BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao met here on Friday with former U.S. President George Bush. Hailing the progress of China-U.S. relations in recent years, Hu said that to develop healthy, stable bilateral ties was in the common interest of both sides and had great significance for peace and development of the Asian-Pacific region and the world at large. China was willing to properly handle divergence and major concerns through dialogue and beef up bilateral exchanges and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, Hu said. He said that he appreciated Bush's efforts to boost China-U.S. friendship. He also briefed the former U.S. leader about China's stance on the Taiwan issue and its preparations for the Beijing Olympic Games. Calling U.S.-China relations one of the world's most important bilateral ties, Bush said that he was happy with the development of the progress of bilateral relations and expressed confidence that there would be even closer ties with China. Chinese President Hu Jintao (R front) meets with former U.S. President George Bush in Beijing, capital of China, March 7, 2008 As the honorary president of the U.S. delegation for the Olympic Games, Bush said he expected to be back in China in August to watch the Games. Calling the Olympics a world sports festival, Bush said that he opposed politicizing the event and expected a complete success for the Games.
Hong Kong' benchmark Hang Seng Index plunged 5.18 percent on Monday to close at its lowest level this year, drawn by growing troubles in the global credit markets and weakness in the Chinese mainland bourses. The Hang Seng Index fell 1,152.50 points, or 5.18 percent, to close at 21,084.61 on Monday, its lowest level in nearly seven months, amid worries on the near collapse of U.S. investment bank Bear Stearns. Over the weekend, the subprime mortgage crisis claimed another major victim -- Wall Street's fifth largest investment bank Bear Stearns. Wall Street fell sharply on Friday on the news, followed by Asian markets. The benchmark Hang Seng Index opened at 21,318.03 and fluctuated between 21,041.26 and 21,473.40 during the session. Turnover was at 94.37 billion HK dollars (12.16 billion U.S. dollars), up from last Friday's 88.28 billion HK dollars (11.32 billion U.S. dollars). Three of the four major categories lost ground. The Properties lost most at 5.73 percent, followed by the Commerce and Industry at 5.58 percent and the Finance at 5.32 percent. The Utilities, the only gainer, edged up 0.21 percent. The biggest decliners in the local benchmark index were mainly China-based companies. Index heavyweight China Mobile fell 4.6 percent to 102.50 HK dollars. Smaller rival China Unicom slid 4.6 percent to 16.32 HK dollars. Shenhua Energy fell 8.9 percent to 32.95 HK dollars, and Ping An Insurance was down 7.6 percent at 53.20 HK dollars. The Chinese mainland's biggest insurer, China Life Insurance, slid 7.4 percent to 25.70 HK dollars. Non-life insurer PICC P&C tumbled 11.5 percent to 6.48 HK dollars. Air China, Chinese mainland's biggest international carrier, lost 50 cents or 8.5 percent at 5.40 dollars as oil continued its relentless climb to a fresh high of 111.80 in Asian trade Monday on a weaker dollar. The company will report its 2007 results later Monday. The mainland's biggest airline by fleet size, China Southern Airlines skidded 73 cents or 12.5 percent to 5.13 dollars. PetroChina, Asia's biggest oil and gas company, dropped 6.6 percent to 9.42 HK dollars. Major oil firm Sinopec fell 8.1 percent to 6.14 HK dollars on investor concerns about steep losses at its refining division given the recent surge in crude prices. Property stocks tumbled, in line with the downward trend in the overall market, and on reports of softening housing prices in the city's new territories. Sino Land Co, which has the highest exposure to the local residential market, fell 11 percent to 15.42 HK dollars. Asian billionaire Li Ka-shing's property flagship Cheung Kong Holdings, fell 5.7 percent to 99.05 HK dollars. Hong Kong's biggest property developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd (SHK Properties), slumped 4.8 percent to 112.60 HK dollars. CLP Holdings and Hong Kong Electric were the only gainers in Monday's trade as CLP Holdings up 1.1 percent to 65.30 HK dollars and Hong Kong Electric rose 3.3 percent to 50.90 HK dollars.
