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SCHWEIZER
BOTSCHAFT IN BEIJING
EMBASSY OF SWITZERLAND IN BEIJING
AMBASSADE DE SUISSE EN CHINE
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Der wöchentliche
Presserückblick der Schweizer Botschaft in der VR China
The Weekly Press Review of the Swiss Embassy in the People's Republic
of China
La revue de presse hebdomadaire de l'Ambassade de Suisse en RP
de Chine |
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| Table of
contents |
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Avian flu
Mongolia
^ top ^
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| Foreign
Policy |
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China, Chile sign free trade service trade
pact (People's Daily)
2008-04-14
China and Chile on Sunday signed a service trade pact supplementary
to their free trade agreement (FTA), the first of its kind with
a Latin American country. According to the pact, the two nations
will further open their service sectors to each other's market
on the basis of their commitments to the World Trade Organization
(WTO), the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website
on Sunday. Altogether, 23 industries in China, including computer,
management consulting, mining, sports, environment and air transport,
and 37 in Chile such as law, architectural design, engineering
and real estate, among others, were involved. The two governments
also agreed to hold talks on investment under the FTA at an
appropriate time, the statement quoted an unnamed ministry spokesman
as saying. A work team will be set up to make it more convenient
for business people to obtain visas when traveling across the
two countries' borders. Under the pact, the two countries could
complement each other and sharpen their competitive edges in
global service trade. It would help them improve their investment
environment, create business opportunities and lower trade costs,
said the ministry. "The service trade pact is a great chance
for most Chinese enterprises to further tap the Chilean and
Latin American markets," said the ministry spokesman. "It
also means heavier pressure from foreign competitors as well
as the introduction of more advanced technologies and management."
China and Chile signed a FTA in 2005 and put it in effect in
October 2006. Their bilateral trade soared 65 percent year on
yearto 14.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, up from the 23.9 annual
growth of 2006. […]. ^ top ^
80 million may be living in poverty under
new standards (SCMP)
2008-04-14
The number of people officially living in poverty could double
to 80 million if the government adopts proposed standards for
measuring the problem, Xinhua said. Beijing may raise the amount
that must be earned each year to escape poverty, from 1,067
yuan to 1,300 yuan, a 20 per cent jump, which would roughly
double the number of the officially poor. The move would bring
China closer in line with international standards. ^ top ^
UN chief warns of food crisis worldwide
(China Daily)
2008-04-15
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned yesterday that the rapidly
escalating global food crisis has reached emergency proportions
and threatens to wipe out seven years of progress in the fight
against global poverty. He called for short-term emergency measures
in many regions to meet urgent food needs and avoid starvation
and longer-term efforts to significantly increase production
of food grains. The "international community will also
need to take urgent and concerted action in order to avoid the
larger political and security implications of this growing crisis,"
Ban told international finance and trade officials. ^ top ^
Japanese PM asks Hu to find resolution
through dialogue (SCMP)
2008-04-15
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda sent a message to President
Hu Jintao asking him to resolve the Tibet issue through dialogue,
a Japanese minister was quoted as saying. Environment Minister
Ichiro Kamoshita told Japanese reporters in Beijing he delivered
the message when he met Mr Hu on Saturday on the sidelines of
the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan". ^ top ^
China, UK conclude first economic, financial
dialogue with broad consensus (People's Daily)
2008-04-16
China and the United Kingdom (UK) convened their first-ever
economic and financial dialogue in Beijing Tuesday, in which
they reached consensus on facilitating bilateral investment
and cementing joint efforts to solve international problems
including climate change. Wang Qishan, Chinese vice premier
and special representative of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, and
Alistair Darling, British Chancellor of the Exchequer and special
representative of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, co-chaired
the deputy-prime-minister level dialogue. […]The countries
are in favor of market openness, trade and investment liberalization,
and against protectionism, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
They agreed to expand investment and civil high technologies
trade, promote an all-round and balanced development of goods
and service trade, and push forward progress of the Doha Round
negotiations. […]Both sides were concerned about the violent
turbulence of the international financial market triggered by
the fall of the dollar, the lowering of interest rates and the
subprime mortgage crisis in the United States. They agreed to
enhance cooperation among financial supervision departments
and jointly promote the improvement of international finance
supervision system. Meanwhile, the two countries also reached
consensus on cementing cooperation in combating climate change,
expanding technical transfer and pragmatic cooperation in the
areas of energy and environmental protection. […]. ^ top ^
Dalai Lama to visit Swiss capital (SCMP)
2008-04-16
The Dalai Lama will visit the Swiss capital Berne on October
13, where he is scheduled to take part in an inter-faith festival,
the city authorities said. Switzerland is home to a 3,500-strong
exiled Tibetan community, the largest in Europe, and the exiled
Tibetan spiritual leader has visited the country several times. ^ top ^
China, Japan ties set for faster boost
(China Daily)
2008-04-17
President Hu Jintao said he is hoping his forthcoming visit
to Japan will develop bilateral ties. Hu made the remarks yesterday
during a meeting with a Japanese delegation headed by Bunmei
Ibuki, secretary-general of the Japanese Liberal Democratic
Party, and Kitagawa Kazuo, secretary-general of the Komei Party. Hu,
expected to visit Japan early next month - the first by a Chinese
president in a decade - is likely to attend the opening ceremony
of the China-Japan Friendly Exchange Year of Youth. Hu took part
in the opening ceremony by the Chinese side last month in Beijing. According
to Japanese media, Hu will play a game of table tennis with
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on May 8 at Waseda University,
Tokyo. Ping-pong diplomacy is no stranger to the Chinese. The
exchange of table tennis players helped improve ties between
China and the United States and made it possible for then US
President Richard Nixon to visit the country in 1972. […]Hu
said the Chinese government attaches great importance to the
bilateral ties. He said to develop long-lasting, stable and friendly
relations with Japan is China's unswerving policy. As this year
marks the 30th anniversary of the China-Japan Peace and Friendship
Treaty, Hu said the two sides must seize the opportunity to
cement mutual, beneficial cooperation and boost mutual trust. Ibuki
handed a letter to Hu from Fukuda that said the Japanese people
were looking forward to Hu's visit, which he believed would
inject more vigor to the bilateral ties, better benefit the
two peoples, and boost regional and global stability and development.
