CHINasia Update 16 - June / July 2010

CHINAsia Update 16 is out and can be downloaded here:
http://sites.google.com/site/chinasiaupdate/magazine/issue-16

The 16th issue has undergone a complete redesign in structure and visual appearance.

Our feature Rich Man, Poor Man is about the widening gap between rich and poor in China.

Other Articles are:
SOUTH KOREA: Halting Corporal Punishment in School Met with Opposition
WORLD: When China Rules the World
SOUTHEAST ASIA: Web and Sex Censorship
AFGHANISTAN: Kabul Conference Highlights Pakistan’s role

U.S., S Korea start military drills amid concerns of neighboring countries

The U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington leaves for joint naval and air drills with South Korea at a naval port in Busan, South Korea, July 25, 2010. South Korea and the United States on Sunday began their large-scale joint military drills off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula as scheduled. (Xinhua/Yonhap)

BEIJING, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The United States and South Korea launched their large-scale military drills in the Sea of Japan on Sunday, a move that is feared may further complicate security situation in the region.

Many analysts expressed the concern that the war games, which involve the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington, 20 ships and submarines and 200 aircraft, with about 8,000 troops on board, could highten tension on the Korean Peninsula, thus making dialogues more difficult in the near future.

In the wake of the sinking in March of a South Korean warship, the United States and South Korea announced new sanctions against Pyongyang and a series of joint military exercises in the waters off the coast of the Korean Peninsula.

The hardline stance incurred fierce response from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the north, which was blamed for the incident by Washington and Seoul.

The DPRK's National Defense Commission threatened on Saturday to mount a nuclear deterrence to counter the muscle flexing of the United States and South Korea.

Labeling the maneuvers as "nothing but outright provocations aimed to stifle the DPRK by force," a spokesman of the defense commission said it is a natural option of the army and people of the DPRK to take corresponding all-out retaliatory measures.

At a Southeast Asian security forum concluded Friday in Hanoi and attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, a DPRK spokesman warned a "physical response" to the U.S.-South Korean drills.

"There will be a physical response against the steps imposed by the United States, militarily," DPRK delegation spokesman Ri Tong Il told reporters.

Editor: Tang Danlu

Prepare for more serious flooding of Huaihe River: Chinese Premier

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L, front) visits soldiers at a stone storing site at Huaihe River dike, east China's Anhui Province, July 24, 2010. Wen Jiabao Saturday visited Anhui Province to inspect the flood control operations along the Huaihe River. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

HEFEI, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has told local authorities to be fully aware of the "grave flood-control situation" and to prepare for more serious flooding of the Huaihe River, the third longest waterway in China.

Wen made the remarks during an inspection tour in east China's Anhui Province on July 24 after concluding an inspection of flood control operations along the Yangtze, China's longest river, in Hubei Province.

Water levels on the Huaihe's main stream and tributaries have risen above the warning levels after extensive heavy rains in the river's upper reaches this month.

Although water levels have dropped in recent days, weather forecasters are predicting more heavy rain along the river and areas to its south in the next two days.

Nepali House again fails to elect PM, House session postponed

KATHMANDU, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Speaker of Nepali House Subash Nemwang Friday announced to hold another round of election on Aug. 2 to elect new executive Prime Minister out of two candidates who failed to gain simple majority votes during the second round election.

Nemwang made this announcement after two candidates -- Chairman of the largest party Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) ( UCPN-M) Prachanda and another candidate from the second largest party Nepali Congress (NC) Deputy President Ramchandra Paudel got rejected by majority of negative votes.

Out of 572 CA members presented at the House, Prachanda got only 241 votes in his favor while 113 voted against him. Similarly, 218 remained neutral. Likewise, Paudel got only 123 votes in his favor while 241 voted against him and 214 remained neutral.

According to Speaker Nemwang, House will again hold election on Aug. 2 at 04:00 p.m. local time to decide on these two candidates.

The first round election was held on Wednesday and failed to elect new prime minister as no one of the candidates got simple majority votes -- 300 votes out of 599 Constituent Assembly (CA) members as per Interim Constitution of Nepal-2007.

During the first round election, three candidates had proposed their nominations for the election -- Prachanda, Paudel and the third candidate Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) (CPN-UML) withdrew his candidacy.

