Extracts. Palestinian-Israeli Talks End, Without Breakthrough The Palestinians and Israel <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/Israel.html> ended a new round of talks early Friday, January 12, without reaching a breakthrough, but both sides agreed to continue negotiations in the next few days. Danny Yatom, security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, told Israeli Army Radio that the result of the meeting, held at Erez Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel, was not unexpected due to the wide differences between the two sides. Palestinian chief negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine radio that there was an agreement to hold further meetings in the coming period. A US peace plan was at the center of the meeting, which began late Thursday night, according to informed Palestinian sources. The peace plan was raised to the Palestinians and Israel by outgoing US President Bill Clinton on December 23 as his last effort to try to hammer out a peace deal between the two sides before he leaves office on January 20. Under the compromise plan, the Palestinians would establish a state on all of the Gaza Strip and 95 percent of the West Bank. They would have the sovereignty over Arab neighborhoods and the Al Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem. But the right to return of most Palestinian refugees would be denied. According to the Palestinian sources, during the second high-level meeting in three weeks, both sides also discussed ways to end the violence between Israeli troops and the Palestinians. They also said that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat held a telephone conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, during which the two exchanged views on the latest development. It was reported that Arafat will meet with Israeli Regional Cooperation minister Shimon Peres at Gaza later Friday. **** Clinton Expresses Regret for GIs' Killing of Koreans US President Bill Clinton said Thursday that he deeply regret that Korean civilians lost their lives at No Gun Ri, where American forces fired on an undetermined number of refugees during the early days of the Korean War. Clinton did not refer to the role of US troops in the No Gun Ri incident. "We have been unable to determine the exact events that occurred at No Gun Ri," he said. He called the episode a "painful reminder of the tragedies of war." Clinton's comments were contained in a written statement released Thursday afternoon. "On behalf of the United States of America," Clinton said, "I deeply regret that Korean civilians lost their lives at No Gun Ri in late July 1950." He said the United States would construct a memorial "to these and all other innocent civilians and create a commemorative memorial fund." Clinton earlier decided that the United States would not provide financial compensation to the survivors and families of the victims. The South Korean government pressed Washington to apologize for the killings, but the Clinton administration refused. **** Gov't Slams Pentagon Accusation Chinese Government Thursday condemned a Pentagon report accusing China of selling ballistic missiles or nuclear technology in defiance of non-proliferation agreements. "The accusations in the reports are groundless and highly irresponsible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said. Zhu also expressed China's concern about the consequences of NATO's use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions in the Balkans. He said China had always stood for the comprehensive prohibition and thorough destruction of all weapons of mass destruction, abiding by international obligations and commitments. The Pentagon report, entitled "Proliferation: Threat and Response," alleges that a dozen countries are pursuing offensive biological and chemical weapons programmes, mainly with help emanating from Russia and China. "I think you all know who the biggest weapon dealer in the world is," Zhu said. Commenting on reports about the after effects of DU shells, Zhu said China is very concerned about the use of such bombs and the humanitarian problems they may have caused. "China has always opposed NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo conflict in 1999," Zhu said, adding that the country had taken note of NATO's pledge to fully investigate concerns about munitions as a growing number of suspicious deaths and illnesses among peacekeepers in the Balkans emerge. The use of DU in NATO weapons directed at Yugoslav army targets in Kosovo has come under fire following reports that six Italian soldiers who served in the region have developed leukemia. According to defense experts, depleted uranium is used in the tips of missiles, shells and bullets to boost their ability to penetrate armor. On impact, they can smash and produce toxic radioactive dust that contaminates the air, soil and water supplies. Turning to a recent consultation among the directors of the International Departments of the Foreign Ministries of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council held in Shanghai, Zhu said China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US held wide and in-depth exchanges of views on a series of issues ranging from the follow-up actions of the five permanent member summit, the Iraqi question and the Brahimi Report (on UN peace-keeping operations) in the Middle East. Zhu indicated that as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China attaches great importance to the work of the UN in peacekeeping, and has made its own contribution. He stressed that peacekeeping operations were important for the UN to carry out its responsibility for maintaining world peace and security. He said the leading role of the