Extracts. Europe Prepared for Downturn in US Economy: Bank Official Europe is "well prepared" to pace whatever happens to the US economy, a senior official of the European Central Bank (ECB) said Monday. Eugenio Domingo, a member of the executive council of the bank, said the important thing is that the European economy should be " balanced, solid and with sound foundations." Domingo told the opening of a winter course at the University of Malaga in southern Spain that whatever happens to the U.S. economy will affect Europe "depending on its intensity and duration," but "we are 'well prepared to face' complications." He said the monetary conditions in Europe are adequate to deal with the economic situation. He also noted that inflationary pressure was turning moderate and perspectives were improving thanks to the ECB's monetary policy. Domingo said he could see no reason to worry about the situation in the stock market, adding the alternation of bullish and bearish markets is normal. Referring to last week's drop in stock markets, he said: "It has to be seen from a long-term perspective, not in terms of days of even weeks." Domingo also said the euro has increased efficiency and the performance of the single European market improved, and that the higher efficiency of the single currency euro helped to "lubricate its performance." **** Czech, DPRK Seek to Improve Ties The Czech Republic and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday agreed to revive bilateral economic and political relations, the CTK news agency reported. The agreement was reached at a meeting between Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Hynek Kmonicek and his visiting DPRK counterpart Choe Su Hon. This is the first visit to the Czech Republic by a DPRK deputy foreign minister since late 1980s. After the meeting, Kmonicek said that the two countries had agreed to sign contracts on investment guarantee and avoidance of double taxation. The agreements, seen as one of the preconditions for developing bilateral economic relations, had already been discussed by experts of the two nations, he added. Kmonicek told reporters that the DPRK side hoped that Czech companies would participate in the reconstruction of railways and power industry in the DPRK. He also said the two sides also discussed the possibility of Prague and Pyongyang establishing higher-level missions in the other country. Choe Su Hon today also held talks with Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan on bilateral ties. In 2000, the Czech exports to the DPRK were valued at 103 million crowns (2.78 million U.S. dollars). During a visit to Seoul earlier this month, Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman expressed disagreement with the current international economic sanctions against DPRK. **** More Falun Gong Followers Die After Refusing Medical Treatment Two more followers of the Falun Gong cult, both female, have died of ordinary diseases this year in China after refusing medical treatment. One of them, Hu Guangying, a retired worker, died from an infection from a decubitus ulcer, while the other one, Xie Ying, a farmer, died from enteritis. "Falun Gong deprived my mother of her life, throwing our family into perpetual pain," said Zhou Hong, Hu's son. The 58-year-old Hu began to practice Falun Gong in 1996 and gradually became obsessed by the cult's ideas, like the belief that practitioners may achieve nirvana by practicing Falun Gong. In August 2000, she was infected with scabies but turned a deaf ear to her family persuading her to see a doctor. "It's a poison-excreting reaction resulting from practicing Falun Gong," Hu said to her children. Hu's four-year-old grandson was also infected with the disease, through Hu, but recovered after using an anti-scabies ointment for about four days. Zhou then offered the ointment to Hu, yet she turned it down, insisting that Falun Gong followers should not receive medical treatment. Hu's conditions took a turn for the worse at the end of January and doctors said the direct cause of her death was the infection from the decubitus ulcer, which resulted from scabies. "I hope those still stubbornly believing in Falun Gong learn a lesson from my mother's death and stop the tragedy from repeating itself," Zhou said. Xie Ying, 30, who became a Falun Gong practitioner in 1997, began to suffer enteritis in December 2000. Xie refused to see a doctor because she believed any disease could be cured by practicing Falun Gong. She died on the night of February 24, 2001, while practicing Falun Gong, leaving behind two young children. Official statistics show that in the last couple of years,than 1,600 Falun Gong practitioners have died unnatural deaths throughout China, which has affected thousands of families. The Chinese government banned the cult in July 1999. **** Foreign Minister Leaves for East Asia-Latin America Forum Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan left Beijing Monday to attend the first ministerial meeting of the East Asia-Latin America Forum in Chilean capital Santiago. Tang is invited by his Chilean and Singaporean counterparts, Maria Soledad Alvear Valenzuela and Shunmugam Jayakumar. Tang will also pay an official visit to France at the invitation of his French counterpart Hubert Vedrine after the forum. **** S.Korea Proposes Next Inter-Korean Red Cross Meeting in Seoul The South Korean <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/rok.html> National Red Cross Monday proposed that the next round of inter-Korean Red Cross talks be held in Seoul instead of in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/dprk.html> ). In the message to its DPRK counterpart, the South Korean Red Cross said the fourth round of the inter-Korean Red Cross talks scheduled on April 3-5 should open in Seoul as the two sides should alternate as host of the meeting. At the last round of talks