BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China and Peru on Tuesday signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in Beijing, capping over-a-year-long negotiations and legal processes. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and his Peruvian counterpart Luis Giampietri Rojas witnessed the signing ceremony in Beijing, with both hailing the deal "a new landmark" in bilateral ties. "China-Peru agreement is the first FTA package China has signed with a Latin American country," said the Chinese Commerce Ministry. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Peruvian First Vice President Luis Giampietri Rojas at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 28, 2009. After 14 months of negotiations, China and Peru concluded their free trade talks in November 2008, followed by some legal processes in both countries. "With the global financial crisis looming, the China-Peru deals ends a positive message of deepening cooperation and tiding over difficulties," said Zhu Hong, deputy director general of the International Department of the Chinese Commerce Ministry. The pact is China's second in Latin America, following an accord with Chile in 2005. "The China-Peru FTA is a comprehensive deal, covering goods, service, investment and other fields while the accord with Chile deals with goods only," Zhu said. A complementary deal on service trade was signed with Chile in 2008. "The pact features a high degree of openness," Zhu said, citing phased, free tariffs on more than 90 percent of goods ranging from China's electronic products and machinery to Peru's fish powder and minerals. Under the deal, both pledged to further open their service sectors and offer national treatment to investors from the other country. China and Peru also reached agreement on intellectual property, trade rescue, customs procedures and other fields. The official said the pact would play an important role in helping both nations deal with global financial foes and boosting their own economies. Trade between the two countries reached 7.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, according to Chinese customs authority. The FTA deal is likely to come into force in early 2010, Zhu said. Since the beginning of the decade, Beijing has vigorously pursued free trade agreements. So far, China has signed FTA deals with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Chile, Pakistan, New Zealand, Singapore and Peru. China is also in free trade talks with Australia, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Iceland, Norway and Costa Rica, among others.
BEIJING, April 27 -- The yuan will remain stable against the U.S. dollar as China will take a cautious and stable position in its foreign exchange investment. The Chinese currency gained against the US dollar in the past week and ended at 6.8273 last Friday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. The yuan closed at 6.8311 by the end of the previous week. China will continue its policy of diversifying its huge amount of foreign exchange reserves, the currency regulator said last Friday. Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, told Xinhua news agency that it will stick to major currencies and high-quality assets in its foreign exchange investments. China's overseas earnings hit 82.5 billion U.S. dollars in the past year, an 8-percent rise from a year earlier, according to data released by the administration last Friday. Hu also noted the positive outlook of China's economy has lessened concerns over a depreciation in the yuan.
GUANGZHOU, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rains continued to hit south China's Guangdong Province on Sunday, triggering flood alert as rivers were swelling. The downpours continued to sweep the Pearl River Delta area from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Sixteen observation sites reported precipitation of more than 100 millimeters, the Guangdong Provincial Hydrological Bureau said. Two people were killed in a rain-triggered landslide Friday midnight, in Xingning city in Guangdong's northeast. The Changsha hydrological station in the lower reaches of the Tanjiang River saw a 2.5-meter-high water level at 11:35 a.m. Sunday, 40 centimeters higher than the warning level. Another one, the Moyang river in western Guangdong is also swelling and expected to have a 5.8-meter flood peak at midday Monday. From 8 a.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Sunday, the whole province had an average rainfall of 58 mm, with 170 mm in the Pearl River Delta area. The provincial flood control and drought relief authorities have ordered local governments to closely monitor weather changes and brace for possible flooding.
BEIJING, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), had a meeting here with heads of the delegations of Taichung City and Taichung, Changhua and Nantou counties of Taiwan Saturday. On the same day, the CPPCC leader also paid a visit to an exhibition of farm produce and tourist attractions from these four areas of central Taiwan, at its opening day. Jia Qinglin (1st R), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), meets with heads of the delegations of Taichung City and Taichung, Changhua and Nantou counties of southeast China's Taiwan Province, in Beijing, capital of China, on June 27, 2009In his talks with the Taiwan visitors, Jia welcomed the four Taiwan areas to jointly hold the exhibition in Beijing. Since May last year, when the situation in Taiwan experienced a major positive change, the two sides have taken the rare opportunities and adopted a series of positive measures to promote cross-strait relations and made breakthroughs. Cross-Straits relations now exhibit a bright future of peaceful development, said Jia. In May last year, the Chinese Kuomintang Party (KMT) won in the island's elections. Jia Qinglin (2nd L, front), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), visits an exhibition of farm produce and tourist attractions from Taichung City and Taichung, Changhua and Nantou counties of southeast China's Taiwan Province, in Beijing, capital of China, on June 27, 2009.More than ever, the Chinese compatriots living on both sides of the Taiwan Straits need to join hands to get over difficulties at a time when the impact of the global financial crisis still persists and the economic growth of the world is noticeably slowing down, said Jia, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's Political Bureau. The mainland side is willing to do its best to strengthen cross-straits cooperation, in an attempt to assist Taiwan in getting over the difficulties brought about the global financial crisis, Jia said. The mainland has issued over 70 policies and measures, including those on farm produce and tourism, in favor of Taiwan compatriots and to deepen cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, according to the top political advisor. He hoped that the compatriots of the two sides could jointly explore the road towards peaceful development of cross-Straits relations, share the achievements, jointly carry forward the common culture and heritage that are of the same root, and make joint efforts for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Also Present at the meeting were Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong, President of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chen Yunlin, Executive Deputy Director of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office Zheng Lizhong, and Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Wan Jifei. The exhibition was jointly sponsored by the four central Taiwan areas and Beijing.
