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BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party chief of China's Health Ministry has been replaced, the ministry's official website said Wednesday.     The post of secretary of the ministry's leading Party members' group, formerly held by Gao Qiang, 65, was taken over by Zhang Mao,55.     The website didn't give a reason for the change, only saying that the central government made the decision out of "work necessity and prudent study."     Zhang, from east China's Shandong Province, had been vice mayor of Beijing and vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission previously, during which time he was in charge of health system reform work, the website said.     Gao had been vice finance minister and deputy secretary-general of the State Council (Cabinet). He was appointed Party chief and vice minister of the Health Ministry during the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in 2003 after former health minister Zhang Wenkang was sacked over the crisis. Gao became minister in April 2005.     In June 2007, Gao's post of health minister was taken by Chen Zhu, who is not a member of the Communist Party of China. He then began to act as the vice minister and remained the Party chief.

BEIJING, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Sunday held phone talks respectively with U.S secretary of state and foreign ministers of Russia, Japan and South Korea on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) launching activity.     China has noticed the DPRK's announcement of having launched an experimental communications satellite and taken note of the concerns expressed by the relevant parties on this issue, Yang told his counterparts of the U.S., Russia, Japan and South Korea Hillary Clinton, Sergei Lavrov, Hirofumi Nakasone, and Yu Myung Hwan.     China, as a close neighbor of the Korean Peninsular, has always been committed to safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean Peninsular and in the Northeast Asia region, Yang said.     The Chinese government lately has reiterated its stance on solving the issue through dialogue and consultation and opposing any actions that could complicate the situation and escalate tension, he added.     To push forward the six-party talks, build a nuclear-free Korean Peninsular and maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia are in the interests of all parties concerned and also the common aspirations of the international community, said the Chinese minister.     He said the Chinese side urged all relevant parties to show restraint and avoid any moves that could further increase tension in the region.     China will address the current situation in a responsible and constructive manner, Yang said, noting that China is willing to communicate with all parties concerned to solve the issue properly.     China will join efforts with other parties to advance the six-party talks and safeguard peace and stability of the Korean Peninsular, he added.     Russian, Japanese, South Korean foreign ministers and the U.S. sectary of state also expressed their countries' willingness to continue exchanges of views and consultation with China on the issue.

VALLETTA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to make joint efforts with Malta to further promote their traditional friendly relations, visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said here on Saturday. Xi arrived in Malta's capital Valletta on Saturday morning to pay an official visit to the Mediterranean island country, on the last leg of a six-nation tour that started on Feb. 8. Earlier he visited Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil.     During a meeting with Acting Maltese President George Hyzler, Xi said that Sino-Maltese relations have been developing very well in recent years, with a frequent exchange of high-level visits, enhanced mutually beneficial cooperation, and active exchanges in such fields as culture, education and judicature.Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Maltese Acting President George Hyzler (L) in Valletta, capital of Malta, Feb. 21, 2009.     China and Malta understand and support each other in major international and regional affairs, he said, adding that the two nations are "old friends and good friends" that have stood the test of time.     For his part, Hyzler thanked China for the sincere help it has provided for Malta, and congratulated China on the great achievements of its modernization drive. He also noted that there has been a good cooperative relationship between Malta and China. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (L) meets with Maltese Parliament Speaker Louis Galea in Valletta, capital of Malta, Feb. 21, 2009While meeting with Louis Galea, speaker of Malta's House of Representatives, Xi stated that parliamentary exchange is an important part of Sino-Maltese relations, and that strengthening exchange and cooperation between the two sides is of great significance for the development of bilateral ties and friendship between the two peoples.     China attaches great importance to the development of Sino- Maltese ties, treasures the friendship between the two peoples, and appreciates Malta's long-term adherence to the one-China policy, the vice president stressed.     In response, Galea said Malta has treasured its friendship with China, which is a major country in the world.     Malta highly appreciates China's foreign policy of peaceful cooperation, and expects China to actively play its part in promoting world peace, tackling the current financial crisis and protecting the environment, Galea said.     Both Hyzler and Galea reiterated that the Maltese government and parliament will firmly stick to the one-China policy.

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LONDON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy here Wednesday night.     "Our meeting today means a new starting point for the bilateral relations, and I hope the two sides work together to usher in a new phase in Chinese-French ties," Hu said at the start of his meeting with Sarkozy. Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) shakes hands with French President Nicolas Sarkozy during their meeting in London, Britain, on April 1, 2009.The two leaders were meeting ahead of a Group of 20 summit on the financial crisis, scheduled here for Thursday.     China and France said in a press communique issued Wednesday simultaneously by their foreign ministries that the two sides "attach great importance to China-France relations" and reiterated their adherence to the principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.     In the communique, France pledged not to support "Tibet independence" in any form.

BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev held talks in Beijing Thursday afternoon.     The heads of states agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation in all fields and join hands to tackle the challenge of international financial crisis. After the talks, Hu and Nazarbayev signed a joint declaration and witnessed the signing of 10 agreements on cooperation in the fields of transport, education, agriculture and telecommunications. Chinese President Hu Jintao(R) shakes hands with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Beijing, China, April 16, 2009.    President Hu said the strategic partnership between China and Kazakhstan had maintained a fast growth in recent years. The two countries have maintained frequent high-level contacts, political mutual trust, expansion of practical cooperation and good collaboration within the multilateral frameworks. Chinese President Hu Jintao(L) and Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev review honor guards at the welcoming ceremony in honor of Kazakhstan's President in Beijing, China, April 16, 2009. Hu expressed gratitude to Kazakhstan for supporting China on such major issues as Taiwan, Tibet and the holding of Beijing Olympics and Paralympics.     Nazarbayev said Kazakhstan values the development of friendly and cooperative relations with China. He said China has raised its status in the international community by successfully holding the Olympic Games and launching the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft.     He said the effective measures taken by the Chinese government to cope with the global financial crisis have benefited not only the Chinese economy, but also the world economic growth.     Hu said the Chinese government always gives priority to developing the strategic partnership with Kazakhstan. Hu suggested that the two countries should work on four areas.     Firstly, Hu said the two countries should continue to enhance high-level contact, improve cooperative mechanism and deepen political links. The leaders of the two countries should maintain close contact. The governments of the two countries should give full play to the role of China-Kazakhstan Cooperation Committee to increase communication and coordination. The parliaments and political parties of the two countries should carry out exchanges in various forms on the experience of governing their respective countries.     Secondly, the two countries should utilize the complementarity of their economies to deepen cooperation in such fields as economy, trade, energy, resources and finance to achieve common development. The two sides should further optimize trade structure, expand the scale of bilateral trade, work together to build major energy and resources projects and non-resources projects, and accelerate infrastructure construction at border areas.     Thirdly, the two countries should promote cultural exchanges and cooperation. China is ready to deepen cooperation with Kazakhstan in culture, education, health, tourism and sports. He said the two countries should encourage non-governmental organizations, media and youth organizations to expand contact and enhance friendship.     Fourthly, the two countries should deepen security cooperation and join hands to tackle various challenges. He said China will continue to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Kazakhstan within such multilateral frameworks as the United Nations, Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia. He said the two countries should join effort to strike trans-border organized crimes and the evil forces of separatism, terrorism and extremism so as to safeguard peace, stability and security of the two countries and the whole region.     Nazarbayev fully agreed with Hu's suggestion, saying under the current situation, Kazakhstan is ready to strengthen its strategic partnership with China. He expressed the willingness to expand bilateral cooperation in trade, energy, transport, agriculture, finance and telecommunications.     He said the two countries should continue to step up cooperation in multilateral arena, especially within the frameworks of the United Nations, Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia.     He said the two countries will work together to fight against the three evil forces of separatism, terrorism and extremism to maintain peace and stability in the region and the world over.     Nazarbayev reiterated that Kazakhstan supports China's stance on the issues of Taiwan and Tibet. It supports China to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity.     Before the talks, President Hu hold a welcome ceremony for President Nazarbayev at the Great Hall of the People.

BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Thursday that government stimulus moves had begun to produce results and the economy was now in "better-than-expected" shape.     Wen's remarks at a cabinet executive meeting came after the government said there had been positive economic changes, even though the economy grew just 6.1 percent in the first quarter, the slowest pace in a decade.     The premier cited pick-ups in investment, consumption and industrial output, abundant liquidity in the banking system, and improved market expectations as signs of those "positive changes."     The National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday that first-quarter industrial output grew 5.1 percent year on year, with a rise of 8.3 percent in March.     It also said fixed asset investment rose 28.8 percent to 2.81 trillion yuan (413.2 billion U.S. dollars), with real growth exceeding 30 percent, while retail sales grew 15 percent to 2.94 trillion yuan.     Such positive changes indicated that the government's macroeconomic policies, taken since the second half of last year, have been "timely, powerful, and effective," said Wen, who presided over the meeting.     China announced a 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package last November to boost domestic demand, slashed interest rates five times since last September, unveiled support plans for 10 key industries, and projected a record fiscal deficit of 950 billion yuan this year.     These measures were prompted by a collapse in exports as the global downturn took its toll on the world's fastest-growing economy.     China's economic growth cooled to a seven-year low of 9 percent last year, ending five years of double-digit expansion.     "However, we must also be clear-headed and understand that grounds for the country's economic recovery are not solid enough yet, as circumstances both at home and abroad remain grim," Wen warned.     He said that global financial turmoil was still spreading, and was exerting a deepening influence on the national economy.     The premier cited continued falling in external demands, oversupply in some sectors that would suppress industrial output growth and worsen corporate earnings, reluctance in private investment, increased difficulty in raising farmers' income, the dwindling fiscal revenue, and the acute pressure to create enough jobs.     He warned against blind optimism and called for unslackened efforts to achieve the country's goals of social and economic development.     China is aiming to achieve an 8-percent growth this year, which has long been held as essential for the populous developing nation.     "We should anticipate more risks and difficulties ahead, expect a longer time frame within which we would be able to overcome the crisis, and get prepared with more satisfying measures."     The government would focus on following moves, according to the premier.     -- To bring into play measures aimed at expanding investment.     The country would soon cash in the third batch of pledged central government investment. The central government has so far cashed in 230 billion yuan (33.8 billion U.S. dollars), which is part of the 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package.     The government would also revise government approval of investment projects -- or loosen government grip on investment project approval, to encourage private investment, and would continue the work on stabilizing and expanding foreign investment.     -- To expand consumption, and consumer spending in particular.     The country would continue to improve its policy for subsidies to farmers who buy designated brands of home appliances, and stimulate spending on culture, tourism and information in the service sector.     It would also try to keep spending on such items as housing and auto stable.     -- "Using every possible means" to maintain stable trade growth.     The government would scrap policies that could restrict exports, and extend support to exports of hi-tech and labor-intensive products.     It would also increase imports of important energy resources, heavily-demanded raw materials and key technologies and equipment, and encourage domestic firms to invest overseas.     -- To keep the stable development of agriculture.     The country would continue to carry out policies favorable to farmers and agriculture. It would initiate the plan to increase the country's grain output by 50 million tonnes over the next 12 years.     -- To promote the restructuring of key industries.     The government will unveil details of the stimulus packages for10 key industries as soon as possible, and cash in the fund from central government that will be exclusively used for the restructuring and technological renovation.     The Chinese government would improve policies in favor of innovation and hi-tech industries, and may cultivate new growth in sectors of new energy, energy conservation, environmental protection, bio-pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and modern services.     -- To advance with efforts to improve people's livelihood.     The government would make public the execution plan and documents for the huge health care reforms as soon as possible. The reforms are aimed to provide universal health care to the country's large population.     It would continue to provide support to migrant workers and college graduates who are hunting for jobs.     -- To make sure the financial system is providing necessary support for the economic growth.     The government would adjust the market demand for capital and ensure capital is used to fuel the economic growth.     It would give more support to small- and medium- sized enterprises to meet their capital demand.     -- To increase fiscal revenue by making more efforts to collect taxes that are due according to laws and regulations, and at the same time cutting back on unnecessary expenditures.

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LHASA/BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The first Serfs Emancipation Day was celebrated across Tibet Autonomous Region on Saturday, while people from elsewhere in China expressed their wishes to the Tibetans. 　　CELEBRATION ACROSS TIBET     In Lhasa, readers of the broadsheet Tibet Daily and Tibet Economic Daily found that Saturday's edition of both newspapers became thicker--special issues were published to introduce the changes since democratic reform in 1959.     In the Ngaqen village, fully attired Tibetans gathered in the village club to watch the televised grand celebration held on the square in front of the Potala Palace about 30 kilometers away in the seat of Lhasa.     Tsamjo, 66, who lived in a two-story building, said her life was better than "the landlord in the past".     She had worked as a serf for seven years before the democratic reform. "At that time, our plot of land was smaller than a palm, and our room was as big as the nose of a cow," she said.     After the ceremony, villagers performed traditional Tibetan dances and held a contest of tug-of-war. Tibetan people in traditional dress celebrate the first Serfs Emancipation Day at home in Qamdo, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 28, 2009In the Tashigang village of Dagze county, more than 1,000 people enjoyed their own party.     "We have prepared for about a month for the party on our own holiday," 19-year-old Degyi said while doing the makeup.     As a young girl, she admitted that she had little knowledge about the past. "But I feel sad whenever listening to my grandparents telling the stories," she said.     