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Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (R) shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a meeting in Bali, Indonesia, July 22, 2011. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met with U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton here Friday on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Yang said that the two countries should maintain and actively advance the bilateral relations, which complies with the interests of both parties and also the expectation of the international community.

Both China and the United States are major nations in the Asia- Pacific region and China is willing to work with the United States and other Asia-Pacfic countries to strengthen dialogue, enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation and jointly safeguard regional peace, stability and prosperity, Yang said.

As to the South China Sea issue, Yang said that China and ASEAN countries have recently reached agreement on the guidelines of implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), which lays a solid foundation for practical cooperation in the area and demonstrates that China and ASEAN countries have the ability and wisdom to settle the disputes.

Yang said there is no threat to the freedom of navigation and security in the South China Sea and the Chinese side is consistently committed to maintaining the freedom of navigation and security in the area.

Clinton said the United States understands the sensitivity of the Tibet and Taiwan issues. She reiterated that the United States adheres to one-China policy and respects China\’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

She said the United States understands that the South China Sea issue is of great complexity and the U.S. side takes no position on the issue.

The United States has no intention of getting involved in the disputes or making it a problem in China-U.S. relations, the secretary said, adding that the United States supports measures conducive to the settlement of the disputes.

The two sides also reached consensus on cooperation in such areas as food security, urban search and rescue and disaster relief.

They also exchanged views on East Asia Summit, the situation in Korean Peninsula and South Asia issues.

Source:Xinhua

Thirty-nine-year-old "Liu Hao" expected romance when he won the attention of a woman on a televised dating show. However, his newfound romance quickly turned sour when he found himself behind bars.

"Liu Hao," whose real name is Wu Gang, drew suspicion from one TV viewer who ended up linking him to a 1998 murder after watching the show. Police confirmed that he is a suspect in the murder of a 24-year-old man surnamed Sun in northeast China\’s Jilin Province.X Li Ang, a police officer of the Jilin Public Security Bureau, said that although Wu\’s looks have changed somewhat since the murder took place, his "soft features" gave him away.

Li said Wu was detained after a month-long investigation in Shenyang, the capital city of north China\’s Heilongjiang Province, where the show is filmed.

Police arrested Wu in front a hotel on June 9. Li posed as a civilian, asking Wu to meet him in front of the building under the pretense of inviting him to host a wedding. Wu confessed as soon as he was arrested, saying that he never thought he would be caught in public.

"I have been accustomed to using my false identity of \’Liu Hao\’," Wu said.

"Wu did not take China\’s laws seriously if he believed that his televised debut wouldn\’t matter," said Zhao Shilin, the chief of the Jilin police\’s inspection and disciplinary squad.

Wu used his false name while living in Shenyang for 13 years after allegedly killing Sun after an argument.

China\’s biggest TV channels have several matchmaking and dating programs, which attract millions of viewers and boost the channels\’ ratings.

Source: Xinhua

China on Friday welcomed the latest talks between the Democratic People\’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the hope of an early resumption of the six-party nuclear talks.

"The Chinese side welcomes the fact that the top envoys of the DPRK and the ROK have held talks," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said when responding to a question from the press.

Media reports said that Ri Yong-ho, the DPRK envoy of six-party talks, held talks with his ROK counterpart Wi Sung-lac on Friday in Bali of Indonesia.

"(We) hope that all the sides concerned will continue making efforts to maintain the momentum of dialogue for positive results and working hard to resume the six-party talks as soon as possible," Ma added.

The six-party talks on nuclear issues, involving the DPRK, the ROK, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, have been stalled since late 2008.

Source:Xinhua

Twelve people, including six from Hong Kong and three from Macao, were injured after their bus overturned in south China\’s Guangdong Province Friday afternoon, confirmed local sources on Sunday.

The accident happened at 2 p.m. Friday on the No. 105 state highway, when a bus with 12 on board steered and braked to avoid bumping into a car.

Among the 12 people aboard the bus, the driver, surnamed Fang, and a 66-year-old lady from Hong Kong were seriously injured. Others suffered minor injuries.

