1943: In the middle of World War II, Los Angeles residents believe the Japanese are attacking them with chemical warfare. A thick fog that makes people’s eyes sting and their noses run has taken hold of the city. Visibility is cut down to three city blocks.
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WASHINGTON – Even though it is pushing ahead to provide advanced atomic technology to India, the United States said Thursday it would vote against China’s sale of nuclear reactors to Pakistan in the international Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
During a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Vann Van Diepen, the acting assistant secretary of state for international security and non-proliferation, said the United States would vote against any exemption for China to sell two civil nuclear reactors to Pakistan.
The announcement follows the visit of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Pakistan, where she said the United States would be willing over time to discuss the prospect of US-Pakistani nuclear cooperation.
Pakistan, India and Israel are the only three countries that have never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a pact aimed at nuclear cooperation in exchange for a pledge to forgo nuclear weapons. All three of those states have nuclear weapons, though Israel has not declared its huge nuclear arsenal.
In response to a question from Congressman Ed Royce, a Republican, asking whether the United States would vote against the exemption for China, Van Diepen said, “Yes sir, by definition, we do not support any activity that goes against the guidelines.”
The 46-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group is an international forum designed to limit sales of nuclear technology.
Earlier, Van Diepen said, “Based on the facts we are aware of, it would occur to us that this sale would not be allowed to occur without an exemption of the NSG.”
However, Van Diepen added that while the United States can vote against an exemption, it cannot stop China if that nation decides to sell Pakistan the reactors without special permission from the NSG.
In 2008, India and the United States signed a nuclear cooperation agreement that would give India access to reactors and other nuclear technology without having to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Earlier this week in Pakistan, Clinton told Pakistani journalists, “In our dialogue with the Pakistani government, we have clearly said we will work with them on civil nuclear energy.” She added, “It took years to do it with India. But we are committed to pursuing it and trying to overcome the obstacles that might stand in the way, because we think it is important to get as much of a varied source of energy all connected to the grid.”
China last spring signed a $2.4 billion agreement with Pakistan to supply two 340-megawatt reactors to Pakistan. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Beijing June 24 that ChinaÂ’s nuclear cooperation with Pakistan is for peaceful purposes and in line with international obligations of both countries.
A senior State Department official said, “Pakistan has profound energy needs, and we are working with Pakistan to try to increase its energy production and the diversity of its energy resources.”
The official said, “In the abstract, nuclear power at some point can be part of that mix; in the near to mid-term, we are focused on non-nuclear sources of energy.”
He said the United States is “willing to have a conversation about civilian nuclear power, but there is a lot that Pakistan is going to have to do, given its past record” – an obvious reference to the AQ Khan network.
Henry Sokolski, director of the Non-proliferation Policy Education Centre, said it is not clear when and how the United States would open the door to nuclear exports to Pakistan.
“Is Washington blocking China so the Obama administration can be in control of the terms under which it will allow a Chinese sale to Pakistan?” Sokolski asked. “Or is it that only the United States wants to be the one making the reactor sale? I think it’s the former; the mystery is what we will ask for in exchange.”
In the hearing, Van Dieppen also accused Chinese entities of continuing to sell arms to rogue states in violation of anti-arms-proliferation controls.
He said that while China has made some progress in establishing arms-export controls, Chinese companies continue to engage in dangerous sales to countries they should not. “Our most persistent problem is that individual Chinese entities continue to engage in proliferation activities,” he said.
Beijing announced today that it will continue to respect Serbia’s territorial integrity, and that it believes there is still room for new Kosovo status talks. The Chinese reaction came one day after the International Court of Justice ruled that the Kosovo Albanian unilateral declaration of independence did not breach international law, as there was “no active provision that limits independence declarations”.
Han Yange has been appointed CFO/joint company secretary wef July 19
Work experience: COO, China Education, Inc; ED, NYSE Beijing Office; director/senior manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers New York and Beijing Office Advisory Group
Fong William has been appointed CFO wef July 13
Work experience: Seven years of experience in accounting and auditing; has worked with Ernst and Young, Shanghai and Grant Thornton, Hong Kong and Beijing
The Chinese version of the American teen hit ‘High School Musical’ will hit the screens nationwide on August 12, 2010. Based on the original ‘High School Musical,’ the most successful film ever made by Disney, the Chinese version shows a singing contest in a university that inspires students to realize their musical dreams, Ent.qq.com reports. [...]
An Intel supercomputer called, "Encanto," is helping researchers track the direction of the oil spewing from the massive BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We’ll let you in on what it’s predicting and how accurate its tracking actually is; Google is getting a lot of backlash from users over its revamp of Google News. Users of the Google Web service are angry that their customization was disposed of in the changeover June 30. The reaction is so severe that some users are turning to Microsoft’s Bing News or Yahoo News to tailor their interests; Googles Internet Content Provider License has been renewed by the mainland Chinese government. The news comes just two days after Beijing officials reported that the application was under review but with no firm deadline for approval. So what does this mean for the Chinese people and will the censoring remain strong? Thinking of taking a vacation this summer, but want a break from the maddening tourist crowd in coastal tourist traps? Well this summer forget the beach and choose a destination you can really geek out to. eWEEK contributor Nathan Eddy, suggests a list of top five destinations.
