Extracts. India, China Have More Similarities Than Differences: Li Peng Chinese top legislator Li Peng said in New Delhi on Saturday that India and China have more similarities than differences and the mainstream of the Sino-Indian bilateral relations is good. "On my current trip I was deeply impressed by the strong desire of both peoples and governments of the two countries to develop friendly and cooperative relations," Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, said Saturday morning in interviews with India's state television station Doordarshan TV and major newspaper the Hindu. Li, who is on a week-long official goodwill visit here, said that Sino-Indian relations started to improve comprehensively in 1988 when late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited China. Since then, the two countries have had continuous high-level exchange of visits, highlighted by Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to India in 1996 and last year's visit to China by Indian President K. R. Narayanan, Li noted. Asked how the two countries can cooperate to face the challenges of multipolarization and globalization in the 21st century, Li said that both China and India hold the view that the world should not have only one pole and each country shares responsibility for the world development and peace. "China and India can enhance cooperation internationally to promote the forming of a multi-polar world and strive for the establishment of a just and fair new international political and economic order," he asserted. Both China and India represent the stand of th e developing world and have same or similar views on a number of international issues, Li stated. "We hope our two countries can further expand common grounds and jointly play our roles in the international arena," he said, citing the human rights issue as an example. As a developing country, China believes that apart from political rights, the rights to subsistence and development of the people should be given more attention, Li elaborated, adding that this view has won support from India and many other developing. Asked about the Sino-Indian border issue, Li said that back in 1988, the two sides reached consensus on the principle of "mutual understanding, mutual accommodation and mutual readjustment" for the resolution of the border issue, and that certain progress has been made on this issue thanks to the joint efforts of both countries. "During my current visit and meetings with the Indian leaders, I was left with a deep impression that all circles in India have the desire to resolve this issue," said Li. "I can feel that it is also the desire and policy of the current Indian government to further promote the resolution of the Sino-Indian border issue." Calling the border issue "a problem left over from history," Li said that as long as both sides have the political wishes to resolve this problem and are willing to adopt the way of consultation on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, this problem will surely be well resolved step by step. "Moreover, leaders of the two countries agreed a long time ago that although the two sides had differences on the border issue, it should not stand in the way of our cooperation in the international affairs and development of bilateral relations," Li stressed. In response to a question on China's view on India-Pakistan relations and its attitude toward the Kashmir issue, Li said that China, which adopts an independent and peaceful diplomatic policy, hopes all its neighboring countries, including India and Pakistan, to maintain a peaceful and friendly relationship. "Both India and Pakistan are major nations on the South Asian subcontinent, and the status of their relationship has a direct bearing on peace and stability in this region," said Li. "China hopes both sides can appropriately resolve existing problems through negotiations and consultations based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence." China noticed that both India and Pakistan had adopted some new steps concerning the Kashmir issue, and "we welcome and support all efforts that will help improve India-Pakistan relations and ease regional tension," Li added. Asked about China's stand on the issue of international terrorism, Li replied that the Chinese government has always opposed and condemned international terrorism in any form, and is against any act of terror and violence conducted by any nation, organization, group or individual. "China is willing to carry out international cooperation with all countries in the world, including India, to combat terrorism so as to safeguard national interests and regional security and stability," Li said. In response to a question on the United States' attempt to establish missile defense systems, Li said that this move had met the opposition from China, Russia and even people in the West and the U.S. itself. "The establishment of missile defense systems is a new form of arms race and reflects a cold war mind-set. Therefore, it is detrimental to world peace," Li said. "We hope the 21st century can be a century of peace and development, instead of a century of war." He also said that China welcomes the fact that India has taken the same stand on this issue. Li Peng, who last visited India in 1991 as Chinese premier, told Indian journalists that he saw great changes in the country over the past decade and China appreciated the fact that India had become more open economically and maintained a fairly high growth rate. Li, who stayed only in the Indian capital during his last visit,said that he wished to have a better understanding of India through his tour of other cities, including Mumbai, Bangalore and the ancient capital