The Foreign Street China Brief

Issue 1: China and the Vatican

Beijing undecided over presence at funeral of Pope

THE PAPAL LEGACY.

By RICHARD MCGREGOR

440 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 9

China says it is undecided about whether it will send a representative to the Pope's funeral in Rome, a stance that could be a signal of Beijing's interest in forging closer formal ties with the Vatican.

Qin Gang, a foreign ministry spokesman, reiterated yesterday China's longstanding position that it would not discuss closer ties with the Vatican until the Holy See dropped diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.

The Financial Times Limited

Catholic Church Faces Asia Hurdles

--- As Vatican Tries to Expand Small Foothold in Region, China, India Pose Problems

By Gabriel Kahn in Rome, Charles Hutzler in Beijing and Eric Bellman in Bombay

1290 words

6 April 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

The ranks of Catholicism have swelled in the past quarter century, but in Asia, the world's most populous continent, it still has only a tiny footprint. That poses a challenge for the church as it tries to maintain its huge influence on the global stage.

Even though missionaries worked in China and India for centuries, Catholics account for less than 2% of the population in each of the two biggest nations. And in a continent with more than half of the world's population, only one country, the Philippines, is majority Catholic. In order to grow in Asia's giants, the church must overcome obstacles: government control in China and Hindu fundamentalism in India. And with its resources already stretched elsewhere, the church is likely to remain of marginal size in those countries.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

Taiwan Is the Key to China's Ties With the Vatican

By Willy Lam

1028 words

6 April 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

The Chinese Communist Party leadership harbored profound suspicions of, if not dislike for, Pope John Paul II for much the same reason he was revered by Catholics and the lay public around the world: The pope's uncompromising stance against all forms of tyranny and oppression -- and his remarkably successful campaign to spread democracy in Eastern Europe and beyond.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

Vatican prepares to sacrifice Taiwan to win China's blessing

Five decades after priests were expelled, the Holy See is ready to compromise with Beijing.

By TONY BARBER, RICHARD MCGREGOR and ANDREW YEH

732 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 9

Two days before the Pope's death, Cardinal Godfried Daneels was ushered into the tightly guarded compound next to the Forbidden City, which houses China's top leaders.

The meeting in the Zhongnanhai compound last Thursday between the Belgian cardinal and Hui Liangyu, a Chinese vice-premier, was one of the highest-level face-to-face meetings on Chinese soil between a prominent Catholic churchman and Beijing in decades.

The Financial Times Limited

Vatican may 'give up Taiwan' for China Rome, Beijing gap could be bridged

Martin Regg Cohn

1392 words

6 April 2005

The Toronto Star

A01

HONG KONG -- Part of a series examining issues of strategic importance faced by the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church is ready to satisfy China's conditions for restoring diplomatic relations ruptured half a century ago, says one of its most influential bishops.

Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd.

Vatican plays down Bishop Zen's comments on Taiwan

Ambrose Leung and Agence France-Presse in Taipei

437 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

A Vatican official yesterday tried to play down remarks by Hong Kong Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, who said the Holy See has decided to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan to renew Sino-Vatican relations.

The official involved in China affairs said the bishop was only reiterating the long-standing Vatican policy towards Beijing and it represented no breakthrough in the stalled diplomatic negotiations.

SCMP.com Limited

Change of pope brings hope of diplomatic thaw between China and the Vatican

Jonathan Watts in Beijing

456 words

6 April 2005

The Guardian

After the death of the anti-communist John Paul II, many of China's 12 million Catholics are praying that their country and the Vatican will finally restore relations after 50 years.

Their hopes have been given a boost this week by the head of the church in Hong Kong, who told his congregation and local media that the Vatican was ready to drop its diplomatic ties with China's rival, Taiwan, if Beijing would guarantee religious freedoms.

Guardian Newspapers Limited

Keep politics out of religion

645 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

The death of Pope John Paul II underlines the gulf that still exists between the Catholic Church, with about 1 billion adherents, and China, with a population of 1.3 billion people - two of the world's largest and most important bodies.

It was the ardent desire of the Pope to visit China during his lifetime but, unfortunately, he was even denied the chance to visit Hong Kong during an Asian tour in 1999. At the time, Beijing pointed out that the Vatican still maintained diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

SCMP.com Limited

Issue 2: Chinese textiles

China textiles stretch free trade

Geoff Elliott Washington correspondent

320 words

6 April 2005

The Australian

FREE global trade in textiles appears to be over almost as soon as it began, with the US considering quotas on runaway cheap Chinese imports, and Europeans also looking to protectionist measures.

