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China
earmarks $476 million for AIDS control
BEIJING—China has planned to spend 3.86 billion yuan (about 476 million
U.S. dollars) on AID/HIV prevention and control efforts in three years
beginning from this year.
The central government has attached great importance to HIV/AIDS
prevention and control work, with the financial support in this regard
keeping rising, according to a report on development of Chinese youth
for 1998-2004 period.
The report was published by China Youth and Children Research Center and
the Department of International Communications with the Central
Committee of the China Communist Youth League.
According to the report, the state coffers shed 1.2 billion yuan on
HIV/AIDS prevention and control between 2003 and 2004, comparing 100
million yuan in 2001.
In addition to drafting a range of median and long-term plans concerning
HIV/AIDS prevention and control, China has also constructed 127
demonstration zones across the country with the mission of preventing
and controlling HIV/AIDS in a comprehensive way.
In the meantime, relevant departments have also stepped up efforts to
publicize knowledge on puberty, sex, blood donation gratis, narcotics
control, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STD).
Special lectures on HIV/AIDS prevention and control, prohibition of
narcotics and environmental protection were given at all primary and
middle schools across the country starting from the spring semester in
2003.
Courses featuring prevention and control of HIV/AIDS are offered at all
Chinese colleges of higher learning and middle schools by this year.
China had about 840,000 HIV carriers by late 2004. Out of the reported
HIV carriers, 82 percent were people aged 20 to 39, and 7.4 percent were
teenagers below the age of 19, said the report.—Agencies
Hu pledges support for Tsang govt
BEIJING—Chinese President Hu Jintao had a meeting here on Tuesday with
Donald Tsang, chief executive of China’s Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region (HKSAR), to hear the latter’s report on his job.
After Tsang’s report, the president said that Hong Kong’s overall
situation is good, featuring sustained economic growth, social
stability, and improved living standards.
The central government is satisfied with the work of Tsang and the HKSAR
government, Hu said, pledging to continue to wholeheartedly support the
chief executive and the HKSAR government.
Regarding the HKSAR government’s consultation with the public on methods
for selecting the chief executive in 2007 and forming the Legislative
Council in 2008, Hu said that the HKSAR government’s package for
constitutional development is in conformity with the Basic Law and
relevant explanations and resolutions of the Standing Committee of the
National People’s Congress (NPC), that it has won wide support from the
public, and is a plan that further promotes democracy.
The constitutional development in Hong Kong concerns the principle of
“one country, two systems”, the implementation of theBasic Law in Hong
Kong, the interests of all walks of life in HongKong, and long-term
prosperity and stability Hong Kong, he pointedout. “The central
authorities have always attached great importance to it,” he stressed.
The central authorities have constantly supported the HKSAR’s
development of democracy in accordance with the Basic Law and HongKong
realities, the president said.
The implementation of “one country, two systems”, “Hong Kong people
governing Hong Kong”, and a high degree of autonomy aims tomake Hong
Kong compatriots masters of their own destiny and able to exercise their
democratic rights, Hu said. But as in any country or region, where the
development of democracy is a gradual,historical process, the
development of democracy in Hong Kong alsohas to be promoted in a
step-by-step, substantial and orderly way,he said.
The president said that the Hong Kong democratic system is sureto
advance in an orderly and gradual manner, providing the Hong Kong people
from all walks of life give priority to the overall interests of Hong
Kong and its long-term prosperity and stability,and conduct pragmatic
studies and attain consensus extensively andmake efforts actively to
create conditions.
Hu said that it is a common aspiration of the Hong Kong people,at
present, to maintain stability, accelerate development, and promote
harmony. He expressed his hope that the HKSAR government and Hong Kong
people from all walks of life cherish the hard-won sound situation in
Hong Kong. He also hoped that they would unite and make concerted
efforts to constantly enhance Hong Kong’s international competitiveness
and create a better future for Hong Kong.
Present at the meeting were Vice-President Zeng Qinghong, member of the
Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Wang Gang,
State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, and Vice-chairman of the National
Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Liao
Hui, among others.—Agencies
China sees bright
prospects of Pak rice import
BEIJING—China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export
Corp (COFCO) and prominent Chinese companies assured their support,
finding a big market for Pakistani rice. The assurance was given to a
delegation of Pakistani rice exporters visiting China.
