China will want to build aircraft carriers

President Hu meets DPRK premier on bilateral ties

Chinese President Hu Jintao met Thursday with the Premier of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Yong Il.

Hu reviewed 60 years of China-DPRK ties, saying the friendship, initiated and fostered by the older generation of leaders, had withstood the test of international and domestic changes.

"The friendship, which has kept developing, has become the common treasure of both nations," Hu said.

The DPRK was among the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with China. The two countries forged diplomatic relations on Oct. 6, 1949, days after the People's Republic of China was founded.

Hu said the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government attach great importance to ties with the DPRK. China would like to work with the DPRK for a better good-neighbor cooperation.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (R Front) meets with Premier of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Yong Il (L Front) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 19, 2009. (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)


Kim came to China on an official goodwill visit and launched the China-DPRK Friendship Year in Beijing, a year-long exchange program marking the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

"We should take the opportunity of the friendship year to carry forward our traditional friendship, deepen strategic communication and promote substantive cooperation for a stronger bilateral relations," Hu said.

On the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Hu said a question confronting all parties concerned was how to overcome what he termed the current difficulties and resume the six-party talks at an early date.

"We hope parties concerned will take the overall situation into consideration and properly resolve the differences in a bid to promote the further progress of the talks," Hu said.

Initiated in 2003, the talks involve China, the DPRK, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan. The last round of talks, held in Beijing in December, failed to make any substantive progress.

Kim, who was on his first visit to China since taking office in April 2007, hailed the deeply rooted DPRK-China friendship.

"Under the leadership of both countries, DPRK-China relations have developed soundly in recent years," Kim said.

He said the DPRK would unswervingly develop friendly cooperation with China and carry forward the bilateral traditional friendship.

"The DPRK will, as always, make unremitting efforts to cement and develop friendly ties with China," he said.

Kim said the DPRK people were happy about the significant achievements the Chinese people had made in economic and social development.

During his five-day visit, Kim first traveled to east China's Shandong Province and talked with his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, Wednesday.

U.S. president says China can have confidence in America's economy

U.S. President Barack Obama assured on Saturday that China can have confidence in the American economy after meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the White House.
"Not just the Chinese government, but every investor can have absolute confidence in the soundness of investments in the United States," Obama said.
"There is a reason why even in the midst of this economic crisis you have seen actual increases in investment flows here in the U.S.," he said.
Obama also noted the U.S. will push for stricter regulation of the financial industry "front and center" at the upcoming G20 summit in London, playing down suggestions of a rift between the Europe and the United States over whether more emphasis should be placed on stimulus or financial regulatory reform.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said earlier Friday he is "a little bit worried" about the safety of Chinese assets in the United States, urging the U.S. government to ensure the security of those assets.
"We lent such huge fund to the United States and of course we're concerned about the security of our assets and, to speak truthfully, I am a little bit worried," Wen told a press conference after the close of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
China has invested its huge foreign exchange reserves in low-risk but low-yield assets, such as U.S. government bonds, to play it safe.
According to the U.S. Treasury, China held 681.9 billion U.S. dollars worth of U.S. government bonds as of November.
"China is indeed the largest creditor of the United States, which is the world's biggest economy. We are extremely interested in developments in the U.S. economy," said Wen, adding that he is expecting the effect of the measures taken by the U.S. government to counter the global financial crisis.
Asked to react to Wen's concern, Lawrence Summers, director of the U.S. National Economic Council, noted on Friday that U.S. would be "sound stewards of the money we invest."
"This is a commitment that the president has made very clear --we need to be sound stewards of the money we invest," said Summers in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a leading think tank in the United States.

U.S. tries to assure China of its assets safety in U.S.

U.S. President Barack Obama's top economic advisor Friday tried to assure China's concern about the safety of its assets in U.S., saying the U.S. would be "sound stewards of the money we invest."

"This is a commitment that the president has made very clear --we need to be sound stewards of the money we invest," said Lawrence Summers, the president's director of the National Economic Council, in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a leading think tank in the United States.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said earlier Friday he is "a little bit worried" about the safety of Chinese assets in the United States, urging the U.S. government to ensure the security of those assets.

"We lent such huge fund to the United States and of course we're concerned about the security of our assets and, to speak truthfully, I am a little bit worried," said Wen at a press conference after the close of the annual Chinese parliament session on Thursday.

China has invested its huge foreign exchange reserves in low-risk but low-yield assets, such as U.S. government bonds, to play it safe.

According to the U.S. Treasury, China held 681.9 billion U.S. dollars worth of U.S. government bonds as of November.

"China is indeed the largest creditor of the United States, which is the world's biggest economy. We are extremely interested in developments in the U.S. economy," said Wen, adding that he is expecting the effect of the measures taken by the U.S. government to counter the international financial crisis.

Summers, asked to react to Wen's concern during Friday's speech, noted that the United States had to utilize all resources available at present to jolt its economy from prolonged recession."

He also said the current crisis has led to an "excess of fear" among Americans that must be broken to reverse the downturn.

"Fear begets fear," said the former treasury secretary in Clinton administration. "What we need today is more optimism and more confidence."