Agra, during the current visit. He also asked the Indian media to convey sincere greetings and best wishes to the Indian people on behalf of the Chinese people and himself. **** Every Country Has Sovereign Right to Choose Path of Development: India's IPU President It was the sovereign right of each country to choose its own path of development, Najma Heptulla, current president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and deputy speaker of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament, said Saturday, January 13. In a reply to a speech delivered at the International Center by visiting Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People 's Congress (NPC) of China Li Peng, Heptulla said the ensuing globalization should have brought the economic interests of the nations together. Though there was a greater sharing of knowledge and information due to progress in information technology, there was not much emergence of cooperation on the economic issues between the countries, she said. However, she said, reeling under the massive debt burden, developing countries still remain at the receiving end. Trade was still not free. The new trade regime had not opened up markets for the newer entrants into globalization. It has largely remained a one-way traffic where developing countries had been asked to open their markets, the IPU president told the visiting Chinese leader. "We need to underline that peace and justice have always been the underlying moorings of all the cultures and are the natural characteristics of all the societies," Heptulla said. On Indo-China relations, she said, historically India and China had shared close cultural interaction, and for ages there had been a close people-to-people contact between the two neighbors. "We must further strengthen the interaction and dialogue between our two cultures," said Heptulla, adding that India and China "can become a model of dialogue" for the rest of the world, which would help promote understanding, friendship and further enhance the cooperation. She concluded that Li's visit to her country had opened new possibilities of association and interaction between the two peoples and New Delhi desired to have friendly relations with Beijing based on the trusted Five Principles of peaceful coexistence. In his address at the International center, Li Peng called for deepening understanding, fostering friendship and strengthening cooperation between China and India. He began his speech with an extension of his cordial greetings to Indian friends, who, over the years, cared for friendly relations and cooperation between China and India sent his best wishes to the industrious and the talented Indian people. "As history turns a new page, people around the world are reviewing the past and looking to the future," Li said, adding that India's independence and China's liberation were two epic achievements of the past century, during which mankind created unprecedented civilizations and enjoyed fast growth of social productive forces driven by revolution of science and technology. He told over 300 people from the Indian parliament, Indo-China friendship associations and political parties that there were two prominent trends in the world: one is the gradual multi- polarization in the international political pattern, and the other is the increasing globalization of the world economy. The major task facing the people of the world was to promote the process of multi-polarity for world peace and ride the tide of globalization for common development so that a just and fair international new political and economic order could be established in the new century, said Li, who arrived in the South Asian country Tuesday for a week-long official visit. **** DPRK Proposes Talks on Inter-Korean Fishery Cooperation The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has proposed to hold urgent talks on fishery cooperation with South Korea, a spokesman for the Ministry of Fisheries said Saturday. At the fourth round of the inter-Korean ministerial talks held in Pyongyang at the end of 2000, the spokesman said, the DPRK hoped that it would offer part of its fishing ground in the East Sea of Korea to the south side. At the 2001 Meeting for the Independent Reunification of the Korean Nation in Pyongyang on January 10, the DPRK urged the south side to accept the offer as soon as possible for the benefit of the fishermen in the south. The spokesman said that cooperation between the DPRK and South Korea in fishery should be realized without delay as it would greatly help rationalize the use of marine resources, which will not only make great contributions to the common prosperity of the whole Korean nation, but also improve the living standards of South Korean fishermen. The DPRK has proposed cooperation in fishery between the two sides many times since the early 1970s, but South Korea has not yet given a positive response. China Sticks to Policy of Developing Economy, Socialist Democracy: Top Legislator China will stick to its policy of economic development and improving the socialist legal system to build national strength and contribute to world peace, said Chinese top legislator Li Peng in a speech made at the Indian International Center Saturday. History suggests that only when national sovereignty is free from violation and society free from instability can people concentrate their attention on developing the economy, building national strength and improving living standards, said Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC). He noted that China has made enormous progress in economic development in the past 50 years, especially in the last two decades since the reform and opening-up policy was launched by