, including two civilians. The South's forces are on alert for any fresh attacks.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/China_steps_up_anti-carrier_missile_tests_US_commander_999.html.

China seeks economic fugitives in South-East Asia, North America

Tue, 28 Dec 2010

Beijing - Chinese police are hunting nearly 600 suspects in economic crimes who have fled overseas, mostly to South-East Asia and North America, a public security official said in remarks published Tuesday.

The Ministry of Public Security was seeking 580 fugitives suspected of crimes, including contract fraud, illegal fundraising, loan fraud and illegal transfer of funds abroad, Meng Qingfeng, head of the ministry's economic crime unit, told the official China Daily.

"Most of them have escaped to North America and South-East Asia," Meng told the newspaper.

He said a two-pronged strategy had helped the police to reduce the total number of international fugitives wanted for economic crimes over the past three years.

"On the one hand, economic crime investigation departments have stepped up efforts to trace and arrest fugitives who have fled abroad," Meng was quoted as saying.

"On the other hand, we have set up a prevention mechanism to effectively curb fugitives fleeing to other countries," he said.

Since 2006, Chinese police had arrested more than 250 fugitives who fled to 20 countries and regions, Meng said.

Extradition of some fugitives was difficult, especially from Western nations where some had escaped arrest because of those nations' "ideological and legal differences with China," Meng said.

But China's signing of extradition treaties with 37 nations was a sign of progress, he said.

Among those recently extradited to China were Gong Yinwen and Fan Jiecong, whose arrest was announced by the ministry in June after a two-year manhunt.

Gong and Fan were arrested in Malaysia on suspicion of "illegally obtaining public funds" in China, the ministry said without giving details of the case.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359885,south-east-asia-north-america.html.

China, Jordan sign 4.5 mln USD agreement

AMMAN, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Jordan and China on Saturday signed an economic and technical cooperation agreement under which China provides the Arab kingdom with 4.5 million U.S. dollars to implement development projects.

The agreement was signed by Jordan's Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Jafar Hassan and China's Deputy Minister of Commerce Chen Jian, who was in Jordan for an official visit.

Hassan commended the bilateral distinguished tie, voicing thanking and appreciation for the grant from the Chinese government, according to a statement issued by the ministry.

The minister stressed Jordan' keenness to develop ties with China, adding that the bilateral ties witness distinguished development in all political, economic and cultural fields.

The minister added that the signing of the agreement represents the two countries' keenness to foster bilateral ties in different fields, especially in light of current regional and international circumstances.

The Chinese official expressed China's commitment to continue to provide technical and financial support to Jordan in different fields.

According to the ministry, China's support to Jordan in loans and grants from 2009 to2010 stood at 119.5 million U.S. dollars.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2010-12/26/c_13664623.htm.

100-car accident in China fog leaves seven dead, 15 injured

Mon, 27 Dec 2010

Beijing - At least seven people died and 15 were injured Monday in a pile-up involving about 100 vehicles on a fog-bound expressway in south-western China's Guizhou province.

The pile-up started when a truck crashed into a petrol station in Zunyi county about 8 am (0000 GMT), the official Xinhua news agency reported from Zunyi.

After the initial collision, at least 100 other vehicles crashed into each other, causing a 20-kilometer tailback, the agency quoted firefighters as saying.

Heavy fog still limited visibility to about 50 meters by mid-morning, it said.

China records an average of about 200 deaths per day in road accidents, but the World Health Organization has previously estimated the daily total of Chinese pedestrians, drivers, cyclists and others killed at more than twice the official figure.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359763,seven-dead-15-injured.html.

'Post riots, China's Xinjiang region still remains unstable'

2010-12-25

China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which was shaken by a deadly riot last year, still faces many factors that may affect stability, according to one of the top officials in the region.

"We should be aware that the stability of Xinjiang remains fragile. There are still many factors from home and abroad that may affect stability, and the task of maintaining stability remains tough," Xinhua quoted Zhang Chunxian, secretary of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Committee of the Communist Party of China, as saying in a key stability meeting.

Xinjiang, with 41.5 percent of its population from the Uygur ethnic group, is the Chinese front line in the battle against terrorism. The region borders eight central and west Asian countries, many of which have been troubled by terrorists and extremists, the report said.

