China welcomes more foreign experts to participate in country's development

China welcomes more foreign experts to participate in country's developmentChinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (4th R) attends a reception for the foreign experts working in China on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 27. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)China will welcome more foreign experts to participate in the country's economic and social development, said Vice Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday. "The development and achievements China made in the past 60 years have been the result of the united efforts of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, together with the hard work and dedication of numerous foreign experts," said Li. Li made the remarks while addressing a reception on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Some 1,800 foreign experts and Chinese officials attended the reception. The number of overseas experts working in China continued to rise, reaching 480,000 tours of duty in 2008, he said. "They provide strong expert support for the economic and social development of China," said Li. China set up the Friendship Award in 1991, the country's highest award for foreign experts, to award those who have made outstanding contributions to China's economic and social progress. "The Chinese government will further deepen the reform and opening up......widely attract and gather international personnel, and conduct international exchanges and cooperation in an ever-broader scope, in a wider range of fields and at higher levels than before," said Li. With regard to China's economic development, Li said China's stimulus measures adopted to deal with the global financial crisis was producing results, however, the foundation for the recovery of the Chinese economy was not solid yet. China would maintain the continuity and stability of its macro-economic policy, deepen economic restructuring, expand domestic demand and promote renovation and transformation of economic development mode, so as to push for the long-term steady and fast economic growth and overall social progress, Li said. Source: XinhuaAntidote to poisoning polluters
China will adopt powerful measures to tackle heavy metal poisoning following a recent string of lead poisoning incidents involving thousands of children in Shaanxi and Hunan provinces, a senior environmental protection official said yesterday."Pollution from heavy metals have become increasingly prominent, seriously endangering the health of local residents and resulting in adverse social impacts," Zhang Lijun, vice minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said in a joint conference with the National Development and Reform Commission on the country's efforts in reducing pollution and emissions.Zhang said the problem needs to be tackled at the source, which is the heavily polluting plants that fail to meet environmental standards.He said local officials who turn a blind eye to heavy polluters will be punished. Officials who are responsible for the lead poisoning in Shaaxi and Hunan are being investigated and will be punished accordingly.In many regions, officials place a greater emphasis on short-term economic growth than on the long-term impact of pollution, he said.In August, more than 800 children living near a lead smelter run by Dongling Group in Shaanxi showed high levels of lead poisoning, with 174 admitted to hospital.Also in August, more than 1,300 children living near the Wugang Manganese smelter in Wenping, Hunan, tested positive for high levels of lead.In the latest case, 121 children in Shanghang county in Fujian province were found to have excessive lead in their blood.Local governments are required to stop the source of heavy metal pollution as soon as it is discovered, Zhang said.Residents living around plants that could cause heavy metal pollution will receive regular examinations and the plants must be closely monitored."Local authorities need to publish information about heavy metal pollution without delay to keep residents informed," Zhang said.The government also plans to tighten controls on construction permits for polluting plants which may cause hazards for local residents' health.When asked by China Daily whether it is safe to build waste incineration plants in residential areas, Zhang said incinerators will not affect people's health or pollute the environment if they are built according to government guidelines.Zhang said China dealt with 155 million tons of waste last year, 80 percent of which was buried and 15 percent was treated at waste incineration plants.Besides trying to combat pollution, China is optimistic about achieving its promise of cutting energy use per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 20 percent by 2010 despite facing rigorous challenges, Xie Zhenhua, vice-minister of National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday."China is well on its way to achieving its target. China has reduced energy use per unit of GDP by 10 percent between 2006 and 2008," Xie told the press conference.Xie said China has cut energy use per unit of GDP by a further 3.3 percent in the first half of this year.If China achieves its goal by 2010, it will prevent about 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere, which will rank China the top cutter of carbon dioxide emissions in the world.Source: China Daily
Xinhua Insight: China's magic to break doom spell
If new coinage such as "Chinamerica" and "G2" has any meaning, their constant appearance in mainstream western media must naturally lead people to consider China a rising power that will soon be the equal of the United States.
China may not be that powerful yet, but 30 years' of rapid economic growth and its strong performance during the current global economic downturn may enable the world to rethink its secret of staying vital.
