News » Society » Ray of hope breaks through the haze
News » Society » Ray of hope breaks through the haze |
- Ray of hope breaks through the haze
- Emissions of four major pollutants dropped last year and should fall by a similar level this year, but the mainland still faces a tough task in trying to end chronic air pollution, according to the environment minister.
- Isles foray spurs high-seas duel
- Chongqing police bust sex video extortion ring, 10 more officials sacked
- Water duel after vessel in Diaoyu blockade
- Water duel after vesselin Diaoyu blockade
- 'House sister' in homes probe
- Family of officials in residency investigation
- Emissions falling but a tough task ahead
- Fishing boat detained
- Parents furious at their children 'used as guinea pigs'
- Wife sacked amid graft probe
- Tibetan man arrested for intentional homicide
- Apple China Revenue Jumps 67% as Sales Outlets Double
- Bid to educate Congress about China trade
- Former Chinese Leader Steps Back, Fueling Speculation
- Xi calls to restart peninsula talks
- Taiwanese ships return without reaching Diaoyu Islets
- Taiwanese ships return without reaching Diaoyu Islets
- Taiwan fishing vessel sails to Diaoyu Island
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| Chongqing police bust sex video extortion ring, 10 more officials sacked Posted: 24 Jan 2013 06:30 PM PST POLICE in southwest China's Chongqing municipality have broken up a criminal ring suspected of using secretly filmed sex videos to extort officials, local authorities said Thursday. In the latest development in a sex video scandal that has made a splash online and led to the sacking of a district official last year, government sources said ten other officials have been removed from their posts for allegedly appearing in such videos. The ten officials include county- and district-level officials serving in local government departments or Communist Party of China (CPC) branches, as well as executives of state-owned enterprises. A sex video featuring one official who was later confirmed to be CPC Secretary of Chongqing's Beibei district Lei Zhengfu was widely circulated online in November. Lei was sacked days later following an investigation. The Chongqing Municipal Committee for Discipline Inspection found that the ring had hired women to seduce local officials, covertly filmed their sexual acts and used the videos as tools of extortion. Investigations by the local police found that from 2008 to 2009, Xiao Ye, a suspect and a key member of the network, blackmailed the officials, after surreptitiously shooting video of them having sex with women arranged by Xiao. A sex video featuring one official, who was later confirmed to be Lei Zhengfu, Party chief of the CPC Beibei District Committee, was widely circulated online in late November. Lei was sacked days later following an investigation. |
| Water duel after vessel in Diaoyu blockade Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:48 AM PST A FISHING boat with Taiwan activists headed for the Diaoyu Islands turned back yesterday after coast guard vessels from Taiwan and Japan converged and dueled with water cannon. The boat, carrying four activists and three other people, gave up a plan to land on the East China Sea islands after being blocked by Japanese coast guard vessels as it sailed within 17 nautical miles of the archipelago. Eight Japanese ships obstructed the vessel by making waves and emitting black smoke, and later spraying water toward it. Taiwan's coast guard ships responded with water spray, LED signals and warned the Japanese from obstructing the vessel. "We fired water cannon at each other," Taiwan's coast guard spokesman Shih Yi-che said of the confrontation. As the standoff unfolded, three surveillance vessels from China's mainland were positioned a few nautical miles off, the Taiwan coast guard said. It said it had sent a radio message to the three mainland ships to keep their distance in order not to complicate matters. The Japanese coast guard confirmed it took action after encountering the Taiwan vessel. "Our patrol boat carried out restrictions on the vessel such as blocking its path and discharging water," it said in a statement. The activists had hoped to place a statue of the Goddess of the Sea on the islands to protect Taiwan fishermen in the area. Coast guard vessels from Japan and Taiwan exchanged water cannon barrages in September after dozens of Taiwan boats were escorted by patrol ships into the islands' waters. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Water duel after vesselin Diaoyu blockade Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:48 AM PST A FISHING boat with Taiwan activists headed for the Diaoyu Islands turned back yesterday after coast guard vessels from Taiwan and Japan converged and dueled with water cannon. The boat, carrying four activists and three other people, gave up a plan to land on the East China Sea islands after being blocked by Japanese coast guard vessels as it sailed within 17 nautical miles of the archipelago. Eight Japanese ships obstructed the vessel by making waves and emitting black smoke, and later spraying water toward it. Taiwan's coast guard ships responded with water spray, LED signals and warned the Japanese from obstructing the vessel. "We fired water cannon at each other," Taiwan's coast guard spokesman Shih Yi-che said of the confrontation. As the standoff unfolded, three surveillance vessels from China's mainland were positioned a few nautical miles off, the Taiwan coast guard said. It said it had sent a radio message to the three mainland ships to keep their distance in order not to complicate matters. The Japanese coast guard confirmed it took action after encountering the Taiwan vessel. "Our patrol boat carried out restrictions on the vessel such as blocking its path and discharging water," it said in a statement. The activists had hoped to place a statue of the Goddess of the Sea on the islands to protect Taiwan fishermen in the area. Coast guard vessels from Japan and Taiwan exchanged water cannon barrages in September after dozens of Taiwan boats were escorted by patrol ships into the islands' waters. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:47 AM PST THE case of a "house sister," a woman alleged to have illegally amassed more than 20 homes using multiple identities, will be fully investigated, China's Ministry of Public Security said yesterday. The ministry has set up a special team to supervise the investigation into how Gong Ai'ai, who is said to have at least two identities and hukou, had come to own the houses in Beijing worth more than 1 billion yuan (US$159 million). China's property market controls restrict individuals buying multiple homes, but "ghost" identities can help householders evade restrictions. Gong's identities have raised concern over possible corruption, such as unfair distribution of government-subsidized affordable housing and officials' evasion of personal property supervision. Gong was dubbed a "house sister" by netizens after details were posted online. A ministry statement said Gong first registered as a resident in the town of Shenmu in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. She later registered identities in two counties of neighboring Shanxi Province and Beijing between 2004 and 2008. Some of her properties were purchased under the name of Gong Xianxia, a name registered in fake records. One of the fake identities was revoked early last year, the ministry's statement said. The ministry promised a thorough investigation and serious punishment for those involved, and called for a streamlining of the household registration and identity issuing system to make similar offenses less likely in future. Authorities in Shenmu County have suspended three police officers, including the deputy head of the county police department, and a government official who formerly served as a policeman there. A police officer in Beijing suspected of handling Gong's residence registration in the capital was suspended yesterday pending further investigation, according to the People's Daily website. The Beijing Public Security Bureau also sealed Gong's apartments and cars in the city for criminal investigation and canceled her hukou there, the website report said. Hukou is a Chinese permanent residence registration and personal identification system governed by public security departments. In China, an individual can only have one legitimate identity and hukou. Zhai Zhenfeng, a housing administrative official in central China's Henan Province, was arrested earlier this month after he and his family members were found to have dual hukou and owned 31 houses. Zhai's wife is said to have taken advantage of his position and sold houses built under the government's affordable housing scheme. Such cases cause outrage as many people struggle to pay for just one home. Gong has said her houses were purchased with her legal income. Hong Daode, a professor with the China University of Political Science and Law, said that Gong and relevant police officers' acts may constitute criminal offenses. In addition to the identity certificate counterfeiting, which is a criminal offense, the police officers should also be investigated for dereliction of duty, Hong told China National Radio. "Even if the police say they are not complicit in Gong's offense, they may be held accountable for failure to properly review her identity information before granting the ID cards and hukou," he said. The scandals also indicate that the current household registration system needs improving, said Yang Hongshan, a professor with the School of Public Administration of the Renmin University of China. In its statement, the ministry said it has launched a special campaign in the identity and hukou administrative system to uncover fake and duplicate identity records. Police officers will be sacked if they are found responsible for illegal hukou registration and issuing false identities, the statement added. |
| Family of officials in residency investigation Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:46 AM PST THREE government officials in north China's Shanxi Province, all members of the same family, are being investigated after one was found to have two hukou, or residency permits, while another owned 11 houses. Zhang Yan, an official with the Party disciplinary watchdog in Yuncheng City, had one hukou in Yuncheng and another in Beijing under the pseudonym of Dong Yan, yesterday's Beijing Times reported. Zhang's husband, Sun Hongjun, who was sacked as police chief in Xiaxian County last February, helped her get a fake hukou during his term in order to facilitate buying houses and transfer capital, a whistleblower's online post said. Zhang is said to live in a residential complex in Beijing's Zhongguancun area, but neighbors said they rarely saw the family, the newspaper reported. The whistleblower also said that Zhang's father-in-law, Sun Taiping, who was once the city's finance bureau director, owned 11 houses in China, at least two of them in Beijing. According to the online posts, he asked a coal transportation company to buy him a villa worth more than 4 million yuan (US$643,200) in Sanya, Hainan Province. It was also claimed that he coerced several companies to send vehicles, including an 800,000-yuan Toyota MPV, to his children for long-term use. Both Beijing and Yuncheng officials declined to comment. |
