Extracts.
Following are the facts and figures about the service
sector in China in the Ninth Five-year Plan period
(1996-2000), provided by the State Development
Planning Commission.
The added value of China's service sector increased
from 2042.75 billion yuan to 2703.59 billion yuan, an
annual average rise of 8.18 percent from 1996 to
1999.
The average annual proportion of the sector's added
value to the added gross domestic product (GDP)
reached 46.6 percent, up 17.5 percentage points from
the Eighth Five-year Plan period (1991-1995).
The service sector accounted for 32.9 percent of the
GDP in 1999, up from 1996's 30.1 percent.
Employees in the service sector increased by 10.86
million from 1996 to 1999, 62.6 percent of the
country's newly added employed population.
Some 189.87 million people worked in the service
sector by 1999, accounting for 26.9 percent of the
total employed population of 705.86 million, a rise
of 2.1 percentage points over 1996.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Russia, Belarus Warn Against Violation of ABM Treaty
Russia and Belarus Wednesday called for strengthened
efforts to strictly abide by the 1972 Anti-Ballistic
Missile (ABM) Treaty, saying that any violation of
the treaty would be very dangerous.
The two countries made the appeal at the general
debate of the First Committee of the 55th General
Assembly session, which began Monday. The First
Committee is in charge of disarmament and
international security.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian permanent representative
to the United Nations, told the general debate that
the First Committee "cannot ignore the problem of the
ABM Treaty, for the threat of its breaking apart
along with the destruction of the whole system of the
major disarmament agreements is of concern to the
international community."
The ABM Treaty, signed by the United States and the
former Soviet Union in 1972, constitutes a
cornerstone of global strategic stability, and goes
far beyond the U.S.-Russian bilateral relations in
its significance.
Stressing the importance of strict compliance with
the treaty in the disarmament process, Lavrov said,
"Russia is prepared to further reduce its nuclear
weapons on a bilateral basis with the United States,
as well as on a multilateral basis with other nuclear
states. Certainly, this would be possible only under
conditions for preserving the strategic arms balance
as a guarantee against the return to global power
confrontation and arms race, under the conditions of
preserving and strengthening the 1972 ABM Treaty."
The United States is actively engaged in developing
the NMD system in order to seek its own absolute
security superiority at the expense of security of
other U.N. Member States.
The international community see the U.S. efforts to
seek revision of the treaty and to develop the
national missile defense (NMD) system as a move to
jeopardize the global strategic stability. The move,
if not checked, will lead to a new round of arms
race.
"The decision of U.S. President (Bill) Clinton not to
commit himself to the deployment of the national
missile system is viewed in Russia as a thoughtful
and responsible step," he said. "Yet, the fact is
that the same decision also provides for an
accelerated development of the NMD."
"The program is being carried out at full speed," he
said. "The tests are continuing."
Echoing the statement by the Russian representative,
Sergei Martynov, the first deputy foreign minister of
Belarus, said at the general debate Wednesday, "We
are fully confident that a key factor of principle in
security is the necessity to preserve strategic
parity and the existing balance of power in the
world."
"In this connection, the preservation of and
compliance with the Treaty on the Limitation of
Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems are a logical basis
for maintaining global stability," he said.
The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, or the ABM Treaty,
is the short form for the Treaty on the Limitation of
Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems.
Any violation of the treaty "could lead to a very
dangerous demolition of the entire architecture of
the existing international agreements," he said.
In their speeches, the two representatives also said
that Russia and Belarus will soon cosponsor a draft
resolution on the ABM Treaty once again.
Hu Xiaodi, the Chinese ambassador on disarmament,
said Tuesday that China will join Russia, Belarus and
other countries in submitting the draft resolution
for the second time. They presented the draft,
entitled "Preservation of and Compliance with the
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty," and managed to have
it adopted last year by the General Assembly.
The adoption mirrors the hope of most countries in
the world to maintain global strategic balance and
stability, Hu said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yugoslav Opposition Supporters Control Parliament
Building
Yugoslav opposition protesters on Thursday controlled
the parliament building in central Belgrade.
Smoke was seen coming out from windows of the
building after protesters braved tear gas storm the
buidling.
A huge crowd from some Serbian towns arrived in the
capital city to join the rally called by the
opposition Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) in
the expectation of a Constitutional Court ruling on a
DOS appeal concerning the September 24 presidential
election results.
The ruling Socialist Party of Serbia issued a
statement on the same day, condemning the disorder.
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