at the DPRK's Mount Kumgang in January, the two sides agreed on the date for the next meeting, but disagreed on the location, with the DPRK insisting at Mount Kumgang and the South pushing for the meeting in Seoul. **** HK Delegation to Attend UN Human Rights Hearing in April W K Lam, secretary for home affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), will lead a delegation to a United Nations (UN) hearing of the Hong Kong SAR report under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) next month. The hearing will take place in Geneva on April 27 and 30. A Home Affairs Bureau spokesman said they would answer questions put to them by members of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the treaty monitoring body for the ICESCR. "The report was written by the Hong Kong SAR government, taking full account of the views expressed by interested parties and members of the public in response to consultations held in 1998, before the drafting work began," the spokesman said. "To ensure that the U.N. received a balanced picture of the situation here, we invited representatives of the committee to visit Hong Kong. They did so in January this year and met legislators, non-governmental organizations, and interested members of the general public as well as the chief executive, the secretary for administration and policy secretaries," the spokesman added. **** CPPCC Chairman Meets Cambodian Senate President Chairman Li Ruihuan of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said Monday that the friendship between China and Cambodia, which is deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples, enjoys strong vitality and broad prospects. Li made this remark during a meeting with Cambodian Senate President Chea Sim, who arrived in Beijing earlier Monday for a four-day visit at Li's invitation. Extending a warm welcome to Chea Sim, Li said China and Cambodia are close neighbors with a long history of friendly contact and since the founding of new China, bilateral ties have withstood various tests. The friendship between the two countries was fostered by leaders of the elder generation of both countries, he said. In recent years, under the care of President Jiang Zemin and King Norodom Sihanouk, high-level contacts have been frequent and good development momentum has been maintained in bilateral relations, he noted. Li expressed gratification for the support to China on issues like Taiwan, Tibet and human rights by King Sihanouk and the Cambodian government, saying China is willing to further boost cooperation in all fields through joint efforts. Voicing gladness over the great achievements made by Cambodia in its peace and reconstruction cause, Li said so long as the people unite as one and exert concerted efforts, more achievements would be registered. Li also pointed out the CPPCC and the Cambodian Senate both play an important role in the political life of their respective countries, and their friendship would stimulate overall cooperation in all fields. Chea Sim agreed with Li on his assessment over bilateral ties, adding such a friendship should be further developed. He thanked the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government for the consistent support to Cambodia's efforts in realizing peace and national unity, and developing economy. He expressed the hope that economic cooperation would be reinforced so as to further accelerate bilateral friendship. **** China to Face Up to Challenges of Globalization, Vice-Premier Chinese Vice-Premier Wen Jiabao <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/leaders/Wenjiabao.htm> said Sunday morning that economic globalization has been an objective trend and China will face the challenges with courage and grasp opportunities brought about by the trend. Wen made this remark while addressing the opening session of the 2001 annual meeting of China Development Forum, which opened here Sunday morning. He said China will continue to carry out the strategy of economic restructuring, and improve the quality and efficiency of economic growth in order to sharpen China's competitive edge in the international market. China will stimulate in a massive manner scientific and technological innovation and stick to the open-up policy, Wen said. In the process of participating in economic globalization, he said, the Chinese government will shoulder due responsibilities and further transfer its functions and improve the way for playing these functions. "The Chinese government has as always dedicated to the establishment of a just and rational international economic order and will, together with the governments and people of other countries, strive for this goal with unremitting efforts," Wen said. All countries, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, should have equal rights to participate in the formulation of the "rule of games" in international affairs. The rational opinions and requests of developing countries should be given adequate attention in order to bring them opportunities to share the benefits from economic globalization, Wen said. The forum, sponsored by the Development Research Center <http://www.drc.gov.cn/> of the State Council, has its theme run as "the role of government in the rapidly globalizing economy." Attending the meeting are over 100 participants, including officials from Chinese government departments, leaders of financial circles and other big companies, chairmen and CEOs of some of the world's top 500 businesses, and representatives from related international organizations and non-governmental organizations, and Chinese and foreign scholars. They will discuss the government's leading role in social and economic reforms, self-improvement of the government, and how to realize development and stability. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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