Growth a chance for investors: Wen

KUALA LUMPUR—China’s rapid economic rise spells an opportunity, not a threat, to the rest of East Asia, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reassured leaders from neighbouring countries on Monday ahead of a regional summit.
“China’s development not only benefits its 1.3 billion people but also provides more opportunities for other East Asian countries,” Wen told a conference being held in the run-up to the inaugural East Asian summit in Malaysia’s capital on Wednesday.
Trade between China and ASEAN grew by 25 percent in the first half of 2005, and China is the block’s fourth largest trading partner. Trade volume for the first six months of 2005 totalled $59.76 billion.
The premier noted that as Chinese companies continue to expand in business, China will contribute more significantly to Asia’s economic growth. “With domestic demand growing, China will import more than $2 trillion of goods in the next five years,” said Wen.
With import growing by an average annual rate of over 15 percent in recent years, China ranks the world’s third largest and Asia’s largest importer. In 2004, China’s import from other Asian countries and areas grew by 35 percent over 2003 to about US$370 billion.
“China is committed to East Asia cooperation in the interest of fostering a harmonious, secure and prosperous neighbourly environment,” the Chinese Premier said.
“China hopes that such cooperation will promote regional peace and prosperity and create a friendly international environment that will facilitate its development endeavour. China is proud to be a good neighbour, good friend and good partner of other Asian countries”.
China and ASEAN in 2002 agreed to establish a free trade area, and Beijing has also signed bilateral trade agreements with Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
The Chinese Premier also promised that China would continue to reform its currency regime.
China revalued its currency by 2.1 percent against the dollar this July and scrapped its decade-long peg to the dollar.
“In introducing this reform and adjustment, we have taken full account of both China’s economic and financial stability and the impact of such reform and adjustment on the economic and financial stability of China’s neighbours, the whole region, and the world at large,” Wen said.
“We will continue to do so in the future”.
China will also take an active part in energy cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit, Wen said, adding that China is ready to strengthen energy dialogue and cooperation with other countries to ensure global energy security and stability.
Being both a major energy producer and a major energy consumer, China meets over 90 percent of its overall energy demand with domestic supply, and will adhere to the policy of meeting its energy need mainly through domestic supply, he said.
China will promote both energy development and energy conservation, and give top priority to energy conservation, Wen said, adding: “Our goal is to cut the use of energy per unit of the GDP by about 20 percent by 2010, and achieve energy conservation and efficiency for the whole country”.
The East Asia summit is being convened by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and will provide opportunities for bilateral discussion. But Beijing said ahead of the summit that Wen and other leaders would not hold separate meetings with Koizumi.

(The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item)
                                                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                                       
Jordanian forces expect further co-op with PLA
From Max Lee
The Daily Mail’s Special Correspondent in Beijing

BEIJING—China appreciates Jordan’s concern with Chinese victims in Amman bomb attacks last month, said a senior Chinese military officer here Monday.
Liang Guanglie, chief of General Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), made the remarks when holding talks with Khalid Sarayreh, chairman of Joint Chief of Staff of the Jordanian Armed Forces, who is accompanying Jordanian King Abdullah II on a visit to China from Dec. 10 to 13.
Three Chinese were killed and one injured on the evening of Nov. 9 local time in the bomb attacks against three hotels in Amman. They were members of a delegation from China’s University of National Defense, which happened to stay at one of the hotels.
After the bomb attacks happened, the Jordanian armed forces made great efforts to save and treat the injured Chinese people in the explosion, and provided coordination to China in dealing with problems concerning the victims in the accident. Jordanian King Abdullah II met the Chinese delegation at Amman, expressing condolences to the victims and the injured people.
During his visit to China this time, the King visited families of the victims and met the injured Chinese people again on Sunday, saying that the Jordanian royal family, government and people were deeply concerned with them.
“We appreciate the Jordanian side’s concern with the Chinese people,” Liang Guanglie told Sarayreh.
Liang said the Chinese armed forces value relations with their Jordanian counterpart, believing that the exchanges and cooperation between the two armed forces will be further expanded.
Liang also expressed appreciation of Jordan’s adherence to one-China policy.
Sarayreh extended sympathy to families of the Chinese victims and the injured in the bomb attacks. Jordan cherishes profound feelings towards the Chinese government and people, Sarayreh said, noting that the Jordanian armed forces are ready to work with the Chinese side to further enhance exchanges and cooperation in various fields, in an effort to push forward the relations between the two countries and two armed forces.