During meetings with the delegation, COFCO officials said Pakistani
exporters could have ample opportunities to sell their product in the
local market, especially long-grain rice. China was planning to import
2.3 million tons grain rice this year. But so far its import was only
around 4000,000 lakh tons. According to an estimate, initially
Pakistan’s annual rice supply to China could be around 50,000 tons.
Pakistan exporters will be required to launch an aggressive and
consistent campaign to find potential buyers, said a delegation member.
“We hope to successfully compete with rice exporters from other
countries by presenting better quality on relatively less price,” he
said talking to APP.
During the visit, the delegation had productive meetings with major rice
buyers in Shanghai. Free-Banspati rice-testing was also arranged on the
occasion by the Pakistan Consulate General that received a encouraging
response. The city’s big stores show their willingness to sell Pakistani
rice. According to sources, Pakistan’s rice growers and exporters have
bright prospect to get a reasonable profit, since tariff on agriculture
products will come to zero from January, 1, under the Early Harvest
Programme, recently signed by the two countries.
Meanwhile, an official from China’s Chamber of Commerce for Import and
Export of Foodstuffs and Native Produce said that China will encourage
import of agro-based products from Pakistan, including rice and fruit.
Pakistani side will have no problem of ‘quota restriction, he added. The
Chinese government has already completed necessary legal requirements
allowing import of Pakistani rice and mango from this year.
The official hoped the food trade would give a big boost to their
economic ties. Pakistan will be required to make greater efforts to
clinch a reasonable share of its food products, since it is a new player
in the field. An official of the Pakistan Embassy hoped that private
sector will work out a proper and long-term strategy to capture the
opportunity.—APP
China to build
two new nuclear plants
LIAONING (China)—Following the operational start-ups of 11 nuclear
reactors in the south and east, China next year will begin building two
nuclear plants which contain two reactors each, in Northeast China’s
Liaoning Province and East China’s Shandong Province. The Liaoning
plant, consisting of two 1,080-MW (megawatt) reactors, will cost US$2.8
billion. It will be the first nuclear base in Northeast China, located
at Hongyanhe, the coastal city of Dalian, a senior official from China
Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPG) said.
“We expect to get the final go-ahead (to build the Dalian nuclear plant)
from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) by the end of
this year,” said the official, who did not want to be identified. CGNPG
sources last week said that they plan to start the Dalian project as
soon as possible.
The Dalian nuclear plant is scheduled to generate electricity in 2011,
the company official said. CGNPG plans to begin infrastructure
construction and design at the Dalian plant within this month, the
official said.
According to the investment agreement for the new project in Dalian,
CGNPG and China Power Investment Corp (CPI) will each control a 45 per
cent stake. The remaining 10 per cent will be equally divided between
local companies Liaoning Energy Investment Group and Dalian Construction
Investment Co, the CGNPG official said. For the plant in Shandong
Province, CPI has reached an initial agreement with the country’s
biggest nuclear plant constructor, China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC),
to jointly build a nuclear plant at Haiyang.
The Haiyang plant, which contains two 1,000-MW reactors, will process at
the same pace as the Dalian plant, CPI director Liu Changqing told China
Daily yesterday. “We have submitted the feasibility study to the NDRC,”
Liu said.
The Chinese Government has included both projects at Dalian and Haiyang
in the country’s 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2011), a CNNC spokesman said
last week. Further details were not available for the Haiyang plant in
Shandong.
The Dalian plant will cost less than the previous reactors, since CGNPG
will use China’s own nuclear technology CPR 1000 in designing the new
reactors. This is based on technology adopted in the second phase of the
Ling’ao nuclear project in South China’s Guangdong Province. The new
reactors at the Dalian plant are expected to cost US$1,300 per kilowatt,
compared with the US$1,500 per kilowatt for the Ling’ao phase II, which
launched construction earlier this month and contains two 1,000-MW
reactors.
