China: What 92 vessels in Scarborough?

92 VESSELS? Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei denies China has 92 vessels in Scarborough Shoal. File photo from China Foreign Ministry

MANILA, Philippines – China insisted it only has 20 fishing vessels in the disputed Scarborough Shoal after the Philippine government protested the supposed presence of up to 92 Chinese vessels in the area.

In a press briefing Wednesday, May 23, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said the number of fishing boats in the area – 20 – is roughly the same as in previous years. “The operating manners of the fishing boats are consistent with China's relevant laws as well as China's fishing moratorium orders,” Hong said.

Earlier, the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has monitored at least 16 Chinese fishing vessels and 76 utility boats in Scarborough Shoal as of Tuesday, May 22.

Utility boats, which Hong did not include in the count he released, usually operate alongside bigger fishing vessels.

Hong also failed to mention the presence of Chinese government vessels, which have been in Scarborough Shoal since day one of the standoff. The Philippines monitored at least 5 Chinese government vessels in the area Monday, May 21, as opposed to the 2 government vessels from the Philippines – one from PCG and another from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

'Regrettable'

The DFA has sent a note verbale to the Chinese embassy regarding the increase in Chinese vessels.

“It is regrettable that these actions occurred at a time when China has been articulating for a de-escalation of tensions and while the two sides have been discussing how to defuse the situation in the area,” the DFA said.

China has been moving toward what seem to be preparations for a military strike, said Southeast Asia maritime analyst Alec Almazan in a Thought Leaders piece for Rappler. (Read: Is China moving to attack the Philippines?)

Before the DFA's protest, a nuclear-powered United States submarine arrived near Scarborough Shoal in what is seen to be a sign of American support for the Philippines. It left as scheduled Saturday, May 19.

“Virtually undetectable when submerged and bristling with an array of cruise and anti-ship missiles, the deployment of the submarine is meant to send a strong message to China that the US is prepared to defend the Philippines in case of attack,” said Alec Almazan, who works as an analyst for the London-based Lloyd's List Intelligence Unit.

The Scarborough Shoal standoff between the Philippines and China is now approaching its second month. – Rappler.com

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US imposes solar duties on China

20 March 2012 Last updated at 21:42 GMT  This is the latest skirmish in what many fear may turn into a trade war between the US and China The US has imposed duties on Chinese solar panel manufacturers after it said that they received unfair subsidies.

Chinese exporters into the US - including Suntech - will now face customs tariffs of between 2.9% and 4.73%, the Commerce Department said.

In 2011, imports of solar cells from China into the US were valued at $3.1bn (£1.96bn), it added.

The price of solar panels dropped more than 30% last year, mainly linked to cheaper panels made in China.

"Countervailable subsidies are financial assistance from foreign governments that benefit the production of goods from foreign companies," the Commerce Department said.

China's Suntech, the world's largest producer of solar panels, will now face duties of 2.9% to offset what the US said is its subsidy from the Chinese government.

Another firm, Changzhou Trina Solar Energy, will receive duties of 4.73%.

All others face duties of 3.61%.

US customs will collect deposits equivalent to these amounts now and the Commerce Department will make a final ruling in June.

The US will also rule on whether China's solar panel output is violating its anti-dumping rules on 17 May.

Chinese firms have said that they are not the only ones that receive government help - for example, the US has subsidies to encourage people to install solar panels.

China has already said it will launch its own investigation into US government support for renewable energy.

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China 'to investigate land sales'

25 September 2011 Last updated at 16:55 GMT This wall was torn down during the protests The Chinese authorities have agreed to investigate local government land sales that prompted several days of sometimes violent public protests, media say.

Villagers in southern China say they are being pushed off farmland for property development.

Unrest broke out on Wednesday, but the situation now appears to be calmer.

Officials said protesters in Lufeng in Guangdong province injured police officers and damaged government buildings during the protest.

Several hundred people were reported to have attacked a police station and government buildings, and to have used earth-movers to smash down a wall around the seized land.

Chinese reporters who visited the area on Saturday evening said it appeared to be calm.

They said protest banners had been taken down and restaurants were open for business.

Locals, however, said they remain angry and expect the government investigation to expose what they say is an unfair transfer of farmland to build factories.

"We want our land returned to us," said a woman who took part in the protests.

'Mass incidents'

There are tens of thousands of mass incidents, as they are known, in China every year.

Some of the highest-profile recent protests have been in Guangdong province, whose factories turn out about a third of China's exports.

One often-heard complaint is that corrupt officials collude with developers to sell off farmland without giving farmers the proper compensation, correspondents say.

Laws are in place to protect farmers, but are often ignored at local level.

