Extracts.
Thursday, December 28, 2000, updated at 09:12(GMT+8)
Mideast Summit Cancelled -- Egyptian Source
Thursday"s planned summit between Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm
el-Sheikh has been cancelled, an Egyptian government
source said. "The meeeting will now just be between
Arafat and (Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak and it
will be in Cairo," he told Reuters. He declined to
give further details.
The meeting had been intended to discuss U.S. peace
proposals for resolving issues at the heart of the
conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, such as
Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and Palestinian
refugees.
****
Thursday, December 28, 2000, updated at 08:10(GMT+8)
Preferential Policies on West Development Adopted
China is set to adopt more preferential policies for
the development of its western region in the next
decade, according to a circular released Wednesday,
December 27, by the State Council.
The incentives cover increased government input,
fiscal support, tax cuts and policies to attract
investors.
The beneficiaries will be the 12 provinces,
municipalities and autonomous regions of Chongqing,
Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu,
Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and
Guangxi, says the circular.
In the next five to ten years, China will step up
infrastructure construction, improve environmental
protection, readjust the industrial structure and
develop tourism in the western areas, it says.
The government will allocate more fund to the region,
give priority to construction of infrastructure
projects in water conservancy, transport and energy
sectors there.
According to the circular, work will be done to
create a better environment to attract investment,
both domestic and overseas, to push forward the
reform of state-owned enterprises in the western
areas and promote the development of the private
sector.
The government will cut the rate of enterprise income
tax to 15 percent for both domestic and
overseas-funded companies engaged in industries
encouraged by the state for a certain period of time.
Preferential tax rates will also be available for
projects concerning transport, electricity, water
control, postal, broadcasting and TV services, as
well as environmental protection.
The country will also give investors incentive
policies toward the use of land and mineral resources
in the region, says the circular.
More sectors will be opened to foreign investors and
measures including BOT and TOT will be introduced to
expand the source of foreign capital.
To expand foreign trade in the western areas, more
industrial enterprises will be given import and
export autonomy, and more preferential policies will
be provided to encourage border trade, according to
the circular.
The government will encourage the economically
developed eastern coastal areas to give more support
to the west.
Measures will be taken to attract more talented
professionals to work in the western region and boost
the development of education, science and technology
there.
The new polices will be effective as of January 1,
2001 and through the next ten years.
****
Thursday, December 28, 2000, updated at 11:15(GMT+8)
China Has Built up a Complete Ocean Supervision
Contingent
The East China Sea Head Corps of China Ocean
Supervision Contingent, as the third regional corps
following the two in Beihai and the South China Sea,
was formally established in Shanghai December 26,
marking the complete establishment of an ocean
supervision troop in the country.
The East China Sea Head Corps will function in the
inner seas, the territorial waters, the continental
shelves in the marine belts of the special economic
zones, that stretch from Shao'antou at the adjacent
area of Fujian and Guangdong provinces in the south
to the juncture of Jiangsu and Shandong in the north.
The corps will impose punishment to any behavior in
violation of China's marine interests, illicit use of
the maritime space and damaging marine environment
and resources in accordance with relevant laws and
regulations. They will help law-execution on the sea
or participate in maritime salvation and other
actions for military safeguards as committed and
authorized by relevant departments.
Ocean, also known as "blue territories", is of great
economic and strategic importance. Since China
launched the policy of reform and opening up, the
marine industry has witnessed a rapid development and
become a new growth point in the national economy.
Statistics show that in 1999, the gross production
value of China's marine industries reached 360
billion yuan with 200 billion yuan added value
achieved, taking up 2.4 percent of the GDP.
Zhang Hongsheng, vice director of State Oceanography
Bureau, said that the Chinese Government published
and effected the Protection Law of Marine Environment
of the People's Republic of China in the early 1980s,
followed by a series of laws and regulations for the
protection of the Chinese ocean. In 1983, the Chinese
Ocean Supervision Contingent formally began to cruise
in execution of the laws within the Chinese
seawaters.
Since July 1999, the Headquarters of China Ocean
Supervision Contingent and regional head corps have
been set up one in the wake of the other. In the
meanwhile, the coastal provinces and municipalities
and autonomous regions also have their own ocean
supervision troops built up.