Amid political turmoil in Nepal, PM re-election is also witnessing standoff after caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned from his post on July 30 following the pressure from single and the largest opposition UCPN-M to from national consensus government under its leadership.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

CHINAsia Update 15

CHINAsia Update 15 is out and can be downloaded here:
http://sites.google.com/site/chinasiaupdate/magazine/issue-15

Our focus for this issue is Nepal is waiting for its Constitution

Some key articles are:
- Prime Minister of Nepal Agrees to Resign
- Nepal’s young lawmakers want more say in constitution drafting
- Thailand: Arson in Bangkok, protests spread to other provinces
- Thoughts of a Buddhist Monk on Conflict and Peace in Sri Lanka

Images From Around Asia May

Fisherman in Quang Nam. Vietnam Photo by FlckR User: Nganguyen

An old women is bowing down to an image of Buddha at Boudhanath
Stupa in East Kathmandu. On the 27th of May Buddhist around the
world celebrated 2554th birth anniversary the Buddha.
Photo: Ingmar Zahorsky / CHINAsia Update

One of the lights displayed at Ganga Mata in in Colombo.
Throngs of visitors passed by the hundreds of lights on display.
Photo: Ingmar Zahorsky / CHINAsia Update.

NANJING, May 29, 2010 (Xinhua) -- Children show colored patterns drawn
on their faces in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, May 29,
2010. A facial drawing activity with the theme of “My World Expo” was held
in Nanjing on Saturday. Children drew colorful patterns on face which in
their eyes represent the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

Bangkok burning. Photo by BKKApologist

An accrobat performs stunts during the stage show CHA at the En-
tertainment Hall at the World Expo Park in Shanghai, east China,
on May 1, 2010. As the spectacular stage show designed exclu-
sively for World Expo, CHA takes Chinese tea as its theme, and
integrates martial arts, magic, stunts, dancing and other art forms to
represent Chinese traditional tea culture in an artistic way. [Xinhua]


Photo Editor: Ingmar Zahorsky

16th SAARC summit concludes

April 29: The 16th SAARC summit ended today with the adoption of the “Thimphu Silver Jubilee Declaration- Towards a Green and Happy South Asia.”

In his closing speech, the Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley described the deliberations as most instructive and productive. But he said the true test of the success of the summit lies in the difference the decisions will make to the lives of the millions of the poor and deprived in SAARC countries.

The summit decided to develop a vision statement by a South Asian Forum. The forum will provide a platform to debate, discuss and exchange ideas on South Asia and its future. It came out with the Thimphu Statement on Climate Change which is expected to provide a strong impetus to the SAARC efforts to address issues relating to Climate Change. The SAARC Foreign Ministers signed two instruments, the Convention on Cooperation on Environment and the Agree- ment on Trade in Services.

The agreement on trade in service will help boost trade and promote people to people contact. The agreement on envi- ronment will help address issues related to climate change. It will also enable SAARC to have a common voice in climate change negotiations in national, regional and international level.

The SAARC Development Fund has become operational and its First Chief Executive Officer appointed. It will finance regional and sub-regional socio-economic development pro- grammes and projects.

The South Asian University in New Delhi has also become operational. The university will open in August and will become the Centre of Excellence for Higher Learning in South Asia.

The Prime Minister also thanked the delegates for allowing Bhutan to introduce the concept of Gross National Happiness. An inter-governmental workshop will be organised later this year to look at the relevance of this concept in our region. The President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed said that there are sufficient ingredients to achieve the SAARC objectives. There was a sense of togetherness and commitment from the countries to achieve the common goal. However he said there are also challenges that need to be overcome. The next SAARC summit will be held in the Maldives. - Bhutan Broadcasting Service

Bridging the China-India gap

A recent survey conducted by Beijing-based Horizon Research, though by no means comprehensive, should sound alarms that China and India need to do more to deepen mu- tual understanding, especially at the people-to-people level. According to the survey, 45 percent of Chinese view India favorably, while 43 percent of Indian respondents view China as a partner. More disturbingly, most Chinese still perceive India, along with the US and Japan, as posing the most threat to China.

Findings about whether Indians perceive China as a threat are unavailable. But there is ample evidence that a consider- able number of Indians do consider China a threat. Suspicion and even hostility toward China also run rampant in Indian society.

The plight of Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh offers an immediate example of this judgment. No sooner had he made some remarks in favor of China during his visit to Beijing earlier this month than the Indian official came under immediate attacks from his own countrymen.