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China hits out at US-Taiwan deal

22 September 2011 Last updated at 14:37 GMT The US says it will upgrade Taiwan's existing fleet of F-16 fighters China has reacted angrily to a US deal to upgrade Taiwan's ageing fleet of US-built F-16 fighter planes.

Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun said the $5.85bn (£3.77bn) deal would "inevitably undermine bilateral relations", including military and security co-operation.

He also summoned US Ambassador Gary Locke to protest against the deal.

China traditionally reacts strongly to US military co-operation with Taiwan, which it considers its territory.

Last year, when the US sold missiles and other hardware to Taiwan, China suspended military exchanges with the US.

Correspondents say harsh words from China were expected, but it remains to be seen whether it takes any action to show its displeasure.

Zhu Feng, professor of international relations at Peking University, told the BBC he believed the Chinese reaction was aimed at a domestic audience.

"China's grandstanding gesture - with very little action - is an attempt to avoid giving Chinese people the impression that despite the US's ongoing arm sales to Taiwan, the authorities are not responding in a robust manner," he said.

Some future bilateral military exchanges could be postponed as a result, but the US-China relationship would not suffer long-term damage, he said.

'Must cancel'

The US deal, revealed on Wednesday, falls short of what Taiwan had requested.

Continue reading the main story

The US decision, though widely expected, still came as a disappointment for Taiwan.

Despite improved relations between Taiwan and China, Beijing continues to build up its military strength. And that build-up is widely seen as targeted at Taiwan, to warn the island it still claims as its province against becoming formally independent.

Analysts say Washington has become reluctant to sell Taiwan big-ticket items in recent years, for fear of angering Beijing. The US needs China's co-operation on many issues - from trade, to North Korea and buying US bonds to deal with its debt.

Washington faces a tough balancing act trying to juggle its relationship with China and its commitment to help its longtime ally Taiwan defend itself.

The announcement suggests the US will not now sell Taiwan a newer generation of F-16 fighters, as Taipei had hoped. It will instead upgrade its older-generation F-16 fleet.

US officials said the F-16 A/B fighters will undergo a retrofit which will bring them up to the same standards as the more advanced C/D models.

Mr Zhang called on Washington to "immediately cancel the wrong decision".

China's defence ministry, meanwhile, said that the US action had "caused serious damage to Sino-US military relations".

But Taiwanese officials appeared to welcome the news.

"After the upgrade, the air force's combat capability will be advanced hugely," Taiwanese Defence Minister Kao Hua-chu said at a press conference in Taipei.

The defence ministry said Taiwan remained under threat from China's military expansion.

"Improving our defence capability is a crucial... measure to sustain regional security and stable development across the strait," it said in a statement.

Taiwan also said it would continue its attempts to purchase more than 60 of the C/D planes, which are considered more of a match for China's latest war planes.

Taipei said that decision was still pending in the US and urged officials to agree to it.

Washington's decision will now pass to Congress for approval.

Some analysts say the decision to approve an upgrade - rather than provide more advanced fighters - is designed to appease Beijing, which had warned that relations would suffer if the sale went ahead.

In recent years China's military superiority over Taiwan has steadily increased, and the US is legally bound to help Taiwan defend itself under the Taiwan Relations Act passed in 1979.

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China axes popular TV talent show

19 September 2011 Last updated at 10:58 GMT By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing Super Girl has proved a ratings hit in China Chinese regulators have told a TV station to stop broadcasting a popular talent show called Super Girl.

The authorities say the programme is too long - although many suspect other reasons.

Hunan Satellite Television, which makes the programme, said it would air shows that promote moral ethics and public safety instead.

Chinese officials often ban programmes they think are too vulgar or not suitable.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) told the Hunan station that Super Girl broke time rules for this kind of show.

They should be no more than 90 minutes long, but episodes of Super Girl - in which women of all ages compete in a singing contest - can last more than three hours.

But a senior employee at the station told the BBC that regulators were jealous of the popularity and financial success of Super Girl.

"It is widely believed that the real reason for the ban is that Hunan TV's talent programmes have been extremely popular," she said.

"Sometimes its audience can exceed that of the national broadcaster, something that causes unhappiness in SARFT. It's all down to interests."

Some also suggest that the programme was too low-brow or in bad taste - a reason often given by regulators for banning a programme.

'Moral ethics'

The authorities have just taken a whole channel off air for a month because it broadcast a show that it said had caused a "negative impact on society".

The station, in Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, got into trouble for putting out a drama showing a son abusing his father.

Regulators said they had taken action because it had misrepresented events, magnified family conflict and depicted disrespect to an elderly parent.

The production company involved has had its licence revoked for three years.