By PD Online Staff Deng Gang
****
Iran-Russia Military Cooperation to Be Expanded Russian Defense Minister
Igor Sergeyev has said that Tehran and Moscow will expand their military
and security cooperation despite opposition from the United States, the
Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Wednesday, December 27.
"Iranian-Russian military cooperation will not be to the prejudice of any
third country," Sergeyev, who arrived here late Tuesday for a three-day
visit, was quoted by the agency as saying.
Leading a high-ranking military delegation for the first such visit to Iran
since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution, Sergeyev said his trip aims to
bolster the arms trade between Moscow and Tehran, despite U.S. threats of
economic sanctions.
He expressed hope that his visit would initiate a new chapter in
Iran-Russia relations and serve improvement of cooperation for security and
stability in the region.
"Moscow calls for expansion of relations with Tehran in all fields, notably
regional security, and there is no legal and international obstacle before
this intention," Sergeyev said upon his arrival.
Sergeyev is to hold talks with President Mohammad Khatami, Defense Minister
Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani and other senior military and political
officials on military cooperation, the Afghan crisis, the legal status of
the Caspian Sea, the Middle East crisis and other issues of common concern.
He is also to visit the bases of Iran's aerospace industry, electronic
industry and some military installations.
According to the IRNA report, Sergeyev declined to comment on Washington's
opposition to Russia's dealings with Iran, only saying that "Russia will
not contravene international agreements."
Moscow announced in November that it would stop the observance of a
five-year-old accord with Washington which banned Russia from selling arms
to Iran. The decision prompted a US threat of economic sanctions.
But Moscow has sought to allay Washington's fears at the resumption of arms
deals between Russia and Iran, saying that under no circumstances would
Russia help Iran manufacture weapons of mass destruction.
****
Yearender: World Situation: Relatively Calm in 2000 As the last year of the
20th century is drawing to a close, people can breathe a sigh of relief:
the world situation in 2000 has been relatively calm, without witnessing
flames of war of the magnitude of the Kosovo conflict in 1999.
And the outgoing year also saw no financial turmoil like the one which
flared up in Southeast Asia in 1997 and had repercussions all over the
world.
Nevertheless, the world is far from tranquil and is by no means a heaven
free from concerns and apprehensions.
BIG POWERS' RELATIONS: MORE COOPERATIVE
The relations between Russia and the United States and those between Russia
and Europe suffered a serious setback in 1999 following the bombardment of
Yugoslavia by the US-led NATO, which dented Russia's strategic sphere. But
after Vladimir Putin assumed the Russian presidency at the beginning of the
year, the US and some of its European allies seized the opportunity by
making conciliatory gestures. Putin responded by adopting a series of
fence-mending diplomatic moves, putting these damaged relations back on
track.
With regard to the Russia-Japan relations, while no solution to their
long-running territorial dispute is in the offing, headway has been made in
trade and economic cooperation between the two countries during the year.
The China-US relations, which plummeted to rock bottom when the US-led NATO
launched a missile attack on the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia in May last
year, were back on track again after more than one year of efforts.
U.S. President Bill Clinton signed a bill into law in October on granting
permanent normal trade relations status to China, which is in keeping with
the common interests of the two peoples and is conducive to the steady
development of Sino-American relations.
The strategic partnership between China and Russia was further strengthened
and elevated in 2000, while China made further progress in the development
of its relations with the European Union and Japan, as both sides followed
the principle of seeking common grounds while reserving differences.
And the alliance between the US and the EU and that between the US and
Japan remained firm despite repeated frictions over trade issues.
WORLD CONTINUES MOVING TOWARDS MULTI-POLARITY The US continued to seek its
absolute supremacy in world political, economic and military spheres, but
its wanton ambition for a unipolar world was reined in, as the majority of
countries in the world, including big powers, have voiced their strong
opposition against it.
China and Russia are among those countries striving for the
multi-polarization of the world. Even some of Washington's Western allies
also, openly or privately, rejected the idea of a unipolar world which
features the dominance of a sole superpower, and
called for a multi-polar world. In the face of public wrath in the world,
Washington was forced to shelve its plans for a national
missile defense system.
