BEIJING, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The new alliance between Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton Ltd. might lead to a monopoly operation and China should be prepared for anti-monopoly measures, warned an expert. Mei Xinyu, an economist with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), told Xinhua Monday that China should closely watch the joint venture process of the two mining giants and be ready to work with other countries to curb market manipulation when necessary, with the help of the anti-monopoly law. Rio Tinto scrapped the proposed 19.5 billion U.S. dollars of investment by Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chinalco, on Friday. The company announced a cooperative venture with BHP Billiton, which would pay Rio Tinto 5.8 billion U.S. dollars to set up a joint venture to run the iron ore resources of both companies in west Australia. It was "something other than economic concern", said Zhang Yansheng, director of the Institute of Foreign Trade of the National Development and Reform Commission. Almost half of China's iron ore needed to be imported, more than half of which was imported from Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, according to Shan of CISA. Colin Barnett, premier of Western Australia, told Australian media last Friday China was not on the list of approvals that the two companies needed to obtain. Internationally they would need the approval of the European Union and possibly the U.S. Justice Department, apart from investigations at nation and state level, he said. Also, Zhang Junsheng, director of the WTO Research Institute at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said China might not have a say on the issue, as neither Rio Tintoor BHP Billiton had an affiliated company in China.
BEIJING, July 18 (Xinhua) -- East Star Airlines Co., Ltd. said Saturday here that its current combined debt surpassed 752 million yuan (110.1 million U.S. dollars). Zhao Changbing, spokesperson of the company, said the announcement was made to counter rumors about the status quo of the company's assets and debt Zhao said total assets of the company stood at 1.01 billion yuan. Established in 2005 in central Hubei Province, East Star Airlines operated more than 20 routes. Its operation was suspended by the industry regulator as of March 15 this year, due to financial difficulties of the carrier.
BEIJING, April 27 -- The yuan will remain stable against the U.S. dollar as China will take a cautious and stable position in its foreign exchange investment. The Chinese currency gained against the US dollar in the past week and ended at 6.8273 last Friday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. The yuan closed at 6.8311 by the end of the previous week. China will continue its policy of diversifying its huge amount of foreign exchange reserves, the currency regulator said last Friday. Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, told Xinhua news agency that it will stick to major currencies and high-quality assets in its foreign exchange investments. China's overseas earnings hit 82.5 billion U.S. dollars in the past year, an 8-percent rise from a year earlier, according to data released by the administration last Friday. Hu also noted the positive outlook of China's economy has lessened concerns over a depreciation in the yuan.
HEFEI, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu Tuesday urged efforts to fight pine wood nematode disease, which has caused severe damage to pine forests in several provinces. Strong measures and more funds must be used to curb the spread of the disease, Hui said. The disease, also known as pine wood cancer, can quickly kill huge numbers of trees. In China, the disease was first detected in1982 in eastern Jiangsu Province. According to a conference in Huangshan City in eastern Anhui Province held by the State Forestry Administration, the disease has spread to 14 provincial regions, killed more than 5 million mu(333,333 hectare) of pine forests and caused huge losses. Attendees at the conference agreed measures must be taken to stop the spread of the deadly disease by 2010 and reduce the area of affected forests 60 percent by 2030.
BEICHUAN, Sichuan, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The quake-devastated Beichuan county seat in southwest China's Sichuan Province reopened Sunday to residents to mourn the dead ahead of the first anniversary of the disaster. Some 21,000 people, or two-thirds of the county seat's population, were dead or missing in the 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12 last year, making the county the worst hit in the quake. The county will be open for four days till Wednesday. Mourners brought flowers, incense and candles and set off firecrackers in the ruins of former bus stations, county government buildings and homes. The police distributed bottled water to the crowd for free. A mother mourns for her child who was only 67 days old when killed in last year's May 12 earthquake in Beichuan, the hardest-hit area in the disaster, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, on May 10, 2009. Parents who lost their children came back to Beichuan as the first anniversary of the disaster approaches"I come here today to tell my mom that dad, sister and I will live a better life. I miss her and I will often come to see her," said Zheng Chengrong, a student who returned from a vocational college in Mianyang City and dedicated flowers to her mother. Zheng's younger sister studies at Beichuan Middle School, where more than 1,000 students were dead or missing in the quake. Construction of the new school will begin on May 12. "I wish my sister can study hard to enter the senior high school. My mom would be very happy then if she knew that," Zheng said. Cheng Piyi and Huang Guiqiong, a couple who lost their daughter, brought their 16-month son to Beichuan. A mother mourns for her child who was killed in last year's May 12 earthquake in Beichuan, a hardest-hit area in the disaster, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, on May 10, 2009. Parents who lost their children came back to Beichuan as the first anniversary of the disaster approaches."We wish she could see the flowers," Cheng said. "When our son grows up, we will tell him that he had a sister who liked him very much." The town has been closed since May 20 last year. It reopened to former residents during Qingming, or tomb-sweeping day, in April. A new county seat will be built 23 km from the former one. The new town is expected to have 58,000 residents in 2010 and 110,000 in 2020.
BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- A central government official has urged government complaints-receiving offices at all levels to work hard to contribute to China's reform, development and social stability. Ma Kai, state councilor and secretary-general of the State Council, made the call during his recent research tour in Anshan and Shenyang of northeast China's Liaoning Province. A main purpose of this trip is to look into grass-roots efforts to respond to public complaints. During this trip, he paid a visit to the family of Pan Zuoliang, a role model in the complaints-receiving bureau in Liaozhong County, Shenyang. Pan died on duty of cerebral hemorrhage last May. He was praised by the central authorities as a model official in dealing with public complaints. He also visited urban communities, industrial enterprises and complaints-receiving offices. Ma said the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council have always attached great importance to the work of dealing with people's complaints. Since the 16th Party Congress, in 2002, when Hu Jintao took office as the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, the Party Central Committee has adopted a series of important resolutions and arrangements to improve the work, the official said. He urged the complaints-receiving officials to safeguard the legal rights and interests of the people and actively solve matters that may cause instability so as to create a sound social environment for the celebrations of the 60th founding anniversary of New China, or the People's Republic of China (PRC).
吉林无痛人流方法哪种好
HOHHOT, June 9 (Xinhua) -- China held an anti-terrorism drill Tuesday afternoon to test its police forces' ability to handle a bomb containing radioactive contaminants. The drill, held in northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region's capital Hohhot, kicks off a series of drills in the autonomous region, Shanxi and Hebei provinces that surround Beijing. Members of the special police put on gas masks during an anti-terrorism drill in Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, June 9, 2009. The exercise, codenamed "Great Wall-6", is aimed at improving the police forces' abilities to deal with possible terrorism attacks and other emergencies for the security of celebrations to be held in Beijing around Oct. 1 which marks the 60th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China. In the first drill, special policemen and armed policemen confronted "terrorists" in the city's square and the "terrorists" triggered the bombs which spread radioactive contaminants. Members of the special police check the site of a "dirty bomb" during an anti-terrorism drill in Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, June 9, 2009.Through close cooperation with the city's health and environment authorities, the police forces successfully controlled the situation, according to the exercise's command headquarters. The exercise will last through the middle of this month. Members of the special police rescue a "victim" during an anti-terrorism drill in Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, June 9, 2009.
UNITED NATIONS, May 15 (Xinhua) -- China voiced its willingness to further strengthen cooperation with the United Nations on Friday and support the world body to play a bigger role in addressing the global issues. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei made the statement while meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon (R) shakes hands with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei during their meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, the U.S., May 15, 2009. He also spoke highly of the efforts by the secretary-general to promote all the works of the United Nations. China backs the efforts to promote the reform of the UN Security Council in order to further improve the UN's ability to deal with all kinds of global threats and challenges in order to enable the United Nations to carry out its obligations under the UN Charter more effectively, He said. Comprehensive and patient consultations should be made on the reform of the United Nations, and an extensive consensus on the issue should be reached on the basis of taking the interests and concerns of all parties concerned into consideration, he said. Against a backdrop of the international financial crisis, the United Nations should increase its attention to and investment into the field of development and try its best to mitigate the negative impact of such a crisis on the development countries, He said. Meanwhile, Ban said that he appreciates China's important role in maintaining the peace and promoting common development in the world. The world today is facing all kinds of complicated and grave challenges, such as the financial crisis and the climate change, these challenges should be jointly tackled by all countries, Ban said. The United Nations hopes to see China's bigger role in the world in the future, the secretary-general said.
