Tag: China

MOSCOW/BEIJING - Russia, China and India called for an end to "indiscriminate use of force" by foreign states taking part in military operations in Libya. A statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the country opposed the use of force in international relations.
"China has noted the latest developments in Libya and expresses regret over the military attacks on Libya," the statement said. Russia also issued a similarly worded statement in which it called for a ceasefire as

BEIJING - China raised banks' required reserves again in a decision; the latest installment in its monetary tightening cycle that many had thought would be put on hold after Japan's devastating earthquake.
Its persistance with a campaign to rein in prices that has cooled hopes for the scale of world growth showed that the People's Bank of China views inflation, not an economic slowdown resulting from Japan's disaster, as the bigger risk.
China's announcement came just hours

BEIJING - China's vast nuclear push is likely to slow after the government ordered a safety crackdown on Wednesday in the aftermath of Japan's nuclear crisis. The announcement by the State Council, or cabinet, was the clearest sign yet that the crisis at a quake-ravaged nuclear complex in northeast Japan could affect China's ambitious nuclear expansion, by far the world's largest.
But at least one expert said the measures were unlikely to stop China's expansion of nuclear power.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has given a list of 268 items to China for unilateral concessions and the matter would be discussed between trade officials of the two countries in June this year, in Beijing, an official source said.
Pakistan, he said, had recently submitted the list, during talks on the second phase of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The first phase expires on December 31, 2012. Officials of both countries discussed modalities for the second phase, which would be

BEIJING - Middle East countries should be left to themselves to resolve the problems they currently face without outside interference, a Chinese vice foreign minister said during a visit to the region. While China supported a United Nations resolution for an arms embargo and other sanctions targeting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his inner circle, it has so far been cool to the idea of a no-fly zone over that country. "The Middle East's stability is beneficial to the world's peace

ISLAMABAD - Negotiation between Pakistan and China on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) concluded yesterday with special onus placed on reducing Pakistan's trade deficit in bilateral trade and tariff concessions to each other. The first phase of the FTA between the two countries will conclude on 31 December, 2012 and respective organisations of both governments have begun negotiations to finalise modalities for the second phase which would be implemented from January 2013.
The current

BEIJING - At least 24 people were killed and 207 others injured in an earthquake that struck a remote area of southwest China near the border with Myanmar on Thursday, a local official said. The tremor reduced hundreds of houses to rubble, left some desperate residents trapped under buildings and triggered power cuts in the surrounding area of China, though no casualties were reported in Myanmar.
The epicentre of the 5.4-magnitude quake, which struck at 12:58pm (0458 GMT), was

BEIJING - China said on Thursday that the Dalai Lama was playing "tricks" on the world, after the Buddhist monk announced plans to step down as political head of the exiled Tibetan government.
"He has often talked about retirement in the past few years. I think these are his tricks to deceive the international community," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters. "The government-in-exile is an illegal political organisation and no country in the world recognises

BEIJING - The eventual death of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, will have no major impact on the stability of the Chinese-ruled region, state media on Tuesday quoted top officials as saying. The officials attending China's annual session of parliament hit out at the Dalai Lama, calling him a "wolf in monk's robes" and saying he did not have the right to decide how his successor would be chosen.
"There will be little repercussions (when the Dalai Lama dies) due

American music legend Bob Dylan will play in China for the first time in his illustrious career in two April concerts timed to mark his 50 years as a performer, Beijing-based promoters said Friday. The news comes a year after a Taiwan promoter said its bid to take Dylan to China was scuttled after the Beijing government refused to approve shows by the writer of some of rock's most iconic and politically charged songs.
Dylan, who will be 70 in May, will play in Beijing at the

BEIJING - China's state media on Saturday warned citizens to ignore calls for weekend anti-government rallies in major cities, saying that similar protests across the Middle East had created "chaos". The message - carried by the Beijing Daily, a mouthpiece of the city government - came as Premier Wen Jiabao noted the public's "great resentment" over a number of issues in his speech to open the annual parliamentary session.
Authorities in China have shown increasing nervousness

ISLAMABAD - China was once a sleeping dragon but recently it had started "shaking" the world with its robust economy, flourishing civilization and rich culture that derived its strength from Confucianism, Professor Doctor James Eldin Reed, an internationally recognised historian and educationist said on Tuesday.
In his keynote speech at a seminar on "The Rise of China in the Historical Perspective" organized here by the History Department of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) in

BEIJING - China plans to more than double the value of its entertainment and other cultural industries to nearly three trillion yuan, or roughly $460 billion, within the next five years in effort to boost domestic consumption and propel Chinese culture overseas. Beijing will expedite bank loans and facilitate public listings for companies involved in film and television production, live entertainment, as well as gaming and publishing, said Sun Zhijun, director general of the Office of

BEIJING/SHANGHAI - An online call for anti-government protests across China on Sunday instead brought an emphatic show of force by police determined to deter any buds of the kind of unrest that has shaken the Middle East.
Lines of police checked passers-by and warned away foreign photo journalists in downtown Beijing and Shanghai after a US-based Chinese website spread calls for Chinese people to emulate the "Jasmine Revolution" sweeping the Middle East and stage gatherings in

BEIJING - Police have levelled subversion charges against several top activists who urged Middle East-style protests in China, in what appears to be a severe crackdown on dissent, rights groups said on Friday. Ahead of an appeal for fresh "Jasmine rallies" in 13 Chinese cities on Sunday, skittish authorities in Beijing called the foreign press into line, telephoning journalists and using state media to reiterate the reporting rules. More than 100 activists have been subjected to

BEIJING - China on Friday eliminated capital punishment for some economic crimes, as it moved to curb use of the death penalty in a country believed to execute more people than the rest of the world combined. The standing committee of China's National People's Congress passed an amendment to the nation's criminal law that took 13 offences off the list of 68 crimes punishable by death, the legislature said on its website.
"The 13 crimes that have been exempted from the death

LAHORE - A seminar on Pak-China relations was held at Government College Township on Thursday. The college's principal Dr Ejaz Butt introduced the seminar's theme, which was on the year 2011 that has been declared as 'Pak-China friendship year', and said Pakistan needed to further strengthen ties with China.
He greeted the speakers which included senior political analysts and diplomats including Dr Farooq Hasanat, Col (r) Sikander Sultan Ghuman, Imran Iqbal, Dr Imtiaz Bukhari,