                                                                                                                                                                           
Chinese mourn dead after village shootings

DONGZHOU (China)—Mourners burned paper money in the street Monday in a traditional ritual for the dead after the Chinese government detained the commander of forces that shot and killed people protesting land seizures in a southern village. Police in black uniforms guarded this coastal village northeast of Hong Kong, stopping vehicles entering the community and checking the identities of visitors.
The government tried Sunday to defuse local anger by announcing the detention of a commander whose forces opened fire Tuesday on villagers protesting the seizure of land for construction of a power plant. The government put the death toll at three, while villagers said as many as 20 people were killed. If the higher death toll is confirmed, this would be the deadliest known use of force by authorities since hundreds, if not thousands, were killed around Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989.
Officials contacted by phone refused to identify the commander. But the Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao, which has close ties to the Beijing government, gave his surname as Wu and said he was deputy police chief of the nearby city of Shanwei. On Monday, mourners burned paper money in the street in front of their home. Neighbors said they were the family of a man in his 20s who was killed in Tuesday’s violence.
A woman, said to be the dead man’s mother, lay on the ground looking exhausted. An elderly woman slumped between two people who supported her. Visitors wearing white cloth on their heads, a gesture of mourning, left condolence money in a box on the ground. Another villager who refused to give his name said his neighbor had been killed and officials had refused to return the body to the dead man’s family unless they agreed to cremate him immediately. The family was offered $5,000 in compensation if it accepted the terms, the man said.
The shootings Tuesday were the most violent clash yet in a series of confrontations in areas throughout China between police and villagers angry at seizures of land for power plants, shopping malls and other projects. The government tried Sunday to mollify Dongzhou residents, announcing that medical teams were being sent from the provincial capital, Guangzhou, to treat the wounded.
But authorities also have sought to enforce order with a show of force as hundreds of police in riot gear patrolled the town. On Monday, police had set up a checkpoint about six miles outside the village, where they stopped vehicles and asked passengers to step out to be frisked.
In the village, officials were hanging up red banners calling on the public to “Strike at lawbreakers and uphold social order.” Loudspeakers also blared warnings into the streets, telling people: “Don’t make trouble, don’t spread gossip”. The detained commander’s “wrong actions” were to blame for the deaths, said a statement issued Sunday by the government of Guangdong province, where Dongzhou is located. It did not say what his actions were.
Suspects in China often are detained for questioning and further investigation before police decide whether to arrest them formally and file charges. The government earlier defended the shootings, saying police opened fire after protesters armed with knives, spears and dynamite attacked a power plant before turning on authorities.
Villagers earlier had hung up banners appealing to the Chinese government to intervene in the dispute, according to residents. They said those banners were torn down Tuesday and burned by authorities. Villagers said the dispute was simmering for more than a year. The resentment boiled over Dec. 6, when thousands of protesters gathered outside the power plant and at a main intersection of the village, witnesses said. Most people interviewed asked not to be identified, for fear of official retaliation.
By the government’s count, China had more than 70,000 cases of rural unrest last year. The incidents have alarmed communist leaders, who are promising to spend more to raise living standards in the poor countryside, home to about 800 million people.—Agencies