The Bush administration took its first steps yesterday to reintroducing quotas, with the Commerce Department announcing an investigation to determine if China's sales were disrupting the US market.

Nationwide News Pty Ltd.

As China sews, few US mills left

With a bedrock US industry on the ropes, quotas on imports could follow.

Patrik Jonsson Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

1242 words

6 April 2005

Christian Science Monitor

ERWIN, N.C.

The town of Erwin once proudly proclaimed itself the "Denim Capital of the World."

Christian Science Monitor

US jumps gun on textile safeguards

'Self-initiated' investigations pose threat of new quotas on mainland products

tradeToh Han Shih

517 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

The United States has launched trade investigations into Chinese textiles that could result in the imposition of new import quotas as early as June, drawing ire from US textile importers and charges of protectionism from Beijing.

Rather than waiting for formal petitions from US garment manufacturers, the US Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (Cita) has "self-initiated" probes into mainland cotton knit shirts and blouses, cotton trousers, as well as cotton and man-made fibre underwear.

SCMP.com Limited

China bristles at U.S. action

MEI FONG AND GREG HITT

859 words

6 April 2005

The Globe and Mail

B11

China said it has no intention of taking additional steps to contain garment exports, even as the United States launched an investigation that could lead to measures to curb surging American imports of Chinese textiles.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang described the U.S. move, announced Monday, as �over-protectionist, irrational and unreasonable.�

Bell Globemedia Interactive

China Bristles as U.S. Probes Textile Trade

--- Beijing Assails Washington For Inquiry on Imports, Signals Tougher Stance

By Mei Fong in Hong Kong and Greg Hitt in Washington

1097 words

6 April 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

China said it has no intention of taking additional steps to contain garment exports, even as the U.S. launched an investigation that could lead to measures to curb surging American imports of Chinese textiles.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang described the U.S. move, announced Monday, as "over-protectionist, irrational and unreasonable." Mr. Qin's comment, made at a weekly ministry news conference yesterday, could be an indication that Beijing may be prepared to harden its previously conciliatory stance toward Washington on the issue, industry analysts said.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

HK dismay over US textiles probe.

By ALEXANDRA HARNEY

387 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 14

Clothing manufacturers in Hong Kong expressed dismay at a US investigation into this year's surge of clothing shipments from China, and braced themselves for more bad news today, with the European Commission expected to adopt guidelines on so-called safeguard measures against Chinese textile imports.

Executives believed the investigation by the US Commerce Department, announced on Monday, was aimed at trying to get the backing of congressmen from US textile-producing states for a proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement, which some politicians say could lead to a loss of US jobs.

The Financial Times Limited

CHINA BLASTS U.S. EFFORT TO PROTECT TEXTILE MAKERS

The Associated Press

416 words

6 April 2005

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

C-1

BEIJING

China criticized a U.S. plan to try to re-impose textile quotas in order to protect American manufacturers, calling it unfair and a violation of free trade.

PG Publishing Co., Inc

In EU, Chinese Textiles Are Boon For Shops, Bane for Local Plants

By William Echikson Dow Jones Newswires

828 words

6 April 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

BRUSSELS -- When Denis Escojido, the owner and CEO of baby-clothing chain Premaman SA, went to China recently on his biannual clothes-buying trip, he received a pleasant surprise.

He paid only 4 euros, or about $5.14, for children's pants that cost 7 euros the year before. The lower price reflects the fall of the Chinese yuan -- linked to the U.S. dollar -- against the euro. The World Trade Organization has also handed Mr. Escojido a favor -- on Jan. 1, the global sytem of intricate quotas on textile exports was abolished. This has allowed China's textile makers to boost their exports and lower their prices.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

Issue 3: Hating on Japan and its history curricula

Govt Approves Nationalist History Textbook, Angers China, S Korea

499 words

6 April 2005

Nikkei Report

TOKYO (Nikkei)--The Education Ministry on Tuesday approved new middle school textbooks, including a controversial history textbook compiled by a nationalist group, a move that ignited outcries in China and South Korea.

