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Construction of National Stadium for Olympic Games to start
2003-12-13 Xinhua News
Preparations for the construction of four venues for the 2008
Beijing Olympic Games have been completed and work is scheduled
to start before the end of this month, which marks the beginning
of the three-year Olympic venue construction project. The first
group of venues to be built include the National Stadium, the
National Swimming Center, the Beijing Shooting Range and the
Laoshan Velodrome, Saturday's China Daily reported, quoting
sources with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games
of the 26th Olympiad. As the main stadium for the 2008 Games,
the 360-million-US dollar National Stadium will no doubt attract
the most attention among the four venues.
FM spokesman on Saddam capture
2003-12-15 Xinhua News
Asked about the capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said here Sunday
that China hopes the incident can be conducive to peace and
stability in Iraq. "We hope that the latest development
of situation in Iraq is conducive to the Iraqi people taking
their destiny into their own hands, and to realizing peace and
stability in Iraq," Liu said.
When Saddam was in power, the Iraqi people had suffered from
several wars and sanctions for many years, the spokesman said.
Chinese FM denies helping Iraq military planning
2003-12-16 Xinhua News
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesmanLiu Jianchao denied Tuesday
that China had helped the Iraqi army make military plans to
combat the US and Britain forces, saying such reports are totally
"groundless". Liu was asked to comment on a report
that Chinese anti-aircraftexperts helped the Iraqi army to plan
combat air raid operations by the coalition forces of the United
States and Britain in 2002-2003 in violation of related UN resolutions
on sanctions against Iraq. Liu said such reports were totally
"groundless and irresponsible." "China has always
strictly abided by all UN resolutions on Iraq," said Liu.
"China never had military contact and exchanges of anykind
with the regime of Saddam Hussein after the Gulf war crisis
in 1990."
Chinese official: Middle East peace needs UN
2003-12-18 People's Daily
Long-term peace and stability in the Middle East is unattainable
without the United Nations (UN), a Chinese Foreign Ministry
official said in Beijing Wednesday. Chen Weixiong, counselor
in charge of the ministry's international affairs, was speaking
at the UN Meeting for Asia and the Pacific Region on the Question
of Palestine held in Beijing. As the world's most representative
and universal inter-governmental organization, the United Nations
had accumulated a great deal of experience in dealing with international
and regional hot spots in the last 58 years, Chen said. UN resolutions
were the basis of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The principles and relevant resolutions approved by the UN Security
Council must be implemented to uphold UN authority and guarantee
a lasting solution, he said. He said the central role of the
Security Council in maintaining peace in the Middle East should
be given full play. UN work in humanitarian and development
fields should be strengthened, he said, in particular by enhancing
the role of the secretary-general's special coordinator, mobilizing
the resources of the international community, and making full
use of the potential of civil society in promoting peace and
development.
Ernennung eines Sonderbeauftragten für die nordkoreanische
Nuklearproblematik
2003-12-19 Renmin Ribao
Die Regierung der VR China hat Ning Fukui zum Sonderbeauftragten
der nordkoreanischen Nuklearfrage ernannt. Er war im chin. Aussenministerium
für die Ostasiatischen Länder zuständig und auch
an den Vier-Parteien-Gesprächen in Beijing beteiligt. Ning
werde sich auf eine neue Runde der Sechs-Parteien- Gespräche
vorbereiten.
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Expert: China's social affairs falling behind economic development
2003-12-14, People's Daily
China's social affairs have fallen far behind its quick economic
development, said an expert at the annual meeting of the China
Private Economy Research Society held Sunday in Hangzhou.
Lu Xueyi, president of the China Sociology Society, said that
social problems in the country are increasing because of an
imbalance in social and economic development. Social structure
has lagged behind economic structure and urbanization of the
country is trailing industrialization, he said. He said there
are about 900 million farmers in China, despite the urbanization
rate reaches 39.1 percent. Meanwhile, Lu said, social services,
especially education and sanitation, have not developed in line
with economic growth. About 85 percent of investment in sanitation
flows into the urban area while only 15 percent is invested
in the rural area where three quarters of the population live,
he said. Social administration in China remains at low level
due to the legacy of planned economy. More than 200 billion
yuan (24 billion US dollars) is spent annually on the construction
of highways but little money is spent on highway administration.
Each year, about 100,000 people die in traffic accidents. Lu
said the private economy needs to move into the social services,
including hospitals, schools and scientific research institutions.