Premier Wen meets the press

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao answers questions during a press conference after the closing meeting of the Second Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 13, 2009. The annual NPC session closed on Friday. (Xinhua Photo)


Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (2nd R) gestures during a press conference after the closing meeting of the Second Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 13, 2009. The annual NPC session closed on Friday. (Xinhua Photo)


Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrives for a press conference after the closing meeting of the Second Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 13, 2009. The annual NPC session closed on Friday.(Xinhua Photo)


Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R) arrives for a press conference after the closing meeting of the Second Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 13, 2009. The annual NPC session closed on Friday. (Xinhua Photo)

"Beautiful life" (A story about the real Tibet)

I have been to Tibet four times. Every trip I made there had immersed me in deep meditation and remains fresh and vivid in my mind now.

In 2004, I drove to many places in Tibet, including some remote areas where tourists were a rarity. In those places, everything we saw was so beautiful: the most untouched natural scenery, the unadorned Tibetan countryside and the hearty smiles of sincere and honest faces. I was deeply impressed by a trip to a far-off little village, which was inhabited by just three or four households. It was so surprising that we could use our mobile phones there. Just unbelievable in such a remote place in Tibet!

In 2007, I went to Tibet because of an attraction to the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. I simply wanted to personally experience it. Traveling on the train was very comfortable, and I was intoxicated by the beautiful scenery during the entire ride. I thought the Chinese government was really great to have built a railway across the "roof of the world."

I have always believed that people who have yet to visit Tibet have no right to criticize the region, because they do not understand the real Tibet or the efforts the Chinese government has made for its construction and development. I have many friends in Tibet, and gradually, they have become well off through trading arts and crafts between Tibet and Beijing. With the growing economic integration of Tibet and Chinese mainland, beautiful lives can be seen on the faces of the people. From their smiles, I can read their heartfelt joys. I wish a better tomorrow for the development of Tibet!

—— Mexico's former ambassador to China Ismael Sergio Ley Lopez on March 10 from Mexico City

By People's Daily Online

http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2009-03/12/content_209844.htm

British, French nuclear subs collide in Atlantic

Nuclear submarines from Britain and France collided deep in the Atlantic Ocean this month, authorities said Monday in the first acknowledgment of a highly unusual accident that one expert called the gravest in nearly a decade.

Officials said the low-speed crash did not damage the vessels' nuclear reactors or missiles or cause radiation to leak. But anti-nuclear groups said it was still a frightening reminder of the risks posed by submarines prowling the oceans powered by radioactive material and bristling with nuclear weapons.

The first public indication of a mishap came when France reported in a little-noticed Feb. 6 statement that one of its submarine had struck a submerged object — perhaps a shipping container. But confirmation of the accident only came after British media reported it.

France's defense ministry said Monday that the sub Le Triomphant and the HMS Vanguard, the oldest vessel in Britain's nuclear-armed submarine fleet, were on routine patrol when they collided in the Atlantic this month. It did not say exactly when, where or how the accident occurred.

France said that Le Triomphant suffered damage to a sonar dome — where navigation and detection equipment is stored — and limped home to its base on L'Ile Longue on France's western tip. HMS Vanguard returned to a submarine base in Scotland with visible dents and scrapes, the BBC reported.

"The two submarines came into contact at very low speed," Britain's First Sea Lord, Admiral Jonathon Band, said. Band, Britain's most senior naval officer, offered no further explanation.
HMS Vanguard came into service in 1993, has a crew of around 140 and typically carries 16 Lockheed Trident D5 missiles. Under government policy, British nuclear submarines carry a maximum of 48 warheads. At least one of Britain's four submarines is on patrol and ready to fire at any given time.

France's Le Triomphant carries 111 crew and 15 nuclear missiles, according to defense analysis group Jane's.

"This is the most severe incident involving a nuclear submarine since the sinking of the Kursk in 2000 and the first time since the Cold War that two nuclear-armed subs are known to have collided," said Kate Hudson, head of Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Russia's Kursk nuclear submarine crashed to the bottom of the Barents Sea during a training voyage in August 2000, killing all 118 crew members.

In March 2007 two British sailors were killed in an explosion on board HMS Tireless during a war game beneath the Arctic ice cap. The same submarine crashed into an object, possibly an iceberg, while on patrol in the Arctic in May 2003. And in November 2002 HMS Trafalgar suffered considerable external damage after running aground on rocks off Scotland while taking part in a two-week training exercise

"It's an absolute one in a million chance that the two submarines were in the same place at the same time," said Lee Willett, head of the maritime studies program at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based military think tank. "There is no precedent of an incident like this — it's a freak accident," he said.

Stephen Saunders, a retired British Royal Navy commodore and the editor of Jane's Fighting Ships, said that while NATO countries let each other know what general area of the Atlantic they are operating in, neither submarine would have had a precise position for the other.

"This really shouldn't have happened at all," Saunders said. "It's a very serious incident, and I find it quite extraordinary."

Both Saunders and Willett said submarines don't always turn on their sonar systems, or make their presence obvious.

"The whole point is to go and hide in a big chunk of ocean and not be found. They tend to go around very slowly and not make much noise," Saunders said.

Willett said the greatest risks from an accident would be from a leak of radioactive waste. An accidental firing of a nuclear weapon as a result of a crash would be impossible, because of the complex processes needed to prime and fire a missile, he said.

Stephane Lhomme, a spokesman for the French anti-nuclear group Sortir du Nucleaire, said his organization is checking the French coastline for evidence of any leak of radioactive material.

"This reminds us that we could have a new catastrophe with a nuclear submarine at any moment," Lhomme said.