Extracts. Debris, Weeds Shadow China's Nuclear Weapon Site. Crumbling factory walls sprawl amid the sand, weeds and grazing sheep at this desolate spot on the Tibet-Qinghai plateau, giving China's first nuclear weapons research center the odd look of an ancient ruin.
The code-named No. 221 Plant of the China Nuclear Industry Corporation is 101 kilometers from Xining, capital of the northwest province of Qinghai, and 3,200 meters above sea level. When it opened in 1958 it was regarded as a mysterious and forbidden zone, covering an area of 1,170 square kilometers. To the outside world, it was known as the Qinghai Mine. Now the local government has erected billboards near the site to attract tourists. Dotting one wall of a geometrically shaped building surrounded by reinforced cement structure are the holes researchers peered through to observe the nuclear testing explosions. The dilapidated site at present was the former No. 6 Factory of the base, called the "shooting range." Some hundreds yards away is the famous "No. 1 Pit in Asia," where nuclear waste is buried. Insiders say that the Chinese government has organized experts to thoroughly clean the testing area with special chemicals over the following two years. The team has already buried waste materials over an area of 5,400 square meters. The government has spent some three billion yuan (370 million U. S. dollars) ensuring the waste removal to meet strictest international standards, they say. The ruined factories are now open to sightseers, who know little about how such places operate. The No. 4 Factory is totally covered by weeds. Nearby, sheep nose about for food. Another site looks like a telecommunications and command center. Only farmers collecting grass to feed their pigs can be seen. Through this bleak scene winds a rusted railway, on which a special train once carried China's first atom bomb to its test field in a remote desert. The No. 18 A Zone was the assembling plant of China's nuclear weapons. Now it is a hog farm, where hogs and dogs howl at the sight of strangers intruding on their domain. In the center of the zone is a red-brick, six-storey building, the "generals' tower," where the "fathers" of China's nuclear movement, Wang Ganchang, Zhu Guangya, Deng Jiaxian and Zhou Guangzhao, put their imaginations to reality. Not far from there stands a tall granite monument, on top of which is a model atom bomb made of steel. The inscription on the monument reads: "This is the place where China's first nuclear bomb was born and China's first hydrogen bomb was successfully researched. On October 16, 1964, China exploded its first atom bomb, declaring to the world that the Chinese nation finally had its atom bomb, making a great contribution to breaking the nuclear monopoly and safeguarding world peace." It says that over the past 30 years China has successfully launched 16 nuclear tests there, and developed a number of types of strategic nuclear weapons. All of China's nuclear tests were carried out with strict safety protection, causing no radioactive harm to anyone. In 1996, China announced a temporary suspension of nuclear testing in a move toward nuclear disarmament. Since 1996, the nuclear test center has received 300,000 tourists. The local government is discussing ways to repair the ruined factories and build power, chemical and aluminum plants to develop the local economy. **** Beijing Celebrates Founding of Taiwan Compatriots Federation. A commemorative meeting was held Wednesday to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of Beijing Federation of Taiwan Compatriots (BFTC). Lu Xianchi, head of BFTC, expressed his thanks for the support of the government, Taiwan compatriots and local people in helping BFTC to be formed in 1981. The organization has done much to strengthen the ties between Beijing and Taiwan in the past two decades in terms of increasing cooperation in economic, cultural and educational realms, Lu said. It has also been active in participating in government and political affairs by offering suggestions to the local government concerning major social and economic issues. Beijing approved 1,755 Taiwan-founded business projects with value of about 1.4 billion U.S. dollars through the first eight months of this year, according to official statistics. Officials and delegates from the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the All- China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots and other organizations attended the meeting. **** No Room for Extremist Dispensation in Pakistan: Musharraf. Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday that the vast majority of Pakistanis hold a moderate view of religion, therefore there is no room for religious extremist dispensation in the country. Musharraf expressed the view In an interview with BBC telecast about chances of extremists taking over in Pakistan, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP). "Let us not think the doomsday scenario. That is not a possibility in Pakistan and we are not worried about it at all," Musharraf said. Musharraf said Pakistan feels the need to rein in any religious extremist because it is effecting the country in terms of law and order. "We have a plan of action for that," he added. To a question about Pakistan's security, he said, "Our security is extremely dear to us and we certainly will not make any compromise on that." **** China, Russia to Set Up New Language Schools. China and Russia will set up language schools in each other's country, according to an agreement between the two governments. The Russian school will be located in Helongjiang University in this capital of northeast China's Helongjiang Province, and the Chinese school will be in a university in Vladivostok in the far east region of Russia. This is the third pair of language training schools established in the two countries. The first two pairs are in Beijing <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/beijing.html> , Shanghai in China and Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia, respectively. The schools offer training and testing, and will have the authority to issue certificates of proficiency from each native country. At the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the country was on very good terms with the former Soviet Union, and education of the Russian language was popular in middle schools and universities -- more so than English language education. With China's ongoing opening-up drive, more young people are choosing English or Japan <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/japan.html> ese as their first foreign language, while Russian has been somewhat overlooked. As two countries strengthened mutual political and economic relations in the past decade, the demand for Russian-speaking workers in China has increased. About 50 Chinese universities now offer Russian courses. _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