| Emissions falling but a tough task ahead Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:45 AM PST ENVIRONMENT Minister Zhou Shengxian said yesterday that emissions of four major pollutants dropped last year and should fall by a similar level this year, but admitted the country faced a tough task in trying to end chronic air pollution. Emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, chemical oxygen and ammonia nitrogen all recorded year-on-year falls of 2 percent in 2012 and were expected to drop by the same degree this year, or even faster, Zhou said. "To cope with an air quality crisis, contingency measures will be adopted, such as suspending or limiting the production of certain vehicles and limiting emissions and car usage," he told a national meeting in Beijing. "The ministry will also ban the operation of vehicles registered before 2005 under exhaust emissions requirements ... and efforts will be made to improve the quality of gasoline and diesel." But Zhou said China "faces a long battle" in controlling what is known as PM2.5 intensity, which measures particulate matter in the air with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less. Pollution levels in Beijing and many other Chinese cities regularly exceed 500 on that index. A level above 300 is considered hazardous, while the World Health Organization recommends a daily level of no more than 20. The ministry had set timetables for cities plagued by air pollution, Zhou said. Cities where average air pollution levels are 15 percent higher than the national standard or less should work to bring the levels to standard by 2015. Cities with air pollution 30 percent above the national standard or higher should try to meet those standards by 2030. Smoke from factories and heating plants, winds blowing in from the Gobi Desert and fumes from millions of vehicles can combine to blanket northern Chinese cities in a pungent shroud for days on end. The government has promised repeatedly to resolve the problem, and in recent days has unveiled new measures, including taking 180,000 old vehicles off the road in Beijing this year and controlling the "excessive" growth of new car sales in the city. Zhou vowed to press for including PM2.5 in the country's major pollutant monitoring and measuring system. This year the country will start monitoring six major pollutant indexes, including PM2.5, in 113 cities on the state environmental protection list, he said. Currently, the monitoring of four major pollutants as well as PM2.5 and ozone (O3) are conducted in four municipalities, 27 provincial capitals, and three key regions - east China's Yangtze River Delta, south China's Pearl River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area in the north. By 2015, the ministry aims to reduce PM2.5 intensity in the three key regions by 6 percent a year, he said. |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:44 AM PST A Chinese fishing boat was detained by Japanese authorities yesterday afternoon for unauthorized fishing in waters around Nagasaki Prefecture in southwestern Japan, Chinese Consulate General in Fukuoka said. The boat, registered in China's Zhejiang Province, was detained in the exclusive economic waters. There were eight Chinese crew members on board when the boat was caught. |
| Parents furious at their children 'used as guinea pigs' Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:30 AM PST ANGRY parents have accused a township health service center in Taixing, Jiangsu Province, of using their children as guinea pigs after it was found to have injected more than 100 of them with vaccines still under clinical trial. Both the health center in Fenjie Town and the Taixing City Disease Control Center admitted that the vaccine was not yet on the market but insisted that the trial had been approved by parents, the Modern Express reported yesterday. However, parents said they had no idea it was a trial when their children took part in January last year. Li Wei said the center had asked him to bring his two-year-old daughter to have a free hand-foot-and-mouth disease vaccine a year ago. He understood that 200 children would be taking part in the inoculation program. "I felt confused as I was told my daughter needed to have blood tests regularly after the inoculation," Li said. Li told the newspaper that his daughter had tested positive in two blood tests, but the newspaper did not specify what the tests were for. He told reporters he searched online and found that the vaccine had not been approved for use but was still under clinical trial. Another parent, Fang Yun, told the newspaper that her daughter had contracted hand-foot-and-mouth disease two months ago and said a worker at the center had told her secretly that the vaccine had some problems. "No one ever told me it was a trial," Fang said. An official surnamed Gu at the center told the newspaper the program was nationwide and the center was just one of many places where it was carried out. The trial was conducted with the approval of parents, Gu added. Yao Genhong, an official with the disease control center, said parents had all signed on agreements for the project, but he failed to provide any documentation when asked. |
| Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:28 AM PST THE wife of the dismissed deputy Party secretary of southwestern Sichuan Province has been removed from her position at the Chengdu branch of the Red Cross Society of China. An unnamed official with Chengdu Red Cross said Qu Songzhi had not been at work since her husband Li Chuncheng was put under investigation. Li was removed from his positions for suspected "serious discipline violations" only one month after he was also elected a non-voting member of the Chinese Communist Party's central committee during the 18th Party National Congress last November. Li is currently under investigation by the Party's discipline department. Chengdu government officials said Qu was a hospital worker before her husband was appointed Chengdu City Party chief in 2003. She quickly gained several promotions afterwards to become a section chief in the city health bureau. She became Party secretary of Chengdu Red Cross in 2009. On Weibo.com, Shen Yong, who claimed he was a police officer, published six posts about Li, calling him "Li Chaicheng," meaning destroyer of cities. In his online posts, Shen claimed that Li had "bought" his posts, and to recoup his outlay, had created a department and promoted his wife. Li is said to be the most senior official to be investigated for corruption since Xi Jinping became the Party's leader. Xi has launched a campaign against corruption also targeting the petty bureaucracy and infractions of low-ranking officials who are the bane of many people's everyday lives. |
| Tibetan man arrested for intentional homicide Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:28 AM PST A Tibetan man who allegedly tried to convince another Tibetan to self-immolate last November was arrested, police said yesterday. Police in Tongren County in Qinghai Province said they thwarted a self-immolation attempt last year by 25-year-old monk Drolma Je after being told that the man had stored gasoline in a hotel room. A probe into Drolma Je's case has led to the arrest of Phagpa, a 27-year-old man who allegedly encouraged Drolma Je to commit self-immolation, a police report said. The report said Phagpa had maintained close contact with key members of the "Tibetan Youth Congress" of the Dalai Lama clique, exchanging information with and taking orders from them via the Internet. Phagpa studied in India at an institution established by the Dalai Lama clique for training separatists in June 2005. After returning to China in September 2011, he worked to spread pro-independence ideas among local students while working as a teacher at an orphanage, the report said. The report, citing Drolma Je's confession, said Phagpa made several attempts to convince Drolma Je to self-immolate between June and July 2012, assuring him that photos of the self-immolator would be spread globally by organizations in India. "He claimed that 'the international community will pay attention if more people commit self-immolation,"' the report said, citing Drolma Je. Police also found that Phagpa is a member of the illegal "Snow Tradition Cultural Service Group." He and other members of the group have attended funerals of previous self-immolators, praising them as role models and donating money to their relatives. Phagpa was arrested on a charge of intentional homicide and Drolma Je on a charge of jeopardizing public security. Multiple Tibetan self-immolations have occurred in western China's Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan provinces in recent months. |
| Apple China Revenue Jumps 67% as Sales Outlets Double Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:48 AM PST
Apple Inc. (AAPL) more than doubled its iPhone sales points in China, which helped boost revenue 67 percent in the world's largest market for handsets. Cook needs a strong performance in China after Apple last quarter posted its slowest profit growth since 2003 and weakest sales gain in 14 quarters amid rising costs and accelerating competition with Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) Apple expanded its own China retail stores to 11 from six over the past year, while the number of premium resellers doubled to more than 400 shops, said Cook, who visited China this month. "They are investing in distribution as a way to grow the market," said Sandy Shen, a Gartner Inc. analyst in Shanghai. "They have well penetrated the tier-one and tier-two cities, so now they are looking to expand to the lower tier cities by partnering with distributors and retailers." Greater China iPhone sales more than doubled last quarter, Cook said. The region is the fastest growing for Apple at a rate that was more than double any other area, and the third largest market for Apple after the Americas and Europe. The region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan with the rest of China, accounted for 13 percent of total sales compared with 8.8 percent a year earlier. 'Great Progress' "This isn't nearly what we need, and it's not the final by any means," Cook said of the company's China retail expansion on the call. "We're not even close to that. I feel that we're making great progress." Apple slipped to sixth place in China's smartphone market in the third quarter of 2012, from fourth, as it struggled to lure consumers earning an average of $577 a month. Samsung leads the China smartphone market in share, and four domestic suppliers also now outsell the iPhone in the nation, according to market researcher IDC. Lenovo Group Ltd. (992), based in Beijing, took second place in China's smartphone market during the third quarter, followed by three companies located in Shenzhen: China Wireless Technologies Ltd., ZTE Corp. (763) and Huawei Technologies Co. All four offer devices at a fraction of the iPhone's cost, including the Coolpad 8060 by China Wireless that retails for 619 yuan, or just under $100. 'Significant Contribution' Apple, which posted total sales of $54.5 billion in the quarter, had previously included China as part of its Asia Pacific region in earnings statements. "We have established a new operating segment of Greater China given the very significant contribution of that region to our overall business," Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, said on the conference call yesterday. Many of the iPhone sales outlets in China are through the nation's second- and third-biggest operators: China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (762) and China Telecom Corp. (728) Apple has yet to adapt the handset for the 3G network of the nation's largest carrier, China Mobile Ltd. (941) |