The six Hong Kong passengers, accompanied by local doctors, had returned. They were all described as in "stable conditions" and were to be treated in Hong Kong.

The three from Macao, from one family, are still receiving medical treatment at the Sanxiang Hospital in the Zhongshan city, Guangdong.

Local police are probing into the cause of the accident.

Source: Xinhua

Zhao Liang, a resident of Changchun in northeastern China, takes the No.66 bus to work every day, never noticing a difference between the bus he used to take and the one he takes now – the one with the words "hybrid power" emblazoned on its backside.

Changchun introduced 100 hybrid vehicles to its public transportation network in 2010. It will add another 100 this year.

At the eighth China Automobile Fair currently being held in Changchun, the China FAW Group, one of the country\’s largest automakers, debuted two new hybrid bus models.

Hybrid vehicles have been making a splash outside public transportation as well. On July 8, Changchun implemented 16 measures that are intended to promote private purchases of new energy vehicles. The city plans to offer 500 new energy cars to assigned customers, for whom a basic post-sale service system will be established.

"This year is a demonstrative year for the development of new energy vehicles in Changchun. We will boost the sector through a raft of favorable polices," said Xiao Wanmin, deputy mayor of Changchun.

Liu Minghui, the director of the electric vehicle department of the China FAW Group\’s research and development center, said the company also plans to initiate a trial run for its B50-model electric car this year. The company has vowed to develop hybrid and purely electric vehicles for all of its commercial vehicle and passenger car product lines.

"Ten year ago, when the country first started to develop new energy vehicles, the electric vehicle sector was still at the research stage. Now, our management team has realized that its era has arrived," Liu said.

Changchun isn\’t the only city working to promote the sale and use of new energy vehicles. In June 2010, five cities, including Shanghai, Changchun and Shenzhen, began to subsidize the purchases of new energy vehicles on a trial basis. This number has since increased to 25.

In addition, a new plan that will outline the development of the country\’s new energy vehicle sector of the next ten years is expected to be publicized soon.

However, most of these policies have so far failed to woo the private market. Several new energy car dealerships in Changchun have seen zero sales for electric cars, with some of them lacking even a proper display model for their stores.

"Sales of electric cars in other cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou have been the same. Dealers in those cities also refrain from exhibiting the cars in their stores, as their sales have been pretty bad," said one car dealership employee in Changchun.

Sales of new energy vehicles have not been encouraging in the country\’s trial cities. In Shanghai, licenses for new energy cars are rarely issued. BYD Co. Ltd., one of the country\’s leading carmakers, has only sold a few hundred of the vehicles.

Consumers have largely held back due to concerns regarding the safety and ease of use of new energy vehicles.

"Why don\’t the drivers of these new energy buses turn on the air conditioning?" complained commuters in Changchun during a recent heat wave. Along with good qualities such as low noise and high stability, new energy vehicles also have their share of weaknesses.

"The buses will break down if the air conditioning is left on. We can afford no power increases, as water in the vehicle can reach 100 degrees Celsius when the air conditioning is on," a bus driver surnamed Chen said.

Chen said the air conditioning system in his bus broke down after a year of use and cannot be used again until a new motor is installed in the bus.

In addition to previously encountered problems such as the short lifespan of electric batteries, other factors such as incomplete industry standards, poor management and safety risks have troubled the growth of the new energy vehicle sector, according to industry experts.

Due to a lack of relevant industry standards, electricity suppliers and automakers are still wrestling with questions over how the vehicles\’ batteries should be designed and operated.

"From a global point of view, the battery problem is an obstacle that will be hard to hurdle for the new energy vehicle sector," Nigel Clark, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the United States\’ West Virginia University, said during the Changchun auto show.

Guo Konghui, an academician from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the development of new energy vehicles is still at an exploratory stage, even in developed countries.

"If the past five years can be viewed as a developing period for the sector, the next five years will be a time for the industry to crack down on key issues," Guo said.

A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has urged southern China\’s Shenzhen City to blaze new trails in addressing social conflicts and accumulate experiences for the country\’s overall effort to improve social management.