Yet the road to the country's present position has witnessed more than a few rocks strewn in the way. It has been a bumpy zigzag taking time to travel. In the past 60 years, many people had constantly feared the most populous Communist country in the world would some time come to an end.
Following the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949, there were doubts the ruling Communist Party, which described itself as a party of the proletariat and whose membership consisted mainly of a large number of peasants from rural areas, could rule a continent-sized country.
Red China would soon collapse as its leaders knew little about how to feed its 500 million people, so the reasoning went. And the officials had little knowledge of managing cities and creating a modern industrial power, experts of the Kuomintang, the then rival of the Communists, believed.
BUMPY ZIGZAGS AND DOOMSAYING
The Korean War (1950-1953), three years of natural disasters (1959-1961), coupled with the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward plus the 10-year turmoil of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) have been among the major obstacles circumvented.
During the cold war, the country's survival was threatened by nuclear bombs of the world's super powers.
But it did survive and miracles took place.
Wang Yukai, a political scientist at the China National School of Administration, explained the reason that China defied and survived the doom saying was because during times of difficulty and when the rest of the world was casting doubt on its vitality, China was a relatively insular country, focusing on resolving its inner problems.
Others said that it was because China built up its own strength developing nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles, in addition to its basic industrial system in the 1950s and 1960s.
The year 1978 reshaped China's fate and path, and perhaps even presaged a shift in the world's power balance. China's reformers, led by Deng Xiaoping, decided to open the country to the rest of the world and formulated a new economic model that attracted universal attention, once again, to the Middle Kingdom.
However, pressures continue as its economy is skyrocketing.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, following the political turmoil in China in the summer of 1989, led Westerners to doubt the sustainability of China's persisting on "a socialist road with Chinese characteristics".
In 1994, Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute of the USA, painted in his report "Who will feed China" a gloomy picture, saying that the country with the largest population in the world would be inevitably become famine-stricken which would cause international chaos and bring havoc to the human race.
Again, China's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 prompted Western scholars to question the sustainability of its economic development. Many believed that China's "stiff and fragile" state-run enterprises would break down and trigger nationwide panic.
Moreover, Gordon Chang, a lawyer who worked for two decades in China and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, predicted in 2003 the extreme difficulties the country faced would lead to the "coming collapse of China".
According to his scenario, China could not sustain itself for five years and a total collapse was going to occur before the torch of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was lit.
Years have passed since Chang made his prediction but the strong performance of China's economy, most of all during the global economic downturn, runs contrary to the lawyer's judgment.
These sorts of assumptions usually fall over by themselves as the perspectives they take are mostly one-sided and prejudiced, which bars them from any balanced probe into the mechanism of China's development, said Wang Yukai.
The Western world may also have taken it for granted that China's reform and opening-up policy, which enabled the country to embrace a market economy, would lead to a radical change in its political system and eventually bring China closer to the Western model, but in fact quite the opposite has happened, Wang said.
CHINA MODE
From solitude to a rising economic power, China's model of development has won recognition.
In 1971, the People's Republic of China recovered its seat in the United Nations.
In 2001, China formally became the 143rd member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In 2008, Beijing successfully hosted the 29th Olympic Games, one of the most spectacular in the games' history.
And at the same time, China's huge currency reserves and stimulus packages produced a strong economic performance against the backdrop of global recession.
In his book titled "When China Rules the World: the Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World", Martin Jacques says, that continental in size and mentality, China's long history, huge population, racial homogeneity and confidence in the centrality of its own civilization make for a country that will remain highly distinct and capable of redefining what it is to be modern.
Pan Wei, director of the Center for Chinese and Global Affairs of Peking University, says it is time to summarize "China's mode of development".
Its development should consist of its social, political and economic development modes, he said.
For Wang Yukai, China's development can be interpreted through three aspects: economically, the adoption of a market economy; politically, a system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China; and the country's system of political power -- the people' s congresses; and the capacity for self-correction China has while pursuing unswervingly its own road of development. Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore, in a published article says the outside world has pinned great expectations on China to emerge as a great power and has identified the Chinese mode of development.