Hunan Satellite Television said it would abide by the regulators' decision to ban Super Girl next year and would instead show more uplifting programmes.

"The channel will air programmes that promote moral ethics and public safety, and provide practical information for housework," Li Hao, the station's deputy editor-in-chief, was quoted as saying.

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China axes popular TV talent show

19 September 2011 Last updated at 10:58 GMT By Michael Bristow BBC News, Beijing Super Girl has proved a ratings hit in China Chinese regulators have told a TV station to stop broadcasting a popular talent show called Super Girl.

The authorities say the programme is too long - although many suspect other reasons.

Hunan Satellite Television, which makes the programme, said it would air shows that promote moral ethics and public safety instead.

Chinese officials often ban programmes they think are too vulgar or not suitable.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) told the Hunan station that Super Girl broke time rules for this kind of show.

They should be no more than 90 minutes long, but episodes of Super Girl - in which women of all ages compete in a singing contest - can last more than three hours.

But a senior employee at the station told the BBC that regulators were jealous of the popularity and financial success of Super Girl.

"It is widely believed that the real reason for the ban is that Hunan TV's talent programmes have been extremely popular," she said.

"Sometimes its audience can exceed that of the national broadcaster, something that causes unhappiness in SARFT. It's all down to interests."

Some also suggest that the programme was too low-brow or in bad taste - a reason often given by regulators for banning a programme.

'Moral ethics'

The authorities have just taken a whole channel off air for a month because it broadcast a show that it said had caused a "negative impact on society".

The station, in Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, got into trouble for putting out a drama showing a son abusing his father.

Regulators said they had taken action because it had misrepresented events, magnified family conflict and depicted disrespect to an elderly parent.

The production company involved has had its licence revoked for three years.

Hunan Satellite Television said it would abide by the regulators' decision to ban Super Girl next year and would instead show more uplifting programmes.

"The channel will air programmes that promote moral ethics and public safety, and provide practical information for housework," Li Hao, the station's deputy editor-in-chief, was quoted as saying.

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China factory shut after protests

19 September 2011 Last updated at 10:14 GMT Riot police were brought in to remove protesters from outside the solar panel factory in Haining City A solar panel factory in eastern China has been shut down after protests by local residents over pollution fears.

Some 500 villagers staged a three-day protest following the death of large numbers of fish in a local river.

Some demonstrators broke into the plant in Zhejiang province, destroying offices and overturning company cars before being dispersed by riot police.

Tests on water samples showed high levels of fluoride, which can be toxic in high doses, officials said.

The BBC's Juliana Liu in Shanghai says the Chinese villagers see the plant's closure as a victory.

They accuse Jinko Solar, a Chinese company making solar panels for sale overseas, of dumping hazardous chemicals into the water supply, our correspondent says.

"We feel that it is socially responsible to close the factory first and to take corrective measures," company spokesman Thomas Jing told the BBC.

He said there had been accidental discharge into the surrounding area during a rainstorm at the end of August.

He said chemicals used at the factory had been stored in an open area rather than a warehouse, and that the covering had been ripped off during the unexpectedly harsh weather.

Mr Jing said the firm was investigating whether the fluoride was responsible for the death of the fish. A clean-up was also under way, he said.

The firm in Haining city is a subsidiary of a New York Exchange-listed Chinese solar company, JinkoSolar Holding Company.

Meanwhile, local government officials said there would be an overhaul of the production procedures at the plant involving the emission of waste gas and waste water.

"[We will] go all out to maintain stability and seriously deal with those who are suspected of violating laws in the incident in accordance with the law," Haining's city government said in a statement.

It also reported police had arrested a man for spreading "rumours" on the internet about cases of leukaemia and other cancers in local residents.

Chen Hongming, a deputy head of Haining's environmental protection bureau, was quoted by Chinese media as saying that the factory's waste disposal had failed pollution tests since April.

The environmental watchdog has warned the factory, but it had not effectively controlled the pollution, he added.

Government officials have been sent to the area to hear local residents' grievances, the China Daily reported.

This is the latest example of Chinese citizens being spurred to action over environmental worries. Last week, Shanghai halted production at two factories over worries about lead poisoning.

Last month, a chemical factory in the north-eastern city of Dalian was ordered to move after 12,000 residents took to the streets over pollution fears.

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China leads world in green energy investment

15 September 2011 Last updated at 23:02 GMT By James Melik Reporter, Business Daily, BBC World Service Coal remains the prime energy source in China, accounting for 70% of the energy mix Global investment in renewable energy jumped 32% in 2010 to a record $211bn (£130bn; 149bn euros), according to the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2011 report.

Published jointly by the UN Environment Programme and the Frankfurt School of Finance, it shows that China has become the largest investor in renewable energy projects.

