Posts Tagged ‘Beijing’
Written by admin on 18 October 2011
Beijing, Oct 18 (IANS) China’s GDP growth slowed to 9.1 percent in the third quarter of the year from 9.5 percent in the second quarter and 9.7 percent in the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday.
The country’s economy expanded 2.3 percent in the July-September period on a quarterly basis, NBS spokesperson Sheng Laiyun said at a press conference.
According to preliminary statistics, the country’s GDP reached 32.07 trillion yuan ($5.01 trillion) in the first nine months, up 9.4 percent year-on-year, Xinhua quoted Sheng as saying.
He noted the country’s economic performance was ‘generally good’ and had developed according to the macro-economic regulation in the first nine months.
Tags: Beijing, China
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Written by admin on 18 October 2011
Beijing, Oct 18 (IANS) Three officials have been sacked over a colliery flooding that left 13 miners missing in northeast China last week, authorities said Tuesday.
Zhang Guangyun, deputy head of Jidong county in Heilongjiang province, and two mining officials, were removed from their posts in connection with the Oct 11 flooding at the Jindi Coal Mine, said Cong Xiangrong, an official.
The flooding occurred while 24 miners were working underground. Eleven of them managed to escape.
By Saturday, rescuers reported no sign of life of the remaining 13 miners trapped underground, reported Xinhua.
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Written by admin on 17 October 2011
Beijing, Oct 17 (IANS) China and Bangladesh held their ninth diplomatic discussion Monday with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes representing their countries.
Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin hosted the discussion, Xinhua reported.
The two sides positively commented on bilateral relations and pledged to enhance pragmatic cooperation in all fields so as to further promote China-Bangladesh Closer Comprehensive Partnership of Cooperation.
The two sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.
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Written by admin on 17 October 2011
Beijing, Oct 17 (IANS) China Monday called on other countries to respect its agreement with Vietnam on maritime issues.
‘The fact that China and Vietnam have agreed to settle maritime disputes through negotiations has nothing to do with a third party. We expect the third party to respect the efforts by the countries concerned to resolve the disputes through negotiations,’ foreign ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin said at a press briefing.
Liu’s comments came after it was reported that the Philippines had opposed the latest China-Vietnam joint statement and called for a multilateral approach, rather than a bilateral agreement, to resolve disputes concerning the South China Sea.
‘China-Philippines maritime disputes can only be resolved through direct negotiations between China and the Philippines, a stance the Philippines is quite clear about,’ Xinhua quoted Liu as saying.
China and Vietnam reaffirmed their political will and determination to settle maritime issues through negotiations and friendly consultations and to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea, according to a China-Vietnam joint statement signed Saturday.
The two countries will step up negotiations on maritime issues, seek basic and long-term approaches that will be acceptable for both sides, explore interim and temporary solutions, including research and negotiations on the joint development of the sea, without impacting each side’s stance and position, the statement added.
Both sides will seek steady progress in negotiations regarding the maritime demarcation of the baymouth of the Beibu Gulf and discuss the joint development of the sea area, it said.
‘The China-Vietnam joint agreement is important for guiding the long-term healthy and stable development of bilateral relations,’ Liu said.
The statement reflects the determination and will of both countries to enhance friendship from a strategic height and an overall perspective, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, properly handle disputes, and safeguard regional and global peace, stability, cooperation and development, Liu said.
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Written by admin on 17 October 2011
Beijing, Oct 17 (IANS) Nearly 1,000 dogs were spared from slaughter in southwest China as animal-rights activists intercepted trucks loaded with dogs and negotiated their purchase, officials said Monday.
An Internet user known as ‘Mosquito’ initiated the rescue via the Twitter-like microblogging site Weibo after learning the dogs would be transported out of the city of Zigong in Sichuan province and taken to slaughterhouses in Guangxi region to be processed for meat.
On Saturday, about 200 volunteers blocked the three trucks packed with hundreds of whimpering dogs, and two local animal welfare groups paid the trader 80,000 yuan ($12,500) for the dogs, reported Xinhua.
The two groups, Sichuan Qiming Animal Adoption Center and Chengdu Home of Love, will take care of the dogs.
The trader, Tang Daguo, said he would no longer engage in the transportation of dogs, although authorities said he had all the permits and did not break any law.
Tang, who has been in the business for seven years, said he had never come across such a blockade before.
But it’s not the first time for animal-rights groups to block trucks transporting dogs for slaughter, as China has seen a rise in animal-rights activism that seeks to suppress the use of dogs as meat.
In April, about 200 people blocked a truck carrying dogs on a Beijing highway to negotiate their release after a microblog post attracted significant attention.
‘Though there are controversies, I’m happy to see more and more people joining us to end animal suffering and promote animal welfare,’ said Zhou Zunguo, an executive of the China branch of Compassion in World Farming, a Britain-based group that campaigns for animal welfare.
Zhou, one of the key activists in the dog rescue operation in April, said he hopes China’s booming middle class, whose living standards have been dramatically raised with the country’s rising prosperity, should take the lead in promoting animal welfare.
‘Animals have feelings,’ Zhou said. ‘Only when humans treat animals well can we live in true harmony.’
Tags: Beijing, China
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Written by admin on 16 October 2011
Beijing, Oct 16 (IANS) A state-run Chinese daily has urged Beijing to prevent India from ‘reckless attempts in confronting China’ after it inked a pact with Vietnam to explore oil in the South China Sea.
‘Both countries clearly know what this means for China,’ the English language Global Times, which in the past has taken a hard line on India, said in a commentary referring to the New Delhi-Hanoi agreement.
‘China may consider taking actions to show its stance and prevent more reckless attempts in confronting China.’
It noted that India was willing to fish in the troubled waters of the South China Sea so as to ‘accumulate bargaining chips on other issues with China’.
China, the daily said, needs to respond with ‘firm retaliatory measures’.
India has its ambitions in the region, it said, but its national strength does not provide solid support for such ambitions — yet. Furthermore, this is not India’s urgent task in building itself into a great power, the paper observed.
India is just poking its nose where it does not belong.
The Global Times was unsparing of Vietnam too.
Hanoi signed the agreement with New Delhi just a day after it signed a deal in Beijing on ground rules to resolve maritime disputes.
‘It is hard to tell if this shows a double-dealing mentality from Hanoi, or a disagreement among Vietnam’s top decision-makers.
‘India probably has deeper considerations in its regional strategy than simply getting barrels of oil and gas,’ it said.
There is strong political motivation behind the exploration projects. China’s vocal objections may not be heeded. It called on China to take practical actions, including those to make the project fall through.
China should denounce this agreement as illegal. Once India and Vietnam initiate their exploration, China can send non-military forces to disturb their work and cause friction to halt the project, it suggests.
China should let the two countries know that economic profits via such methods can hardly match the risk, it said.
Indian society was not prepared for ‘a fierce conflict’ with China on the South China Sea issue, it said.
However, it also noted that a rising China inevitably needed to have some degree of tolerance.
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