[…]. ^ top ^
Expert: Unfair to blame China for Africa's
problems (Xinhua)
2008-04-18
It is unfair to blame China for the situation in Darfur and
other African issues as China does not have as much influence
there as some people believe, Kenyan scholar Firoze Manji said
here Wednesday. Manji was speaking at a seminar titled "China
in the World: Implications for Development," sponsored
by the Canadian Council for International Cooperation at the
University of Ottawa. It is unfortunate that China is blamed
for situations such as that in Sudan, with the international
community saying China can play a role in stopping the violence
in Darfur by scaling back trade with the Sudanese government,
said Manji, who is a visiting fellow in International Human
Rights at Kellogg College, University of Oxford. China ... has
no history of colonization, no sponsorship of coup d'etats or
assassinations; it doesn't use aid as a political tool,"
he said. In Manji's opinion, some people simply exaggerate China's
influence in Africa. But how many of you realize that India
has more oil interests in Sudan than China? Surprised, I bet,"
he said. "Portugal has much more (at stake) in Angola than
China. Yet the world seems to think China has much more influence."
China is Africa's third largest trading partner, but it is well
behind the United States, so the blame for Africa's poverty
"can hardly be placed entirely at China's door." Manji
said it was Washington that "opened the doors" to
Africa, and there is little space left for newcomers such as
China, given the current international rules in place. ^ top ^
Groundswell of support fuels tough line
(SCMP)
2008-04-18
Even for those familiar with Beijing's rhetoric against western
media reports on the Olympics and Tibetan unrest, the intensity
of criticism mainland authorities have levelled at CNN has raised
eyebrows worldwide. While debate continues on whether remarks
by CNN commentator Jack Cafferty amounted to an insult to the
Chinese people, analysts say Beijing's reaction is the result
of increasing displeasure at a succession of western reports
on the ensuing crackdown in Tibet and the torch-relay protests.
Liu Jiangyong, from Tsinghua University's Institute of International
Studies, said the leadership drew support for its attack against
CNN from the huge number of Chinese people - whether internet
users, mainland residents or even overseas Chinese - who had
voiced their own protest against what they deem biased western
reports. Beijing's reaction "was also due to all the anti-China
attacks launched against China", Professor Liu said. He
said all these incidents made the Chinese people "more
united in counteracting the anti-China forces", referring
to the violence that has beset the torch relay on several of
its stops and the Tibetan protests. For three straight days,
the Foreign Ministry has demanded an apology from CNN for Cafferty's
remarks. Last week Cafferty, answering a question from a CNN
talk-show host on the difference between China's regime today
and that of 20 or 30 years ago, said: "I think they're
basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for
the last 50 years." Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao "summoned"
the network's bureau chief in Beijing, Jaime FlorCruz, on Wednesday
night to convey the ministry's discontent with a CNN statement
issued on Tuesday, saying it was not an apology at all. Jean-Pierre
Cabestan, head of Hong Kong Baptist University's department
of government and international studies, said Beijing and the
west were engaged in a propaganda war. "China didn't want
to be defeated in this war, so every time they responded to
the western media they became more aggressive," Professor
Cabestan said, adding that such a tactic would certainly backfire.
He said that from Beijing's "extreme reaction" it
obviously saw CNN as a representative of the US government.
He said people should be reminded that CNN was a private business.
