Extracts.
Clinton Will not Visit North Korea During Asia Tour: White House
President Bill Clinton will not stop in North Korea when he visits Asia
this month but has not ruled out making a trip to the country before he
leaves office, the White House said Saturday.
"The president has not made a decision on whether he will go to North Korea
before the end of his term," said presidential spokesman Jake Siewert.
"He will, however, not go to Pyongyang at the end of his upcoming trip to
Brunei and Vietnam," Siewert said in New York state where Clinton was on
the campaign trail.
Clinton is due to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC)
summit in Brunei on November 15-16, and will then become the first US
president to visit Vietnam since US troops were defeated by North
Vietnamese communists.
He hands power to his successor on January 20.
Clinton was invited to North Korea last month during a visit to Washington
by Vice Marshal Jo Myong-Rok, a special envoy from the North Korean leader
Kim Jong-Il.
The decision not to include North Korea on the president's itinerary came
after talks between the two sides on Pyongyang's missile program wrapped up
on Friday in Kuala Lumpur with significant issues still unresolved.
The White House had previously said the extent of progress at those talks
would be crucial in deciding whether a visit by Clinton was merited.
A summit between Clinton and Kim would crown the country's diplomatic
emergence after decades as a Cold War adversary of Washington.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright last month discussed a reported offer
by Kim Jong-Il to give up the program in return for access to satellite
launches.
Despite the apparent inconclusive ending to the Kuala Lumpur talks, US
delegation leader Robert Einhorn described them as "detailed constructive
and very substantive."
He said in his statement the talks "covered the full range of missile
issues under consideration by the two countries, including North Korea's
missile-related exports and its indigenous missile programs."
The two sides also "explored in depth the idea of exchanging launches of
DPRK (North Korean) satellites for serious missile restraint by the DPRK."
Clinton has come under increasing pressure in recent days not to go to
North Korea, from domestic critics who have warned that any visit would be
portrayed in Pyongyang as a stamp of approval for Kim Jong-Il.
State Department officials have stressed all along that a Clinton visit
would only be made if significant progress was expected, adding that they
are committed to a step-by-step process of easing tensions with North
Korea.
The United States has cautiously welcomed North Korea's diplomatic
emergence but warned that it must see concrete signs that Pyongyang is
committed to easing tensions before it will offer concessions.
As Tuesday's presidential election approached, Albright urged the next
resident of the White House to follow down the path set by the current
administration.
"The next president will have to choose whether to continue down the path
we have begun," Albright said Thursday.
"Respectfully, I hope he will and believe he should, because I am convinced
it is the right path for America, our allies and the people of Korea," she
said in an address to the National Press Club.
****
Saturday, November 04, 2000, updated at 13:02(GMT+8)
Chinese President Meets Russian PM
President Jiang Zemin met with Russian
Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov Friday,
expressing his hope that Sino-Russian
relations will continue to grow and
prosper.
Jiang said that he and Putin held a
successful meeting in July this year in Beijing and
signed the Beijing Declaration, adding that it has
laid a foundation for further consolidation and
deepening of the Sino-Russian strategic and
cooperative partnership.
China and Russia, two neighboring powers, share
similar historical and cultural origins and have the
similar views on many major international issues,
Jiang noted.
China and Russia need to further their coordination
and cooperation in the course of establishing a just
and reasonable international political and economic
new order in the face of the complex international
situation, Jiang said.
He said that he hopes the two countries will proceed
from the overall friendly cooperation to deepen their
cooperation in various areas.
The two countries need to complement each other with
their respective advantages, in a bid to serve their
economic development, the Chinese President said.
He said that the Russian people are a great people,
stating that the Russian economy has had a solid
foundation and Russia is well known for its strength
in science and technological and an abundance of rich
natural resources.
As a good neighbor and strategic partner of Russia,
China hopes Russia will realize its economic
prosperity at an early date and play an even bigger
role in international affairs, Jiang said.
Jiang asked Kasyanov to convey his cordial greetings
to Putin.
Kasyanov conveyed Putin's regards to Jiang. He said
that the Russian government attaches great importance
to developing friendly cooperation with China.
He said that the main purpose of his current visit to
China is to push forward the friendly cooperation
with China in various fields.
****
Saturday, November 04, 2000, updated at 10:43(GMT+8)
Population, Top Challenge in China's Western
Development
A fast increasing population has become the top
challenge China has to face in its ambitious strategy
of developing the western regions, legislators and
experts on population warned Friday.
The legislators and experts were attending a workshop
on population and development, sponsored by the
Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee of
the National People's Congress (NPC), which opened in
Beijing Friday.
Jiang Chunyun, vice-chairman of the NPC Standing
Committee, stressed that lowering the rate of
population growth and improving the quality of
population are vital to the overall development of
China's western regions.
The 10 provinces, municipalities and autonomous
regions in the west have a population of 283 million,
making up 22.7 percent of the country's total, while
the arable land in the west accounts for 23.7 percent
of the national total. This means more people than
what the land can support.
Li Honggui, vice-president of the China Population
Society, pointed out that the excessively rapid
population growth regardless of limited arable land
resources in the west is especially worrisome.
Statistics show that population in western China grew
at an average annual rate of 2.6 percent between 1990
and 1998, doubling the national average during the
same period of time.
Professor Wei Jinsheng, of the China Research Center
of Population Information, suggested efforts should
be made to have more farmers engage in
non-agriculture business, which will help improve
their standard of living and finally streamline their
concept on birth control.
Vigorously promoting family planning is another major
way to solve the population problem in the west, he
added.
The professor pointed out that poor birth-control
services and insufficient investment in family
planning gives rise to the rapid population growth in
the west.
In 1998 alone, a lack of one billion yuan worth of
input prevented the normal development of the family
planing undertaking in the west, Wei said, citing the
latest statistics.
As farmers have a deep-rooted logic of "raising a son
against old age," the government should establish an
insurance system to finance the elderly farmers who
have no son to support, the professor suggested.
At the two-day symposium, experts and legislators
from the west are expected to discuss such issues
like family planing, reproduction-related health care
and the quality of the newborn.
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