Premier hopeful of ties with Vietnam
2004-10-07 Xinhua News
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Thursday that Sino-Vietnamese relations will move forward soundly and stably so long as the two sides take a long-term perspective, grasp the overall situation, trust each other, and practise mutual understanding and accommodation. Wen, who arrived here Wednesday for an official visit, told Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong that China and Vietnam are friendly neighbors linked by mountains and rivers, and the 2000 joint communique on comprehensive cooperation in the new century has defined the orientation of the development of collaboration invarious fields. ( ) Also on Thursday, Wen met with Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An. ( )

China makes strides in space technology
2004-10-05 China Daily
The model of the carrier rocket CZ-2 F and its launch pad recently erected in Tiananmen Square in central Beijing has been an attraction for local residents and tourists from other parts of China. On Oct. 15, 2003, China surprised the world by sending its first astronaut Yang Liwei into space aboard a Shenzhou V spacecraft atop a CZ-2 F launch vehicle. The event made China the third country to put a man in space, following the former Soviet Union and the United States. ( ) To date, China has sent about 70 satellites, including those manufactured by foreign companies, into orbit. ( ) China is now focusing on more ambitious space programs, including lunar probes and the establishment of space stations. Shortly after the successful manned flight last year, Zhang Qingwei, deputy general commander of China's manned spaceflight program, announced plans to build a space laboratory and station in the next few decades. Rocket expert Long said China has been working on a new generation of more powerful launch vehicles with high reliability, low cost and low pollution to meet the needs of the next three decades and more for launching heavy satellites and lunar probing devices. Sun Laiyan, director of the China National Space Administration, said earlier this year that China is scheduled to launch its second manned spacecraft in 2005, and Chinese astronauts will conduct space experiments during the mission. ( )

China takes active measures to control HIV/AIDS
2004-10-04 Xinhua News
In the past, the local government was not so keen on providing such training for fear it might encourage people to use drugs. "But now, we have full support from the provincial government. The government even supports our programs of clean needle exchange and methadone replacement," says Wang Yunsheng, deputy-director of the HIV/AIDS prevention office of the province's Health Bureau, "which is a big progress from the past." ( ) The recognized turning point came in December 2003, when Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-Premier Wu Yi shook hands with AIDS patients in a Beijing hospital, signaling that the central government has put the combat with the disease on top of the agenda. Meanwhile, the central government's gesture, as a climax among all government and non-government organizations' efforts to eliminate fear and discrimination against HIV-infected people, has made a great impact on the public's thoughts about HIV/AIDS. "Today, what the government is doing is probably more than 500 percent what it was doing a year ago," says epidemiologist Ray Yip, director for the Global AIDS Program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in China. He says that the outbreak of SARS in the Spring of 2003, as a fatal infectious disease, sounded an alarm that any infectious disease should be treated with serious attention. ( ) Another high-risk group are sex workers. ( ) The population of ethnic minorities barely accounts for 10 percent of the nation's total, but among the HIV-infected people, 36 percent are from ethnic minorities, according to Jing. The underdevelopment of these areas and their geographical inaccessibility handicap the communication of information about prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. Realizing that most patients of HIV/AIDS are poor, the Ministry of Health announced last April that the government would give free, anonymous testing and counseling to HIV carriers who have financial difficulties. Hubei and Henan provinces in central China have pledged to offer free AIDS-related medication to all HIV-carriers in addition to dispatching officials to areas most seriously hit by the epidemic. ( )

Sino-EU trade volume witnessing rapid growth
2004-10-06 China Daily
The European Union (EU) is set to become China's biggest investment and trading partner, according to figures released by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the nation's Customs. This prediction comes as the Sino-EU trade volume maintains a growth rate of over 30 per cent. Sino-EU trade hit US$111.64 billion in the first eight months of this year, up 36.6 per cent year-on-year. Of which, China's exports amounted to US$65.47 billion and imports were US$46.17 billion, up 39 per cent and 33.4 per cent respectively, figures from Chinese Customs show. Bilateral trade totaled US$125.22 billion last year. China's exports to the EU mainly comprise machinery and electronic products, high-tech products, as well as textile, garments, toys, shoes, bags and plastic products and imports from its capital-intensive goods, automobile parts, steel, machinery equipment, airplanes, industrial raw material and transport facilities. ( ) The EU had established 18,000 enterprises in China and its contractual investment totaled US$71.27 billion by the end of August this year, with the actual investment reaching US$40.97 billion. ( )

Five regions warned of winter power cuts
2004-10-05 Xinhua News
At least four provinces are in for a harsh winter because of probable power shortages, a senior official working in the power grid has confirmed. Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Fujian provinces, and Shanghai Municipality, are likely to be hit, said Cheng Guangjie, vice-president of the East China Power Grid, China Daily reported Tuesday. He said the situation in the areas would remain tense for winter and spring. "The gap between supply and demand will reach as much as 17 million kilowatts in the winter," Cheng said. Zhejiang would suffer the most severe power shortage, where the gap could reach 8.8 million kilowatts, Cheng said. ( ) Winter will add pressure on the supply as the need for heating grows in East China. China has been failing to meet power demand since 2000. ( ) At the moment, China produces a thirteenth of the power per head that the US generates, one-eighth of that in Japan. "China needs a total generation capacity of at least 1.5 billion kilowatts by 2010," said former minister of energy Huang Yicheng. ( )

Chinas Strombedarf wächst um 15%
2004-10-05 Guangming Wang (Übersetzung)
Die Versorgung von Strom im Lande ist nach wie vor knapp. Die wachsende Nachfrage der Stromversorgung im 4. Jahresquartal ist auf die gute Entwicklung der Wirtschaft des Landes zurückzuführen. Allgemein wird ein jährliches Wachstum von rund 15% erwartet. Zur Ursache der Stromversorgung gehören auch die Zunahme des Elektrizitätsverbrauchs für Winterheizung und eine knappe Versorgung mit Kohle. ( )

Der Wirtschaftsaufschwung in den Minoritätengebieten
2004-10-05 Xinhua Wang (Übersetzung)
Das Bruttoinlandsprodukt der chinesischen Minoritätengebiete ist seit der Gründung der VR China von 5,7 Milliarden auf 1.150 Milliarden Yuan RMB gestiegen. ( ) Dies sei durch die effizienten Massnahmen der Regierung zur Förderung der Wirtschaftsentwicklung in den von den nationalen Minderheiten bewohnten Gebieten ermöglich worden. Vor allem seit der Einführung der Reform- und Öffnungspolitik im Jahr 1978 sei die Wirtschaft in den Minoritätengebieten jährlich im Durchschnitt um 9,6% gewachsen. Das übertreffe den Landesdurchschnitt. () In China leben mehr als 100 Millionen Angehörige von 55 nationalen Minderheiten. ( )

Patrick Dreher
Embassy of Switzerland