"If the network can attract more viewers by having a more
critical view of China, then of course it would do so,"
Professor Cabestan said. He said he believed Beijing's response
was an attempt to divert attention from the Tibetan unrest by
trying to show that "even when it's CNN, it can be very
biased". Mainland chat rooms and blogs are replete with
angry comments about Cafferty's remarks, although few mainlanders
have heard the comments directly. Only those who stay in hotels
for foreign tourists can watch overseas media outlets. But many
bloggers have passed on various versions of excerpts or translated
texts of Cafferty's remarks over the past few days. ^ top ^
New curbs on travel to the mainland - Travel
agents report fresh China visa hurdles; businesses worried (SCMP)
2008-04-18
New visa restrictions have been imposed without warning on travel
to the mainland by the central government - causing fresh consternation
among business leaders and travel agents in Hong Kong. Travel
agents say all travellers - including those taking trips to
Shenzhen - must show return travel tickets and hotel vouchers
to get a visa; that visitors from 33 countries can no longer
get visas in Hong Kong but must apply in their home countries;
and that a new visa has replaced the short-stop visa for Shenzhen.
At least one business traveller has been stranded in Hong Kong
by the restrictions, which were disclosed on Monday to travel
agency couriers and came into effect on Tuesday. The rules have
been issued by the Commissioner's Office of the Foreign Ministry
in Hong Kong. Among the 33 countries whose nationals, travel
agents say, can no longer get visas in Hong Kong are Malaysia,
the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Saudi Arabia,
South Africa, Nigeria and Turkey. The ban does not apply to
people from these countries living in Hong Kong. The changes
come days after travel agents said they had been told on March
27 that no new multiple-entry visas would be issued until October.
In addition, immigration offices at the border stopped issuing
short-stay visas to Shenzhen on April 1, when the commissioner's
office took over the issuing of all visas. The office said yesterday
multiple-entry visas could still be issued. The moves have provoked
acute concern from chambers of commerce, who fear the interests
of Hong Kong companies will be damaged. Daryl Bending, senior
travel consultant with Concorde Travel, said: "We were
told late on Monday with pretty much immediate effect that anyone
wishing to travel to any mainland destination was required to
have a copy of the airline ticket and the hotel voucher before
they apply for a visa. "We were also told about a new visa
for entering Shenzhen, which will effectively replace the on-the-spot
Shenzhen visa that used to be issued at the border. "Previously,
if you went up to the border you could get a visa there, which
was for approximately five days. We were told on Tuesday that
the hotel voucher and proof-of-travel requirement would also
apply to Shenzhen whether the passenger goes by boat, train
or car." Mr Bending said: "I think the restrictions
will deter some foreign tourists from travelling to China at
all and ... put an end to much of the casual traffic from Hong
Kong to Shenzhen for shopping and recreation." The Commissioner's
Office yesterday released a statement confirming that a return
ticket and a hotel voucher was required for a tourist visa and
an additional "visa notification form" for a business
visa. It said the measure was "to spare applicants unnecessary
trouble". It did not respond to queries about a new Shenzhen
visa or new requirements for 33 nationalities. A Hong Kong government
spokesman said: "The government has reflected the views
and concerns of the Hong Kong business community to the mainland
authorities." Rob Schlipper, of Outpac Designs, which makes
travel security products with a Shenzhen firm, said the changes
were "a devastating blow". Malaysian consul general
Cheong Loon Lai said the consulate had received a request for
help from a Malaysian businessman who made a day trip to Hong
Kong during a business trip to the mainland and was not allowed
back over the border. ^ top ^
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| Domestic
Policy |
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Rice subsidy raised as official warns of
drop in farmland (SCMP)
2008-04-15
Rice farmers are to be given more subsidies to encourage farming
as the mainland's top grain official warns of the increasing
difficulty in balancing grain supply and demand amid the global
food shortage crisis. State television quoted Wang Shoucong
, a deputy department head in the Ministry of Agriculture, last
night as saying that subsidies of paddy rice would be raised
from 255 yuan (HK$283) to 375 yuan per hectare to ensure rice
acreage would not shrink further this year. […]. ^ top ^
Death penalty defended after figures show
470 executions (SCMP)
2008-04-16
Beijing yesterday defended its use of the death penalty after
Amnesty International said it was the world's most prolific
executioner last year. The human rights group said it had established
that at least 470 people were executed - an average of nine
a week - and 1,860, or 35 a week, were sentenced to death on
the mainland last year. On a per capita basis, however, the
mainland trailed Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan in the number
of executions last year. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang
Yu said Beijing had no plans to scrap the death penalty. "The
conditions are not right in China to abolish the death penalty,
and it would not be supported by the majority of the people.
But we strictly control it and use it cautiously to ensure that
it is used in only a small minority of the most serious cases."
