Extracts. China Continues to Be Active in U.N. Affairs: President Jiang China will continue to take an active part in various activities of the United Nations, Chinese President Jiang Zemin said on Monday morning. In a meeting with visiting Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the U.N., Jiang said that "China attaches importance to the role of the U.N. and supports the organization to perform its functions in accordance with the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter." Jiang said he had previously met with Annan during the U.N. millennium summit last year. He congratulated Annan on the success of the summit, saying that the meeting has been the biggest gathering of heads of state in human history. The Chinese President said that "we should work together to try to realize the goals enshrined in the documents passed at the summit." China has always maintained that the role of the U.N., as the most representative international organization, can not be replaced by any other international organizations, Jiang stated. He said that the organization "has done a lot of useful work in keeping world peace, in helping solve regional conflicts, in enhancing the awareness among the international community on economic and social development, and in pushing forward the talks on disarmament," over the past 55 years. It has been proven that strengthening the role of the U.N. confirms to the tide of the history, to the needs of the development of the times, and to the common interests of all countries, Jiang noted. "I believe, as long as the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter are observed, the U.N. will be able to play its due part in international affairs," the president said. Jiang said that China is satisfied with the secretary-general's work, pledging that he himself and the Chinese government will continue to support him. Annan said that he is happy to visit China as the traditional Chinese lunar new year is coming. He said that the documents passed at the millennium summit will serve as a blueprint for the U.N. in the 21st century. The secretary-general noted that it is important the leaders of member countries of the U.N. reaffirmed their commitments to the organization at the turn of the century. He said the first summit among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, initiated by China last year, has been a success. And the U.N. and its Security Council should take the advantage of the summit to further strengthen their role in maintaining international peace and stability and promoting economic and social development of the world. **** New US Government Kicks Off Amidst Storm At noontime January 20, 54 year-old Republican George W. Bush, the former head of Texas State, indicated in his inaugural speech that the new US government would be in the urgent need to handle four major issues, namely, education reform, reform of the social security system and medical security system, building up a stronger national defense and tax cut. He called upon the public to strengthen unity and take an active part in national and community affairs. Although Bush entered and hosted the White House after the US economy had witnessed nearly a decade-long sustained growth, US current economic growth rate has obviously slowed down, and signs of sluggishness and glide have emerged. In order to stimulate economic development, Bush, in his campaign for the presidency, put forward a 10-year plan for a dramatic tax cut of US$1,600 billion Because the US economy is now on the verge of a decline and there are increases in the federal budget surplus, the Republican and Democratic parties have reached a consensus to some extent on tax reduction, however, both parties still have quite a big divergence over the scale and object of tax cut. While running for the presidency, Bush made many promises to the electors, but whether these will not become "empty promises" will be another challenge facing Bush. In terms of education, Bush worked out a plan to allow low-income families to transfer their children from government-run to private-run schools. Bush stands for reforming the social security system and medical health system, allowing the participants to put part of their social security tax into the securities and bond markets, but this plan won little response from the Democratic Party members, perhaps it would be not easy to get it passed at the Congress. In his inaugural speech, Bush did not dwell on foreign affairs. He indicated that the United States <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/usa.html> will continue to participate in world affairs, build up an "unmatched" national defense force to protect the interests of the allies and the United States in the whole world. US Secretary-designate Colin Powell expounded new US government's foreign policy at a Senate confirmation hearing on January 17. He said that the new government would not bring the United States "into a fortress of protectionism or an island of isolation", and that it would continue to participate in international affairs in accordance with national interests. Bush and his staff repeatedly indicated in their campaign for presidency that the United States would decided as rapidly as possible to deploy the national missile defense (NMD) system and threatened that if Russia <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/russia.html> disagreed to revise the (ABM) Treaty signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1972, the United States would unilaterally withdraw from this treaty. On January 17 Powell once again stressed that it was extremely important to set up a "comprehensive strategic framework" that includes an offensive and defensive system. The new government's stance on the NMD system has aroused grave concern in the international community. The US NMD system program is not only opposed by Russia, China and other countries, but also is boycotted by its European allies including France <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/france.html> and Germany <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/Germany.html> . In his inaugural speech, Bush professed that he wanted to create a terror-free new century. But what people feel puzzled is what the NMD system planned to be established by the United States would bring to the new century. **** News Topping China's Agricultural Sector in 2000 2000 top ten agriculture news items have lately been chosen by 10 news media including Agriculture Daily and Rural China Magazine and these are as listed below: 1. A strategic restructuring of agriculture and rural economy was called for a boom of rural economy, development of market economy, modernization construction and further advance of China's economy as a whole. 2. The Central Government decided on a reform of taxation and fee collection and specific experiments to be carried out in the whole province of Anhui <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/anhui.html> . 3. An education drive for studying President Jiang Zemin <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/leaders/jzm/jzmhome.htm> 's thinking on the Chinese Communist Party representing the development requirements of China's advanced social productive forces, the progressive course of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the people is to be launched among cadres at various levels in rural China. 4. "Opinions on How to Promote a Healthy Development of Small Cities and Towns" released by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. 5. The NPC Standing Committee examined and inspected law enforcement of Township Enterprises Law of the PRC. 6. The Ministry of Agriculture and the State Development Planning Commission approved 151 national key agricultural enterprises. 7. The Ministry of Agriculture put forward ten measures to boost western regions' agricultural and rural economic development during the 10th Five-year Plan years 2001-2005. 8. The Ministry of Agriculture and Finance and the Bank of Agriculture decided on formulating specific standards and demands to further develop China's agriculture and these are to be completed by 2005. 9. Wang Leyi and other nine agronomists were cited on a grand scale for their outstanding contribution to China's agriculture and to publicize and learn from their good virtues and noble spirit, over 90 others were duly granted with first-class citations. 10. For a sound development of rural economy farmers in Zhejiang <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/Zhejiang.html> achieved a 7.63 percent growth in income, the highest in China. **** Taiwan Jobless Rate Hit Record High in December The unemployment rate in Taiwan in December hit a record high of 3.27 percent, pushed up by a wave of factory closures, a Taiwanese newspaper reported Sunday. The month's jobless rate was the highest for month any since 1986, and the unemployment rate for the full year of 2000 averaged 2.99 percent, also a new high since 1978, the English newspaper Taiwan News cited the local authorities as saying. Due to continuous restructuring by the island's industries and sluggish economic performance in the fourth quarter of last year, the labor demands of domestic manufacturers did not show an obvious increase, the newspaper said. The last year's rate, equivalent to an average 290,000 out of work, was up from 2.92 percent a year earlier, it 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] __________________________________________________