But the country still faces grave cases of pollution despite progress in cutting down on the number of new coal-burning power stations during the last five years.

According to Zhang Lijun, vice-minister of environmental protection, coal consumption increased by a billion tons between 2006 and 2010.

"And it is likely to see another one-billion-ton rise in the coming five years," he adds.

Security concerns

Yet the Chinese government is spending tens of billions of dollars every year on so-called clean-tech projects - commonly referred to as green energy.

"There is a very clear trend in Asia that people are becoming more and more interested in clean energy and clean-energy investing," says Vivek Tandon of Aloe Private Equity.

Continue reading the main story

If you create a new industry by bolstering the clean energy sector, you can also create jobs”

End Quote Vivek Tandon Aloe Private Equity "One major reason is the need for energy security, particularly in China, which has an enormous demand for energy," he says.

At current levels of production, China has coal reserves which should last 40 years, although most reserves are located in the north and north-west - and that poses logistical problems for supplying electricity to the heavily populated coastal areas.

Demand for coal is currently outpacing production - a situation made worse by the government's increasing closure of antiquated and unsafe coal mines.

The public's perception of the deteriorating ecology and environment around them has been instrumental in the growth of renewable energy.

Furthermore, it is also seen as a forum for job creation.

"If you create a new industry by bolstering the clean energy sector, you can also create jobs," says Mr Tandon.

China is already the biggest producer of coal and home demand continues to grow Volatile market

Apart from the Chinese government investing in green technology, money is also coming from outside the country.

Some investors are getting a bit nervous about where the global economy is going and whether or not recovery can be sustained.

There is the danger therefore, that investment into green technology in Asia might not remain at current levels if the recovery is derailed

Johanna Klein, who invests in private equity funds on behalf of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), says clean energy is probably past the point of being the "flavour of the month" in terms of being the latest fad where investors want to put their money.

"The trend is fairly robust and fairly long-term at this point," she says.

Continue reading the main story

China is building a coal plant a week, but is dedicated to having the clean energy sector take off”

End Quote Johanna Klein Asia Development Bank She does not believe that clean energy is going to be any more volatile or any more affected by the oscillations of the markets than any other assets, but neither does she think that it will be protected from those phenomena.

The governments of some Asian countries also provide subsidies and backing for some of the green technologies.

"Governments have their own programmes to offer incentives to people to invest in clean energy," says Ms Klein.

"China is probably the most obvious example. They have an enormous programme of giving subsidies at all different levels from the federal to the local, to help the nascent clean energy industry really take off."

Forging ahead

India is also trying to develop its clean energy industries but in China there is a very deliberate policy of offering direct support to the industry to help it evolve and mature.

"I feel as if Asia took a long time to get on the bandwagon of supporting clean energy and clean tech, but I feel it has now taken a quantum leap ahead of countries like the US where we are still see a lot of dithering around when trying to decide on policies with regard to the whole industry," Ms Klein maintains.

"What Asia can probably deliver to the world is not just a vision, but an ability to execute," she says.

"China is building a coal plant a week, but is dedicated to having the clean energy sector take off. That is amazingly visionary and inspirational."

The US and Europe, which used to be at the forefront of renewable energy innovation, are going to start looking to countries like China as having forged a path to a greener future.

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China 'losing manufacturing edge'

15 September 2011 Last updated at 08:11 GMT Bangladesh, Indonesia, India and Vietnam are poised to benefit as China's costs rise China is losing its edge as the world's cheapest place to manufacture goods, a new report suggests.

Indonesia and Bangladesh are benefiting most as rising costs in China force firms to switch production, it says.

The report by consultants KPMG says that minimum wage levels in China are now four times greater than other places in South and South East Asia.

However, the report says China can defend its position because of its productivity and infrastructure.

China is still dominant in the production of goods such as consumer electronics and furniture.

But the report says that production of clothing and footwear is now more widely dispersed across Asia, with Indonesia and Vietnam specialising in the production of footwear and India developing a niche in hand-stitched fabrics and metalware.

According to KPMG estimates, Indonesia's footwear exports grew by 42% in 2010 to $2.1bn (£1.3bn), while Bangladesh saw textiles exports grow by 43% to more than $18bn in the year to July 2011.

"Sourcing goods in China purely because of ultra-low costs is a thing of the past," said Nick Debnam, KPMG's Asia-Pacific chair.

"With demand still soft in many Western consumer markets, it is also proving difficult for companies to pass on higher costs to consumers. This changing environment is forcing companies to reassess sourcing strategies."

Rising wages

China is battling its highest rate of inflation in three years although the latest consumer prices data from August suggests that the rate is beginning to ease.