She did not comment on the accuracy of Amnesty's figures. The
mainland has been slowly reforming the death-penalty system
after several high-profile wrongful convictions raised public
anger. Last year the Supreme People's Court took back its power
of final approval on death penalties, relinquished to provincial
high courts in a crime-fighting campaign in the 1980s. At least
1,252 people were executed in 24 countries last year, the Amnesty
report said. ^ top ^
Activist denied final chance to appeal:
lawyer - Hu Jia 'unavailable' on last day (SCMP)
2008-04-18
Prominent activist Hu Jia appears to have lost his final chance
to overturn his internationally condemned jail term for subversion
after the authorities barred his lawyer from meeting him on
Monday, the last day to lodge an appeal. Hu was sentenced on
April 3 to 3-1/2 years in prison for "subverting the state"
after a one-day trial in March. According to the law, Hu had
10 days to appeal. But Hu's defence lawyer, Li Fangping, said
that when he arrived on Monday at the Beijing No1 Municipal
Detention Centre asking to see his client, he was told Hu was
away for a medical check, a step normally taken before a convict
is transferred to jail. Mr Li waited until closing time and
asked to be allowed to wait until Hu returned, but the request
was denied. He came back the next day and was told the deadline
for appeal had already expired. Neither he nor Hu's wife, Zeng
Jinyan, or mother, Feng Yuan, have been allowed to see Hu since
then. Without access to his client, Mr Li did not know if Hu
had lodged an appeal himself during those 10 days. The activist's
conviction has once again drawn the world's attention to China's
human rights record and highlighted a tightening grip on dissidents
in the run-up to the Olympic Games. US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice has criticised the verdict against Hu as "deeply disturbing"
while the European Union called for his release. Hu was convicted
of spreading malicious rumours and committing libel to subvert
the nation by speaking to overseas journalists and circulating
online articles on China's politics. Legal experts say Hu should
not have been charged as he was only exercising his freedom
of expression - a right enshrined in the mainland constitution
but one that has repeatedly proved to be little more than ornamental.
Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong, detained on April 2005 and
originally sentenced to five years in prison on charges of spying
for Taiwan, was released on parole shortly before the Lunar
New Year. Mr Li said that he sought to see Hu only on the last
day because he wanted to give Hu the maximum amount of time
to think about whether to appeal. "There is no law forbidding
lawyers or family seeing a prisoner during the 10-day period,
but that's what the detention is doing," Mr Li said. "This
is very inhumane." Ms Zeng, Hu's wife, who is still under
tight police surveillance as she struggles to care for their
five-month-old girl, said she was most worried about his health.
Hu, originally a hepatitis-B carrier, developed cirrhosis after
being locked up by police for 41 days in 2006 without access
to medication - a claim the police denied. Hu has also been
a vegetarian for 18 years, and Ms Zeng said she was worried
that he would not be getting the appropriate diet in detention.
"Judicial injustice cannot be mended in a day or two,"
she said. "All we care about now is Hu's health and life.
If we lose him, what else can we hope for?" Mr Li said
defence lawyers were preparing papers to apply for medical parole
on Hu's behalf. But since the detention centre refused to accept
any documents, they could only submit the application and hope
that the centre would pass it on to the appropriate department. ^ top ^
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| Beijing |
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Measures to improve air quality
(China Daily)
2008-04-15
Work at Beijing construction sites will be suspended in the
run-up to, and during, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the
municipal government announced Monday. The suspension - along
with a slew of other initiatives - to be effective from July
20 to September 20, aims to ensure better air quality during
the Games, said Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing
environment protection bureau. Other measures announced yesterday
include: 19 heavy-polluting industries have been asked to cut
emissions by a further 30 percent.
Gas stations, tanker trucks and oil depots will be closed if
they haven't completed "oil vapor recovery" technical
upgrades. Outdoor spray-painting is forbidden throughout the
city. Quarrying operations will be stopped. The measures will
help "fulfill Beijing's commitment to improving air quality
during the Beijing Olympics", Du said. "Enterprises
that shut down or reduce production during the period will be
exempted from pollution emission charges," he added. Last
month, Beijing announced plans to take as many as half of its
3.3 million vehicles off the roads during the Games period to
help cut emissions. Automobiles, excluding taxis, buses and
emergency vehicles, are to stay off roads every other day in
accordance with the even and odd numbers on the license plates,
it was announced. Five provinces and municipalities surrounding
Beijing - Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong provinces and
the Inner Mongolia autonomous region - will join the efforts
to ensure good air quality in the capital. They will announce
detailed plans soon. Du is confident of fulfilling the promise
Beijing has made to the world on air pollution prevention. […]
An IOC study released last month said that competition conditions
would "not necessarily (be) ideal at every moment,"
but said Beijing's air quality was better than expected. Beijing,
which is sometimes shrouded in smog, has spent more than $15
billion over the last decade to clean its air and the improvement
is obvious. […]. ^ top ^
Massive cultural festival planned
(SCMP)
2008-04-16
Beijing is planning the biggest cultural festival in the history
of the Olympics, Games' organiser Bocog said yesterday. The
three-month festival - starting on June 23 - will feature an
all-encompassing celebration of the "big Chinese family",
said Zhao Dongming, director of the Cultural Activities Department
of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games. Members
of ethnic minorities will figure highly in the all-singing,
dancing and mostly live extravaganza, and will include participation
from Tibetans and Xinjiang's Uygurs - the two ethnic minorities
recently at the centre of civil unrest. "I want to emphasise
... there are no limitations. We're going to [celebrate our
culture] like a big family," Mr Zhao said. "This Olympic
Cultural Festival will be the longest in Olympic history ...
