China slams Bush, Dalai Lama meeting
From Max Lee
The Daily Mail’s
Special Correspondent in Beijing

BEIJING—China criticized US President George W. Bush yesterday for meeting the Dalai Lama this week, and dismissed Washington's annual report on religious freedom as groundless. "The Dalai Lama is not a simple or a pure religious figure. He is a political exile who undertakes secessionist activities abroad," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular news briefing." We oppose meetings between him and other leaders”.
Bush's White House meeting with the Dalai Lama on Wednesday came just days ahead of his Beijing visit scheduled for November 19-21. "Other leaders should not provide a platform for him to separate the country," Liu said.
On Tuesday, the Bush administration, in a report to Congress, labeled China a serious violator of religious freedom along with Myanmar, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Viet Nam, Iran, Sudan, Eritrea and Saudi Arabia. Liu said the State Department's annual report on religious freedom, which said China restricts religious practice to State-sanctioned groups, made groundless accusations.
"We urge the US Government to stop interfering in China's religious affairs under the guise of the religion issue," Liu said, adding all people in all regions in China enjoy religious freedom in accordance with the law. But Liu stressed the two incidents would not overshadow Bush's visit to Beijing.
"The importance will not be diminished by a single incident," he said. "The visit will achieve its planned goals”. In the face of a widening U.S. trade deficit with China, US President George W. Bush will pressure China to make good on a pledge of economic concessions on an Asia tour that will also focus on fighting bird flu and North Korea's nuclear program, a top aide said on Thursday, the Reuters reported.
Bush, facing political turmoil at home over the Iraq war, soaring gasoline prices and a CIA leak probe, leaves on Monday for a week-long trip to Japan, South Korea, China and Mongolia. White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Bush would try to advance cooperation on top priorities but did not expect to come home with specific agreements.
Struggling to contain a U.S. trade deficit with China that is running at an annual rate approaching$200 billion, Bush wants Chinese President Hu Jintao to liberalize China's currency system and let the yuan rise in value. US politicians and business lobby groups complain it has been kept at too low a level, harming US manufacturers.
Hadley said China has done little to adjust the yuan currency since an initial adjustment was announced in July, and that Bush will urge Beijing to take additional steps toward a market-based currency.
"There was some initial adjustment, an initial evaluation, and very little since. And I think what the president will urge is that the Chinese begin to take steps toward their own stated objective that market factors be taken into account in the valuation of their currency," he said.
Bush will also urge China to take steps to protect intellectual property rights.
At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan, South Korea, on November 18 and 19, Bush will seek to advance international cooperation on controlling avian flu and North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
The bird flu has killed 62 people in four countries, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, and has become entrenched in poultry flocks across much of Asia and into Europe.
With a new round of talks currently under way about North Korea's nuclear program, Bush will try to maintain unity among the governments party to the negotiations-- the United States, Japan, South Korea, Russia and China-- while not trying to launch any new initiatives.
"While it will be a topic of discussion, you shouldn't expect any major new initiatives out of that," Hadley said.
In talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Kyoto, Bush will urge Koizumi to "use his strong electoral mandate to continue his efforts to promote economic reform," Hadley said.