While much of China's manufacturing has begun to migrate westwards from the south and east of the country to cheaper provinces such as Sichuan, the report says the cost advantages from such moves inland may be short-lived.

KPMG says that China's increasing manufacturing costs are more to do with the country's demographics.

China's one-child policy has resulted in a "sudden and serious" shortage of the labour that gives workers in both the richer coastal provinces and poorer inland areas the leverage to demand higher wages.

The report was based on interviews with 12 major multinational companies including Ikea, B&Q-owner Kingfisher and Hong Kong's Li & Fung, which sources goods for big-name clients including Wal-Mart.

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China rescues 30 disabled slaves from factories

BEIJING — Chinese police have rescued 30 mentally handicapped people who were forced to work as virtual slaves at brick kilns in a poor central province, and have detained eight people including a 14-year-old factory supervisor, state media said on Wednesday.

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Some of those rescued from the kilns in Henan province were blind and mute, while others were unable to say where they had come from, compounding the police's difficulty at returning them home.

"Some of them can't even speak a whole sentence, and they don't act like normal people," Liu Weiming, deputy director of publicity in Zhumadian, told the China Daily newspaper. The workers were found in Zhumadian, the China Daily reported.

"Most are staying at a relief station because they can't remember where they are from," Liu said.

Police acted on a tip-off and raided the kilns to rescue the workers, who were from four Henan counties, reports said.

Father's desperate search
Police said some had been working without pay for more than seven years, the China Daily said.

The case recalled a scandal in 2007 that elicited public outrage when Chinese media found at least 1,000 people forced to work as slaves in brick kilns in Shanxi province, following a father's desperate search for his missing teenage son.

After that case, the government vowed to root out the practice, but occasional media reports since of new slave cases show it has continued, in part due to the strong demand for construction materials to fuel China's real estate boom.

There have been several other similar incidents since.

Some Chinese traffickers deliberately targeted mentally handicapped people from the poor countryside to lure them into employment contracts, according to Chinese media.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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C-section baby boom in China

By Bo Gu, NBC News 

BEIJING – China is trying to get its sky-high rate of Caesarean sections under control.

In a country where some 47,370 babies are born every day, 46.2 percent of expectant mothers in China choose to give birth with surgical help. That’s a rate much higher than the Asian average of 27.3 percent, according to a World Health Organization global survey published in the Lancet journal in early 2010.
And the statistics are even higher in China’s capital city. In 2010, 51 percent of the babies born in Beijing were delivered through Caesarean sections, said Mao Yu, vice director of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, in a recent interview with Beijing News, a widely distributed local newspaper.

To be sure, C-section rates are rising globally. In the U.S., when the C-section rate was first measured in 1965, it was just 4.5 percent. As of 2009, however, the U.S. rate hit an all-time national high of 34 percent, according to a study released in July by Health Grades. In Florida, 38.6 percent of babies were born by C-section, the study found.
The modern C-section was first introduced as a clinical practice designed to save the lives of both mothers and newborns in 1881, after a long history of high fatality rate of mothers. However, doctors and experts today warn that, compared to vaginal delivery, with the C-section procedure comes increased risk of maternal death, infant death, admission into an intensive care unit, blood transfusion, hysterectomy and other potential problems. The WHO recommends an optimal C-section rate of 10 percent to 15 percent.
Chinese authorities are now making efforts to lower the skyrocketing rates, but the question remains: Why are they so high?

Following doctor’s orders
He Yuanhua, an obstetric nurse from Beijing Antai Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, attributes the high C-section rate in China mainly to economic incentives – and lack of patience.

“China has a lot of people, so in many hospitals, especially in the small hospitals without too much regulation, doctors and nurses don’t have the patience to wait for hours or even days for the expected mothers to deliver naturally,” she told NBC News. “The cost of C-section is higher than a vaginal birth, so many hospitals encourage the surgery to make more money.”
Hospital bills vary greatly in China’s public and private hospitals, and medical expenses can be very different depending on the patient’s insurance plans. Many hospitals’ survival depends on the cash they collect from patients, so they recommend expensive services and collect as much as they can for them.
Zhuang Ying, a Beijing mother of a 5-year-old daughter, chose a C-section at the prestigious Sino-Japan Friendship Hospital when the obstetrician suggested she did not have enough water and that the baby might suffocate from natural delivery. She spent about $3,000 on her surgery, which did not include the "red envelope" of $150 she gave to her obstetrician and anesthesiologist, a common bribe offered by Chinese patients before a big surgery.
Some Chinese mothers, said He Yuanhua from Antai Hospital, are too afraid of the pain. “Their threshold of pain is greatly lowered when they see the dramatic, long and painful labor process on TV series and movies, so they choose C-section,” she said.
Others – perhaps potential “tiger moms” – choose to bring their children into the world a few days early so they are old enough for the autumn semester when they are six years old, a minimum age for elementary school entrance in China.