However, Wang Yukai contends, the biggest challenges for China come from within and need to be settled through reform.
"If China wants to formulate a globally-competitive system and become a highly-competitive state, its political system needs to be perfected steadily in practice," he said.
Source:Xinhua
German Chancellor Merkel's party wins enough votes in election to form coalition gov'tGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel's party the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and her preferred partner the Free Democrats (FDP) jointly won 48.1 percent of votes in the general election on Sunday, assuring the two parties of winning a clear majority to form a new coalition government, exit poll results said.
According to the latest exit poll results released by public TV channels ZDF and ARD, the CDU/CSU picked up 33.5 percent of the votes while the FDP earned 14.6 percent, indicating the two parties booked 320 seats in the 598-seat parliament.
The Social Democrats (SPD) merely earned 23.5 percent of the votes, the lowest since WWII.
The exit polls said the Greens got10.5 percent of votes while the Left Party took 12 percent.
In most cases in Germany, the exit poll results are very close to final official results.
Source: Xinhua
U.S. may miss Guantanamo closure deadlineThe Obama administration will likely miss its deadline to close the controversial [,k?ntr?'v?:??l]  
adj. 引起争论的,有争议的
Guantanamo prison by Jan. 22 next year, according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
"I think it has proven more complicated than anticipatedv. 预先考虑(抢...先,与以后的...类似,抢先)
adj. 预先的
," Gates told CNN in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
"If you have to extend that date, if at least you have a strong plan showing you're making progress in that direction, then this --it shouldn't be a problem to extend it and we'll just see whether that has to happen or not," he said.
In a separate interview shown on ABC, Gates said sticking to the original deadline to shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be "tough."
On Friday, two senior administration officials told reporters that the prison was unlikely to close by the deadline set by President Barack Obama after he was sworn in as president in January.
They cited legal problems for the delay, but said they were still optimistic about shutting the facility soon.
The likely postponement would deal a blow to Obama, who ordered the closing of the prison during his first week in office.
The Guantanamo prison was opened in 2002, with 223 detainees having left. 　
Source: Xinhua
Chinese FM describes Hu's trip to U.S. as significant, far-reaching moveThe Chinese foreign minister on Saturday described President Hu Jintao's trip to the United States to attend four important summits as a significant and far-reaching diplomatic move. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi made the remarks while briefing journalists who traveled to New York and Pittsburgh with Hu. Yang said that the four summits in the U.S. that Hu participated in focused on such attention-grabbing issues as the international financial crisis, climate change, non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament. Those issues have a significant bearing on international relations and on the global situation in the future, Yang said. He said those issues also have a direct bearing on China's long-term development and fundamental interests. Participating in four summits in as many days was an unprecedented diplomatic move by a Chinese president since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Yang said. He said Hu systematically advanced China's viewpoints and stances on important global and regional issues during the four summits. Yang highlighted the 64th United Nations General Assembly, which drew more than 140 heads of state and government, and the world body's general debate during which Hu delivered his key-note speech "Join hands to create the future." The foreign minister quoted Hu as saying that the world is undergoing a hectic period of big development and reform and that it is seeing a stronger trend toward peace, development and cooperation. Hu pointed out during his U.N. speech that the world's peace and development is faced with serious challenges resulting from instability and uncertainty in the global situation. The Chinese president urged the international community to cherish the concepts of peace, development, cooperation, win-win and tolerance in their effort to promote a lasting peace, co-prosperity and a harmonious world. Yang said Hu proposed that the international community view the security issue through a broader view-finder, conduct cooperation with more open hearts, and materialize harmonious co-existence via a more tolerant mentality. Hu stressed in his speech that China's destiny is increasingly linked with that of the entire world. He said that China will stick to its path of peaceful development, one that leads to mutual benefits and a win-win scenario. He said China also will stick to the five principles of peaceful co-existence while pursuing friendly cooperation with all of the other countries in the world. China was, is and will remain a strength to be reckoned with in the maintenance of world peace and in the promotion of co-development of the world. As a responsible big country in the midst of development, China has performed its obligation to the U.N. Millennium Declaration by extending assistance to more than 120 countries. It also has written off debts owed it by 49 heavily indebted countries and least developed countries, and is offering zero-tariff treatment to exports from 40 least developed countries. China also will beef up its support for the developing countries that have been affected most by the international financial