The textbooks approved by the government are 11% thicker on average than the ones endorsed in the previous screening four years ago. They also provide more in-depth information, a decision apparently stemming from growing concerns that Japanese students are academically falling behind their overseas counterparts.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc

Japan Textbook Raises Ire of Wartime Victims

--- Critics Claim Accounts Downplay Militaristic Past China, South Korea Protest

By Anthony Faiola The Washington Post

641 words

6 April 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

TOKYO -- The Japanese Education Ministry approved a controversial new series of school textbooks that critics say whitewashes the nation's militaristic past, igniting immediate outrage among some of Japan's World War II-era victims.

Japan is in the midst of an increasingly tense feud over what critics -- mostly in South Korea, North Korea and China -- have described as moves here toward a revisionist view of Japanese aggression in the region.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

Japanese Schoolbooks Anger S. Korea, China

Militaristic Past Is Seen as Whitewashed

Anthony Faiola

680 words

6 April 2005

The Washington Post

A15

The Education Ministry on Tuesday approved a controversial new series of school textbooks that critics say whitewash Japan's militaristic past. The move ignited immediate outrage among some of the country's World War II-era victims.

The Chinese ambassador, Wang Yi, lodged a protest with Japan's Foreign Ministry, while officials in Beijing blamed a violent anti-Japanese protest there over the weekend on Japan's "irresponsible attitude" toward history.

Washington Post

Japan faces storm over 'rewriting' war history

Leo Lewis in Tokyo

434 words

6 April 2005

The Times

A REVISED edition of a controversial Japanese school history book has provoked furious protests from China and South Korea and accusations that Tokyo is whitewashing its militaristic past.

Chinese supermarkets even began a boycott of Japanese foods after the book, produced by a right-wing publishing house, was approved by the Japanese Ministry of Education yesterday.

News International Associated Services Ltd

Seoul, Beijing furious over whitewash

Lee Tee Jong , South Korea Correspondent

341 words

6 April 2005

Straits Times

SEOUL - SOUTH Korea and China yesterday lashed out at Japan over textbooks that further whitewash Japan's wartime past and make fresh claims on the disputed Dokdo islands.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon called Tokyo's action 'a change for the worse'.

SPH AsiaOne Ltd.

Japan asks China to safeguard its business.

By RICHARD MCGREGOR and DAVID PILLING

464 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 14

The Japanese government has asked Beijing to guarantee the protection of its vast economic interests in China, amid growing tensions over a school textbook and Japan's campaign for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Hiroyuki Hosoda, chief cabinet secretary, said Japanese officials had asked Wang Yi, China's ambassador to Tokyo, to guarantee the safety of Japanese businesses in China. The move followed demonstrations in which protesters vandalised Japanese-owned department stores. Yesterday, the China Chain Store and Franchise Association urged retailers to sweep Japanese items from their shelves.

The Financial Times Limited

Chinese enmity perplexes firms.

617 words

6 April 2005

Asahi Shimbun/Asahi Evening News

The Asahi Shimbun Mob attacks in China over the weekend on supermarkets operated by Japanese companies have evoked fear that politically motivated animosity is rising as a specter from the war-ravaged past

Japanese companies operating in China are unsure how to cope with the intensifying enmity aroused by political rather than commercial issues

Asahi Shimbun Publishing Limited

Young dominate anti-Japan rally

China's patriotic education system spawns demonstrations

Yasuharu Seki Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

552 words

6 April 2005

Daily Yomiuri

An anti-Japan demonstration on Sunday in Shengzhen, Guangdong Province, China, was initiated mainly by private groups of patriotic young people who publicized the rally via the Internet.

The rally was testimony to impact of the Chinese government's intensely patriotic eduction system that has imbued the public with anti-Japan sentiment.

Yomiuri Shimbun, The

China Challenges U.N. Proposal To Enlarge Security Council

By Colum Lynch The Washington Post

308 words

6 April 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

UNITED NATIONS -- China's U.N. ambassador challenged Secretary-General Kofi Annan's proposal to enlarge the Security Council to 24 members by the end of the year, dealing a setback to the second major effort in a decade to expand the powerful 15-nation body.

China's top United Nations envoy, Wang Guangya, said last Monday more time is needed to reach agreement on the politically sensitive issue. Mr. Wang also said it is "essential" that an agreement on enlarging the council be reached by a unanimous vote in the 191-member General Assembly, a standard that would permit a single U.N. member to undercut any rival's candidacy.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

International Relations

Apparent NKorean asylum seekers enter South Korean school in China

SAI

410 words

6 April 2005

Agence France Presse

BEIJING, April 6 (AFP) -

A group of apparent North Korean asylum seekers entered a South Korean international school in northeast China's Dalian city Wednesday, officials said.