Zhao Tianwei, president of Beijing Mary’s Hospital for Women and Infants, when interviewed by the Beijing News last month, said more professional women are having babies at an older age so they are not physically strong enough to endure a vaginal birth. The large sizes of newborns these days, as a result of greater nutrition, is another factor that makes natural delivery difficult. 
Go natural
The Beijing Health Bureau has been promoting vaginal birth in order to lower the world’s No. 1 C-section rate. Stricter supervision will be exerted and hospitals will be punished if they are found to perform unnecessary C-sections, according to Mao Yu.
Li Ruobing, a 33-year-old mother who had a son last year in Beijing Union Medical College Hospital, spent $200 on her choice for a vaginal birth.

She told NBC News many expectant mothers asked for C-sections, but in her hospital the doctors told them to try it naturally unless it’s necessary because of medical complications. “But if my obstetrician suggested I choose C-section, I definitely would have listened to her,” Li added.

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Reports: China firms offered arms to Gadhafi

TRIPOLI — Chinese arms firms offered to sell weapons worth about $200 million to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's beleaguered forces in July, two newspapers reported, compounding pressure on Beijing's brittle ties with the rebels who have ousted him.

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Rebel forces control most of the oil-rich North African nation and are already setting up a new government, but Gadhafi and his staunchest allies remain on the run and enjoy support in several central and southern areas, including the desert town of Bani Walid and the fugitive leader's hometown of Sirte.

Forces of the National Transition Council (NTC) were poised for an assault on Bani Walid after negotiators failed to persuade Gadhafi loyalists to abandon the town.

Many have speculated that Gadhafi is hiding somewhere around Sirte, Bani Walid or the loyalist town of Sabha, deep in the Libyan desert. He and his son Seif al-Islam have tried to rally supporters in defiant audio recordings broadcast on the Syrian-based Al-Rai television station but no concrete information about their whereabouts has emerged.

Sense of normality in capital
In Tripoli, life has started returning to normal after last month's fighting and a Muslim holiday last week. Traffic has become heavy as fuel supplies improved. Cafes are busy and offices have begun opening.

Officials with the NTC have announced plans to bring their heavily armed fighters under control and try to integrate thousands of them into the police force and find jobs for others.

Officials said there would also be retraining and reintegration schemes for those who fought for Gadhafi.

The disintegration of Gadhafi's rule after a six-month war has left a security vacuum in Libya, with no state security forces. There are also large numbers former rebel fighters who are not part of any formal structure, and huge quantities of unsecured weapons.

Story: Foreigners complain of harassment by Libya rebels

Chinese link to Libyan arms sales?
Following an earlier report in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper, the New York Times reported Monday that documents found abandoned in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, indicated that Chinese companies offered to sell rocket launchers, anti-tank missiles and other arms to Gadhafi's forces, despite bans on such sales.

"We have hard evidence of deals going on between China and Gadhafi, and we have all the documents to prove it," a rebel military spokesman, Abdulrahman Busin, told the Times.

But some officials told the Times that they were skeptical or uncertain.

A "senior NATO diplomat in Brussels discounted the report as highly unlikely," and members of a United Nations overseeing sanctions on Libya said "nothing about arms dealings with China had been brought to their attention," said the Times report.

China's Foreign Ministry said that members of Gadhafi's government had come to China and held talks with a "handful" of Chinese arms companies without the knowledge of the government.

"After the passing of resolution 1970 by the Security Council, we notified relevant government departments to strictly implement it," ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

Video: Shifting political sands in Libya (on this page)

"The Chinese companies did not sign arms trade contacts and nor did they export military items to Libya," Jiang said. "I believe that the agencies in charge of the arms trade will certainly treat this seriously."

Even if the arms were not delivered, or the cited documents turn out to have no foundation, the controversy could intensify mistrust between Beijing and the rebels seeking to defeat Gadhafi's shrinking forces and claim control of all Libya.

Story: Libya rebels: Talks over Bani Walid have failed

Report: Western agencies colluded with Gadhafi
On Monday, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported that documents found in Tripoli since the rebels seized the city indicate that Gadhafi's security services collaborated with Western intelligence agencies in mounting "rendition" operations against terrorism suspects.

The Guardian report said that a CIA document discovered in an abandoned office building showed that British intelligence services worked with the Libyans to arrange for a terrorism suspect and his family to be taken from Hong Kong to Tripoli despite the possibility he would be tortured in Libya.

