China This Week: Promises at the UN, Trawler Dispute with Japan, Family Planning
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 8:05
Shan Shan in China and East Asia, EA Global

China and UN Co-operation: Speaking at the United Nations, Premier Wen Jiabao gave Beijing's pledge for a more active role in UN affairs.

Meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Wen said China has maintained coordination and cooperation with the UN to combat a series of global challenges such as climate change, as well as "hot spot" international and regional issues.

Wen also said China will continue to boost its efforts to ensure fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Wen also announced an Africa-China partnership to strengthen international AIDS prevention and treatment efforts.

According to UN statistics, an estimated 700,000 Chinese people have HIV, with 85,000 suffering from AIDS. There were 50,000 new infections and 20,000 deaths reported in China in 2007.

Wen's meeting with President Obama on Thursday focused China-US trade, the yuan exchange rate, the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, and climate change.

Trawler Captain Returns Home Safe from Japan:  Chinese trawler captain Zhan Qixiong flew home by chartered plane early on Saturday morning after he was detained by Japan for more than two weeks.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Beijing government has sent a "strong protest" to Japan, adding that the detention, investigation, or any judicial  measures against the trawler and its fishermen were unlawful and invalid. China has asked Japan for an apology and compensation.

China has already halted bilateral exchanges at and above the provincial and ministerial levels. It also suspended talks with Japan on expanding aviation rights between the two countries.

The number of Chinese citizens traveling to Japan has already declined, with many tourists and businessmen cancelling their planned trips.

China Raises Aid to Pakistan:  China has pledged to give additional assistance of $200 million to flooded Pakistan, bringing the total to $250 million, Beijing's largest-ever humanitarian aid to a foreign country. Premier Wen Jiabao announced the aid at a United Nations summit on Wednesday.

China, Bulgaria Seek Hi-Tech Co-operation:  China’s Premier Wen Jiabao and Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov met on Thursday in New York.

"We want to see China establish hi-tech zones in Bulgaria, a permanent technology expo for Europe, and allow them to utilize the potential of the Bulgarian ports. Our ports are some of the most attractive ones in the EU,” Borisov said.

Bulgaria has openly courted Chinese investors in recent months, and in early September President Georgi Parvanov met with Wang Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee, to discuss opportunities for Chinese investment in Bulgarian nuclear energy.

Energy Talks Before Medvedev's China visit:  Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin have co-hosted the sixth round of the Sino-Russian energy meetings in Tianjin.

The discussions are in preparation for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to China this week.

China Clean Coal Conversion:  China is expected to develop its coal conversion industry into the world's largest by 2020.

"China's capacity of coal liquefaction projects would hit the equivalent of 20 million tonnes of oil, that of coal-to-gas would reach 50 billion cubic meters, and coal-to-chemical totaled 10 million tonnes of oil equivalent," Du Minghua, Deputy Director of China Shenhua CTL & CTC Research Institute, said at an energy forum in Taiyuan.

So far, China has finished construction on eight pilot projects.

China's Family Planning:  Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said Tuesday that China would coordinate its national family planning policy, stabilising an appropriately low birth rate and improving the quality of its population.

China's population stood at 1.32 billion at the end of 2008, about 2.5 times the number in 1949 when the People's Republic was founded. The over-60 population will top 200 million by the end of 2015.

The Chinese government adopted a family planning policy in the late 1970s, which permits most urban households to have only one child. The policy helped China's total population increase less than 40 percent between 1978 and 2008, compared to a doubling between 1949 and 1978

China Launches New Satellite:  China jas successfully launched a remote-sensing satellite "Yaogan XI" in the northwest of the country.

The satellite will conduct scientific experiments, carry out surveys on land resources, estimate crops yield, and help with prevention and reduction of natural disasters.

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