$1.7b deals dominate Hu’s German agenda

BERLIN—Lucrative commercial deals dominated the agenda on the first day of President Hu Jintao’s first state visit to Germany yesterday.
The eight deals worth US$1.7 billion were scheduled to be signed after talks between Hu and German President Horst Koehler, who officially welcomed his Chinese counterpart with full military honours at the historic Charlottenburg Palace.
The largest deal would be an agreement with German electronics giant Siemens to produce 60 high-speed ICE trains valued at nearly US$1.5 billion for China.
Other agreements would cover environmental technology, power generation, banking, telecommunications, sanitation, culture and construction of a friendship hospital.
These agreements are set to deepen trade links between China and Germany, which is China’s largest trade partner in the European Union, and spur economic co-operation.
Bilateral trade amounted to US$54.2 billion last year, accounting for one third of China-EU trade, and is estimated to hit US$130 billion by 2010.
At the end of last year, Germany’s direct investment in China had reached US$9.9 billion.
During their talks, Hu on a four-day visit and Koehler agreed to raise Sino-German relations to a new level through maintaining exchanges of high-level visits and more fruitful co-operation.
Hu hailed Germany as an important and reliable partner in China’s course to build a well-off society.
He added that the extensive interests shared by the two countries in a complicated, globalized and multi-polar world have laid a solid political foundation for developing bilateral ties.
Hu arrived in the German capital from Britain on the second leg of a three-nation European tour which also takes in Spain.
He is scheduled to meet outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and chancellor-designate Angela Merkel today.
Before wrapping up his three-day visit to London, Hu assured Britain that China would stick to a path of peaceful development characterized by peace, openness and co-operation.
Such a road for China is “an inevitable choice” based on its national conditions, its historical and cultural traditions and the current development trend in today’s world, he told a Wednesday dinner hosted by Alderman Michael Savory, the Lord Mayor of the City of London.
“China’s growth means more opportunities and a bigger market for the rest of the world,” President Hu stressed.
Adding cultural colour to his diplomatic mission, Hu and Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated a spectacular exhibition featuring more than 400 treasures at the Royal Academy of Arts on Wednesday.
The exhibition, “China: The Three Emperors 1662-1795,” features the artistic riches of imperial China during the reign of the three most powerful emperors of the Qing Dynasty, China’s last dynasty, and will last until April 2006.

—The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item

Pak joins Euro-Asia Economic Forum
From Javed Akhtar ( APP)

BEIJING—Pakistan will closely work with Euro-Asia Economic Forum to develop economic ties at bilateral and regional levels, said Mukhtar Ahmed, adviser to Prime Minister on Energy.
He said while speaking at the first meeting of the forum, held Friday in Xi'an, capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Pakistan, he said is engaged in promoting comprehensive partnership with China and other regional countries to improve the socio-economic life of their people.
Delegates from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, India, Iran, Japan, the Republic of Korea as well as China also attended the meeting that discussed topics concerning energy, tourism and finance cooperation in this region.
The forum was co-hosted by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the State Development Bank and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). Sources told APP that Pakistan's side during the meeting put forth a number of proposals for achieving the common goals.
This was the first time for the SCO to cooperate with other international organization in holding large-scale economic seminar in China. Pakistan was also represented at the meeting by Ambassador Salman Bashir.
During the forum, parallel sessions on tourism cooperation, energy cooperation, financial cooperation and a roundtable meeting of governors and mayors were also held.
The participants hoped that the nations of the Euro-Asia Continent to take real action to push for the building of the economic integration in the region. They underlined the need of greater cooperation building a transportation network of highways, railways and pipelines, jointly explore mineral resources, enhance technological cooperation, and develop cooperation in the tourism industry.
Only through joint efforts and effective cooperation, can we advance the process of economic integration in the Euro-Asia Continent and also, achieve sustainable social and economic development in individual countries," they added.
At the opening ceremony, Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov said the forum has vital significance for member nations' economic and cultural co-operation.
"We expect this forum to help the countries in this region and for constructive dialogue to seek the best path for economic and trade co-operation," he added.
Chinese leader Wu Bangguo said co-operation in the development of energy, tourism, transportation and environmental protection should be Europe and Asia's joint priority.

Bush to visit China on 19th
From Max Lee

BEIJING—The Chinese Foreign Ministry has announced that US President George W. Bush will visit China from November 19 to 21 at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao made the statement in Beijing on Friday.
The US President's upcoming visit will be his third to China. His Asian trip will also take him to Japan, South Korea and Mongolia. He will also attend the 13th APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Busan, South Korea.
During a recent round-table interview with Asian reporters at the White House, President Bush said he is looking forward to visiting China once again. He also reiterated that the United States will continue to adhere to its one-China policy and does not support "Taiwan independence”.