| Bid to educate Congress about China trade Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:54 AM PST
As President Barack Obama and Congress settle in for the next go-round of policy debates, the top Washington lobby for US companies doing business in China hopes to focus attention on trade between the world's two economic superpowers. "China is the United States' third-largest export market,behind only Canada and Mexico, our closest neighbors. China is an important market for many US companies and American workers, but many Americans are unaware of the facts about America's commercial relationship with China," said John Frisbie, president of the council, which represents some 240 US companies that operate in China. China, he said, offers many challenges for the US but also plenty of opportunities. "We have an obligation to current and future American generations to get this relationship right, but that will require us to focus on the real issues," Frisbie said. "America has a great opportunity to build a constructive relationship with China that will benefit our economy and our businesses, workers and farmers across the nation." US exports to China have soared 542 percent since 2000, compared to just 80 percent for US exports to all other countries, according to the USCBC report. During that time, all but two of the 50 states have registered growth in exports to China in triple-digit percentages or more, far outpacing what they sold to the rest of the world. Exports benefit not only US manufacturers but also farmers and a range of service industries, the report said. It counted US-based multinationals as well as small and medium-size companies among the winners. "Even those US imports from China have US content," it said. The business group's report dismisses an often-cited statistic that US manufacturing has lost more than 2.7 million jobs to China since 2001.It said that calculation assumes every product imported from China would have otherwise been made domestically. A more likely scenario is that those goods would have been imported from another country, according to the report. "Maintaining America's manufacturing strength has more to do with our policies and actions here at home than what happens in China," it said. Leading up to November's presidential election, Republican challenger Mitt Romney repeatedly vowed to label China a currency manipulator if elected, but the USCBC report said the dollar-yuan exchange rate doesn't significantly affect US employment or the country's long-standing trade deficit with China. "Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill have made China's currency value the sole focus of attention, despite the fact that it has appreciated more than 30 percent against the US dollar since 2005," Frisbie said. USCBC spokesman Marc Ross said the report aims to inform new members in Senate as well as freshmen members of the House about the benefits and challenges of US-China trade. "The views on Capitol Hill sometimes are one-sided," Ross said. "Everyone recognizes the challenge of doing trade with China, but there are lots of opportunities. "The report really tries to debunk some of the conventional wisdom or misunderstandings about the size of the relationship," he said. Chinese companies investing in the US create jobs, which is why numerous governors and mayors from US states and cities have been seeking Chinese investment, according to the report. Despite the overall trade gap with China, US exports of services enjoyed a surplus of over $15 billion in 2011, with room for substantial growth, the council said. The report also argues that, amid criticism of companies for moving jobs to China, most do business in China to fight for a share of the world's fastest-growing consumer market and that those operations strengthen these companies back home. The report also notes problems facing US companies, however. In its 2012 survey of member companies, the USCBC found that despite market growth, optimism about business operations in China was tempered by domestic competition, continuing regulatory and market-access barriers, and rising costs. It also cited members' complaints of favoritism toward Chinese firms – in administrative licensing, competition with Chinese enterprises, uneven enforcement and implementation of laws and policies, investment restrictions,and assessment of standards and conformity. "Despite tremendous market growth over the last decade, there are significant challenges that American companies face in China and that need to be addressed and need US government leadership," Frisbie said. The report recommends a US "action plan" to address those issues and suggests dialogue with China as a way to resolve them. If negotiations fail, "rules-based" tools, such as cases at the World Trade Organization, should be pursued, provided the action is well-defined, supported by industry and winnable. US Ambassador to China Gary Locke, in a recent talk at the Asia Society in New York, said Chinese and US leaders understand the degree to which their countries are intertwined economically. "So we have to figure out how we get along, not because of our self-interest, but because the history of the Asia-Pacific region will be written by the US and China," said Locke, who is a former US commerce secretary. |