The common practice of India applying stricter terms on imports from China than from Western countries also bears witness to the country’s distrust of its neighbor to the north. Many Chinese experts believe trade protectionism is behind India’s suspension of importing telecom equipment from Apparently, there is a huge gap between how our two coun- tries are perceived by each other and how our two countries wish to be treated.

Due to issues left over from history, the bond between our two peoples is not as close as it was in the Mao-Nehru era. In recent years, the two largest developing countries have both undergone profound social changes while coping with the changing international situation. The West-dominated media machine has also amplified disputes and fuels rancor be- tween us. All that has sowed the seeds of misunderstanding and estrangement.

Beijing and New Delhi vowed to push bilateral ties to a new high while marking the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations last month. More people-to- people level exchanges should be conducted to expand mutual understanding, update our knowledge about each other and improve our perceptions.

The two countries also should tackle their differences in a more constructive and forward-thinking way.

It is in our two peoples’ interests to forge a friendly relation- ship featuring robust trade ties and deeper political trust. Only when the two Asian giants feel a genuine closeness between them will the world treat our two nations with more awe and respect. - Wang Hui /China Daily

Nepal House passes interim constitution amendment bill to extend CA term

KATHMANDU, May 29 (Xinhua) -- An emergency meet- ing of the Legislature Parliament early Saturday passed the 8th Amendment Bill of Interim Constitution of Ne- pal-2007 which will extend Constituent Assembly (CA) term by one year.

Out of the 585 lawmakers who attended the meeting, 580 voted on support of the Amendment Bill while only five voted against it.

Finalizing the result of majority votes cast by lawmakers, House Speaker Subash Nemwang announced that the 8th Amendment Bill has been passed with two-thirds majority of the Parliament.

Concluding the emergency meeting of House, he also added that the next session of House will sit on Monday afternoon. Now, the deadline for Nepal to promulgate new national constitution is also extended for one year. The two-year CA term was meant to expire by Friday midnight, if Parliament would not have passed the Bill by two-thirds majority. The government on Monday regis- tered the Interim Constitution Amendment Bill to extend the term of CA by one year.

However, the single and the largest opposition party Uni- fied Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (UCPN-M) who filed a dissent note against the Bill took back its under- scoring the agreement between major parties to form new national unity government.

“The three parties have agreed to form a new national unity government, parties have also agreed for logical end of peace process, so in this situation I would like to take back the dissent note,” Dev Gurung, lawmaker from UCPN-M and former Minister for Law and Justice, said, when addressing the House.

The Amendment of the Bill to extend CA term was made possible after the three big parties -- the ruling communist party, Communist Party Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML), Nepali Congress (NC) and UCPN-M forged consensus after an-hour-long bilateral and multi- lateral meeting late Friday night.

The big three parties agreed to extend the CA by one year and passed agreements will be implemented and Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal will resign within a few days to pave way for a national unity government. However, it is not clear that within how many days PM will resign.

“This opportunity will be utilized to conclude the peace process, complete new constitution drafting process and begin a new chapter of consensus politics,” M.K. Nepal told reporters right after the House meeting concluded.

Nepal faces bigger food deficit problem

KATHMANDU, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Nepali government data shows that the size of the population facing food deficit in Nepal has tripled compared with last year.

According to Hari Dahal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC), the country faces nearly 316, 000 tons food deficit this year, compared with 132,000 tons last year.

“Nearly 1.6 million people have been suffering from food deficit this year due to acute supply shortage while nearly 500, 000 people suffered the same problem last year,” Dahal, who is also spokesperson at MoAC, told Sunday’s myrepublica.com.

According to him, agricultural production including rice output decreased hugely last year due to a late monsoon and drought, thereby causing an acute food deficit in the country. “Rice production decreased nearly 500,000 tons last year,” Dahal added, “That has largely contributed to the food deficit problem this year.”

People from remote districts have been directly affected by the food shortage. A government team led by Joint Secretary Chandra Ghimire at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies had also conducted a field study on food deficit recently.

Ghimire said about 30 districts face food deficit problem every year. Of these, about 15 districts face severe food crunch.

“The problem of food is mainly due to lack of local productivity,” he said, adding, “The government should identify fertile land within districts facing food deficit and invest in a package program including irrigation, supply of fertilizers, technology input, sending in of technicians and other supportive projects in a bid to get rid of the problem in the long run.”