and will be the biggest. It will involve the largest number
of performers and enjoy the highest standard of any cultural
activity we've organised." […]. ^ top ^
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| Taiwan |
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Hu: Straits ties face historic opportunity
(China Daily)
2008-04-14
Economic and trade exchanges between the Chinese mainland and
Taiwan face a historic opportunity, Hu Jintao, general secretary
of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said at the
Boao Forum for Asia. Hu made the remarks on Saturday while meeting
with Vincent Siew, chairman of the Taiwan-based Cross-Straits
Common Market Foundation, a non-profit group that works to improve
economic collaboration between Taiwan and the mainland. Hu said
the mainland would continue promoting cross-Straits economic
and cultural exchanges; make efforts to push forward negotiations
on weekend charter flights and mainland tourists' travel to
Taiwan; and step up efforts to restore cross-Straits negotiations.He
said cross-Straits economic exchanges and cooperation had achieved
great progress after 20 years of development but pointed out
that in the last eight years, relations "suffered twists
and turns for reasons known to all", and people on both
sides were not willing to see that. He stressed that the peaceful
development of cross-Straits relations was the shared will and
common interests of compatriots on both sides. Hu said the fact
that the forum attracted so many participants from both home
and abroad reflects Asian countries' and regions' strong desire
to reinforce communication and cooperation and seek win-win
solutions." The fact also inspired us to think deep about
cross-Straits economic exchanges and cooperation under the new
circumstances," Hu said. Siew said the economies of the
mainland and Taiwan are closely related, and the development
of trade and economic relations had contributed to cross-Straits
stability. […].^ top ^
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| Tibet |
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Party secretary pledges to erect
'Great Wall of steel' (SCMP)
2008-04-15
Tibet's Communist Party boss has praised the security forces'
handling of anti-government unrest in the region, an official
newspaper said yesterday. Party and government officials, the
military and police would form a "Great Wall of steel"
against security threats, Zhang Qingli was quoted saying by
the Tibet Daily. "We can definitely achieve total victory
in this struggle against separatism," Mr Zhang said in
a Sunday meeting with the deputy commander and deputy political
commissar of the People's Armed Police. ^ top ^
Police detain 120 Tibetan monks and
supporters in northwest (SCMP)
2008-04-18
Police in the northwest detained about 20 ethnic Tibetan Buddhist
monks yesterday following anti-Chinese protests in February,
according to a source in Beijing with wide contacts among Tibetans.
Another 100 people who tried to prevent the police from detaining
the monks were also taken away, the source said. The monks in
Tongren, in remote Qinghai province , had protested against
police disruption of a Buddhist ceremony in a local monastery,
shouting slogans calling for religious freedom and wishing the
Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled leader, a long life, the source said.
The source did not know the reason for the detentions. ^ top ^
International gateway to Tibet sealed
(SCMP)
2008-04-18
Three Chinese security men shift silently into position so they
are anchored abreast midway across Friendship Bridge, high above
a Himalayan river gorge. It is the only international gateway
into Tibet. As a small group of foreigners approaches, the
guards' unspoken message is clear: the region is off-limits.
After anti-government riots erupted on March 14, Beijing closed
off Tibet to foreign and domestic tourists and cracked down
on Tibetans staging protests. But the mainland's security apparatus
does not stop at the border. Security police can be seen lounging
in tea shops and strolling on the only street in the border
town of Liping. They shadow three journalists from the moment
they arrive, ordering them not to take photographs - on Nepali
territory. And in the capital, Kathmandu, Tibetan exiles say
Beijing is pressuring the government to crush protests by the
world's second-largest Tibetan exile community. "The Chinese
asked us unofficially to co-operate on securing the border.
They are far stricter now," one Nepali immigration official
said. Before the current unrest, about 1,500 foreigners a month
made the rough four-hour car journey on a Chinese-built road
from Kathmandu to the border and on to Lhasa. Chinese authorities
had reversed an earlier decision to reopen Tibet to tourism
on May 1, tour operators in Beijing said last week. There has
been no official indication when the border will reopen. The
International Campaign for Tibet, a US-based activist group,
claims to have information the region may remain sealed until
after the Beijing Olympics end on August 24. "This is the
high season, so we should be getting a full house, but we have
very few guests," said Pabitra Mager, a manager at Liping's
Lhasa Guest House. Nepali frontier officials say there has been
a significant increase in border patrols, and a woman who answered
the telephone at the Public Security Bureau in Zhangmu, the
Tibetan town opposite Liping, also said more police and troops
had been sent to the region. The build-up also means no exit
from Tibet. No refugees have registered at the UN-run Tibetan
Reception Centre in Kathmandu since March 18. Refugees avoid
the well-guarded Friendship Bridge zone, braving instead some
of the world's most treacherous terrain - mountain passes as
high as 5,000 metres along the 1,414km border that are often
swept by sudden snowstorms. In the past, some have been gunned
down by Chinese guards or sentenced to long jail terms after
capture. A few have been forcibly repatriated by the Nepali
authorities despite a 1989 "gentlemen's agreement"
with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Kate Saunders, communications
director for the International Campaign for Tibet, said Chinese
security officials even had a presence in Kathmandu, claiming
they sometimes stood behind Nepali riot police and had directed
the suppression of protests. "China has been given a free
rein in Kathmandu," she said. Nepali Home Ministry spokesman
Modraj Dotel denied Chinese security gave the orders, saying
the protests violated Nepali laws. "We have a one-China
policy and won't allow any protests or activities against China
in Nepal," he said. Nepalis, meanwhile, have been partially
exempt from the border clampdown. Visas for businessmen going
to Lhasa are still granted, and cross-border business continues.