crisis. Hu said that China will continue its support to the developing nations by speeding up their growth to meet their millennium goals; China will continue to give the assistance promised to African countries during the Sino-Africa Summit; and China will continue to participate and promote the regional monetary and financial cooperation. Yang, who accompanied Hu to New York and Pittsburgh, said that the world sees the Chinese president's speech at the U.N. as commanding a strategic viewpoint and carrying a far-reaching connotation. Hu's speech demonstrated that China is playing an irreplaceable role in international and regional affairs as a builder of international systems, Yang said. He said that the international community welcomes China to play an even larger role on the international stage. At the U.N. non-proliferation and disarmament summit, Hu advanced his statement on the new security concept that China advocates. It was the first time in the past decade that a Chinese leader elaborated on China's policy toward nuclear issues in person at a multilateral occasion. Yang quoted Hu as saying that China has always advocated a total ban and total destruction of nuclear weapons. Hu said China will stick to its self-defense nuclear strategy and to its promise not to be the first to ever resort to nuclear weapons under any circumstance. China has also obliged itself to not threaten nuclear-free countries and regions with the use of nuclear weapons. Hu told the non-proliferation and disarmament summit that China will continue to promote the process of international nuclear disarmament and to contribute efforts toward the system safeguarding the implementation of the non-proliferation treaty. This approach, Hu said, has fully demonstrated China's fairness, responsibility and contribution toward the construction of a nuclear-free world, which reflected the legitimate claim by the developing countries, safeguarded the interests of the developing countries and helped to move the non-proliferation and disarmament talks to a more positive direction of development. Yang described the G-20 summit as an effective platform on which the international community can cooperate in its joint dealings with the ongoing international financial and economic crises to better governance of the global economy.
Hu has participated in all three of the G-20 summits centered on the financial crisis. In Pittsburgh, Hu made it clear that though the world has seen positive economic signs, there is a long way to go before full recovery is achieved because there are many uncertainties remaining. The Chinese president listed three tasks the international community must deal with without hesitation in face of their efforts to end the recession. The tasks, Yang re-capped, are to keep stimulating economic growth, to promote reform of the international financial system, and to strike a balanced development of the world economy. Hu said in Pittsburgh that all of the concerned countries should keep their stimulus plans in place and make more efforts in promoting consumption and domestic demand. He warned that those countries should also keep an eye on any potential side-effects of their efforts, especially concerning inflation. The developing countries, Hu said, should be given more representation and say in the world's international financial institutions. He said that all of the countries concerned also should make efforts to forge an international mechanism for balanced development of the world economy. Cooperation in technology should be given high priority so as to help bridge the gap between the developed and developing countries, Hu suggested. Hu cited China as an obvious example of the packaged stimulus plan in face of the ongoing financial and economic crises. He said that his country would continue to carry out its promised and planned assistance to developing countries, especially those in Africa, and would try within its capacity to increase such assistance. Hu's viewpoints and proposed measures on international cooperation on financial system won praise from many heads of state and government in Pittsburgh, Yang said. The foreign minister said that the president based his proposals on safeguarding the fundamental interests of the people in China and around the world and therefore his viewpoints and measures got nods of approval from many of the leaders at the G-20summit. As the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen approaches, Yang said the issue of climate change is attracting greater public attention. Because China is the largest developing country and an emerging economy, its stand on the issue is closely watched by the international community, Yang said. "Global climate change has a profound impact on the existence and development of mankind and is a major challenge facing all countries," Hu stressed. During his speech at the U.N. climate change summit, Hu put forward a four-point proposal on joint efforts to deal with climate change by the international community. Fulfilling respective responsibilities should be at the core of the effort, Hu said. Concerned parties should positively implement the "Bali Roadmap" talks according to the requests of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto protocol, Hu said. Achieving mutual benefits and a win-win outcome should be the goal of the effort, Hu said. Supporting developing countries in countering climate change is a responsibility of developed countries and also benefits their long-term interests, Hu said. "We should realize a win-win outcome for both developed and developing countries, and interests of each state and the whole mankind," he said. Promoting common development should be the basis of the effort, the president said. "Without common development, particularly the development of developing