BEIJING - Floods and landslides have killed at least 360 people across China this summer and destroyed more than 4 million hectares (15.4 million sq miles) of crops, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. Direct economic losses were 24.3 billion yuan (.21 billion), according to latest figures from the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. "Apart from 217,000 houses wholly or partially destroyed, more than 4.28 million hectares of grain crops have been hit, with 2.03 million hectares totally destroyed," headquarters deputy director Cheng Dianlong was quoted as saying. Most of the deaths occurred after downpours across the Jialing River Valley in the southwest province of Sichuan which have resulted in floods in almost all the tributaries of Jujiang River, a branch of the Jialing, and triggered severe mountain torrents, mud-rock flows and landslides. "Ferocious floods battered 40 counties along their route, submerging the downtown areas of four counties and shattering two small dams," Xinhua said. Cheng warned the situation across the Huai River Valley was at flashpoint with all trunk rivers there reporting dangerously high water levels. China flooded dozens of evacuated villages to ease pressure from the swollen Huai in the eastern province of Anhui. More rain was forecast for the next two days along the Huai, flowing through the central province of Henan and the eastern provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu. A total of 545 people were killed by natural disasters in China in the first half of the year, according to a report released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Another 78 people went missing as a result of natural disasters, including floods, landslides, mudflows, gales, snowstorms and earthquakes.
Foreign investors are eyeing more opportunities as China's demand for oil refining and petrochemicals increases. According to a think-tank affiliated to China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), China's oil demand will hit 455 million tons while the country's total refining capacity will surpass 400 million tons by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan period, set from 2006 to 2010. "From this year to 2010, the average annual oil demand of China will grow at 6.5 percent per year. One forecast shows demand reaching 455 million tons in 2010," Gong Jinshuang, a veteran researcher at the Economic and Technology Research Institute of CNPC, China's largest oil and gas producer, said on Friday. According to a national industrial deployment plan, there will be many refineries and ethylene crackers on stream by 2010 and China will witness 18 million tons of ethylene produced by 2010. The country's refineries will run at 90 to 95 percent capacity by 2010, Gong said. Ethylene output of China was 9.41 million tons last year, up 24.5 percent year-on-year. To seize opportunities arising from the downstream sector of the oil industry, not only State-owned giants, but also foreign investors are gearing for more investment. Mustafa Al-Sahan, general manager in charge of China investment at Sabic Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, told China Daily that his firm plans to invest billion to set up an integrated refining and petrochemical project in Dalian, Northeast China. The industrial complex is expected to include a 10-million-ton refinery, a one-million-ton ethylene cracker and an 800,000-ton aromatics plant, according to the blueprint. Al-Sahan said the project will be a joint venture formed by several parties, holding equal stakes. So far, there are already two parties involved, Sabic and a private Chinese company. Sabic is looking for another State-owed energy giant to join, Al-Sahan added. The project is still subject to approval by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner. Sabic has invested in a petrochemicals plant in Tianjin, in partnership with Sinopec, Asia's top refiner. The Tianjian project has been given the green light by the NDRC and is expected to be on stream by the fourth quarter of next year, the Sabic chief for the investment in China said. CNPC and Sinopec are either planning or expanding their refining and petrochemical projects, such as in Sichuan, Fujian provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region, to better meet the country's future fuel and industrial demand. China now is the world's fastest growing major oil market Al-Sahan said the downstream segment of the Chinese oil industry has good potential because of the robust future demand. He said Sabic will not produce gasoline, which is oversupplied in the market, but oil and petrochemicals that are in big demand.