the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. China's economy now grows in a sustainable way and reform is deepened continuously with the aggregate national strength modestly strengthened, he said, adding that China is still a developing country considering its basic national condition. "To continue the modernization drive, realize national reunification and safeguard world peace and promote common development are the three major tasks facing China in the new century," the Chinese legislator stressed. Under a new Five-year Plan for national economic and social development still being drafted, China's GDP will sustain an average annual growth rate of over 7 percent and the GDP will double that of the year 2000, said the Chinese leader, adding that people will enjoy a more comfortable life and a system of socialist market economy will be in place at that time. "China is opposed to hegemonism and will never seek any kind of hegemony itself, and its development will benefit the Chinese people and contribute to world peace," Li emphasized. He also stressed China's policy of "peaceful reunification and one country, two systems" to advance the reunification of the motherland. It is a basic state policy of China to develop socialist democracy and improve the socialist legal system, he said, adding that China will continue to improve its democracy and legal system, strengthen the system of people's congress and enforced the policy of ruling the country according to law. China's NPC and the Indian Parliament, Li went on to say, can learn from each other despite their different political systems and contacts between the two parliaments can boost the friendship and co-operation between the two countries and two peoples. Li is currently on a week-long official goodwill visit to India starting on Tuesday. **** ' China Investigates 10,000-plus Corrupt Officials in 6 Years Since 1994, there have been more than 270,000 cases of corruption and bribery at all levels of China's government. More than 10,000 cadres at the county-level or higher have been investigated. According to official reports, in six years, China's procurators have investigated more than 10,000 corrupt officials above the county level, more than 700 of which are cadres at the department level and more than 100,000 of which are cadres at the provincial level. Their investigations uncovered more than 60,000 major cases of corruption, bribery and embezzlement of public funds, costing the state more than 22.9 billion yuan in economic losses. One of the main duties of China's procurators is to investigate corruption and indict guilty officials. In recent years, a number of high level corrupt officials including former Party chief of Beijing Chen Xitong, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and former chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Cheng Kejie and former deputy governor of Jiangxi Province Hu Changqing, have been caught and sentenced. **** Beijing to Enjoy Fresher Air, Better Environment by 2005: Official Beijing is likely to be dropped from the world's top 10 polluted cities as the city will enjoy much more fresh air, clean water in the coming five years. Wang Guangtao, vice-mayor of Beijing, announced here Friday that under a five-year pollution control plan, residents in Beijing will enjoy fresh air and blue skies for at least 255 days each year by 2005, about 91 days more than 2000. "The environment in Beijing will be significantly improved by 2005 and the living quality of the 12 million residents will also been greatly lifted as a result," said the vice-mayor, who is in charge of the city's environmental protection and pollution control. Pollution control will be the focal point of the city's environmental management under the city's proposed plan for the 2001- 2005 period. Beijing, which has become the largest natural gas consumer in China recently, also plans to use more natural gas, electricity and other clean energy in the coming five years. The clean energy will account for over 75 percent of the total energy consumed, he said. Wang said it is expected that Beijing will consume 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas, compared to about 1 billion cubic meters in 2000. It is expected that about 90 percent of the sewage water will be treated before it is discharged by 2007, up 45 percentage points over 2000. Industrial pollution, once one of the major environmental problems facing Beijing, has largely been brought under control. By last May, over 5,000 industrial firms in Beijing that discharged pollutants have met the pollutant discharge standards set by the local government. In the Capital Iron and Steel Company, which used to be a major polluter of air in Beijing, steel production has given way to chip production and other less polluting production as the company has turned to the development of high-technology products. The company has announced recently that non-steel production, or high-tech products including chips, has accounted for half of the company's output. Many polluting firms involving metallurgical, power, building material and chemical ones, have or are being forced to move out of the city itself, and give way to the construction of business or college student apartments. The vice-mayor said the city plans to cut the total amount of pollutant discharge by 30 percent by 2005. During the past two years, Beijing has invested nearly 30 billion yuan in environmental protection and pollution control projects. The city has announced that from the period 1998 to 2007, more than over 100 billion yuan will be allocated for environment improvement and pollution control. Beijing also plans to become much greener by 2005. It is expected to have more than 30 