天津建筑加固示意图
SHANGHAI, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Top Chinese political advisor Jia Qinglin on Sunday mourned the death of Dong Yinchu, honorary chairman of the China Zhi Gong Party central committee, who died of illness on Tuesday at the age of 95. Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), attended Dong's funeral in Shanghai with Yu Zhengsheng, Communist Party chief of the city, and expressed condolences to Dong's family. Jia Qinglin (1st R), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), shakes hands with a relative of Dong Yinchu during Dong's funeral in Shanghai, east China, June 28, 2009 Dong was a well-known leader of patriotic overseas Chinese and served as chairman of the ninth and tenth central committees of the Zhi Gong Party, a non-communist party in China. "The close friend of the Communist Party of China" was also a vice chairman of the eighth National Committee of the CPPCC. President Hu Jintao, former president Jiang Zemin, and other leaders including Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping,Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang also sent condolences to Dong's family.
ANSHAN, Liaoning, June 16 (Xinhua) -- An official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Tuesday that the proposed alliance of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton had a "strong monopolistic color" and Chinese firms would watch it closely and find ways to cope with it. Last year, China imported 440 million tonnes of iron ore, half of the world's total, so any slight market changes would affect Chinese steel makers. China's anti-monopoly law should apply in the proposed deal, said Chen Yanhai, head of the raw material department of MIIT at an industry meeting held in the northeastern city of Anshan, Liaoning Province. If the tie-up proved to be monopolistic, "we have to seek new policies and regulations to allow Chinese companies have a bigger say in iron ore pricing," said Chen without elaborating. Rio Tinto scrapped a proposed 19.5-billion-U.S.-dollar investment by Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chinalco, on June 5, and turned to rival BHP Billiton, which would pay Rio Tinto 5.8 billion U.S. dollars to set up a joint venture to run the iron ore resources of both companies in west Australia. On Monday, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce Yao Jian said if the revenue of the joint venture reached "a certain amount," China's anti-monopoly law would apply. That law requires a company to get government approval before consolidation if its global revenue exceeds 10 billion yuan (1.47 billion U.S. dollars) and its revenue in China exceeds 2 billion yuan. An anti-monopoly review is also necessary if two or more parties in the company had more than 400 million yuan of revenue in China in the previous fiscal year. In the year ended 30 June, BHP Billiton's revenue in China was 11.7 billion U.S. dollars, while that for Rio Tinto was 10.8 billion U.S. dollars, according to the companies' websites. It was unclear what actions China would take if the case was determined to be covered by the Chinese anti-monopoly law. At the meeting Tuesday, Chen also said domestic steel makers should beef up technology and innovation to cut energy consumption and raise efficiency. Also, he said, China "should increase exploration of domestic mines to reduce reliance on imports."
BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua) -- China hopes to deepen economic and trade cooperation with Kyrgyzstan for mutual benefit, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said here on Wednesday. Wang made the remarks at his meeting with visiting first deputy prime minister of Kyrgyzstan Omurbek Babanov. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan (R) shakes hands with Kyrgyzstan's First Deputy Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov during their meeting in Beijing, capital of China, on June 10, 2009. Babanov paid his visit to China to attend the 8th meeting of the China-Kyrgyzstan joint commission on economic and trade cooperation. Expressing his congratulations on the successful conclusion of the meeting, Wang said the two countries enjoyed deepening mutual political trust and sound development of economic and trade cooperation in recent years. Wang also expressed China's hope for the two sides to strengthen feasibility study of important cooperative projects. Babanov said Kyrgyzstan was ready to boost bilateral cooperation in all fields, in efforts to push forward bilateral relations. Kyrgyzstan is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO), a regional organization which also comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Chinese President Hu Jintao will attend the ninth SCO annual summit on his state visit to Russia from June 14 to 18. Leaders are expected to discuss measures on tackling the economic downturn as well as expanding economic cooperation.