Extracts. Germ Warfare Lawsuit to Be Brought to Japanese Court A group of Chinese and Japanese people are preparing to bring a lawsuit to a Japanese court, demanding an apology from the Japanese government for germ warfare conducted by its troops in China during their invasion of 1937- 1945, as well as compensation for Chinese victims. The trial, if it opens in a local Japanese court in September this year, will be the 25th since more than 100 Chinese people, many of whom had experienced the brutal war, brought a similar lawsuit four years ago, according to sources close to the group who met in Hangzhou, east China, over the weekend. The meeting was called by the plaintiffs and some Japanese lawyers who will defend the Chinese victims. The previous trials ended without any judgment pronounced. The plaintiffs this time hope that a judgment will be handed down as early as next spring. Some former soldiers of the Japanese army's germ warfare unit and members of a Japan-based organization formed to investigate claims of germ warfare support the plaintiffs. Many of them agreed at the meeting that the claims that Japanese troops used germ weapons in China during World War II have been proved by a great amount of evidence, and people all over the world, especially the Japanese people, should be aware of this. They said the Japanese government should admit historical facts, so that justice can be done and friendly relations between China and Japan maintained. **** Task of Foiling Tibet Separatism Key to Prosperity in the Region The struggle against separatism and the solidarity of the people are the premise of a prosperous Tibet <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/tibet.html> , said Raidi, executive deputy secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China. He made the remark on Sunday when meeting a group of reporters from Hong Kong <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/hk.html> . Among the difficulties the region faces on its development path are disruptive activities carried out by the Dalai Lama clique, which are considered the most challenging, he said. During the past four decades, the Dalai Lama, disguised as a religious figure, has spared no efforts in trying to separate the region from the motherland. But Raidi said the region has the confidence to overcome the difficulties and achieve a steady progress in both economic and social fields. Last year Tibet's gross domestic product (GDP) hit 11.74 billion yuan (US$1.42 billion), up 10.7 per cent year on year. He reiterated that since the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, a great leap forward has been made in almost all aspects of the region. "I am an eyewitness to all the historic changes in the past half century," said the official, who was a serf before 1951. Raidi said that the central government has decided to invest about 70 billion yuan (US$8.5 billion) in Tibet in five years to promote development in Tibet. Through 2005, farmers and herdsmen in Tibet will gain an average annual net income of over 2,000 yuan (US$242), and most people in the region will be living a comfortable life, he said. The reporters were mainly from Ta Kung Pao, Wen Wei Po, Ming Pao Daily news, Radio Television Hong Kong and other Hong Kong media. **** Restructuring Planned for Industry as WTO Accession Approaches The Chinese government announced Monday the goals, tasks and policies for economic restructuring and scientific innovation for the next five years, ahead of its accession to the World Trade Organization <http://www.wto.org/> (WTO), due before the end of the year. The State Development Planning Commission <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/organs/statecouncil.shtml#sdpc> issued a special plan for the key areas of accession to the WTO and improvement of international computability under the 10th Five Year Plan (2001- 2005). The special programs put forward the orientation, priorities and major policies for the reform and restructuring of the agricultural and industrial sectors and part of the service industries. The government has drafted special plans for a dozen key areas, including accession to the WTO, transportation, energy, environmental protection, science and technology, information technology, education, high-tech industries, population, development of the western regions of China, water conservancy and urbanization. The WTO program analyses the impact of WTO accession on China. It points out that China will face two serious challenges: One is to change the way that the government acts; the other is the impact of equal market access on Chinese enterprises. According to the WTO rules and China's commitments under the WTO system, the country has to overhaul government policies, regulations, and the administrative and macro-economic control systems. On the other hand, market access, which centers around tariff cuts, elimination of non-tariff barriers and opening up the service sector, will affect a number of Chinese industries and enterprises. This will give rise to some macro-economic problems, according to the special plan. To resolve these problems, the Chinese government is planning to develop an administrative system that will be in line with both market rules and WTO regulations in the next five years. At the same time, China will greatly improve the international competitiveness of its industries and enterprises, establish an equal market access system and develop a macro-economic control system that is effective and in