Coal-fired plants, which installed desulphurization facilities, sell
their electricity to grid companies at 0.347 yuan (4.28 US cents) per
kilowatt-hour in Dalian, according to the CGNPG official. In order to
cut pollution caused by the burning of coal, which fuels more than 70
per cent of the country’s electricity generators, the government ordered
all the installation of desulphurization equipment in China’s coal-fired
plants to eliminate sulphur pollutants.
Equipment manufacturing and procurement for the new Dalian plant will be
open for bid among domestic suppliers, with a small proportion expected
to come from foreign companies, the CGNPG official said. CPI sources
earlier said that as many as 10 reactors would be built at the two
coastal places in Liaoning and Shandong, with six built at Dalian and
four at Haiyang.
The Daily Mail-China
Daily news exchange item
UN seeks equal role for
China in Africa’s uplift
BEIJING—China should have equal opportunities to take part in the
development of Africa because China’s involvement will help reduce
poverty, promote investment and widen the participation base, a senior
United Nations development official said here on Tuesday.
Khalid Malik, the UN resident coordinator in China, said in an interview
with the local press that all countries should be able to take part in
the development of Africa, the continent which has the sad distinction
of having the largest number of the world’s poorest countries.
Malik, also resident representative of the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) in China, said Africa is still a continent that is new to
Chinese companies. He said that, because of the West’s long colonial
past, Western companies have established a network of links and market
privileges in Africa.Malik disagreed with criticisms of China’s
increasing role in the development of Africa.
“I would say No to statements depicting China as pursuing so-called
neo-colonial activities in Africa,” Malik said.
He noted that, historically, China has never been a colonizer. Though it
is true that China now needs more resources to sustain its rapid growth,
China’s economic success can be turned into a win-win opportunity for
Africa, Malik said.
Cooperation between China and Africa is based on friendship and is
sustainable in the long-term, Malik said, noting that there are many
similarities between Chinese and African cultures. “Both emphasize that
friendship is more important than business,” he said.
As a veteran development expert, Malik has worked in Africa for decades
and often visited there. He has spent the past two and half years mainly
in China.
The rapid improvement of political relations between China and Africa in
the past two years will naturally lead to trade and economic
cooperation. The all-round deepening of China-Africa relations is a
result of political will and economic interests coming together, Malik
said.
According to official figures, trade volume between China and Africa
grew from one billion US dollars in 2000 to more than 34 billion US
dollars in 2005.
Malik said though the trade volume has grown rapidly in recent years,
relatively it is still small, accounting for less than three percent of
China’s total trade volume in 2004. He said there is still a gap between
Chinese companies in Africa and their Western counterparts in terms of
size and competitiveness.The United Nations encourages Chinese
companies, especially private companies, to invest in Africa. Noting
that the private sector plays a key role in reducing poverty in any
country in the world, Malik said China has set an example in orienting
the private sector for social purposes.
Private companies in China launched a poverty alleviation program with
government support in 1994. Now the Guangcai Program,also known as the
Glory Program, has become a major contributor to the UNDP global poverty
reduction endeavor.China has set an example for other developing
countries by reducing poverty effectively through rapid development of
the private sector, Malik said.
Results of the country’s latest economic census show that the private
sector makes up about one-third of total capital in China.Malik said the
UNDP will help Chinese companies invest in African countries by
mobilizing its network of resident representative offices in all capital
cities on the continent. He said the UNDP will help Chinese companies
enter the African market in an effective, sustainable way. The UNDP is
now actively involved in preparing the establishment of the China-Africa
Business Council (CABC), a non-government organization devoted to
promoting exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese and African
corporate sectors.
Through the partnership with the CABC, the UNDP will provide substantial
service for Chinese companies going to Africa, including objective
information on the investment environment, contact with decision making
authorities and identification of solid, reliable partners.
Malik suggested that the CABC set up representative offices in six
African countries — Cameroon, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania and
Kenya. He said the Chinese private sector has played an important role
in poverty alleviation in China over the past decade. The establishment
of the CABC will provide a platform for mutually beneficial cooperation
between China and Africa.Malik expressed the belief that the involvement
of Chinese companies in African development is bound to contribute to
the achievement of the Millennium poverty alleviation goals.—Agencies |