Agence France Presse

Hu Jintao Will Visit North Korea in the First Half of This Year

by Won-Jae Park parkwj@donga.com

254 words

6 April 2005

Dong-A Ilbo Daily

Accepting an invitation from North Korea, Chinese President Hu Jintao has decided to visit Pyongyang in the first half of this year, and six-way talks surrounding the North Korean nuclear issue will resume around the middle of May, according to a report by the Yomiuri Shimbun from Washington, quoting a high-ranking U.S. official.

According to the report, the official said that an agreement was reached between North Korea`s First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Suk Ju, who visited Beijing recently, and Chinese leaders. "The Chinese government seemed to be successful in persuading North Korea to return to the table in exchange for Hu`s visit," the official added.

Dong-A Ilbo Daily

'Balancer' Theory Faces Criticism

581 words

6 April 2005

Korea Times

The government�s vision of becoming a ``power balancer�� in Northeast Asia is a ``dangerous idea�� that will undermine national interests and eventually bring about the potential isolation of the country in the region, an opposition lawmaker said Tuesday.

In an interview with The Korea Times, Rep. Park Jin of the main opposition Grand National Party criticized the Roh Moo-hyun administration for its recent move toward strengthening ties with China, while distancing itself from the United States, the nation�s long-term ally.

Hankook i.com

Proposed Bureau to Oversee Military Ties with China and Russia

by Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com

452 words

6 April 2005

Dong-A Ilbo Daily

It was confirmed on Wednesday that the Ministry of National Defense is planning to create a policy desk, provisionally dubbed the Department of Northeast Asian Policy, to oversee military cooperation with China and Russia.

The drive comes on the heels of a recent policy announcement by defense minister Yoon Kwang-ung to strengthen military ties with China, as a follow-up military gesture to supplement President Roh Moo-hyun�s design to position Korea as a �balancing force in the Northeast Asian region.� The plan is expected to have profound repercussions on the existing Korea-U.S. alliance.

Dong-A Ilbo Daily

US restates its objections to EU policy on China.

By DANIEL DOMBEY and HUGH WILLIAMSON

432 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 10

The limits to Washington's bridge-building effort with the European Union were laid bare yesterday when a US official pushed the EU to change policy on China, played down prospects for EU success in talks with Tehran and highlighted internal EU divisions on Russia.

On the last day of a European tour, Robert Zoellick, US deputy secretary of state, tried to build on the message of co-operation expressed by President George W. Bush during his visit six weeks ago. But he stepped up criticism of the EU's plans to lift its arms embargo on China even though the move now seems likely to be delayed.

The Financial Times Limited

Strategic dialogue offer takes shape

US to be tempted with transparent military exchanges

Ray Cheung in Beijing

362 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

Beijing will propose a new comprehensive military exchange programme with increased transparency to Washington as part of attempts to establish an institutionalised strategic dialogue with the US.

The plan will not only step up the current programme of naval visits and meetings between senior Chinese and US military officers - known as the defence consultative talks - but also offer rare glimpses into the mainland's defence modernisation, according to diplomatic sources.

SCMP.com Limited

Beijing plays spoiler on Asia summit

Patrick Walters National security editor

447 words

6 April 2005

The Australian

CHINA has emerged as the biggest obstacle to Australia's joining the inaugural East Asia summit meeting due later this year, according to regional diplomatic sources.

The inclusion of Australia, New Zealand and India in the proposed East Asian summit has already produced clear divisions within the Association of Southeast Asian nations. Indonesia is strongly backing Australia's participation, while Malaysia and Thailand have been reluctant from the outset to have Australia included.

Nationwide News Pty Ltd.

China opts out of G7, IMF, World Bank meetings

418 words

6 April 2005

The Globe and Mail

B12

China, which attended a Group of Seven meeting for the first time in October, won't send its most senior finance and banking officials to next week's gathering of the world's leading industrialized nations in Washington, a spokesman for the U.S. Treasury Department said. �Senior Chinese officials have told the U.S. Treasury they will not be coming to Washington for the spring meetings,� of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and also will miss the G7 meeting, Treasury spokesman Rob Nichols said. Top Chinese officials met with the G7 in February in London and in October in Washington, each time resisting calls to loosen policies that tie the value of China's currency to the U.S. dollar. �They are not going to want to do something that is perceived to be a response to external pressure,� said Edwin Truman, a former assistant secretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury.