The report prepared by the Ghimire-led team also concluded that the food deficit problem in the country is worsening. Editor: Bi Mingxin

CHINAsia Update 14

CHINAsia Update 14 is out and can be downloaded here:
http://sites.google.com/site/chinasiaupdate/magazine/issue-14

Our focus for this issue is Global Terrorism

Some key articles are:
- Communist Party of Nepal Maoists
- India Reviews Security Apparatus to Fight Naxal Rebels
- Nuclear Security Summit
- How dire is the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism?

Images From Around Asia April

A martial arts performance held in Kaifeng, Central
China’s Henan province, April 3, 2010. [Photo/CFP]

Little India is an ethnic neighborhood found in
Singapore that has Indian cultural elements. Little
India lies to east of the Singapore River—across f
rom Chinatown, located west of the river—
and north of Kampong Glam. The Little India area
is reported to have developed around a former
settlement for Indian convicts. Its location along
the Serangoon River originally made it attractive
for raising cattle, and trade in livestock was
once prominent in the area. Eventually, other
economic activity developed, and by the turn
of the 20th century, the area began to look like an Indian ethnic
neighbourhood. Photo by FlickR User williamcho

SHANGHAI, April 30, 2010 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on
April 30, 2010 shows the fireworks show of the
opening ceremony for the 2010 World Expo
held in Shanghai, east China.

ANQING, April 11, 2010 (Xinhua) -- The pupils enjoy
their happy leisure time during the classes interval,
at the Sinopec Elementary School of Project Hope,
sponsored by the China Petrochemical Corp.,
inside the landlocked mountainous Shuikou Village,
Toutuo Town, Anqing City, east China’s Anhui
Province, April 8, 2010. There are 4 teachers in the
school teaching some 44 pupils at 7 grades in this school.
Project Hope is a Chinese program aiming at financing
education for poverty-stricken students. (Xinhua/Yang Xiaoyuan)

Photo Editor: Ingmar Zahorsky

First day of indefinite strike in Nepal peaceful

KATHMANDU, May 2 (Xinhua) -- People’s life all over Nepal was affected by indefinite general strike and shutdown on Sunday.

The strike was called by UCPN (Maoist) as part of its agitation demanding the step down of the incumbent government.

General lives of people were affected by the strike. Local shops, private offices, industries, factories, education institutions, transportation all came to a halt due to the strike.

Few cars, ambulances, hospital buses, journalist’s motorcycles could be seen on the road.

The party workers were staging demonstrations at major thoroughfares, chanting slogans calling for the government to step down.

The Home Ministry on Saturday had issued directives to all the concerned people and professionals to carry out their general lives as it were as the security was beefed up.

However, few shops and markets are open.

The Higher Secondary Education Board (HSEB) postponed all examinations of Grade 12 ( High School ) for an indefinite period on Sunday due to the Maoist’s strike.

Security personnel were deployed at the various places in the capital city and around the country as well.

The indefinite strike Sunday ended peacefully without any re- ports of violence. The Maoist cadres were singing songs and merry making by gathering in the streets.

Ram Bahadur Chettri, 53, a farmer from Sindhupalchowk, was a little furious, saying he is ready to sacrifice his life for the country.

“We are fighting for constitution, we want our constitution and we want this government to be down at any cost,” he exclaimed.

Kanchi Maya Tamang, a tenth grader, told Xinhua that she came all the way from Sindhupalchowk, some 40 kilometers away from the capital, to participate in the strike and demonstration.

Kumar Lama, an icecream seller, was very happy that his business was up compared to other day. Talking to Xinhua he told that his business rose as many people on the streets are eating his ice-creams.

Apart from blocking roads the Maoist cadres were singing and dancing singing anti-governmental songs and merry making.

The roads in the Kathmandu valley were crowded with people dancing and singing in all the joyful ways.

The announcement of the general strike was made on Saturday following a mammoth rally in Kathmandu valley on the occasion of the 121st International Labor Day.

The strike was pretty much peaceful and there were no reports of violence. Enditem

Chinese Ambassador Qiu guohong Attends the Inaugura- tion Ceremony of Nepal-China Friendship Center

On March 24, 2010, Mr. Qiu Guohong, Ambassador of
the People’s Republic of China to Nepal attended the In-
auguration Ceremony of Nepal-China Friendship Center.
Together with Mr. Bajracharya, the Chairman of the
Nepal-China Friendship Center and all the members, as
well as the distiguished guests from Nepal, the Ambas-
sador expressed his congratulations and hope for the
newly-established center as an NGO to promote people-
to-people exchange and cooperation between China and
Nepal.