| Former Chinese Leader Steps Back, Fueling Speculation Posted: 24 Jan 2013 08:57 AM PST
HONG KONG — A decade after he stepped down as China's top leader, the powerful Communist Party elder Jiang Zemin has used the death of a former rival to signal that he may allow his political shadow to recede and give the nation's newest leader more room to consolidate his authority. As recently as late November, Mr. Jiang, 86, was placed third in rank in a similar mourning announcement, behind Hu Jintao, who had stepped down earlier that month as head of the Communist Party and will retire as state president in March, and Xi Jinping, Mr. Hu's successor in those posts. For some political analysts seeking to fathom the undercurrents of power in China's elite, Mr. Jiang's reduced protocol ranking suggested something more: that he may finally curb any impulses to exert influence in Zhongnanhai, the party leadership's compound in Beijing. "In China, the saying goes that you must live up to your title to give your words sway, so if Jiang Zemin meddles in politics again after making this step, his reputation will be badly damaged," said Yao Jianfu, a retired party official and researcher in Beijing. "It's a change in protocol, but now he'll be expected to live up to it and stop being such a political busybody," Mr. Yao said. That may not come easily to Mr. Jiang, whose later career was marked by the flamboyant gestures of a politician who had grown to enjoy attention. He retired as party general secretary in November 2002, and stepped down from his final major post, chairman of the Central Military Commission, nearly two years later. Since then, he has used public appearances, books, poems and essays as reminders that he remained healthy and engaged enough to exert influence. Mr. Jiang wielded heavy backstage influence in choosing the new leadership team under Mr. Xi that was appointed at the Communist Party's 18th congress in November. The seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, which sits at the apex of party power, is now dominated by protégés and allies of Mr. Jiang, and short on officials close to Mr. Hu, the departing leader who succeeded Mr. Jiang. And some argue that Mr. Jiang, while signaling that he is ready to step away from the political fray, is doing so in a way that does not exclude renewed efforts to exert influence. "I think that everyone was amazed that at 86 he still had the ability to achieve the influence that he wielded at the 18th Party Congress," said Joseph Fewsmith, a specialist in Chinese politics at Boston University. "Having helped put in place the leadership that he wanted, it seems likely that he will now seek a lower profile." State news media suggested that Mr. Jiang remains a figure who expects deference. "After the 18th Party Congress, Comrade Jiang Zemin submitted a request to the party's central leadership that in the future he be ranked alongside the other old comrades in the protocol ranking," Xinhua reported on Wednesday. "This embodies the noble integrity and generous spirit of a Communist." Mr. Jiang's step comes while the new leader, Mr. Xi, has been trying to consolidate his power and win public confidence through repeated vows to eradicate corruption and impose discipline on lax officials. It was a theme that Mr. Xi returned to on Tuesday, when he told central officials that he would take on both "flies" and "tigers" — wayward local officials and corrupt senior leaders — and that he would demand unflinching obedience to central directives. An official with a state media organization said that when Mr. Xi vowed in early December to curb the perks and fanfare lavished on serving leaders, he remained deferential to Mr. Jiang and other retired leaders and stressed that the strictures did not apply to them. "This was a way of showing respect to old comrades," added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing bans on disclosing internal party discussions. An editor with another party media organization said Mr. Jiang's protocol concession appeared intended to indicate "he won't get involved in the arrangements for the 19th Party Congress, whether he's dead or alive." At the 19th congress, due in 2017, five of the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee are likely to step down but Mr. Xi is expected to remain in power for five more years. Mr. Jiang sees Mr. Xi as an ally, while Mr. Hu won the party's top job a decade ago even though he was not Mr. Jiang's choice. Mr. Hu has shown no appetite to linger in the political limelight. |
| Xi calls to restart peninsula talks Posted: 24 Jan 2013 09:00 AM PST