Bell Globemedia Interactive

Pakistan, China ink a slew of agreements

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

319 words

6 April 2005

The Hindu

. Pakistan and China tonight signed 22 agreements including a treaty of friendship, cooperation and good neighbourly relations between the two countries coinciding with the visit of the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Mr. Wen and the Pakistan Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, signed the treaty of friendship after bilateral talks. The slew of pacts included those on combating terrorism, separatism and extremism, executive programme on educational cooperation and exchanges, framework agreement on naval frigates, early harvest agreement on Pakistan-China Free Trade Area, Pakistan-China IT agreement and agreement for development of Duddar lead zinc deposits in Balochistan.

Kasturi & Sons Ltd

Sino-Pakistan ties 'no threat to India'

Premier Wen signs military, economic and trade accords

Chan Siu-sin in Islamabad

452 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

Pakistan yesterday said closer Sino-Pakistani relations would not upset ties between its long-time rival, India, and China.

The remarks by Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri came as Premier Wen Jiabao started his four-nation South Asia visit in Islamabad, hailing the bilateral ties as a reinforcement of regional stability.

SCMP.com Limited

India, China 'learning from each other now'

Bhagyashree Garekar

550 words

6 April 2005

Straits Times

Participants share MM's view that each has begun to copy the other's strengths

ASIA'S two billion-strong giants are developing a quiet appreciation of each other's strengths as they sidle closer to one another.

SPH AsiaOne Ltd.

Jakarta floats proposal for maritime bloc

Alliance to balance power of China, India

542 words

6 April 2005

Bangkok Post

ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT

Thailand and Indonesia should work closer together in helping balance the maritime power of countries like China and India, influental Indonesian academics said yesterday.

The Post Publishing Public Company Limited

Government, Law & Politics

New plan to halt mine accidents

By Goh Sui Noi, China Correspondent

350 words

6 April 2005

Straits Times

BEIJING - CHINA yesterday announced steps to curb coal-mining accidents as deaths soared by nearly 21 per cent to 1,113 in the first three months of this year.

The country has the most dangerous coal mines in the world. Last year, more than 6,000 coal miners died, making up 80 per cent of such deaths worldwide.

SPH AsiaOne Ltd.

Coal mine deaths surge in China

352 words

6 April 2005

The Globe and Mail

B12

The number of deaths in China's accident-plagued coal mines surged by nearly 21 per cent in the first three months of this year, despite a national safety crackdown, the country's top industrial safety official said yesterday. Fires, cave-ins and other accidents killed 1,113 miners from January to March, up 20.8 per cent over the same period in 2004, said Li Yizhong, the minister in charge of the State Administration for Work Safety. China's coal mines are the world's most dangerous, with thousands of deaths a year blamed on lack of required equipment or indifference to safety rules. Communist leaders have promised repeatedly to tighten standards, but accidents still kill an average of 16 miners a day. AP

Bell Globemedia Interactive

Coal mining death toll rises by 20pc

Safety chief says officials are devoted to improving conditions

Nailene Chou Wiest in Beijing

445 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

The death toll from coal mine accidents on the mainland rose 20.8 per cent in the first quarter to 1,113, officials announced yesterday.

But Li Yizhong , minister of the State General Administration of Work Safety, took the grim figures in stride, saying the party Central Committee and State Council were dedicated to making China's mines safer.

SCMP.com Limited

Death penalty: Beyond the pale

379 words

6 April 2005

The Guardian

It is not news that the death penalty is a cruel, ineffective and immoral punishment, as abolitionists have long rightly argued. But it is alarming to hear that executions have hit their second highest total in 25 years - even as the overall trend is moving in the right direction. Amnesty International's latest report finds that at least 3,800 people were executed in 2004, the highest number since 1996. The vast majority, 3,400, again took place in China, and this is an estimate that is likely to err on the side of caution since there are no official figures. For a country that trumpets its "peaceful rise" and is likely to dominate the latter part of the 21st century, this is an appalling number. Beijing's official response - that China is "a country ruled by law" - does not even begin to address the issue, especially since corruption is one of the crimes that carries the death penalty.

Guardian Newspapers Limited

Changing face of China's civil service

Jason Leow , China Bureau Chief

1038 words

6 April 2005

Straits Times

SHANGHAI - A MAYOR running a city of five million people is not a heavyweight in China, but Ms Wang Yanwen represents something more.

She went to university. She is not yet 50. And she knows PowerPoint.