In the Qamdo prefecture in east Tibet, slogans written on red scrolls hailing the Serfs Emancipation Day could be seen on major roads, where sellers in vegetable markets were waiting for their customers, monks in monasteries were chanting sutras and street vendors were soliciting business. Life was as peaceful as ordinary days. In the Tianjin square, dozens of passers-by stopped to watch performances for the holiday.     In Beijing, Serfs Emancipation Day became the hottest topic among students in the Tibet Middle School. Many students hummed the old song "Freed serfs sing in happiness".     "My grandparents were both serfs," said an eleventh-grader Dawa Dorje. A Tibetan man in traditional dress plugs the national flag on the roof of his house during the celebration of the first Serfs Emancipation Day at home in Qamdo, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 28, 2009 "They told me that they tied stones to their feet as shoes, and my granny became blind because she had no money to cure her eye illness," she said.     Currently there are 810 Tibetan students in the school, whose accommodation, clothes, health care were all funded by the government.     Main celebration for the holiday was held on the square in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, capital city of Tibet, at 10 a.m.     The gathering was presided over in both Tibetan and Mandarin by Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the regional government of Tibet, who was dressed in a traditional Tibetan robe. It was attended by about 13,280 people.     After the national flag was hoisted against the backdrop of the grand Potala Palace and snow-capped mountains in the distance, representatives of former serfs, soldiers from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and students delivered speeches.     Tibet's Communist Party chief Zhang Qingli was the last to speak.     "Burying feudal serfdom and liberating the one million serfs in Tibet was a natural development in history ... a milestone in the worldwide campaign to abolish slavery, a sign of progress in human rights," he said.     "Tibet belongs to China, not the a few separatists or the international forces against China. Any conspiracy attempting to separate the region from China is doomed to failure. The sky in Tibet will forever be blue, and the national flag will flutter high," he noted.     The ceremony lasted for more than an hour.     REMEMBERING THE PAST     As usual, foreign "critics" jumped up before the Serfs Emancipation Day, saying China exaggerated the cruelty of traditional Tibetan life to disguise a power grab, and that "serfdom" is too loaded to describe the Tibetan system.     But 73-year-old Baya in Qamdo, who was born to be a Tralpa, or a kind of serf whose life was better among all, said she would never return to the old society. Tibetan people in traditional dress celebrate the first Serfs Emancipation Day at home in Qamdo, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 28, 2009 "I began to graze cattle when I was nine years old," she said. "There were many wolves in the pasturing area, and the aristocrats always asked us to deliver messages in midnight."     "We were afraid of the ghost, and I once witnessed a horde of wolves attack a lama..." she was apparently still in fear.     What they wore then was goat's skin, dried under the sun, because they didn't have cloth. They didn't have shoes.     "If the feet bled, we just apply the oil of the goat to the wounds," she said.     Dinner was potherb soup. "We didn't have Tsampa (food made of barley floor) to eat, let alone rice and wheat."     Baya said her first taste of sugar was after the People's Liberation Army (PLA) entered Tibet. The sugar was brought to there from Yunnan Province.     Zhao Qingui, a 73-year-old Tibetan veteran soldier, joined the PLA in 1950.     "At that time, only the aristocrats had tooth paste, tooth brush, biscuit, wool and fruits. The majority of people, or the serfs, could only wish not to be starved," he said.     Sun Huanxun, a PLA veteran who went to Tibet also in 1950 and stayed there, recalled what he saw in Lhasa before the democratic reform.     "Serfs wailed and begged from passers-by, some of whom had their legs chopped by the landlords, some have their eyes gouged out and some without hands," he said.     In contrast, the landlords were in luxurious dress, some riding on the backs of their slaves. "In their houses there hung whips, knives and shackles," he added. Local residents compete tug-of-war during the celebration ceremony to mark the first Serfs Emancipation Day in Gaba village in the suburb of Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 28, 2009. A grand celebration ceremony is held here on Saturday to mark the first Serfs Emancipation DayQi Jiguang, a historian from the Deqen Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, recited the sentences he read from slave contracts: "I would be your slave so long as the snow-capped mountain didn't collapse, the water from rivers didn't dry up."     The Khesum village in Shannan Prefecture was hailed as the first village to implement the democratic reform. Before the Serfs Emancipation Day, residents in the village wrote an open letter:     "We could never forget the old adage: there are three knives over the heads of serfs--heavy labor, heavy rent, and high interest; there are three paths before their eyes--flee from famine, become slave, or go begging."     "We would never return to the dark, backward, and cruel fuedal serfdom society. We would cherish the life now like cherishing our own eyes," it reads. 　　FOR BETTER FUTURE     Chinese President Hu Jintao visited an exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of Democratic Reform in Tibet, at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing.     During his visit, he said that the "good situation" in today's Tibet was "hard-earned and should be highly cherished."     He also noted that the reform 50 years ago was "the most extensive, profound and progressive social transformation in the history of Tibet. Tibet should move from being "basically stable" to "peaceful and stable in the long run," he stressed.     On the Serfs Emancipation Day, 25 villagers from the Ngoklog village in Qamdo joined the Communist Party of China.     "I am happy to join the Party on this special day," said Asum. Tibetan people perform to mark the first Serfs Emancipation Day at Tianjin Square in Qamdo, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 28, 2009Gyezang, 33, is an English teacher from Xigaze. "Establishment of the day could help us remember the darkness in the past and cherish the life more," she said.     Dawa Lhamo, a nine-year-old student from the No. 3 primary school in Lhasa, was happy on Saturday although she was not familiar with the past.     "I will become a soldier when I grow up, to protect Tibet," she said.     People from outside Tibet also expressed their wishes to Tibetans.     Chen Qiuxiong, leader of a working group dispatched from eastern Fujian Province to help with development of Tibet, said they have built a number of infrastructure projects serving farming and animal husbandry in Tibet and helped with the development of culture and education and health care as well as poverty reduction.     "Tibet is now in the period of development and stability, and we will do more for the development of the region," Chen said.     Liu Lumei, a deputy researcher with the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Academy of Social Sciences, said that the establishment of the Serfs Emancipation Day embodies the common wish of all the Chinese people for the stability and development in Tibet.

