Extracts. China Demands Official Apology from US China still demands an official apology from the United States for the collision incident on Sunday morning, said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sun Yuxi Thursday afternoon at the routine press conference. When asked to comment on U.S. Secretary of State Collin Powell's message of regret to Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen over the missing Chinese pilot involved in the incident, Sun noted that the regret is a step in the right direction by the US towards solving this issue. The US side is clear about China's solemn stance and demand concerning this issue and the US side must bear all responsibilities for the incident, added Sun. China Urges US to Take Responsible Attitude Towards Collision Incident Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan Wednesday summoned US Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher, lodging another solemn representation with the US side over the air collision incident on April 1. Tang said that the United States should bear full responsibility for the incident and apologize to China. **** China Firmly Opposes Separatist Activities: FM Spokesman China is firmly opposed to the collusion of forces for the independence of Taiwan and Tibet to sabotage the reunification of the motherland, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said at a routine press conference Thursday afternoon. When asked to comment on the Dalai Lama's current activities in Taiwan, Sun said, both Taiwan and Tibet are inseparable parts of China, and the Chinese government has never recognized the so- called Tibetan government in exile. He stressed that separatist activities conducted by anyone, with any excuse and in any form are not allowed. It is the common aspiration of the Chinese people to safeguard national unity and realize the reunification of the motherland, he said, adding that any attempts countering this historical trend are doomed to failure. **** Xinhua Releases Case Study on Falun Gong-ravaged Families Xinhua News Agency Thursday published further details of a case study by its reporters on families that were emotionally destroyed by the Falun Gong cult. Evil instructions of Li Hongzhi, the cult chieftain, have dismembered lots of families that used to lead a happy life, according to the investigations. The family of Tian Jianguo is one of them. The mishap began in 1997, when Tian, who worked at a grain company in Nanyang, Henan Province, and his wife, Wang Peng, started practicing Falun Gong. Shortly afterwards, they turned their only son, 15 year-old Tian Pei, into a practitioner. He then gradually lost interest in school and dropped out at last. Despite the efforts of the school leaders and teachers to urge the young student to quit Falun Gong, the boy refused, continued with the practice, and even followed his father to participate in illegal gatherings in Beijing, the national capital. Later, the couple began to hate each other, each accusing the other side for being unable to get to a "higher level" and reach the so-called "Nirvana" as required by "Master Li." It was just because of this, the couple divorced. Tian's aged father was deeply hurt by all these mishaps brought about by the cult, and passed away in November 2000. In their investigations, Xinhua reporters also found that many of the Falun Gong-related divorce cases were so simple that some people just believed that what they did was to follow the instructions of the cult leader who asks his adherents to give up "fame, interest and feeling" in order to go up to "higher levels." In other cases, the cult is completely a murderer. Liu Wenyong, a 15-year-old boy from Tianjin, north China, got a minor skin disease in early 1999, but it later developed into cancer due to his mother's insistence on treating him with Falun Gong and refusing to take him to hospital. In a letter to his mother, the boy said it was Falun Gong to blame for his severe illness and hoped his mother could give up the cult. The mother cried when reading the letter and pledged not to believe in the cult any more. The case study stresses that all these miserable stories indicate that Falun Gong has lured many families into misfortune and urged those who are still blindly holding on to the belief to wake up as soon as possible. **** CPPCC Chairman to Visit Four Countries Chairman Li Ruihuan <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/leaders/cpcdir/hprofile.html> of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) will pay an official goodwill visit to Mauritius, South Africa <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/southAfrica.html> , Morocco <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/morocco.html> , and Turkey <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/turkey.html> from April 16 to May 2. Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi made the announcement Thursday at the regular press conference. Li is paying the visit at the invitation of the Government of Mauritius, Speaker Frene Ginwala of the National Assembly of South Africa, the Government of Morocco, and Speaker Omer Izgi of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. **** President Jiang Congratulates Moldovan Counterpart upon Election Chinese President Jiang Zemin <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/leaders/jzm/jzmhome.htm> Thursday sent a congratulatory message to Moldova <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/moldova.html> n Communist Party leader Vladimir Voronin upon his election as the country's president Wednesday. The peoples of China and Moldova enjoy a profound friendship and the two countries have nurtured mature state-to-state ties which are based on the principles of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, the message said. Thanks to joint efforts by the two sides, the Sino-Moldovan friendly ties have witnessed continuous, steady and healthy development ever since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1992, Jiang said in the message. He added that China has always attached importance to consolidating and developing friendly cooperation with Moldova in the political, economic and cultural fields. President Jiang pledged to work together with Voronin to further the two countries' ties in the new century and he also wished Moldova prosperity under the leadership of Voronin. Voronin won 71 votes in the 101-seat parliament, thus becoming the first president of the former Soviet republic elected by the parliament since it gained independence in 1991. **** Preparation of Tibet's 50th Anniversary of Peaceful Liberation Underway The year 2001 is the 50th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of the Tibet <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/tibet.html> Autonomous Region. The leading group for celebrations of this occasion disclosed at a news briefing on April 4 that preparation for celebrating this occasion is underway without a hitch.. On May 23, 1951, the Agreement on Method for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet signed between the Central People's Government and the Tibetan local government, i.e., the well-known "17-Point Agreement", heralds the peaceful liberation of Tibet. Tibet's peaceful liberation, which is a part of nationwide liberation, marks a great turn of epoch-making significance in the development of Tibet's history. Over the past 50 years, world-shaking changes have taken place in the region's economic, political and social fields. At present, the region enjoys a rapid economic development, fast social progress, political stability, national unity, consolidated frontier defense, a prosperous and contented life, which is a best period of fastest development in the region's history. The celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet will be closely integrated with those for the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Through these activities, an extensive and deep-going ideological education will be conducted among the region's cadres and masses. Celebrating activities will also include forums, exhibition on Tibet's achievement, rich and colorful cultural and artistic activities. Currently, some major activities have begun to be launched. The logo, posters, etc. were also announced at the news briefing. **** Kenyan Newspaper Criticizes US as Known Aggressor The United States "is the known aggressor" as during the recent collision between a Chinese fighter and a US surveillance plane, said the Daily Nation newspaper, the most influential in Kenya, on Thursday. "What China is demanding is totally reasonable: nothing more than an apology and a commitment to reparation," the newspaper said in an editorial. Commenting on US move of sending the plane to conduct surveillance over the offshore waters of the city of Sanya on April 1, the editorial said "the injustice of it is striking. It poses the question: is the world in for bullying for the next four years? it would be extremely tragic, even for the United States itself." The editorial observed that the US, as the remaining superpower since 1990 with the advent of unipolarism, "has the biggest stake in the world, which is why it has nominated itself as the global policeman". "If it starts riding roughshod over the world, it risks causing not only a new Cold War but international flare-up that would kill millions and damage untold property, much of it American," the editorial concluded. According to the article, "what is beginning to characterize the White House under President George Bush Junior... is an abandonment of international diplomacy" which could "prove globally perilous." On Wednesday, Chinese President Jiang Zemin repeated a demand for a U.S. apology for Sunday's mid-air collision which resulted in the loss of the Chinese fighter, and left its pilot missing. "The United States should apologize to the Chinese for this incident and bear all responsibility for the consequence," President Jiang said, before leaving on a six-Latin American- nation tour. **** Saudi Arabia Newspaper Criticizes US for Spy Activities on China A Saudi Arabia newspaper has criticized the US for its spy plane's collision with a Chinese fighter, noting that US plane was conducting the "wrong" spy activities on China. The Arabic News said in an editorial yesterday that the US surveillance plane's bumping into a Chinese fighter off China's Hainan Island has clearly proved the fact that the US is conducting military surveillance activities on China. The so-called "allegation" and "serious warning" made by the US government and the military can only "add too much noise" to this incident, the newspaper said. Obviously, for years US military surveillance planes have been making suspicious flights close to China's border. The fighters sent to track the US spy plane is an act in China's national interests, the paper quoted as saying Johnathan, director of the Research Center of Contemporary China in Australia's Canberra National University. The paper also expressed the hope that China and US will settle the collision question by reasonable means and by taking the overall situation into account. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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