Traders cross the bridge on foot or in trucks, hauling in apples,
Lhasa beer, perfumed laundry powder, wool blankets, rice cookers
and - one of the hottest items - mobile telephones. ^ top ^
Tibet unlikely to reopen on May 1
(SCMP)
2008-04-18
Beijing gave the clearest indication yet yesterday that Tibet
would not be opened to tourists next month as promised. The
Himalayan region has been off-limits to tourists, especially
foreigners, since deadly riots rocked Lhasa on March 14 and
15. But this month, Tibet's tourism authority announced that
the region would reopen on May 1, traditionally one of the peak
travel seasons on the mainland. But some travel agents have
reportedly said they have received official orders to stop arranging
tours to the autonomous region to ensure the Olympic torch's
safe passage to Mount Everest next month. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Jiang Yu said the "temporary measure was made under the
current special circumstances". "The government of
the [Tibet] autonomous region has evaluated the local situation
and made a decision on the ground based on maintaining stability.
We hope the reporters can understand.". ^ top ^
Two monks surrender to police after
riot (SCMP)
2008-04-18
Two Tibetan monks who took part in a riot last month in which
government buildings were ransacked and vandalised have surrendered
to police, Xinhua reported yesterday. About 200 monks broke
down the gates and walls of the government building and police
station in Daogao township in Gansu province, Xinhua said. The
crowd smashed offices, computers and televisions, then raised
the banned Tibetan flag in a school yard, it said. State broadcaster
China Central Television showed two red-robed monks being led
through a building by police. One was shown putting his fingerprint
on a document while a police officer watched. CCTV videos of
the March 18 riots showed dozens of monks pushing over a stone
wall outside a government building. Papers fluttered through
the smoke-filled air as the monks pulled down the sign over
the police station door and overturned a car. The monks who
surrendered, Garzang Samdain and Garzang Samzhou, were from
Goinba Monastery in Zhonyin county, Xinhua said. The reports
did not say when they turned themselves in or what kind of punishment
they would face. Anti-government protests sprang up throughout
Tibetan areas in western parts of the country after demonstrations
in Lhasa turned violent on March 14. Hundreds of shops were
torched, and mobs attacked members of the mainland's majority
Han ethnic group. ^ top ^
|
| Economy |
|
Better IPR protection 'takes time' (China
Daily)
2008-04-18
Top officials Thursday called on Western countries to be patient
and allow China more time to develop a mature system for protecting
intellectual property rights (IPR)."In merely 20-odd years
it is impossible for China to establish IPR protection awareness
similar to that of Western countries," Yin Xintian, spokesman
with the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), said at
a press conference. "As the country's economy expands, so
does the production scale of each product," Yin said. "Taking
all the factors into consideration, it is natural that there
will be some piracy." Yin said IPR infringement, especially
piracy and counterfeiting, was a global issue facing all countries,
including the developed ones. Last week, guidelines on a national
IPR strategy were approved at an executive meeting of the State
Council presided by Premier Wen Jiabao. The strategy includes
greater efforts to crack down on IPR infringement, safeguard
market order and the legal rights of the public, strengthen
international cooperation, adherence to international practice,
and efforts to raise public awareness. "China is a large,
responsible, developing country. We are resolute on IPR protection
issues and have taken concrete steps," Yin said. […]. ^ top ^
Oil and rice prices hit record high (China
Daily)
2008-04-18
Oil prices hit an all-time high above $115 a barrel Thursday
as Asian rice prices soared to record levels to heighten fears
of mass hunger in poor nations. Oil peaked yesterday amid concerns
about sagging US gasoline supplies ahead of the peak demand
of the Northern Hemisphere summer. The US Energy Department
said on Wednesday that inventories of gasoline fell 5.5 million
barrels last week, a much bigger decline than forecast by analysts
surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. Crude inventories fell 2.3 million
barrels last week, the department's Energy Information Administration
(EIA) also reported, compared to the gain analysts expected. "The
market has focused on the substantial draw in gasoline in the
US and also the large crude oil draw," said Victor Shum,
an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "The
report has provided a knee-jerk reaction for the market and
has driven oil to a new high. " Light, sweet crude for May
delivery rose as high as $115.21 a barrel in electronic trading
on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It eased back to $114.75
a barrel, mid-afternoon in Singapore. That is 18 cents lower
than the overnight settlement record of $114.93 a barrel. During
Wednesday's floor session, oil futures made their first move