Sectors scrutinized in wage wrangle
2003-12-15 China Daily
Local governments in China have launched a special inspection
of the country's building, services, catering and manufacturing
industries in a bid to ensure that millions of migrant workers
get their overdue wages before they go home to celebrate the
lunar New Year. The Beijing municipal construction committee
has ordered all construction companies in the city to pay migrant
workers their 2003 defaulted salaries before Spring Festival,
or the traditional Chinese New Year, which falls on January
22. "The wages must be paid 100 per cent by January 15,
otherwise I, as representative of all 850,000 migrant workers
in Beijing, will not give up fighting," said Liu Yongfu,
director of the construction committee. ( ) Migrant workers
from all over the country are often used in construction projects,
with the promise of payment by the end of the year. But it has
been a common practice for the promises to go unfulfilled or
to only be partially honoured. In Beijing, for example, about
3 billion yuan for such cases is still unpaid, as a result of
delayed payment to the construction contractors, accounting
for 20 per cent of the total payment ( ) According to statistics
from the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, China has 94
million migrant rural laborers, whose employers are in arrears
up to 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion). Over 70 per cent of
payment default comes from construction enterprises, and the
next biggest defaulter is catering companies
China tackles 206,394 serious criminal cases in 1st 11 months
2003-12-15, Xinhua News
Courts across China adjudicated 206,394 serious criminal cases
during the first 11 months this year, which involved manslaughter,
robbery, bombing and kidnapping, China's top judge said Monday.
Addressing a national conference attended by the heads of province-level
courts, Xiao Yang, president of China's Supreme People's Court,
said 45.38 percent of the convicted criminals involved in the
cases had been given sentences of at least five years in prison,
life imprisonment, and death. He said Chinese courts settled
a total of 681,074 criminal cases during the 11 months, up 2.47
percent year-on-year. Social law and order had improved a lot
thanks to the country's campaign to crack down hard on crimes,
said the president. But he said the incidence of serious crimes
endangering law andorder remained high, and the crimes of bombing,
empoisoning, arson,manslaughter, robbery, kidnapping and other
violence remained outstanding in some areas.
Criteria set for identifying terrorists, terrorist groups
2003-12-15 Xinhua News
China's Ministry of Public Security Monday issued the criteria
for identifying terrorists andterrorist groups after publishing
a namelist of four identified "East Turkistan" terrorist
organizations and 11 members of the groups.
Zhao Yongchen, vice-chief of the ministry's Counter-Terrorism
Bureau, disclosed the criteria for identifying a terrorist or
a terrorist organization.
The criteria for identifying a terrorist organization are as
follows:
(I) an organization or organizations that engage in terrorist
activities endangering national security or social stability,
and harm the life and property through violence and terror (regardlessof
whether it is based in or outside of China);
(II) some form of division for organization and leadership work,or
system of division;
(III) meeting the aforementioned criteria and having involved
in any of the following activities:
(a) Organizing, masterminding, instigating, staging or taking
part in terrorist activities; (b) offering funding assistance
or support for terrorist activities; (c) having a base or bases
for terrorist activities, or recruiting and training terrorists
in an organized way; (d) collaborating with other international
terrorist organizations, accepting funding, training of other
international terrorist groups, or taking part in their activities.
The criteria for a terrorist is as follows:
(I) having contact with a terrorist organization and engaging
in terrorist activities at home or abroad that endanger national
security and life and property of people (regardless of whether
ornot the terrorist has been naturalized as a citizen of another
nation);
(II) meeting the aforementioned criteria and being involved
in any of the following activities:
(a) organizing, heading or taking part in a terrorist organization;
(b) organizing, plotting, instigating and inciting terrorist
activities; (c) providing funding and assistance for terrorist
organizations or terrorists for terrorist activities; (d)accepting
funding support or training from aforementioned organizations
and other international organizations or pitching intheir activities.
The four identified "East Turkistan" terrorist organizations
are the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), the East TurkistanLiberation
Organization (ETLO), the World Uygur Youth Congress (WUYC) and
the East Turkistan Information Center (ETIC).
The 11 identified "Eastern Turkistan" terrorists are:
Hasan Mahsum, Muhanmetemin Hazret, Dolqun Isa, Abudujelili Kalakash,
Abudukadir Yapuquan, Abudumijit Muhammatkelim, Abudula Kariaji,
Abulimit Turxun, Huadaberdi Haxerbik, Yasen Muhammat, and Atahan
Abuduhani.
All those terrorist groups were founded outside China and have
plotted, organized and staged terrorist activities and violence,
including bombings, assassinations, arson, poisonings, attacks
in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and other areas,
and some other countries.
Chinese constitution amendments to be discussed
2003-12-17 Xinhua News
Chinese lawmakers will start next Monday to discuss Constitutional
amendments proposed by the Central Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party (CPC). According to an agenda released yesterday,
the upcoming week-long session of the National People's Congress
(NPC) Standing Committee will review proposals made by the CPC
Central Committee on the amendments to the Constitution and
deliberate draft amendments based on the proposals. According
to the agenda, the NPC Standing Committee will discuss amendments
to the country's 10-year-old foreign trade law in light of the
new situation and demands made on China after it joined the
World Trade Organization (WTO) two years ago. The amendments
proposed by the State Council will include "major changes"
to the existing foreign trade codes. The session will also continue
to examine three financial laws key to the reform of China's
banking businesses, namely, the draft law on supervision and
management of the banking industry, the draft amendments to
the central bank law and draft amendments to the commercial
bank law. A treaty with Russia on the transfer of convicts and
a treaty with Thailand on criminal justice assistance are also
pending ratification by the legislature. ( ) The existing Chinese
Constitution, consisting of 138 articles in four chapters, was
formulated in 1982. It has been amended three times, in 1988,
1993 and 1999.