SPH AsiaOne Ltd.

Labor, social security situations improving, but problems remain, says minister

596 words

6 April 2005

Xinhua News Agency

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Despite of China's achievements in employment and re-employment work in the past two years thanks to active macro control efforts and economic development, many problems remain in the years ahead, said the labor minister Zheng Silin.

"China will face many new and old problems that will make the country's job push a difficult one in the coming years," said Zheng, minister of Labor and Social Security.

Xinhua News Agency

China sweeps aside older executives to make way for youthful verve

Beijing believes young stars are best at handling stiff competition. Richard McGregor reports.

By RICHARD MCGREGOR

744 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 4

When the 62-year-old president of Sinopec, China's second largest oil company, stepped down last month, he was replaced by an executive nearly 20 years his junior.

"This is a normal leadership reshuffle," said Chen Tonghai, the Sinopec chairman, in announcing the new president, Wang Tianpu, aged 43. "It's a normal case of younger people succeeding senior ones."

The Financial Times Limited

Beijing enforces the party line

Communist Party leaders are required to take political instruction even as popular university websites are restricted.

Robert Marquand Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

1516 words

6 April 2005

Christian Science Monitor

BEIJING

In a surprisingly broad and deep targeting of thought and expression here, authorities across China have shut or drastically curtailed college Internet message boards - a powerful vehicle for free exchange, and one used far more by non-students than students.

Christian Science Monitor

A love-hate relationship

621 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

In a swift damage-limitation exercise, pro-Beijing lawmaker Choy So-yuk has acted to cool the heat following her scathing attack on acting Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen.

One day after she accused him, on RTHK's Letter to Hong Kong, of being arrogant and disrespectful of patriotic values, Ms Choy was at pains to say that she had no personal grudge against him. Mr Tsang, she added, was an appropriate candidate for the post of chief executive.

SCMP.com Limited

Lawyers wary of Basic Law interpretation

Cliff Buddle

569 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

An influential legal group with ties to Beijing has called on the government not to seek an interpretation of the Basic Law just because it wants to head off a legal challenge over the length of the chief executive's term.

Alan Hoo SC, chairman of the Basic Law Institute, also urged officials to set out constitutional principles governing the circumstances in which future interpretations would be requested and delivered.

SCMP.com Limited

Too soon for Sars book: whistle-blower

Mary Ann Benitez

343 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

Sars whistle-blower Sydney Chung Sheung-chee, former dean of medicine at Chinese University, says he will write a book on the 2003 outbreak - but not just yet.

Professor Chung, who returned to Papua New Guinea on Monday after spending the Easter holiday in Hong Kong, said it was "too soon" to write about the battle against Sars at Prince of Wales Hospital and the role he played.

SCMP.com Limited

Greater China & Provincial News

Shenzhen gives developers 15 days to register sales

Government moves again to cool the property market, writes Elaine Chan

667 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

In a further move responding to Beijing's order to cool the property market, the Shenzhen government has shortened the period for developers to register sale transactions and made it more difficult to cancel sales.

Under the new rules by the Shenzhen Land Resources and Real Estate Management Bureau, developers have 15 days to register a transaction using the official sale contract with the local authorities or risk having their businesses suspended.

SCMP.com Limited

Business & the Economy

Mainland bank stalls sale plan in wait for bailout

sharesBei Hu

478 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

Legacy issues have stalled China Everbright Bank's nine billion yuan private share placement plan and talks to sell a 15 per cent stake to Standard Chartered Bank, as the mainland lender pins its hopes on a Beijing bailout.

The mainland bank and 24.16 per cent shareholder China Everbright Group are seeking state help to resolve bad debts arising from the 1999 takeover of China Investment Bank, as well as connected transactions with other Everbright firms that have deteriorated into non-performing assets.

SCMP.com Limited

Australia Will Stay Out of BHP's Talks in China

--- Trade Chief Says Market Should Set Price of Iron Ore Beijing Has Raised Issue

By Veronica Brooks Dow Jones Newswires

680 words

6 April 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

CANBERRA -- Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile said his government won't intervene in BHP Billiton Ltd.'s iron-ore price negotiations with Chinese steelmakers, although he concedes Canberra is feeling some political heat from its key trading partner.

Mr. Vaile also said that apparent tensions between BHP Billiton and Chinese mills won't harm Australia-China relations as Prime Minister John Howard prepares to visit Beijing in mid-April.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

Chinese Companies Vie for a Role in U.S.