BAGHDAD, July 16 (Xinhua) -- As an Iraqi Muslim who has visited China, I was so shocked and sad when I read reports of the July 5 violence in China's Xinjiang province, especially when I learned from the Western media of clashes between the Han Chinese and Uygurs, and government troops cracking down on the Uygurs. I could not believe it, not from my experience in China. So I immediately contacted my friends in China, from whom I learned that the reports by the Western media were purposely biased and to a certain extent, politically motivated -- just as their versions of the U.S. occupation in Iraq. I have been to China twice -- first for a visit of two weeks, and then for a year's stay, from August 2006 to August 2007. During my visits, I was impressed by the way China's 56 ethnic groups, with Hans in the majority, live peacefully together and religious freedom respected. When I was in Beijing, I prayed every Friday at a mosque at Niujie, a Muslim-dominated district in the Chinese capital. As an Iraqi, whose country at the time was suffering from daily explosions, shootings and kidnappings, I remember I was often touched by the good wishes extended to me by complete strangers, among them Han people who visited the mosque, which has a history of more than 1,000 years. During my time living and working among the majority Han Chinese in Beijing, I found no difficulty performing my Islamic rituals, neither did I notice any untoward incidents against Muslims in China, including the Uygurs. I met many Chinese Muslims, who were really proud of being Chinese citizens. I remember a small Chinese restaurant in Niujie, owned by a Uygur Chinese, which I frequented for its Islamic food and music. I noticed TV programs in the restaurant were in the Uygur language, and when I inquired about it, one young man, who said he was studying at an Islamic institute, answered in Arabic "we have television stations in Xinjiang that use our language, which is backed by the central government." Today, I still remember the Chinese pilgrims I met who went to Mecca for the Hajj (pilgrimage), in Saudi Arabia. They often wore jackets with a Chinese flag stitched on, and under the flag were words in Arabic -- "Chinese Hajj" or Chinese pilgrim, and I could feel their sense of being proud Chinese Muslims. Once I tried to joke with one of the pilgrims and asked through a translator, "can you give me this jacket, so that I can show it to my folks in Iraq that this is a gift from my Chinese friend?" He smiled and said: "I can buy you a new one, but I will have to keep this one, as I have worn it for years and I am proud to have this flag on my chest." Islam is the second biggest religion in China, next to Buddhism. As far as I know, there are some 30,000 mosques in China, including 70 in Beijing. Outside the capital, religious freedom is well respected as well. When I went to Henan province for a vacation, I witnessed Islamic lectures being held frequently at major mosques, and Muslims living peacefully and happily. Muslims and other minorities in China enjoy exceptional privileges. My Chinese Muslim friends told me that, like other minority groups, they are not bound by the one-child-policy. Muslims and other minorities are also accepted at lower qualifications to colleges and universities; and minorities like the Uygur and Hui are well represented in governments at all levels. So when people say that the July 5 violence occurred because the Uygurs felt discriminated by the majority Hans, I really cannot believe it. I have personally witnessed how well Muslims and Han Chinese get along. One day while sitting in the yard of the Niujie mosque, I met a young man who I later learned was an Egyptian. Named Ahmed, he had come to Beijing to marry a Han Chinese girl who he met in Cairo while she was studying there. But according to religious ritual, a non-Muslim girl or man cannot marry a Muslim unless he or she converts to Islam. A week later, when I met Ahmed again he told me that his dream had come true, the girl had decided to convert to Islam. She had met no objections from her family. Within a week she was issued a certificate by the mosque confirming that she was now a Muslim. I also have a female friend in Beijing, a Han Chinese, who is married to a Hui Muslim. They have a happy family. Today, when I see pictures of the bloody clashes in Xinjiang, it reminds me of what is happening here in Baghdad. I feel outraged as I witness the media repeating what they did in Iraq -- inciting internal conflict to serve certain agendas. My country has been suffering from foreign interference and domestic violence for more than six years. With the war, and the sectarian conflicts, our once prosperous country is now in ruins. The sectarian strife has been largely fanned by foreign powers to alienate Iraq's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, and the United States once even had a "separation-of-Iraq-into-three" scheme high on its agenda. What have ordinary Iraqis received -- be they Sunnis, Shiites, or Kurds? Nothing. Nothing but devastation, displacement and the loss of lives of innocent people. My son, Omar, was injured by a roadside bomb in October 2007. He was only 12 years old at the time. I call on the people to cool down and consider the whole picture: see what has happened in Iraq. Do not let yourself be fooled by those who try to undermine the security and stability of China by trying to destroy the peaceful co-existence of its ethnic groups.