Reacting to Climate Change: Vision, Action Plans & Media Involvement

BEIJING, April 8 (China Daily )The 2010 ANN Annual Meeting and Asia Forum co-organized by China Daily and the Asia News Network was held at the Kempinski Hotel, Beijing on April 8th.

The forum covered progress on battle against climate change in Asia. It was joined by top Chinese environment officials and their international counterparts, business leaders and chief editors of 21 leading newspapers in 19 Asian countries.

Climate change is the biggest threat to the world today. Asia, as the fastest developing and the most populated region, will need to respond appropriately to this greatest challenge.

After the Copenhagen meeting, the role of Asia will be one of the most important in deciding how the world will develop. How will Asian governments act in building a sustainable and energy efficient society? What will Asian companies do in meeting the challenges and develop a sustainable model? What roles should the media play in building a more environmental friendly world?

The conference was not only a gathering of government officials, business people, academics and media to share their works and ideas with 120 participating audience, but will serve as the start of a series of efforts to promote united actions against climate change which Asia has a crucial role to play. Asia News Network, an alliance of 21 newspapers in 18 Asian countries, hopes to be pivotal in this endeavor.

The conference is designed to share knowledge of climate change trends among Asian countries and the future of green Asia, look at the policies and action plans, and efforts from the various organizations.

Edited by: Ingmar Zahorsky / CHINAsia Update Reacting to Climate Change: vision, Action Plans & Media Involvement

India reviews security apparatus to fight Naxal rebels

RANCHI, India, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government is reviewing the security apparatus in Naxal-infested states including Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, following the deadliest Naxal rebel attack on security forces in central India on April 6, said high level sources of the Home Ministry on Monday.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government will now sanction more Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel to the rebel-affected areas of the country. In Raipur of Chhattisgarh and Midnapore of West Bengal, the security forces will be redeployed to take on the Naxals, said the sources.

Meanwhile, special commandos will be in charge to tackle Naxalites in these places who are found to be armed with state-of- the-art weapons and ammunitions.

Although there have been talks of roping in the Army and the Air Force to crush the rebel, both Army Chief General V.K. Singh and Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik have declared that the military has been trained to fight the enemy from across the border and not launch offensive operations against the citizens of the country.

Air Chief Marshal Naik said on Monday that any use of Indian Air Force against Maoists should avoid collateral damage. “We have the capability to conduct strikes with utmost precision. If at all a situation arises where the use of Air Force becomes inevitable, there has to be clarity on the magnitude of the force we are supposed to use,” he said in the national capital of New Delhi.

“After all, we are dealing with our own people in our own terri- tory. So far we have not been approached by the Home Min- istry for any type of help in combating Naxalites,” he added.

However, the Indian Air Force has deployed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to track the rebels. “We had deployed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the tribal areas of the states a couple of years ago and provided inputs at that time. The Air Force is not conducting any reconnaissance in the region at the moment,” said the air chief.

But he said it also needs to be understood that the reconnaissance by UAVs will have some limitations.

“UAVs can give information about a number of people gath- ering at a spot but it cannot tell you whether it is a group of armed insurgents or ordinary tribals and villagers,” Naik said. “Aerial survey may not be possible in dense jungles as the devices cannot see through a canopy of trees, bushes and shrubs.”

At least 75 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men and one local police official were killed in the Dantewada massa- cre of April 6. Editor: Lin Zhi

Earthquake rocks Tibet

Yushu ,Tibetan Autonomous Province APR 14 - On April 14, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Yushu County of the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu in Qinghai Province, causing huge casualties and losses of property. The quake so far has left at least 2000 dead, 294 missing, 11,486 injured, 15,000 residential buildings toppled and 100,000 residents to be relocated.

Most dwellings in the region collapsed due to the poor con- struction of the tenement-style mud-and-timber houses that most Tibetan’s in the region live in.

The Chinese President Hu Jintao cut short a trip to South America and traveled to the disaster site to console the surviving victims.

Many international aid agencies pledged to send supplies and mergency teams into the region to support the Chinese aid workers already in place.

Hundreds of monks and nuns were led by the Dalai Lama in prayer in Dharamsala, India. The exiled Tibetan leader ex- pressed a desire to travel to affected region which he has not visited for over 50 years. - Edited by Ingmar Zahorsky / CHINAsia Update

CHINAsia Update 13

CHINAsia Update 13 is out and can be downloaded here:
http://sites.google.com/site/chinasiaupdate/magazine/issue-13

Our focus for this issue is National Peoples Congress.