The newspaper reported that other documents found in the building suggested a closer working relationship between Western intelligence agencies and Gadhafi's regime than had been previously disclosed. Britain’s MI6, the Guardian said, was involved "in a number" of American-led operations that ended with Islamists sent to Gadhafi's prisons.

The documents were discovered by New York-based Human Rights Watch, the Guardian said.

Signs of division
After chasing out Gadhafi from his Tripoli compound last month, Libya's new rulers are trying to control the entire country and restore normality.

But in an early sign of divisions, Ismail al-Salabi, a Libyan Islamist military commander who fought Gadhafi's forces called on the interim cabinet to resign because they were "remnants of the old regime."

A spokesman for Gadhafi, who has been in hiding since his foes seized Tripoli on Aug. 23, has dismissed talk of surrender and said powerful tribal leaders were still loyal to him.

"He's in the country," Moussa Ibrahim told Reuters Friday in a call from an undisclosed location. "He's in a safe place surrounded by many people who are prepared to protect him.

Tribal elders from Bani Walid had come out to negotiate after NTC spokesmen said several times over the previous day that talks were over and they were about to attack.

There has been speculation from NTC officials that members of Gadhafi's family, perhaps even the former Libyan leader himself, may be hiding there.

No comment was available from the other side.

NATO, meanwhile, reported bombing a military barracks, a police camp and several other targets near the coastal stronghold of Sirte overnight, as well as targets near Hun, a possible staging ground in the desert halfway between Sirte and Sabha, in the south. It also reported bombing an ammunition storage facility near Bani Walid.

NATO has been bombing Gadhafi's forces since March under a United Nations mandate to protect Libyan civilians. But that mandate expires on Sept. 27, and the rebels may be anxious to end the fight before it runs out — since it may be politically difficult to get it renewed.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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China says U.N. should lead efforts in post-war Libya (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) – The United Nations should lead post-war efforts in Libya, China's Foreign Minister told the U.N. chief, adding that Beijing was willing to help rebuild the north African country.

In a phone call with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi suggested Beijing wants bodies such as the U.N., rather than Western governments alone, to coordinate international involvement in post-war Libya.

This would give China a say in decisions, despite the leading role Western powers played in defeating the forces of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"The United Nations should play a leading role in post-war arrangements for Libya, and China encourages the United Nations to strengthen coordination and cooperation with the African Union and Arab League," Yang said, according to the ministry website late on Tuesday (www.mfa.gov.cn).

China is "willing to work alongside the United Nations to promote a rapid stabilization in Libya and a swift course toward reconciliation and reconstruction," said Yang.

"The international community should continue offering humanitarian aid to Libya," he added.

Beijing has yet to formally recognize the rebel forces as Libya's new leaders, but Yang's comments add to signs that Beijing wants a stake in guiding Libya's future as Gaddafi's support crumbles and rebels take control of Tripoli.

On Tuesday, China urged Libya to protect Chinese investments and said their oil trade benefited both countries, after a Libyan rebel warned that Chinese oil companies could lose out after the ousting of Gaddafi because Beijing did not offer enough support to the rebels.

China and Russia have a tradition of opposing intervention in sovereign states, even when Western governments favor military action on humanitarian grounds.

China did not use its U.N. Security Council veto power in March to block a resolution that authorized the NATO bombing campaign against Gaddafi's forces, but it then condemned the strikes and urged compromise between his government and rebels.

Since then, Beijing has courted Libyan rebels by hosting their leaders and sending envoys for talks.

China is the world's second-biggest oil consumer, and last year it obtained 3 percent of its imported crude from Libya.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Ken Wills and Daniel Magnowski)

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Biden in China amid debt concerns

17 August 2011 Last updated at 12:07 GMT China's economy thrives on selling goods around the world

US Vice-President Joe Biden has arrived in China for talks likely to focus on the economy after the downgrading of US debt and ensuing market turmoil.

China is the US government's biggest foreign creditor, holding $1tn (£608bn) of debt, and has called on it to do more to reduce its budget deficit.

Officials say Mr Biden will explain the finer points of a "very strong deficit reduction package" agreed by Congress.

He will also talk of "tremendous mutual interest" in global economic recovery.

Vice-President Biden is hoping to reassure Beijing that President Barack Obama's administration has a handle on economic policy in the wake of a downgrade by ratings agency Standard & Poor's, says the BBC's Steve Kingstone in Washington.

China's state-run media was scathing over the recent political showdown in the US over how to increase the debt ceiling and avert a financial default.

State media criticised the US "addiction to debt", calling it irresponsible and demanding that America live within its means.