past the $115 mark. The surge in oil prices reflected concerns
about how much gasoline will be available during America's driving
season. The EIA report also said inventories of distillates,
which include heating oil and diesel, unexpectedly rose last
week by about 100,000 barrels. Analysts had expected a sharp
decline. Oil prices were also boosted by the falling dollar,
which declined to a new low against the euro on Wednesday. Many
investors buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation
and a falling greenback. A weaker dollar also makes oil cheaper
to investors overseas. ^ top ^
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| Avian
flu |
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Bird flu human mutation ruled
out (China Daily)
2008-04-15
The bird flu virus that spread from a son to his father showed
no signs of human mutation, a spokesman for the Ministry of
Health, Mao Qun'an, said yesterday. It showed no biological features
for human-to-human transmission, he said. […]A 52-year-old
man contracted the virus from close contact with his infected
son, who died despite treatment. Both men had not come into
contact with sick or dead poultry. The World Health Organization
defined the Nanjing case as "limited, non-sustained, person-to-person
transmission", and dismissed speculation that the virus
had mutated into a form easily transmitted between humans. "Laboratory
tests showed the virus detected in the body of the father and
son was an animal-borne one that affects only birds, and not
humans," Mao told China Daily. […]. ^ top ^
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| Beijing
Olympics |
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Carrefour denies Net claims of meddling
in politics - French retail chain hits back at online calls
for boycott (SCMP)
2008-04-17
French retail giant Carrefour yesterday rejected an onslaught
of internet criticism that it had meddled in Chinese politics
and supported Tibetan independence, amid growing online calls
for a boycott of it. "The rumours that the Carrefour Group
supports illegal political organisations are completely fabricated
and groundless," it said on its Chinese website. "Carrefour
has never done and will never do anything to hurt the Chinese
people's feelings." In Paris, Carrefour made the same statement
on Tuesday, saying the information about its role in domestic
politics or China's international relations was false and unfounded.
Chat room and mobile phone messages have called on Chinese people
to boycott French products and organisations over the past week
in response to the Olympic torch relay protests in Paris and
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's suggestion that he would
not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics unless
China reopened dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Furious netizens
also accused Carrefour, one of the most popular supermarket
chains on the mainland, of supporting groups that supported
independence for Tibet and urged a boycott, particularly on
the May 1 public holiday. Mobile phone messages spread quickly
saying: "Carrefour's major shareholder, Louis Vuitton,
has made huge donations to the Dalai Lama, so please tell all
your friends and relatives not to go there." The firm denied
the charge and "reserved the right to take legal action
against individuals and organisations that make up and spread
the vicious slander". It also insisted that it supported
the Olympics and was preparing for the event. The company has
122 stores on the mainland, employing more than 40,000 people.
French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani played
down the threat of boycotts and criticism. "We listen to
the voice of the Chinese people, which is a friendly people,
but the calls for a boycott are being made by a very small minority,
and we have no knowledge of any effect of these initiatives
on our economic relations," she said. Ms Andreani appeared
to be responding to her Chinese counterpart, Jiang Yu, who said
on Tuesday that "we hope the French side can listen to
the Chinese people's voices concerning the recent problems and
adopt an objective position". But it was unclear whether
the voices for a boycott would fade. […]. ^ top ^
Chinese torch guards a 'mistake' (SCMP)
2008-04-17
London Mayor Ken Livingstone said on Tuesday it was a mistake
to allow Chinese police to guard the Olympic torch when it was
paraded through the British capital earlier this month. "It
was wrong and should not have happened," Mr Livingstone
told a BBC Radio London debate. Mr Livingstone was asked if
he knew in advance that the Olympic torch guards were members
of China's paramilitary People's Armed Police, and he said he
did not. "Had I known, I would have said it was unacceptable,"
he said. ^ top ^
Volunteers guard the sacred flame (China
Daily)
2008-04-18
Chinese Olympic torch escorts who put their lives on the line
to protect the sacred flame should be commended, the Foreign
Ministry said Thursday. "They protect the world's holy
fire with their bodies to prevent disruption and sabotage by
Tibetan independence forces. Such spirit should be praised and
understood," Jiang Yu said in a regular press briefing."