IT Outsourcing

By Li Yuan

1099 words

6 April 2005

The Asian Wall Street Journal

IT IS PART of Lisa Pointe's role at Shanghai Wicresoft Co. to stop her Chinese colleagues from writing "I'm deeply sorry for your inconvenience" three times in a two-paragraph e-mail to an American. For the Chinese, she explains, apologizing repeatedly means they really feel for the other side's pain and trouble, but it can sound very insincere to Americans.

That is just one of the many lessons that Ms. Pointe, who hails from Traverse City, Michigan, tries to impart in her role as an adviser at Wicresoft, a 400-employee joint venture between Microsoft Corp. and the Shanghai Municipal Government.

Dow Jones & Company Inc.

New rules force investor rethink

Companies are struggling with regulatory changes, say Xiaoming Li and Manley Liang - LEGAL VIEW.

By XIAOMING LI and MANLEY LIANG

479 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 9

Foreign investors in China may put plans on hold and reconsider their exit strategies in the wake of a recent circular issued by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which for the first time makes overseas investment by mainland-based individuals (as well as enterprises) subject to Safe approval.

The Circular on Certain Issues of Improving Administration of Foreign Exchange in Connection with Mergers and Acquisitions by Foreign Investors, issued on January 24, also makes existing foreign investment enterprises (FIEs) subject to strict scrutiny by Safe's local branches, which are required to take swift actions on any irregularities.

The Financial Times Limited

Hyundai's small cars overtake rivals in China.

By RICHARD MCGREGOR

447 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 17

Hyundai, the South Korean carmaker, has vaulted to the top of China's volatile car market, with its small, middle-range models topping the sales charts in January and February.

The success of Hyundai - and to a lesser extent Toyota and Honda - is at the expense of Volkswagen and General Motors, the previous market leaders, whose deliveries to dealers have plummeted this year compared with early 2004.

The Financial Times Limited

Hyundai powers ahead in car sales in China.

By RICHARD MCGREGOR

411 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 29

Hyundai, the South Korean carmaker, has vaulted to the top of China's volatile car market, with its small, middle-range models topping the sales charts in January and February.

The Financial Times Limited

Rover's owners pledge cash for China deal

- MOTOR INDUSTRY.

By JEAN EAGLESHAM and JAMES MACKINTOSH

536 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 7

MG Rover said its attempt to secure an emergency Pounds 100m government loan to support a Chinese rescue deal moved forward yesterday when the struggling carmaker's four owners pledged their own cash.

The statement followed warnings from government insiders that the negotiations with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp had stalled, a warning supported by other people close to the talks. SAIC refused to comment.

The Financial Times Limited

Precious stones come home to mainland Asia

INVESTING IN CHINA: A Sichuan-born jeweller who listed a company on Nasdaq while living abroad is now making inroads in his homeland, writes Justine Lau.

By JUSTINE LAU

616 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 9

One of Hong Kong's most popular television programmes is a documentary series that charts the experiences of Chinese living abroad. Now the same production company is reportedly planning a series that portrays the successes and struggles of the thousands of overseas Chinese who have returned to China to taste economic success.

Lorenzo Yih would be a perfect subject for such a programme. Born in central China's Sichuan province in 1939, Mr Yih lived briefly in Hong Kong as a child before spending most of the next four decades in Brazil and the US.

The Financial Times Limited

Exchanges plan new China index.

By FLORIAN GIMBEL

455 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 32

The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges are planning to launch a joint benchmark index of China's top 300 companies, creating a basis for derivatives contracts that would help investors hedge against losses.

The Shenzhen bourse yesterday said that, while it was "impractical" to launch index futures in the short term, it was "studying the possibility" of such derivatives contracts based on the new joint index.

The Financial Times Limited

Budget carriers meet a spot of turbulence on way to landing

Indonesia and China deny traffic rights to their major hubs, writes Joseph Lo

1029 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

Regional low-cost airlines are beginning to experience the turbulence of Asia's rigid regulatory environment for cross-border air services, raising questions about the longer-term viability of some start-up carriers.

The inability of the Singapore government to gain more access to the critical Indonesia and mainland markets for the city state's new carriers has already led one airline, Jetstar Asia, to announce a scaling back of its fleet expansion plans.

SCMP.com Limited

Hitch a ride from dynamos China and India

Derwin Pereira , Indonesia Bureau Chief

1095 words

6 April 2005

Straits Times

First FTAs, next an Asian economic community, says SM Goh

JAKARTA - INDONESIA has a key role to play in reinvigorating Asean so that the regional group can ride on the dynamism of China and India, said Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong yesterday.