UN in this regard could not be replaced. Since the 1990s, China has sent 500 military observers to the relevant UN peacekeeping operations. It sent an engineering team of 800 people to Cambodia and 55 civilian policemen to the UN administrative authorities in East Timor. On January 4 this year, the Chinese Government again sent five civilian peacekeeping policemen to the UN mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina. "China is willing to make continued contributions to the UN peacekeeping operation in the future," the spokesman said. (China Daily) **** China to Set up Sino-Indian Parliamentary Friendship Group Soon: Li Peng The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, will soon set up a Sino-Indian friendship group, visiting NPC Standing Committee chairman Li Peng announced Thursday in a meeting with a group of Indian parliamentary party leaders in New Delhi. After the establishment of the Chinese group, Li said, it will invite members of the Indo-China friendship group in the Indian parliament to visit China. He also congratulated the establishment of the Indian group which has just come into being. Li, who arrived here at noon Thursday after a two-day visit to Mumbai, 1,407 kilometers southwest of the capital city, expressed his appreciation and gratitude to all party leaders and heads of special commissions in the Indian parliament for their work and contributions to the understanding and friendship between the two peoples and to the improvement of bilateral relations. Peoples of the two countries had established a profound and traditional friendship in the last two thousand years, Li said at the meeting, which was presided over by G. M. C. Balayogi, speaker of Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian parliament. Balayogi told Li that the meeting, participated by 45 members of Indian parliament from various parties, showed that there were no difference among political parties in the country for further development of Indo-China relations. Following their self introductions, the parliament members raised a number of questions on Sino-Indian relations, cooperation between parliaments of the two countries, world situation and regional developments to the Chinese top legislator. Li described the essential aspect of relations between China and India as satisfactory though there had been setbacks in the past, saying that an important task faced by politicians of the two most populous countries is a decision on what kind of mutual relations that should be established between Beijing and New Delhi in the new century. Li, who arrived in the South Asian country last Tuesday for a week-long official goodwill visit, told the Indian party leaders that, towards the end of last century, the two countries reached a very important consensus on future development of their relations based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, initiated by the two countries in the 1950s, with a prerequisite that the two countries should not see each other as a threat. China had invariably insisted that, as major powers in Asia and among developing countries in the world, China and India, which have similar experiences in the past and face common tasks of development at present, had every reason to bring a bright future to their relations based on harmony, equal treatment and mutual trust. Li recalled the state visit by Chinese President Jiang Zemin in 1996, saying during Jiang's meeting with Indian leaders including Indian President Kocheril Raman Narayanan, the two sides took a broad and long-term view on the development of Sino-India relations and decided to bring a relationship of constructive and cooperative partnership to the 21st century. It was without question, Li admitted, that the two countries had different views on some aspects in their views on the world and there were also certain differences in the development of their relations due to different historic background, social systems and religions. However, he added, China had all along paid attention and sought solution to all issues between the two neighbors, either those which arose in the present time or those left over by history which needs time, patience and mutual efforts to reach a solution. All problems between the two countries could be resolved if the two sides stick to the Five Principles and create a suitable environment and conditions for a final solution, said Li, who visited New Delhi in 1991 as Chinese Premier. On South Asia, Li said, there would be no peace and prosperity in Asia without security and development in South Asia, which has one third of the population of Asia. Expressing his sincere hope that South Asian countries would respect each other, live in harmony and seek mutual development, Li said, a peaceful, secured and prosperous South Asia would not only conform to common interests of countries in the region but also benefit peace and security in Asia and the world as a whole. He stated that, as a close neighbor to South Asian countries, China always attached great importance to the traditional ties with all countries in the region and hoped to maintain and further develop friendship with them, which is a vested policy of the Chinese government. On exchanges between parliaments and political parties, Li told Indian party leaders that the NPC devotes much attention to the exchanges and cooperation with parliaments of all countries including India. The NPC and the Indian parliament have undertaken constructive and effective exchanges and cooperation in recent years while the ruling Communist Party of China has established and further developed its friendly relations with many of the political parties in India, Li said. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