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BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday urged Japan to proceed with discretion in word and deed over the Diaoyu Islands issue.     Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi expatiated China's stance over the issue when holding talks with his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone, urging Japan to act with discretion in word and deed over the Diaoyu Islands issue.     Nakasone arrived here Saturday afternoon for his two-day visit to China.     During the talks, both sides made candid and in-depth exchange of views over regional and international issues of common concern, and agreed to fulfil the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries and maintain steady development of China-Japan relations.     Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in bilateral, regional and international issues to cope with the international financial crisis, noting that their cooperation is in the interests of both peoples, and conducive to the world peace, stability and development.     Before his China tour, Nakasone said, in the wake of Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's remarks on Thursday, that the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and The United States was applicable to the Diaoyu Islands.     Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu rejected Nakasone's remarks later in a press release, saying that any words and deeds that bringing the Diaoyu Islands into the scope of the Japan-U.S. Mutual Cooperation and Security Treaty are absolutely unacceptable for the Chinese people.     Ma stressed that the Diaoyu Islands and adjacent islets had been Chinese territories since ancient times and China held "indisputable" sovereignty over the islands.

BEIJING, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Finance has imposed a pay cap for top executives at state-owned financial institutions as the financial crisis eroded earnings of such companies in 2008, the ministry said Thursday in a circular on its website.     The new rule, which came out amid rising public grumbles about huge pay packages for top executives at state-owned financial companies, outlined the basic line that pay for executives in 2008should be no more than 90 percent of the level in 2007.     As of 9 p.m., two hours and half after the news was posted on the web Sina.com.cn, 584 netizens made comments. Nearly all of them were supportive of the move. The undated photo shows the gate of headquaters of the Ministry of Finance in Beijing. Total executive pay for 2008 at financial institutions - which many are still computing - must not surpass 90 percent of the 2007 levels, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced yesterday    Under the plan, pay refers to pre-tax income, including salary, bonus, and social insurance.     The rule would enhance equal income distribution and push forward reform in pay mechanism, according to the ministry.     The circular said it was in line with the current domestic and international situation for executives at some state-owned financial institutions to voluntarily cut their pay despite their companies posted rising profits.     Companies which had a declining income last year should slash another 10 percent based on the basic line. Reductions should be deeper if companies suffered steep drop in profits, according to the circular.     The ministry demanded to narrow pay gap among executives at companies in the financial sector, calling for bigger cuts for those who received much higher pay than the average in 2007. Caps were also urged to be imposed on pay for staff at financial companies to make a clear difference in posts and performance.     It is the second time that MOF had set such pay limits. In an earlier circular in February this year, MOF ordered that the 2008 salary for top executives of state-owned financial institutions should be limited within 2.8 million yuan (about 410,000 U.S. dollars).     The new move aimed at avoiding salary competition between some financial institutions when deciding the salaries for their executives in 2008, said Guo Tianyong, a professor at the China Central Finance University.     It is necessary to put a cap on executive salaries to prevent unfair distribution of income and a larger gap between the rich and poor, he said.     In March, the government ordered a crackdown on government "hospitality" budgets, including a 15-per-cent cut in car-buying and fuel funds as well as an across-the-board halt to the building of any new office compounds before the end of 2010.     Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the government should take the leading role in promoting frugality and should ensure government spending goes where it is most needed amid the economic crisis.