countries, there cannot be a broad and solid basis in the long run for tackling climate change," he said. Ensuring financing and technology holds the key to the success of the effort, Hu noted. He urged the developed countries to take up their responsibilities and provide developing nations with new financial support to facilitate their dealings with climate change. Although China faces a lot of difficulties in the course of development, it attaches great importance to climate change and has taken a series of measures to address the issue, Hu said. The Chinese leader pledged that his country will further integrate actions on climate change into its economic and social development plan. China will intensify efforts to conserve energy and improve energy efficiency, vigorously develop renewable and nuclear energy and step up efforts to develop a green economy, he said. As a responsible country, Hu said, China will make the Copenhagen conference achieve positive results. Hu emphasized the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and said that China firmly safeguards the interests of developing countries. Hu announced significant measures China will adopt on emission reduction, which have been lauded by the international community, Yang said. Many foreign leaders said Hu's speech hit the high points of current climate change talks, reflected the common aspirations of the developing countries, and showed the image of a responsible and large country, the foreign minister said. After meeting with dozens of foreign leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. meetings and the G-20 financial summit, Hu reached consensus with them on bilateral relations and joint efforts to deal with the financial crisis, Yang said. During talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, Hu pointed out that China and the United States should maintain frequent high-level exchanges and implement their pledges made at the first China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington in July. They also should deepen cooperation on major international and regional issues, expand exchanges on humanity, properly address each other's interests and concerns, and firmly oppose protectionism, Hu said. When meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Hu said China attaches great importance to enhancing its strategic partnership of cooperation with Russia. He said China is working to implement the consensus reached between the two sides. Both leaders agreed to further expand exchanges in various fields and deepen the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation. Yang said Hu's meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama was the first between the two leaders since Hatoyama was elected prime minister on Sept. 16. During their talks, Hu said the two sides should enhance high-level exchanges so as to improve political trust, promote trade and economic cooperation, and improve the feelings of their people toward each other in order to consolidate the basis of good public opinion. Hu said that Japan's war-time history and Taiwan are two major issues concerning the political basis of Sino-Japanese relations. China hopes Japan can live up to its commitment and properly handle the two issues. When meeting with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, Hu said China is ready to work with France to review the historical experience of bilateral relations, and promote a healthy and steady development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations. Hu also met with South African President Jacob Zuma, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan and President Evo Morales of Bolivia on bilateral ties and major issues of common concern. Yang said China has maintained friendly cooperation with nations in the world, and has forged partnership with many. Frequent high-level exchanges are an important way to boost bilateral ties with other countries. Yang summed up Hu's attendance at the four summits as a complete success. China will earnestly implement the consensus reached by Hu at the U.N. summits and expand cooperation with other nations to jointly meet the global challenges so as to contribute to the world's peace, stability and development, he said. Source: Xinhua
Top 10 most significant events in shaping today's China Mode60 years has elapsed since People's Republic of China was founded in 1949. In retrospect, scenes of the past would still leap into the collective memory of all the Chinese people, forming a vivid mind picture of laughs and tears, savored by a nation in the arduous days poised for its rejuvenation and peaceful rise. China now is on the path to the national revitalization. With its increasingly enhanced comprehensive strength, China is playing a more assertive role on the world stage. The fact that China is more vocal and visible in partaking the global affairs has also proved the road it has taken, especially the second 30 years for reform and opening up, is correct and in conformity with its national conditions. No wonder it is commented that China's development mode is so successful that it allows a brand-new country to have settled the thorny problem of food and clothing for the world's largest population within only decades. And it is now leading the nation to a well-being and harmonious society. In the lead up to 60th anniversary of the founding of New China, People's Daily Online is taking the grand occasion to rekindle your memories looking back at the footprints a nation on its rise has left behind, deep or shallow, straight or crooked. Pick up your memories with your well-selected poll results, you will do your share sending a heartfelt congratulation to China's 60th birthday. What are the Top 10 most significant events do you think help shape today's China Mode?