China This Week: No More Iran Sanctions, Co-op with Pakistan & New Zealand, Concern on US-South Korea Drill, & More

China opposes expansion of sanctions on Iran: China said on Tuesday that UN Security Council sanctions against Iran should not be expanded.

"China has noted that the United States and other parties have unilaterally imposed further sanctions on Iran," said Qin Gang, Foreign Ministry spokesman, referring to the new sanctions approved by US President Barack Obama on 1 July.

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Described by Obama as the "toughest" ones ever passed by the Congress, the new sanctions penalize international firms linked to Iran's energy industry, Revolutionary Guards or nuclear programs.

China, Pakistan ink six deals: China and Pakistan signed agreements, covering areas such as agriculture, health care, justice, media, economy, and technology, in Beijing on Wednesday. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari vowed to jointly fight the "three forces" of extremism, separatism ,and terrorism.

As a sign of closer cooperation, a joint anti-terrorism drill, code-named "Friendship 2010", is between held between Chinese and Pakistani armed forces in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Hu said China would explore new ways to cooperate and extend cooperation between the two countries in areas such as energy, transportation, telecommunication, infrastructure and agriculture.

Chinese combat troops "can join UN peacekeeping": China will consider sending combat troops overseas at the request of the United Nations, Senior Colonel Tao Xiangyang, deputy director of the ministry's peacekeeping affairs office, said on Tuesday.

He added that the UN has so far not made any such request to China and China has to be extremely cautious about the issue: "We will have to take into account our national defense policy, which is defensive in nature, the international community's response, as well as our troops' capability."

Since 1990, China has sent 15,603 soldiers on 18 UN peacekeeping missions. Three military observers and six soldiers died during the missions.

At the end of last month, China had deployed soldiers in nine UN missions, including those in Liberia, Congo, Sudan, and Lebanon.

China’s serious concern about US-South Korea drill: China said Tuesday it is seriously concerned about a scheduled joint naval drill between the United States and the Republic of Korea in the Yellow Sea.

The parties should refrain from doing things that might escalate tensions and harm the security interests of the countries in the region, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

The four-day anti-submarine drills were originally scheduled for last month, as part of the response to the sinking of a South Korean warship in late March, which killed 46 sailors.

According to latest reports, the military exercise may be conducted after UN action against North Korea over the warship issue.

China, New Zealand eye closer energy co-operation: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and visiting New Zealand Prime Minister John Key agreed on Wednesday to further bilateral cooperation in areas such as energy, food security, and the green economy.

Wen and Key pledged to implement the bilateral Free Trade Agreement. Signed in October 2008, the pact was the first of its kind between China and a developed country.

China’s co-op with Myanmar and Tonga: Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday pledged to speed up and expand cooperation with Myanmar on energy and transport.

China and Myanmar had reached consensus on many issues regarding economic cooperation in recent years, Li said.

Meanwhile, China and Tonga pledged on Wednesday to strengthen military cooperation and exchanges on Wednesday. Military ties between China and Tonga have developed steadily with frequent visits and good cooperation in personnel training, said Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army of China.



China to host UN climate change talks: China will host UN climate change talks in Tianjin in October, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Tuesday.

It is the first time for China to host the UN climate change talks and also the last round of negotiations before the next big UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gathering, taking place in the Mexican resort of Cancun from November 29 to December 10.

The Tianjin talks, part of the UNFCCC, will aim to consolidate the status of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol as the main channels for negotiation and to make new progress, Qin noted.

China’s new nuclear power stations: China, which is currently building the largest number of nuclear power stations worldwide, is expected to use one of the most advanced technologies for constructing 10 of its nuclear reactors, an energy official said on Monday.

Compared with other reactors already in use in China, those using the third-generation technology are considered to be safer and able to operate longer.

As the world's second-largest energy consumer, China now has 11 nuclear power reactors in operation. These reactors have a total capacity of 9.1 gigawatts, accounting for about 1 percent of the country's total power capacity.

China is currently building 23 nuclear power units. The proportion of nuclear power is expected to account for 15 percent of the country's total power capacity in 2050, industry sources said.

China This Week: Trade Pact But No US Arms Sales to Taiwan, Manoeuvres on North Korea, Google Accepts Chinese Law

China-Taiwan Trade Pact: Beijing and Taipei signed anEconomic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) on Tuesday, seeking to boost economic ties and ease political tensions that have haunted cross-Straits ties for most of the past six decades.

The deal, focusing on easier access to markets, will remove tariffs within two years on 539 Taiwan export items worth $13.84 billion and 267 mainland export items to Taiwan valued at $2.86 billion. Taiwan firms will be granted access to 11 service sectors on the mainland, including banking, accounting, insurance, and hospitals. Follow-up consultations will try to remove the obstacles for economic and trade activities.

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The pact will also boost bilateral trade already totaling about $110 billion a year, made up of some $80 billion in goods flowing to the mainland and $30 billion to Taiwan.
Analysts from the Peterson Institute for International Economics project that the deal could help Taiwan increase its GDP by up to 5.3 % by 2020, compared to 0.8% without the ECFA.

US arms sales to Taiwan on hold: According to the US-based Defense News, Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, has said arms sales are on hold until at least spring 2011.

While there is no confirmation of the report by official US sources, the Pentagon-backed Defense News has at times released US military decisions in advance.

Earlier this month, China called off a planned visit by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates after Beijing told the Pentagon the timing was "inconvenient". despite an earlier invitation for Gates to visit. This was an apparent snub over a $6.4-billion arms package unveiled in January for Taiwan, including helicopters, Patriot missiles, and mine-hunting ships.

China rebuffs US criticism over North Korea: China has rejected opposition to its stance over the Korean peninsula, saying it would never "pour oil on the fire" at a time when calm and restraint were needed.

Chinese media reports said President Obama had criticised China's "willful blindness" to the actions of North Korea the sinking of a South Korean warship.

"China borders on the Korean Peninsula, and we have our own feeling on the issue, different from that of the countries tens of thousands miles away. We have more direct and intense concerns", said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.

Qin said that for long-term development and stability, there must be abolition of nuclear weapons: "We are willing to make joint efforts with parties concerned to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through pushing forward the six-party talks".

Google Abides by Chinese Law to Renew License: Guxiang Information Technology Co. Ltd, the operator of Google.cn, has pledged to "abide by the Chinese law" in a letter of application to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to renew its permit to run websites in China.

The application was made "almost at the same time" that Google's chief legal officer David Drummond wrote a blog post saying Google is committed "not to self-censor", according to the official.

Guxiang said it will "ensure the company will provide no law-breaking contents as stated in the 57th statement in China's regulations concerning telecommunications”.