The meeting, attended by Xinjiang's high-level officials and leaders of the regional army and police forces, concluded that authorities are determined to prevent major cases involving violence and terror, and large "mass incidents".

In July 2009, 197 people were killed and 1,700 injured in China's worst riot in Urumqi in decades. Authorities blamed separatists and extremists for inciting the violence.

In the wake of the riot, the central government initiated development drives in the remote, and one of the most underdeveloped regions with the aim of eliminating unscrupulous elements in the region.

Source: Sify.
Link: http://www.sify.com/news/post-riots-china-s-xinjiang-region-still-remains-unstable-news-international-kmzn4dajfhb.html.

Hong Kong protest marks first anniversary of Liu Xiaobo jailing

Sat, 25 Dec 2010

Hong Kong - Dozens of protesters on Sunday demonstrated outside China's de facto embassy in Hong Kong to mark the first anniversary of the jailing of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

The group staged a protest outside the Beijing Liaison Office in Hong Kong early Sunday demanding the release of Nobel Peace laureate Liu, who was jailed for 11 years for subversion on December 25, 2009.

The protesters carried banners and shouted slogans outside the building calling on China to release Liu, who was awarded the the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month over Beijing's strong objections.

Protesters complained that barriers erected by police prevented them from entering the building and handing in a petition, according to government-run radio station RTHK.

On Christmas Day 2009, six Hong Kong activists demonstrating over Liu's jailing were arrested for unlawful assembly, on the grounds that Beijing Liaison Office was private property.

Those charges were thrown out last week by a magistrate who said the area outside the building was a public space and that people had the right to demonstrate.

Hong Kong, a former British colony which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, has a mini-constitution guaranteeing political freedoms and is the only place on Chinese soil where anti-Beijing protests are tolerated.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359661,anniversary-liu-xiaobo-jailing.html.

Beijing caps new cars, issues traffic measures

Thu, 23 Dec 2010

Beijing - China's capital on Thursday announced an annual cap on licenses for new cars and other measures designed to relieve the city's notorious traffic congestion.

Authorities are to license 240,000 new cars annually from 2011, one-third of the 700,000 new cars that hit Beijing's roads this year.

From January 1, buyers of new cars will have to apply for license plates issued via a lottery before taking to the road, the municipal government said.

Beijing officials have struggled to control the city's mushrooming traffic over the past decade with expansion of public transport and restrictions on private car usage showing only limited success in clearing the gridlock.

Other measures announced Thursday included a rush-hour ban on vehicles registered outside Beijing and city-center parking restrictions.

The estimated number of vehicles licensed in Beijing has reached about 5 million.

Anticipation of the new measures fueled a fresh wave of buying this month with 30,000 cars sold in the past week alone, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Car exhaust fumes and other pollutants were a major concern for athletes in the run-up to the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

Chinese authorities only allowed cars to drive every other day on Beijing's roads during the Olympics and have since imposed permanent driving restrictions that they claimed have reduced Beijing's traffic by about 20 per cent on weekdays.

Every car is now barred from the roads one day a week, a system that is enforced through license plate numbers, but little relief is seen on the streets of the city of 17 million people.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359437,cars-issues-traffic-measures.html.

China, Taiwan sign medical cooperation pact - 2nd Update

Tue, 21 Dec 2010

Taipei - Taiwan and China on Tuesday signed a medical cooperation pact to reflect increased trade and tourism across the Taiwan Strait.

It calls for cooperation in medical research and quarantine, and to ensure the safety of food products.

This is the sixth dialogue since President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008 with an agenda to improve relations with Beijing through economic integration.

During Tuesday's talks, the two sides also discussed investment guarantees and an Economics Cooperation Council, which could be launched next year. Dozens of Taiwan demonstrators clashed with police as they tried to enter the Taipei Grand Hotel, where the dialogue was held.

The protesters said the deals with Beijing could sacrifice Taiwan's interests.

Taiwan and China split at the end of a civil war in 1949. Beijing considers Taiwan its breakaway province and has vowed to recover the island by force if Taipei formally declares independence.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359104,pact-2nd-update.html.