Zhou Yongkang, secretary of the CPC Central Committee\’s Commission for Political and Legal Affairs, made the remarks during an inspection tour from Monday through Wednesday of social management work in Shenzhen.

Shenzhen in Guangdong Province has taken a lead in economic development and also has become one of the regions to first experience certain social problems, Zhou said.

He expressed hope that Shenzhen and Guangdong will continue to come up with new ideas in resolving new social problems as well as to bravely push forward the country\’s social management work.

In his three-day tour to the city, Zhou, also a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, visited resident communities in Baoan, Nanshan, Yantian and Longgang districts and also Tencent, a major Internet service company.

Zhou called on greater efforts to organize and train the floating population so as to increase their ability to secure employment, as well as to provide them with better access to public services.

In addition, he said the government should beef up regulation of the cyberspace as its influence is growing stronger. He urged Internet firms to be more self-disciplined and join with the government to make the Internet play a more positive role in serving the public, promoting development, and maintaining harmony and stability.

Source: Xinhua

Police on Thursday morning identified another four fatalities from the deadly high-speed train collision in east Zhejiang Province.

Police said a Chinese American — Chen Zengrong from Fujian Province — was among the dead. The first seven numbers of her passport are 4632702.

Of the other three, all men, one was a native of Zhejiang, and the other two were from Fujian Province.

Police said up to now, the identities of all 39 dead in the accident have been confirmed through DNA tests.

All of the bodies retrieved from the crash site have been claimed by their relatives.

Thirty nine people have been confirmed dead and 192 others injured in the accident that occurred late Saturday on a bridge near Wenzhou when bullet train D301 rear-ended D3115, which allegedly lost power after a lightning strike.

Source: Xinhua

Chen Zongxing, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People\’s Political Consultative Conference, met here Tuesday with Choe Chang Sik, chairman of the Central Committee of the Korea-China Friendship Association.

Choe Chang Sik, also minister of public health of the Democratic People\’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), is here as guest of the Chinese People\’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC).

Source: Xinhua

The number of forest fires recorded in China were down 32 percent year-on-year to 4,833 in the first half of 2011, the State Forestry Administration said Friday.

The fires resulted in 86 casualties and damaged 345,000 mu (23,000 hectares) of woods, down 17 percent and 36 percent respectively from a year earlier, according to the administration.

In the first half, new forests measuring 75.47 million mu in size were planted, accounting for nearly 84 percent of the planned new forestry projects for the whole year, said Zhao Shu, deputy chief of the adminisitration.

According to Zhao, the nation\’s forestry output value in the first five months reached 800 billion yuan (about 123 billion U.S. dollars), representing an increase of 8.5 percent year-on-year.

Source: Xinhua

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang (L, Front), also head of a Chinese delegation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance Between China and the Democratic People\’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), meets with Kim Yong Nam (R, Front), president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People\’s Assembly, at Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang, DPRK, July 12, 2011. (Xinhua/Zhao Zhan)
China and the Democratic People\’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday pledged to continue to promote bilateral ties and friendship.

The China-DPRK friendship has been greatly enhanced over recent years thanks to the care and attention of top leaders from both nations as well as the joint efforts of both sides, said visiting Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang.

Heading a Chinese delegation, Zhang arrived here Sunday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance Between China and the DPRK.

By commemorating the 50th anniversary of the treaty, China and the DPRK aim to further consolidate their friendship so as to benefit the two peoples and make greater contributions to regional peace and development, Zhang said while meeting with Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People\’s Assembly, at Mansudae Assembly Hall.

China is willing to maintain close communications and coordination with the DPRK to safeguard the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula, Zhang said.

China also sincerely wished that the DPRK could make greater achievements in its national development, Zhang said.

Kim said the visit by Zhang and the Chinese delegation showed that the Chinese government has attached great importance to the development of DPRK-China ties.

DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il has visited China three times since last year, and has reached important consensus with Chinese President Hu Jintao on promoting bilateral ties comprehensively, which marked that China-DPRK relations have entered a new phase of development, Kim said.

China and the DPRK should strive to implement the consensus reached by top leaders of the two sides and further consolidate DPRK-China friendship generation after generation, Kim said.

Source: Xinhua