conformity with international practice. According to the special plan, the government will accelerate the readjustment of domestic laws and regulations, conduct of administration according to law, reduction of administrative examination and approval, and overhaul of the financing and investment mechanism. Meanwhile, the Chinese government will put an end to industrial monopoly and local protectionism, fulfill its commitments under the WTO system, open China wider to the outside world, accelerate the reform of taxation, promote innovation, encourage the advance of science and technology, and create new jobs. **** CPC to Severely Punish Discipline Violators The Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has called for severe punishment of party officials who violate party discipline and the law. In a circular issued Monday, the Organization Department publicized three party discipline violation cases. Gan Weiren, former deputy secretary general of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region government, offered 270,000 yuan (about 32,000 U.S. dollars) to Cheng Kejie, former chairman of the Guangxi regional government via Li Ping, mistress of Cheng, between 1994 and 1997 as a bribe to secure his promotion. At the recommendation of Cheng, Gan was promoted head of Tieshangang District, and later deputy secretary general of the regional government. Gan Weiren was expelled from the party in April, 2000, and sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment for offering bribes in November 2000. Liu Xiutian, former secretary of the CPC Pingshan County Party Committee, Hebei province, took bribes valued at 416,400 yuan ( about 50,000 U.S. dollars) to help promote others as officials while holding the post. Liu was expelled from the Party in September, 2000, and the case is now being handled by the local judicial department. Jiang Jianzhong, deputy head of Jixian County, Shanxi Province, gave 39 deputies to the local people's congress 500 yuan (60 dollars) each to ask them to vote for him as head of the county. Jiang was expeled from the Party, and the local judicial department is now handling his case. The circular urges a severe crackdown on corruption in appointing party officials, and calls on party organizations at various levels and personnel departments to severely punish discipline violators. The circular also calls for effective supervision of official appointments, and welcomed the reporting of corruption cases. **** DPRK Officials Hail Kim Jong Il's Russia Trip Officials of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/dprk.html> ) have spoken highly of their top leader Kim Jong Il's Moscow trip, describing it as a historic event in bilateral relations, the Korean Central News Agency reported Monday. Education Minister Pyon Yong Rip said that as stated in the DPRK-Russia <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/russia.html> Moscow declaration, the meeting held between the top leaders of the two countries in the first year of the new century is an event of special significance in the history of friendly relations between the DPRK and Russia and that it is a historic landmark in strengthening peace and security in the Asian-Pacific region and the rest of the world. Vice Foreign Minister Kung Sok Ung said that developing the DPRK-Russia relations is in full accord with the interests of the two peoples. The friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries will be further developed in all fields in the spirit of the DPRK-Russia joint declaration, the DPRK-Russia treaty of friendship, and the DPRK-Russian Moscow declaration, he said. Ryang Man Gil, chairman of Pyongyang City People's Committee, said that the city is seething with excitement. **** Kim Jong Il Meets St. Petersburg Governor on Economic Cooperation Kim Jong Il, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), met Russian St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev in the city Monday to discuss ways of boosting the economic cooperation between DPRK and the Russian region. The St. Petersburg region and DPRK have great potential for economic cooperation, especially in the fields of machine building and energy industry, and St. Petersburg is ready to provide military and fishing boats for DPRK, Yakovlev told Kim at their meeting in the Smolny Palace. Yakovlev also proposed that the two sides cooperate in the sphere of optics, laser equipment, instrument and missile building, information technologies and telecommunications, according to Russian mass media. The governor said his city's higher schools are ready to enroll DPRK students for training in a wide range of technical and humanitarian professions. He promised to offer assistance in organizing guest performances in DPRK. After the conversation, Kim, who arrived in St. Petersburg on Monday morning by special train following a two-day official visit to Moscow, visited the Lenin Museum in the Smolny palace, the Ermitage Museum (Winter Palace) and the Leningrad Metal Plant. The visit to the plant began with a meeting with its director, Viktor Shevchenko, who told Kim about the enterprise, its products and prospects for the future. In an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass, the plant's first deputy executive director Valery Kondratyev told Itar-Tass that the plant is ready to cooperate with Pyongyang, including in the field of nuclear power engineering. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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