SPH AsiaOne Ltd.

Chinese Diaspora

Missing deliveryman found trapped in elevator

348 words

6 April 2005

The Globe and Mail

A16

A deliveryman who vanished after taking Chinese food to a Bronx apartment complex was found alive yesterday after apparently spending four days trapped in an elevator stuck between floors.

Ming Kuang Chen, 35, was the subject of a widespread search after he failed to return to his restaurant Friday. Firefighters were called to the apartment complex early yesterday after getting a complaint that someone was stuck.

Bell Globemedia Interactive

3 Hungry Days For Deliveryman Stuck in Elevator

By MICHAEL WILSON Reporting for this article was contributed by Nicholas Confessore, Jennifer 8. Lee, Brian McDonald, Colin Moynihan and Robin Stein.

1579 words

6 April 2005

The New York Times

Ming Kuang Chen, a deliveryman for a Bronx restaurant called Happy Dragon, walked out Friday night at about 8:30 p.m. with a large order of curried shrimp with onion and a small shrimp fried rice, and never came back.

Worried co-workers found his bicycle chained up in front of the 38-story apartment building of Tracey Towers, at 40 West Mosholu Parkway near Jerome Avenue, and feared the worst: At least three deliverymen for Chinese restaurants have been killed in New York City in the last five years, for money or for food.

New York Times Digital (Full Text)

Suspect won't be extradited: Govt

By David McLennanPolice Reporter

533 words

6 April 2005

Canberra Times

The Australian Government will not seek to extradite the man suspected of murdering a University of Canberra international student in her Belconnen flat last year, but will support Chinese authorities in his prosecution. The badly decomposed body of 24-year-old Zhang Hong Jie was found in her flat in January more than six months after her murder. It is understood a Chinese man, Zhang Long, has handed himself into authorities and is in custody over her murder.

Justice Minister Chris Ellison was expected to discuss the case with his counterpart, Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang, in Beijing overnight. However, Zhang Long's extradition was not going to be raised. ''It would be inappropriate for

Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty Ltd

THAT FUNG FAT-YUNG'S son is totally absorbed in the English-language Economic...

1508 words

6 April 2005

South China Morning Post

THAT FUNG FAT-YUNG'S son is totally absorbed in the English-language Economic Times says much about the plight of India's only Chinese-language newspaper. Unlike his parents, Lee Yeng-won studied English at Calcutta's St George School, made a small fortune from sauce, and spends much time away.

His 75-year-old mother, however, reads only Indian Sheung Pao, one of the world's few handwritten newspapers, that has served Calcutta's Chinatown of Tangra for nearly four decades.

SCMP.com Limited

Society & Culture

China's Preference for Koreans Improves

353 words

6 April 2005

Korea Times

Chinese preference for Koreans, particularly males, has improved in the past decade, the Beijing branch of KOTRA, the nation�s trade and investment promotion agency, said Tuesday.

A survey on Chinese preference for females and males by country, conducted by Chinese market research firm Lingdian Research last year, said that Korean men ranked sixth after Chinese, American, British, French and German men, KOTRA said.

Hankook i.com

Science & Technology

Technology Gap With China Narrowing Faster

336 words

6 April 2005

Korea Times

A local survey on Tuesday predicted that the technology gap between South Korea and China could disappear within three or four years, which is faster than the government�s expectations.

In a survey of 58 Korean business people in China, the Institute for Global Economics (IGE) found that 36 percent of the respondents believe that the level of technology in China might be on equal footing with Korea within three to four years.

Hankook i.com

India's IT recruiting struggle

- Plans to use Shanghai as a launch pad for Japan have been affected by a dearth of suitable staff, writes Khozem Merchant.

By KHOZEM MERCHANT

1147 words

6 April 2005

Financial Times

Page 9

The crowdo f Indian technology companies seeking opportunities in China could profit from a visit to the Shanghai software development premises of MphasiS, a medium-sized Mumbai-based IT services company. What they heard there might send them racing back home.

"We have not cracked China," admits Jerry Rao, chief executive of MphasiS, which has IT services and call centre affiliates in India, the US and Mexico. "In Shanghai, we have 100 developers, mostly Chinese, but should have 400. Scaling up has been an unexpectedly large problem," he says.

The Financial Times Limited