Beijing must prepare to crush independence moves
2003-12-17 Xinhua News
Beijing said on Wednesday the Chinese mainland must prepare
to crush independence attempts in Taiwan, one of its strongest
statements in weeks against the separatist forces in the island.
In the face of outrageous Taiwan independence-splittist activities
we must make necessary preparations to resolutely crush Taiwan
independence-splittist plots," Li Weiyi, spokesman of the
State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference
in Beijing. "Chen Shui-bian's selfishness in seeking re-election
spares no effort and gambles with the immediate interests of
Taiwan compatriots," Li said. "This is very immoral.
"Attempts by Chen Shui-bian and various separatist forces
to split Taiwan from China are doomed to failure." Cross-Strait
tensions have been boiling since November, when Taiwan's "parliament"
passed a bill to permit referendums. Chen then said he would
hold a referendum alongside the March election calling on the
mainland to remove its missiles aimed on Taiwan. Li said some
recent moves on Taiwan were "serious provocations"
and called Taiwan's defensive referendum an attempt to "split
the motherland." "The difference in social systems
between the two sides of the straits cannot be used as an excuse
to split the motherland," Li said. Nevertheless, the Chinese
mainland was considering allowing Lunar New Year charter flights
in January between Taiwan and four Chinese cities -- Shanghai,
Beijing, Guangzhou and Xiamen, he added. On Tuesday, Chinese
Foreign Ministry rejected Taiwan's "Vice President"
Annette Lu's accusations on Chinese mainland's missile deployments.
Despite a blunt warning from U.S. President Bush against Taiwan
separatists to change the status quo, Lu accused Tuesday that
mainland's missile deployments amounted to terrorism. Lu said
a referendum was necessary to defend the island.
Hu Jintao fordert eine Verbesserung der bäuerlichen
Einkommen
2003-12-18, Guanming Ribao
In den Provinzen Shandong und Henan hat Hu Jintao eine Erhöhung
der Einkommen für Bauern gefordert. Ausserdem forderte
er die Qualität der Agrarprodukte und die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit
der Landwirtschaft zu erhöhen. Überschüssige
Arbeitskräfte auf dem Lande sollten ausserhalb ihrer Heimatkreise
Erwerbsquellen finden. Dabei müssten sie angemessen entlöhnt
werden.
Beijing takes emergency measures against spread of SARS
2003-12-18 Xinhua News
Beijing public health departments have reacted to the latest
(SARS) case in Taiwan province and issued five emergency measures
to prevent the spread of the disease to the mainland.
Jin Dapeng, head of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, said
all municipal entry-exit inspection and quarantine departments
should strengthen temperature screening systems and send any
travelers with a body temperature over 38 degrees Celsius to
government-designated hospitals.
The latest SARS patient, identified in Taiwan on Dec. 17, was
believed to have contracted the disease while destroying SARS
samples after using them for an experiment. Beijing Municipal
Health Bureau urged all labs doing research on SARS to strictly
adhere to safety procedures. Hospitals are required to be vigilant
when receiving fever cases, especially those that have traveled
in Taiwan. From Dec. 17, the Beijing Municipal Disease Prevention
and Control Center started collecting information on SARS (severe
acute respiratory syndrome) around the clock and would pay specialattention
to Taiwan, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and some
southeast Asian countries. Emergency task forces in the city's
districts and counties are required to work in shifts night
and day to help trace people who had close contact with SARS
patients if any were found. Jin said that Beijing would learn
from lessons in the first half year and take strict, prompt
measures to guard against a possible return of the epidemic
disease.
Das ländliche Kulturerbe wird von den Städten
gefährdet
2003-12-16 Renmin Ribao
Der Vice-Bauminister Qiu Baoxing sagte, dass historisch und
kulturell bedeutsame Dörfer durch die Urbanisierung in
Gefahr seien. Die Regierung habe striktere Massnahmen zum Stop
des Abrisses von historisch relevanten Baudenkmälern verordnet.
Qiu erklärte weiter, dass China im Vergliech zu den Industrieländern
im Denkmalschutz noch einiges nachzuholen habe. Die Regierung
wolle möglichst viele Kulturstätten unter Schutz stellen.
Das ausschliessliche Interesse einiger lokaler Politiker für
die Wirtschaft führe zu diesem Ungleichgewicht.
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