(Instead) The mobs which disrupt the relay should be universally
condemned."She made the remarks when asked to comment on
reports that Japanese Olympic officials have said the role of
the Chinese torch guards in blue-and-white track suits would
not be to provide security. Australian officials reportedly
voiced the same objection to the guards' participation in the
Canberra leg of the relay. Jiang stressed that the escorts are
not law enforcement personnel but volunteers with a clear and
sacred mission of protecting the safety, sanctity and dignity
of the Olympic torch, and urged countries involved in the relay
to aid their mission. She pointed out that the convention of
having torch guards in the relay was approved by the International
Olympic Committee (IOC). "The practice has always been
the same in past Games and the IOC has given it 100 percent
support," Jiang said. […]. ^ top ^
Beijing Olympic torch relay in New Delhi
a "success" (People's Daily)
2008-04-18
The President of the Indian Olympic Association, Suresh Kalmadi,
said Thursday's Olympic torch relay in the capital New Delhi
was a success. "The spirit of the Olympics is universal
and should be upheld by the whole world," said Kalmadi,
who ran the first leg of the relay between Rashtrapati Bhavan,
the presidential palace, and India Gate. India's sports minister
M. S. Gill expressed his heartfelt wishes for the Beijing Olympic
Games and said he will attend the grand sports event in August.
During the torch relay, more than 400 expatriate Chinese from
the eastern Indian city of Calcutta performed a traditional
Chinese lion dance to celebrate the occasion. Some 15,000 security
guards were deployed along the 2.3-km relay route to guarantee
the success of the torch relay, in which 70 torchbearers participated.
Police said some "pro-Tibet independence" activists
had tried to sabotage the relay and about 180 people were arrested
near the relay route. New Delhi was the 11th stop on the Olympic
flame's global journey. The next leg will be held in Thailand's
capital Bangkok on Saturday. The torch is set to leave for Bangkok
Thursday evening. ^ top ^
Paralympian ignorant of the Tibetan
movement (SCMP)
2008-04-18
Jin Jing, the young woman in a wheelchair who clung to the Olympic
torch while a protester tried to wrestle it away in Paris, said
she had no idea why the incident happened. Before then, she
had never heard of the Tibetan independence movement. As the
28-year-old paralympic fencer faced reporters in her first news
conference at home in Shanghai, she was asked why the protesters
were so angry. "I hope you in the media can answer that
for me. I don't pay attention to politics.". ^ top ^
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| Mongolia |
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PM's visit to Russia (Mongol Messenger)
2008-04-16
Mongolian Prime Minister, S. Bayar paid an official visit to
Russia from April 10 to 12.
The Prime Minister met with the Russian PM B.A.Zubkov in second
day of the official visit. The two Ministers briefly touched
on the prospects of bilateral relations between two countries
in the near future, new directions in cooperation and other
pressing issues.
After the meeting the two Ministers held enlarged talks including
two sides' officials. During the talks, the sides stressed the
successful development of the traditional friendly relations
under the Moscow Declaration signed by the Presidents of RF
and Mongolian in 2006 and confirmed their desire to further
extend, preserve and develop these relations, as well as to
develop active cooperation in the South-East Asian Region.
On the same day, a total of eleven official papers were signed
in relation to cooperation on veterinary services, civil flights,
the standardization of measurements, education, cultural and
art sectors.
Later in the afternoon the Prime Minister called on President
V. Putin. He expressed the hope that President Putin would support
the ideas discussed during the current visit, namely the issue
of technical innovation of the UB Railways, petroleum supply,
cooperation in uranium extraction, processing and production,
the transfer of the Russian-owned apartment houses to Mongolia
etc.,
After the official visit to Russia, Mongolian Prime Minister
S. Bayar left for Vienna, Austria. ^ top ^
Increased the number of international
flights through Mongolian airspace (Mongol Messenger)
2008-04-16
Mongolia got has increased the number of international flights
over the country, bringing a significant increase in the country's
hard currency earnings. Today, three new “gates” were
opened via Niksal in the south and Bumak and Wamol in the north,
and currently 26 companies have applied to use the 13 new routes.
It is hoped this year to increase the annual number of transit
flights through Mongolian airspace to 70-75.000, earning fees
of MNT 75 billion. ^ top ^
Agreement of operation of the Oyu Tolgoi
may be finalized (Mongol Messenger)
2008-04-16
Mongolian officials say they expect that an agreement of operation
of the Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mine may be finalized within
weeks.
With election scheduled for June, parliament members may reach
consensus on key changes to the previous agreement with Ivanhoe
Mines and Rio Tinto. One key revision will give Mongolia a 51
percent share rather than the 34 percent previously agreed on.
In March the estimated expected revenue from Oyu Tolgoi was
increased by 44 percent; the deposit is now estimated to contain
45.2 million ounces and 79 billion pounds of copper. ^ top ^
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Patricia Straessle
Embassy of Switzerland
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The Press review is a random selection
of political and social related news gathered from various media
and news services located in the PRC, edited or translated by
the Embassy of Switzerland in Beijing and distributed among Swiss
Government Offices. The Embassy does not accept responsibility
for accuracy of quotes or truthfulness of content. Additionally
the contents of the selected news mustn't correspond to the opinion
of the Embassy.
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