China trumps US as top IT product exporter

PARIS—China surpassed the United States as the world’s top exporter of laptop computers, mobile phones and other information and communications technology devices in 2004, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Monday.
China exported $180 billion worth of so-called ICT goods in 2004, compared with US exports of $149 billion, the OECD, a free-market agency funded by 30 countries, said.
OECD officials said that China was likely to take top spot in 2005 too, but hard proof would take many months to collect.
The United States was world leader in 2003 with $137 billion worth of exports of ICT goods, followed by China with $123 billion, the OECD said in a statement.
“The data show a shift toward more trade between China and other Asian countries, with a corresponding decline in ICT imports to this region from the European Union and the US,” it said.
China’s Lenovo Group Ltd has long dominated the Chinese computer market, the world’s second largest, but it burst onto the world stage this year as the third-biggest maker of computers with the purchase of International Business Machines Corp’s PC business, behind Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co.
China used to rely heavily on Europe and the United States for computer chips and other components but is now turning to suppliers in Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, and its Taiwan region, the OECD said.
“China itself is also manufacturing and exporting more electronic components than ever before, with these now forming China’s second-largest export item, after computers and related equipment,” it said.—Agencies

Roche licences Chinese firm to produce Tamiflu
From Our Correspondent

BEIJING—Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG said Monday it has chosen 12 potential partners for the production of Tamiflu and granted one sublicense for the antiviral drug to Shanghai Pharmaceutical.
Roche said it will grant Shanghai Pharmaceutical rights for the overall production of Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir, for use in China. “They are allowed to and they will produce the drug from the beginning to the end,” said Piller.
Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group also announced the licensing agreement Monday at its website Monday, saying “Roche and Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group have signed the first sub-licensing agreement for the overall production of oseltamivir for pandemic use in China”.
An official with the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group said its products will not bear the name of “Tamiflu”, but the ingredients and quality will be the same with Tamiflu produced by Roche.
He said the group aims to form a monthly production capacity of 200,000 treatments in six months in the first step.
According to the official, the group made the request to produce and sell Tamiflu under a sub-license in November.
The announcement said Roche is also “in negotiations for local partnerships in other countries”.
Roche said it compiled the shortlist of potential partners, which it did not identify, after evaluating around 200 applicants interested in helping with certain steps in the manufacture of Tamiflu. It didn’t say how many it would finally choose.
Roche said it would mainly use the partners, which include major pharmaceutical makers, large generic manufacturers and specialty chemical producers, as backups, to meet specific regional needs and to prepare for any large additional government orders in the future.
“We are now also in the position to have a backup supply in case of an emergency,” said David Reddy, who heads Roche’s influenza pandemic task force.

China’s AIDS vaccine tests going smoothly

NANNING (China)—China’s human trials of an AIDS vaccine were proceeding “smoothly,” Xinhua reported, nine months after the program was launched. The last batch of 15 Chinese volunteers received the vaccine over the weekend and reported no side-effects in the crucial first 24 hours, Xinhua news agency quoted medical officials involved in the trial as saying.
“The first 24 hours are a vital period for observation,” the deputy director of the Guangxi regional disease prevention and control centre in the nation’s south, Chen Jie, said. “So far, no volunteers have reported ill reactions. They have entered a relatively stable period for observation”.
The latest inoculations bring to 49 the number of Chinese volunteers to have received the potential AIDS vaccine since the centre began trials on March 12 in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. “So far the tests have been going on smoothly,” Chen said.
With all the 49 volunteers inoculated, the first phase of the three-phase trials has come to an end. The initial gathering of clinical data from the volunteers will be completed in June next year, after which a decision will be made on whether the centre can go ahead with phase two, Chen said.
The second phase of the trials will test the immune nature and safety of the vaccine, according to Chen. There have been about 35 AIDS vaccine trials on humans throughout the world, most of which are still in the first phase, according to Xinhua.
In the 24-year history of AIDS, only one vaccine has completed the full three-phase trial process — AIDSVAX, which was found to be a disappointing failure. In the latest trial to make headlines, Swedish researchers announced on December 1 that their trial for a so-called DNA vaccine against the AIDS virus was going better than expected.
The vaccine had successfully completed the first phase of tests among 40 Swedish HIV-negative volunteers, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm said. “It has been more effective than we thought it would be,” the professor and head of clinical testing at the institute, Eric Sandstroem, told newsmen.
“We have also failed to find any vaccine-related side effects at all”. Karolinska professor Britta Wahren, who developed the vaccine, also expressed optimism.—Agencies