– Video Content.
A Beijing court has accepted a plagiarism case against Hollywood director James Cameron by an amateur Beijing writer over the contents of ”Avatar”. Writer Zhou Shaomou, the general manager of a Beijing-based hi-tech business, said he spent more than seven years writing ”Tale of the Blue Crows”, a novel which recounts the epic journey of [...]
Google’s license has been renewed by the Chinese government. The Google-China relationship has been rocky following a cyber-attack that targeted Google’s infrastructure including Gmail accounts of Chinese dissidents. – Googles Internet Content Provider License has been renewed by the mainland
Chinese government, reported the search-engine giant, two days after Beijing
officials reported that the application was under review but with no firm
deadline for approval. The relationship between Beijing
and Google has…
Great news for users of Google in China. Eric Schmidt, big boss of Google, has reported that Google may be granted a renewed license to operate in the country.
The news comes as a surprise to many, as previously the Chinese government had been redirecting Chinese Google users to an alternative search engine site based in [...]
China ITS (Holdings) Co., part-owned by Temasek Holdings Pte, and shareholders raised HK$827 million ($147 million) in a Hong Kong initial public offering, according to two people familiar with the sale.
Beijing-based ITS and shareholders sold a combined 236.84 million shares, or a 15% stake, at HK$3.49 apiece, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the information isn’t yet public. A call made to China ITS’s press office in Beijing after regular business hours wasn’t immediately returned.
BEIJING (Agencies) – China and Pakistan signed six deals in Beijing on Wednesday, and pledged to make joint efforts to fight terrorism.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and visiting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari witnessed the signing of the six deals, which cover areas such as agriculture, healthcare, justice, media, economy and technology.
During the two-hour-long talks at the Great Hall of the People before the signing ceremony, Hu and Zardari also vowed to jointly fight the “three forces” of extremism, separatism and terrorism.
China and Pakistan are both victims of terrorism, the anti-terror cooperation between the two countries on fighting the “three forces” complies with the interests of both peoples and is conducive to peace, stability, security in the region, said Hu.
Echoing Hu’s remarks, Zardari said Pakistan and China would work together to combat the “three forces” to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the region.
As a sign of closer cooperation on fighting terrorism between the neighbours, currently a joint anti-terrorism drill, code-named “Friendship-2010,” is being held between China and Pakistan’s armed forces in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Hu urged Pakistan to continue to look out for the safety and security of Chinese nationals and companies in Pakistan following a spate of kidnappings in recent years, it said.
Zardari is in China until Sunday and will meet with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and other leaders on Thursday (today), Chinese diplomats said.
On trade cooperation, Hu said China would explore new ways to cooperate as well as cement cooperation between the two countries in such areas as energy, transportation, telecommunication, infrastructure and agriculture.
The 60th anniversary of the establishment of China-Pakistan diplomatic ties falls in 2011 and the two countries should prepare early for the celebrations, said Hu.
Earlier, Zardari met with top Chinese bankers and business executives pledging greater protection for Chinese investment in his country, his office said in a statement.
Besides talks with executives from NORINCO, ChinaÂ’s top arms manufacturer, Zardari also met with leaders of Sinohydro Corporation, the nationÂ’s main dam builder and China Petrochemical Corporation, also known as SINOPEC, the statement said.
Briefing the media persons presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that the President informed the corporate leaders that Pakistan had a Free Trade Agreement with China in goods, services which ensured full security to Chinese investment in Pakistan.
Zardari urged Chinese companies to invest in Pakistan, telling them that his government was looking to nuclear, hydro and alternative sources to meet an acute thirst for power.
His remarks did not touch on a nuclear energy deal with China that has prompted questions from New Delhi, Washington and other capitals.
But Zardari made clear his country was looking to China to help shore up PakistanÂ’s economy and expand an energy sector that has struggled to keep up with a growing population.
Zardari told the Chinese business chiefs in Beijing that Pakistan was facing acute power shortage and intended to add tens of thousands of megawatts of power to its national grid in the next 25 years through combined hydro, coal, gas, nuclear and renewable energy sources. The President apprised the corporations dealing in alternate energy of the enormous potential of solar and wind energy in Pakistan and invited them to join in partnership with Pakistani entrepreneurs.
Zardari invited the three Gorges Corporation to participate in the construction of planned 12 new small and medium dams being built by Wapda in the country. He said that an MoU had already been signed with the EXIM Bank of China for financing 700 million dollars for these dams.
