Geo-Strategic Trend - 262. page

Five Chinese students in Australia are facing charges and potential deportation due to scuffles at the April 24 Olympic Torch Relay event, according to Australian Chinese Website, Snowpear on April 29, 2008. Chinese students are hoping the matter would be resolved via diplomatic channels. Apparently the Chinese embassy and consulates in Australia have been unwilling to get involved stating they had nothing to do with the incident.

Source:
Snowpear.com, April 29, 2008
http://www.snowpear.com/viewnews-12014.html
Renminbao, April 28, 2008
http://renminbao.com/rmb/articles/2008/4/28/47553b.html

China.com.cn reports that negotiations between China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and Iran’s national gas company are nearing the last stage of reaching an agreement on a US$16 billion natural gas project. This is the second big energy deal between the two countries in the last couple of months. According to the report, CNOOC will provide technical support and take care of factory construction, transportation, and sales for the exploration of the North Pars gas field of Iran. In return, China will be allowed to share half of the liquid gas produced. China will have the right to purchase one billion tons of liquid gas each year. The deal is effective for 25 years. Also reported by International Herald Leader (Xinhua), the United States has been applying pressure on China regarding the negotiations, but China is not afraid of the interference.

Source: China.com.cn, April 18, 2008, and Xinhua, April 22, 2008 http://big5.china.com.cn/economic/txt/2008-04/18/content_14973718.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2008-04/22/content_8025512.htm

A research center in Mozambique claimed that China, with a direct investment of 60 million U.S. dollars in 2007, is becoming the country’s sixth largest investor. According to the statistics of the Center for Promotion of Investments of Mozambique, China has become Asia’s single largest investor to this country. Currently, China has 69 major investment projects in agriculture and forestry sector. China is also the only country that established a Center for Promotion of Investment. In 2003, China ranked the ninth with an investment of 10 million U.S. dollars. The Center also states that among the 36 countries investing in Mozambique, the top five countries are USA (more than 5 billion U.S. dollars), Swaziland (1710 million U.S. dollars), Mauritius (1510 million U.S. dollars), UK (9.1 million U.S. dollars), and South Africa (7.9 million U.S. dollars).

Source: Xinhua, April 21, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-04/21/content_8019482.htm

On April 2, UK’s Daily Telegraph reported that China has provided the United Nations with intelligence on Iran’s efforts to acquire nuclear technology. In an interview with Global Times, Nie Feng, International Affairs Specialist with China Academy of Social Science said that China has been providing constructive effort in solving Iran’s nuclear issues. The reports by certain western media were out of biased opinion. The speculation is nothing but a unified consensus of the western media.

Source: Xinhua, April 5, 2008
news.xinhuanet.com/world/2008-04/05/content_7922111.htm

On March 31, 2008, Xinhua reports that China’s Premier Wen Jiabao met leaders of Burma, Lao, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam and signed a series of cooperation agreements during the meeting of Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation (GMS) on March 30 and 31, 2008. The report attacked Japanese media article reporting the meeting, saying that the Daily Yomiuri’s article vilifies China’s aid to Lao and GMS areas. It says that Yomiuri’s article accuses China of intending to establish a “base” in East Union and to control the development in GMS area, and that is unhappy with the exclusion of Japanese government from the regional cooperation activity.

Source: Xinhua, March 31, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2008-03/31/content_7889645.htm

Xinhua published a commentary article stating that the comments made by Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament, to boycott Beijing Olympic is sheer nonsense, extremely irresponsible and represent only a few western biased views which will have no effect. “This kind of unpopular statement will hurt the feelings of 1.3 billion Chinese people and place itself on the opposing side of a quarter of world’s population”, it said. “People who make this kind of statement are carrying cold-war mentality and ignoring the stability, development and prosperity China has made. They only want to smear and criticize China , which has reflected their own arrogance and ignorance.”

Source: Xinhua, March 30, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/30/content_7881720.htm

Global Times, a newspaper under the State Xinhua, continues to criticize western media for “false and distorted” news reporting of the Tibetan protests. On March 25, 2008, Global Times states, “the overseas Chinese are in unprecedented unison, firmly standing side by side with the motherland, and proactively seek to bring out the truth of Tibet to rebut the vilification of the western media in a reasonable and lawful manner in spite of obstructions.” It states that local government in Toronto, Canada, denied the application for permit by some overseas Chinese students to hold anti-"Tibet independence" activities.

Source: Global Times, reprinted by Sina.com March 25, 2008
http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2008-03-25/145515221706.shtml

On March 25th, the Third China Educational Expo was held in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The participants came from 19 universities in China including Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The aim of the exhibit was to assist Bangladeshis in further understanding the current system of college education in China and how they might attend universities in China for their college education.

Source: Xinhua, March 25, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/25/content_7857270.htm