The US pokes into international affairs anywhere in the world only to see
its hands getting weak. For example, to Washington's great embarrassment,
one country after another opened commercial and transportation links with
Iraq in the course of the year, in defiance of the sanctions strongly
advocated by the US and Britain.
Washington once boasted that the war in Kosovo had set a "precedent" for
its neo-interventionism, but later had to modify its remark by saying that
the Kosovo mode was not a "precedent" but a "special case."
REGIONAL TENSIONS OVERALL REDUCED
Regional conflicts and hot spots largely calmed down in the year 2000. The
situation on the Korean Peninsular, which had been gripped by hostility
over half a century, experienced a breakthrough in mid-June when the top
leaders of the north and the south of the peninsular held a historical
summit in Pyongyang declaring an end to confrontation and the arrival of a
new era of reconciliation and cooperation.
The two sides then took practical measures to facilitate contacts, exchange
and cooperation in various fields. Difficulties and twists may lie ahead,
but the general trend of reconciliation on the peninsular cannot be
reversed, political analysis say.
The situation on the Balkans became more stable. The efforts of the new
leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for the country to return to
the international community met positive responses. In South Asia, the
dispute over the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan remains
unresolved, while in Africa, some war-torn countries have seen the dawn of
peace.
The Mideast peace process experienced violent ups and downs this year.
Bloody clashes between Palestinians and Israelis since September served to
interrupt the peace talks which had already reported some progress.
But the situation in the Middle East as a whole is not getting out of
control and the blood-letting is unlikely to develop into a large-scale
regional conflict, for both Palestinians and Israelis -- leaders and
ordinary people alike -- are loath to see a return to an era of war and
terror.
The US also wants the two sides to end clashes and continue the peace
talks. The international community has been making efforts to mediate
between the two sides to help reopen the peace talks between Palestine and
Israel.
ROBUST GROWTH IN WORLD ECONOMY, RICH-POOR GAP WIDENS Most countries and
regions in the world recorded faster economic growth in the year. The
International Monetary Fund predicted that in 2000, the world's economy
would grow by 4.7 percent, the highest in the last 10 years. Developed
countries would register a growth of 4.2 percent, developing nations 5.6
percent, Europe 3.5 percent, Asia 6.7 percent, Africa 3.4 percent, and
Latin America and the Caribbean 4 percent. And what is noticeable is the US
economy has registered growth for a record 117 consecutive months by the
end of 2000.
Despite the development of the world economy, the disparity between rich
and poor countries is becoming wider. According to World Bank statistics,
low-income countries account for more than half of the world's population,
but their combined GDP is only 6 percent of the world's total. In contrast,
developed countries account for only one-sixth of the world's population
but have 80 percent of the global GDP.
The rapid development of information technology also contributed to the
widening gap, including the so-called "digital divide," between developing
and developed countries. To basically reverse the trend, concerted efforts
from both developing and developed countries are needed to change the old
unjust and inequitable international economic order and to replace it with
a new international economic order based on equality, cooperation and
common development.
The world is on the threshold of the 21st century. People have every reason
to believe that in the coming new year, the world situation will continue
to demonstrate a trend of overall relaxation with regional turbulence, and
the prospects of the world economy will remain as good.
****
Tuesday, December 26, 2000, updated at 20:19(GMT+8)
Li Ruihuan on Issues Concerning HK, Macao, Taiwan,
and Overseas Chinese
Li Ruihuan, chairman of the National Committee of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
(CPPCC), reiterated the importance of the issues
concerning Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas
Chinese.
While meeting with delegates attending a national
conference on the issues Tuesday, December 26, Li
said the issues will play an irreplaceable, important
role for China to accomplish its three major tasks in
the new century.
The three major tasks are to continue the country's
modernization drive, realize the reunification, and
to safeguard world peace and promote common
development, said Li.
The conference was sponsored by the Subcommittee for
Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Compatriots and Overseas
Chinese of the CPPCC
National Committee. The participants shared their
views and experience in handling matters of concern.
Vice chairmen of the CPPCC National Committee Sun
Fuling, Wan Guoquan, Luo Haocai and Zhang Kehui
attended the meeting.
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