Party chief Xi Jinping called for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks concerning the Korean Peninsula during a meeting with a special envoy of the Republic of Korea's President-elect Park Geun-hye. In a swift response, Pyongyang rejected involvement in any future disarmament negotiations and vowed to bolster its nuclear deterrence. Analysts said Beijing is adopting a constructive approach by paying attention to the concerns of Pyongyang while taking into account viewpoints from other parties. To solve the nuclear issue on the peninsula, both the symptoms and root causes must be addressed, Xi told envoy Kim Moo-sung during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People. Kim played a key role in Park's presidential campaign last year. Dialogue and consultation are the key to solving the DPRK nuclear issue and ensuring a nuclear-free peninsula, Xi said. The meeting came one day before Glyn Davies, Washington's special representative for DPRK policy, holds talks with the ROK's chief nuclear envoy Lim Sung-nam in Seoul. Davies will then fly to Beijing. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei called on Wednesday for all sides to show restraint. "The DPRK's satellite launch highlights the urgency of solving issues on the peninsula, and we believe the root of the problem is security concerns," Hong said. The Six-Party Talks, involving China, the DPRK, the ROK, the US, Russia and Japan, are an effective way to address concerns, he added. The UN resolution, No 2087, reiterated a demand that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons program in a "complete, verifiable and irreversible manner", and ordered it to end the use of ballistic missile technology. It also ordered a freeze of more DPRK assets and imposed a travel ban on four more officials. The DPRK Foreign Ministry said that it will reject any attempts to engage Pyongyang in disarmament negotiations. "There can be talks on the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the region, but no talks on denuclearization of the peninsula," it said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency just hours after the resolution was adopted. Six-nation disarmament negotiations, hosted by China, have been stalled since Pyongyang walked away from the talks following UN punishment for a 2009 rocket launch. The DPRK statement also vowed to "bolster the military capabilities for self-defense, including the nuclear deterrent". It said Pyongyang "should counter the hostile policy of the US with strength, not with words". Pyongyang carried out nuclear tests weeks after rocket launches in 2006 and 2009, and the region is bracing for the possibility of another nuclear test. Yu Shaohua, director of the Department for Asia-Pacific Security and Cooperation Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said the DPRK will tend toward caution. "Words are one thing while actions are another. You can see in the past year that Pyongyang has been cautious in its deeds. All the parties involved know drastic action will trigger results that nobody can bear." Yu said the resolution is quite a moderate one. "It has warned the DPRK to abstain from actions threatening regional security, yet avoided comprehensive sanctions affecting normal economic development of the country. "But it is wrong to say it has a very limited effect. Satellites are one of Pyongyang's core concerns, and it cares deeply about global attitudes toward its launches." Speaking after the council vote, Li Baodong, China's permanent representative to the UN, said sanctions and resolutions alone won't work and must "be supplemented by diplomatic efforts through teamwork". US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said the US had "particularly good cooperation with China in this regard", and with other council members, to reach agreement on the resolution. Washington has long pursued a resolution imposing new sanctions on Pyongyang, while Beijing was worried it would further irritate the DPRK. The resolution finally just expanded the UN blacklist. China called the latest resolution "generally balanced". "UN Security Council Resolution 2087 not only shows the stance of the international community on the DPRK's satellite launch, it also delivers some positive information, including calling for a peaceful solution to the peninsula issue through dialogue and negotiation as well as the resumption of the Six-Party Talks," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang. Ted Galen Carpenter, a defense and foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute in Washington, said China fulfilled its responsibility in handling a thorny global issue. "It also shows that Beijing is becoming more proactive —and constructive — in dealing with important regional and global security issues." "Given China's growing economic and diplomatic influence, such a development is not surprising, and we should expect similar leadership initiatives in other matters in the future." Jonathan Pollack, a foreign policy analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said that despite unity on this latest resolution, China and the other UN Security Council members should consider if a piecemeal, step-by-step approach can persuade Pyongyang "to alter its nuclear course". |
| Taiwanese ships return without reaching Diaoyu Islets Posted: 23 Jan 2013 11:40 PM PST A Taiwanese fishing boat and four coast guard ships returned from contiguous waters of the Diaoyu Islands today without reaching the islands, local media reported. |
| Taiwanese ships return without reaching Diaoyu Islets Posted: 23 Jan 2013 11:40 PM PST A Taiwanese fishing boat and four coast guard ships returned from contiguous waters of the Diaoyu Islands today without reaching the islands, local media reported. |
| Taiwan fishing vessel sails to Diaoyu Island Posted: 23 Jan 2013 10:00 PM PST A Taiwanese fishing vessel left for Diaoyu Island this morning under the protection of ships from Taiwan's coast guard. |
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