BEIJING - State Forestry Administration investigators found more than 100 suspected footprints of a South China tiger on Friday in Shaanxi Province, where photos of the big cat taken by a farmer have caused a national controversy over their authenticity.A South China tiger [File photo] The Beijing Morning Post reported on Monday that Zhang Bin, a local forestry official who accompanied the investigators, said the team also found a skeleton suspected to belong to a young tiger."It's like the skeleton of a cat," said Zhang, adding the bones had been sent to Beijing for DNA testing. "But experts said with a length of 50 centimeters, a cat would have grown tooth bones. This skeleton hasn't (teeth), it's like a cub feline.""The experts said there is a great probability that it belongs to a South China tiger cub."He said the footprints found in Zhenping County ranged from 12 to 16 cm, with toes. "To my experience in investigating the wild, they are tiger footprints. They belong to more than one tiger."Zhang said the experts had also developed rubbings of the footprints for further analysis.In October, a farmer in Zhenping County, in the northern Shaanxi Province, claimed he snapped photos of a tiger in the forest near his home. The provincial forestry bureau later cited experts as verifying it was a South China tiger. The subspecies was believed to have been extinct in the wild for more than three decades.However, many scientists and Internet users have denounced the pictures as fake. In November, one netizen posted an on-line picture of a tiger from a new year calendar and claimed the two tigers were identical.Despite this, the provincial forestry department insisted the tiger in the photo existed in Zhenping County. The Beijing-based China Photographers Society, however, confirmed the images were not real.Last month, the State Forestry Administration dispatched an expert panel to Zhenping to carry out a field investigation. It hoped to find concrete evidence on whether the tiger existed.The photo taken by Zhou Zhenglong, a farmer in Zhenping County of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Zhou claimed he snapped photos of a South China tiger in the forest near his home.
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BEIJING - The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, on Thursday asked its local offices to ensure cash supplies amid persistent snow to meet demand for the Spring Festival, which falls on February 7.Snow has disrupted transportation, making it hard to deliver cash to the branches.The central bank, in a circular, urged its local offices to help commercial banks in getting or storing cash.The heavy snow that has fallen since mid-January, the worst in 50 years in much of China, has paralyzed transportation, frozen the power grid and caused serious economic losses.It showed no signs of abating as forecasters warned of three more days of snow and sleet.
在全球的电子制造商中,联想电脑在最新的环保评选中居榜首。AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - One of China's electronic maker has been seen by some as the greenest business in the world. Computer maker Lenovo ranked in at the top spot of environmental group Greenpeace's latest quarterly ranking of global electronics manufacturers. Once at the bottom of the list, Lenovo now leads the way in recycling industrial waste and taking steps on controlling toxic content, Greenpeace said. "Given the growing mountains of e-waste in China -- both imported and domestically generated -- it is heartening to see a Chinese company taking the lead, and assuming responsibility at least for its own branded waste," said Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace International's toxics campaigner, adding that "the challenge for the industry now is to see who will actually place greener products on the market." Lenovo bought out IBM's personal computer division in 2004. Apple, meanwhile, was placed at the bottom of the list of 14 companies
BEIJING - The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, on Thursday asked its local offices to ensure cash supplies amid persistent snow to meet demand for the Spring Festival, which falls on February 7.Snow has disrupted transportation, making it hard to deliver cash to the branches.The central bank, in a circular, urged its local offices to help commercial banks in getting or storing cash.The heavy snow that has fallen since mid-January, the worst in 50 years in much of China, has paralyzed transportation, frozen the power grid and caused serious economic losses.It showed no signs of abating as forecasters warned of three more days of snow and sleet.
Shanghai - German luxury car maker DaimlerChrysler AG is recalling 1,443 Chinese-made Chrysler 300C sedans to fix defective transmission cooling systems, China's quality watchdog said on Friday. The cars were produced between March 21 and May 29, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site. Imported Chrysler 300C cars were not affected, it added. It did not say whether any accidents or personal injuries had been linked to the defect. DaimlerChrysler's Chinese joint venture in Beijing began limited production of the 300C in 2005.