Some key articles are:
- Golden time to make it right
- Shanghai EXPO to be platform for the world to know China better
- Nepal sad over loss of national guardian
- Middle East no paradise for Chinese women
- Indian surrogate mothers in demand for pregnancy out

Images from Asia March

JIUJIANG (JIANGXI), March 10, 2010
(Xinhua) -- Photo taken on March 9, 2010
shows the snow view of the Hanpokou scenic
spot on the Lushan Mountain, a famous tourist
destination in east China’s Jiangxi Province.
Heavy snowfall hit the Lushan Mountain area
on Monday and Tuesday.

KATHMANDU, March 21, 2010 (Xinhua) -- Indian
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee (C) pays his last
respects to late Nepali Congress President and former
prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala in Kathmandu,
capital of Nepal, March 21, 2010. Political leaders paid
their last respects to the remains of Koirala at the
National Stadium in capital Kathmandu on Sunday
morning. Koirala died on March 20 at the aged 86.
(Xinhua/Bimal Gautam) (zcq)

JAKARTA, March 20, 2010 (Xinhua) -- A
boy sits on steps in a slum in jakarta, captial
of Indonesia March 20, 2010. According to
United Nations Human Settlements Programme
report released on Friday, Indonesia has reduced
its slum population from more than 50% of
Indonesia in 1990 to about 15%-25% in 2010 in
the last two decades, the fastest among Southeast
Asian countries.(Xinhua/ Yue Yuewei)

The closing ceremony of the Third Session of the 11th
National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC) is held at the Great Hall of the
People in Beijing, capital of China, March 13, 2010.
(Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

Masses of people moving across the busy
intersection at Shibuya station, Tokyo.
Photo: Ingmar Zahorsky/ CHINAsia Update


Photo Editor: Ingmar Zahorsky

Shanghai Expo to be platform for world to know China better

by Li Xueqing Wee Song Ying

SHANGHAI, March 27, 2010 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on
March 26, 2010 shows the bird’s-eye view of the Expo
Park at night in Shanghai, east China. The Expo Park
will be put into trial operation in the end of April.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The Expo 2010 Shang- hai China is expected to reflect today’s real picture of China’s economic development and national strength and help rectify the wrong perception others have on it.

Koong Heng Sze, chairman of the coordination committee of Malaysia’s Seven Clan Associations, told Xinhua here on Wednesday that the expo could serve as a platform for for- eigners to gain better understanding about China.

Koong, who was invited by China to join the grand event in May, said that China has been involved in international affairs all these while and can certainly contribute to globalization. He also said that besides promoting economic and trade development under the concept of “prosper thy neighbor”, China can also drive the world towards building a peaceful and harmonious society.

Formed in 2002, the coordination committee of Malaysia’s Seven Clan Associations is tasked to coordinate operations of seven Malaysian clan association and protect their rights and benefits.

During the interview, Koong said that he was proud for being invited to visit the expo by China.

He said that after a few decades of development and con- tinued opening-up, China has achieved much in terms of economic development, creating excitement among many overseas Chinese.

Koong said that a few Chinese associations in Malaysia, including the Associated Chinese Chambers of Com- merce, Federation of Chinese Associations, Malaysia-China Friendship Association and Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce,will organize group trips to the expo.

Each delegation is believed to comprise 80 to 100 delegates, added Koong.

Themed “Better City, Better Life”, many pavilions at the expo focus much on going green, emphasizing elements such as energy efficiency, water conservation and carbon-free. Koong said the Chinese pavilion at the expo, which highlights being environmental friendly, showed that China is actively pursuing the environment agenda drawn by the United Na- tions.

As China has put in much effort to develop green technology, Koong hoped that the Chinese associations in Malaysia could bring back the relevant knowledge from China.

Meanwhile, Koong said that the business community in Ma- laysia would actively search for business opportunities dur- ing the expo, pushing the bilateral trade between China and Malaysia further upwards.

On people-to-people interaction, Koong said that the coordi- nation committee would look into the feasibility to cooperate with the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia to arrange for student visits to the expo.

The returning students from the expo could share their experi- ence with Malaysians of other races, raising their understand- ing about China, added Koong.