A Chinese company Synohydro has already signed agreement for the construction of Darawat and Winder dams. The President said the government would support and facilitate the Three Gorges Dam Project Company to construct the new dams in Pakistan.
Talking to the CEO of Sinohydro the President invited the ChinaÂ’s energy and construction giant to assist Pakistan in the alternate energy projects.
An executive of ChinaÂ’s Three Gorges Corporation, which runs the huge hydro power dam in southwest China, said his company agreed to look to hydro and wind power projects in Pakistan, the report said.
The report did not mention any Chinese nuclear companies.
The President also underlined the need for increased cooperation in the defence production sector.
Zardari thanked the CEO of the China Northern Industries Corporation (NORINCO) for its cooperation with the defence forces of Pakistan that had contributed to the establishment and development of defence industry in Pakistan.
NORINCO has supplied wide range of tanks, artillery guns, air defence systems and vehicles to the defence services of Pakistan. The Heavy Industrial Complex Taxila has contracted with NORINCO for provision of Al-Khalid Tanks.
Talking to the delegation of China Northern Railways Corporation (CNR) headed by its CEO, the President said Pakistan planned to convert from broad gauge to standard gauge and also to build a number of new lines for access to the Central Asia, West Asia, Chinese and European markets and invited the CNR to form a consortium with the Pakistan Railways for the development of these and other projects on the basis of equity partnership. He said that Pakistan also wanted to upgrade its engines and rolling stock.
The Pakistani side in the talks with corporate leaders included Defence Minister Ch Ahmad Mukhtar, Minister for Petroleum Syed Naveed Qamar, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, Ambassador Masood Khan, Ambassador at large for China Khalil Ahmad Khan, Secretary General to President Salman Farooqui, Secretary Commerce Zafar Mahmood, Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Nadimul Haq, Minister of State for Finance Hina Rabbani Khar, Special Assistant Kamal Majidullah, Chairman Wapda Shakil Durrani, Chairman NHA Ch Altaf Ahmad and General Manager Railways Ishfaq Khattak.
According to the words of Lenovo’s chairman, his company is lucky that Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, doesn’t concentrate his efforts on the Chinese market. The Financial Times learned from Liu Chuanzhi’s report that they are lucky that Jobs possesses such an awful temper and has no interest in China. He added that if Apple were [...]
UOB KayHian has started Debao Property Development (K2M.SG) at Buy with $0.37 target price, based on 40% discount to NAV estimate, according to Dow Jones.
UOB KayHian says China-based developer not as vulnerable to Beijing’s property-market cooling measures as most other developers as its key market is Foshan, where housing market remains resilient and mortgage policies less strict.
Francis Chang has been appointed VP, Exploration and Production wef June 2010
Work experience: VP, international operations, GNT Int’l Inc, Beijing; over 30 years of industrial experience
The Serbian and Chinese prime ministers, Mirko Cvetković and Wen Jiabao, met this Friday in Hangzhou, China.
The two premiers stated that mutual political trust between Belgrade and Beijing is basis for fostering strategic partnership between the two countries.
Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index gained 1.84% on Monday to 2,885.64 points. The Singapore market will likely lose ground after US stocks succumbed to late-day selling on Monday as hopes China’s newfound dedication to yuan flexibility turned to doubts about the speed and magnitude of Beijing’s intentions.
Shipping companies: The Baltic Dry Index, which measures the cost of transporting commodities, fell 3.5% in London yesterday, taking it 17-day loss to 38%. Cosco Corp. Singapore (COS SP), a China-based shipbuilder that also operates bulk carriers, climbed 4% to $1.55. Mercator Lines Singapore (MRLN SP), an Indian bulk carrier, gained 3.7% to 28 cents. STX Pan Ocean Co. (STX SP), South Korea’s biggest bulk carrier, rose 3.3% to $13.36. The company said it plans to invest 165.9 billion won ($189 million) to build bulk carriers.
HTL International (H64.SG) +4.0% at $0.65 on hopes Beijing’s FX policy shift will boost Chinese spending power, rub off on Singapore-based leather sofa maker, which counts China as one of its export markets, according to Dow Jones.
But DBS Vickers, which has Hold call with $0.80 target, says stronger RMB would also be negative for HTL since 30% of its cost is denominated in RMB, with revenue booked in EUR and USD.
Singapore-listed China shares among best performers on SGX, with FTSE ST China Index +2.2% vs STI +1.3%, in response to Beijing’s call for greater yuan flexibility, says Dow Jones.
“The RMB policy move is mildly positive for S-chips in general as it translates to higher EPS in SGD terms,” says DBS Vickers; noting Chinese companies dependent on domestic demand should gain from lower import costs as they sell their products in China.
Have you checked out the new Karate Kid? It took all of five minutes, but The Karate Kid is already chopping its way back to the box office.A sequel to The Karate Kid remake is in the works, Deadline said Wednesday. According to Hollywood informants, Sony Pictures is on the hunt for writers to pen [...]