nature reserves and forest coverage rate in the hilly part of rural Beijing will be above 70 percent, and a quarter of the plain rural part of Beijing will be covered by trees, said the vice-mayor. Statistics on the quality of air has shown that it has taken Beijing two years to reach the same air pollution control targets on which Tokyo, London and Paris spent seven years, said Wang. "Although we started a bit late, we will certainly catch up," said the vice-mayor. **** China Sets Five-year Goal to Save Water, Petroleum China will control the annual rate of increased industrial water consumption within 1.2 percent in five years, and save 20 million tons of petroleum by using other forms of energy as substitutes. China worked out the general goal for the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005) in the bid to save the two important energy resources, said Wang Wanbin, vice director of the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) Tuesday at a working conference here for the purpose. China is now in great need of water, and the demand of petroleum will definitely jump up as the industrialization is in rapid progress. The commission will initiate structural adjustment, technological renovation and enterprise management on power generation, textile, petrochemical production, paper making, iron and steel industries to save some 18 billion cubic meters of water by the end of the year 2005. Firm control and reforms on industries of power generation, petrochemical, iron and steel, and architectural materials will help to save 15 million tons of petroleum. Other measures include reforming the national industrial layout, encouraging the technological and equipment research and development. **** 'Hong Kong People Can Govern Hong Kong Well!' As we cross the threshold into the new century, we have seen a series of inspiring news. First is Hong Kong <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/HK.html> replaced Singapore <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/Singapore.html> last year to become the best business city in the Asia-Pacific region. This is an authoritative conclusion drawn by the latest issue of US magazine Fortune from the questionnaires received back from 1,433 chief executives and high-level managerial personnel of enterprises in more than 160 cities worldwide. Second is Hong Kong has become the best fund-raising channel for inland enterprises. This is an authoritative appraisal of Hong Kong's financial supporting service functions made by the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council, a number of financial supervision institutions and specialized groups. Third is Hong Kong's economic growth was as high as 10 percent last year, taking its place in the front ranks of global cities with the fastest economic growth. That was the authoritative figure released by the HKSAR government officials. Similar news are many, and there is no need here to enumerate them one by one. Mentioning just a few is enough to reflect the good image of Hong Kong in the global economy over the past three years and more since its homecoming, its stable position, its strong development momentum and its close relations with the inland of the motherland, which feature a blend like milk and water and common development. It was not long, particularly before Hong Kong's return, the topic of frequent discussion among people was whether Hong Kong could realize a steady transition; after Hong Kong's return, what people were most concerned about was whether Hong Kong could maintain its prosperity and exercise effect management. Regarding these, there were people adopting a positive and affirmative attitude; there were also people taking a wait-and-see attitude; there were still others who adopted a categorically negative attitude. However, the indisputable facts before us indicate that after Hong Kong's return, the Special Administrative Region government headed by Chief Executive Mr Tung Chee Hwa and the Hong Kong people, with their remarkable achievements, have handed in an excellent paper, proving to the world people: Hong Kong people not only have the ability to administer Hong Kong well, but their administration is by no means inferior to that by the British. Hong Kong has lived up to people's expectations! Hong Kong's success of today has not come easily. Having ending the century-old history of humiliation, the Hong Kong people, in implementing the principles "one country, two systems", "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" and a high degree of autonomy, have neither historic precedent to go by, nor a set form to take as a basis, placed before the Hong Kong people is a completely new road which requires intelligence, and all the more requires courage; people of the whole world fix their eyes on Hong Kong to see whether Hong Kong can continue its prosperity and stability, all the Chinese people are expecting "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" to be a success. This deep concern from various quarters is both pressure and a driving force, it is, in fact, a major estimation of the prospect for Hong Kong's development. Whether Hong Kong people can pass the present test really concerns its prosperity or decline in the future; just after Hong Kong's return, the tempestuous storm of the Asian financial disturbance assailed Hong Kong, adding a difficult question to "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong". However, this series of complicated situation and difficult problems had been overcome one after another by the Hong Kong people, this fact fully confirms Mr Deng Xiaoping's thesis: "Hong Kong people can govern Hong Kong well!" _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