Human rights

Mr Biden is visiting at the invitation of his counterpart, Xi Jinping, as the Obama administration seeks to strengthen ties with the next generation of Chinese leaders.

Mr Xi is widely expected to take over the chairmanship of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012 and to be formally anointed as president in March 2013.

This visit, which was agreed in January, will pave the way for Mr Xi to visit Washington later in the year.

In recent years, the US and China have been at loggerheads over a number of issues including trade flows and the value of the Chinese yuan.

From the American side, there are continuing concerns about China's currency - which is seen as artificially weak - and over a sharp increase in military spending by Beijing.

In recent months there have been claims of cyber-attacks emanating from China, while long-standing differences over human rights and Tibet are likely to surface.

But overall, Washington insists this is fundamentally a partnership and dismisses suggestions that US-China relations are a zero-sum game, our correspondent says.

The US vice-president's official five-day visit to the region will also take in Japan and Mongolia.

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China activist Ai Weiwei felt 'close to death'

BEIJING — Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, whose disappearance in April caused an international outcry, endured intense psychological pressure during 81 days in secretive detention and still faces the threat of prison for alleged subversion, a source familiar with the events told Reuters.

In the first broad account of Ai's treatment in detention since he was released in June, the source, who declined to be identified fearing retribution, said the 54-year-old artist was interrogated more than 50 times by police, while he was held in two secret locations.

BBC News, also citing a source, said that police told Ai that "this is what happens when you criticize the government."

The BBC's source said that Ai had described his time in detention as "the toughest situation a human being can be in" and said that he felt "close to death" every minute.

Ai exercised by walking in his cell for hours, covering an estimated 9 to 12 miles a day. The BBC source said he also had to salute his guards and ask for permission to drink water and use the toilet in the cell.

'Jasmine Revolution'
The questioning focused on his purported role in the planned Arab-inspired "Jasmine Revolution" protests in China in February and his writings that could constitute subversion, said the Reuters source.

That account runs counter to the Chinese government's repeated statements that Ai's detention was based on alleged economic crimes.

"What you're doing is illegal," Ai told police officers at one point, according to the source. "They said: 'Do you know before Liu Shaoqi died, he was holding the constitution ... Talk about illegality, there's no difference between the country that we are in now and the time of the Cultural Revolution," according to the source.

Liu, a former president, was purged and died in prison during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution when paramount leader Mao Zedong turned against his comrades in the name of radical upheaval.

Video: Activist artist Ai Weiwei released in China (on this page)

In the second location, where Ai was held for 67 days, the artist was watched over by two police officers for 24 hours a day, with their faces often inches from his, watching his every movement even while his slept.

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Ai was not allowed to speak and was watched over by the officers even while he slept. They demanded that he put his hands on top of the blanket, the source said.

"It was immense psychological pressure," the source said.

Under the conditions of Ai's release, he is not allowed to be interviewed by journalists, meet with foreigners, use the Internet and interact with human rights advocates for a year from his release, the source said.

Despite this, the burly artist, with flecks of gray in his distinctive beard, has spoken out on his Twitter account for detained dissidents and his associates who had disappeared during the time that he did but have since been released.

During his detention, Ai was fed well and allowed long walks, according to the Reuters source said.

Protected by his fame?
Ai has long been an outspoken government critic, and for a long time, many believed Ai had been somewhat protected by his fame and by being the son of a famed Communist poet, Ai Qing.

But when Ai was taken from the airport by plainclothes officers on April 3, they covered his head with a black hood, put him in a car and drove him to a secluded location, the source said.

Ai was told that he was being put under "residential surveillance." He asked whether he could have access to a lawyer or whether his family knew of his whereabouts, and police officers told him that could take up to six months.

Video: Gallery floor covered with 100 million porcelain seeds

While he was held, the source said, Ai was asked whether he knew who the organizers of the "Jasmine" protests were. Ai denied all knowledge, the source said.

Police officers discussed the contents of his blog and Twitter account, "line by line," the source said.

He was told he could face 10 years in prison for "inciting subversion to state power" — a broad charge that China often uses to punish dissidents.

On the day he was released, police officers told him he "could still be sentenced to 10 years," the source said, adding that Ai had to sign a contract stating that he would agree to the terms of his release before he could be released.

'Obscene person'
Ai's detention ignited an outcry from many Western governments about China's tightening grip on dissent that started in February, when dozens of rights activists and dissidents were detained and arrested.

The artist was the most internationally well-known of those detained, and his family has repeatedly said he was targeted by authorities for his outspoken criticism of censorship and Communist Party controls.

During the nearly three months of detention, his family and friends said his whereabouts were unknown. Ai met his wife Lu Qing once at a time when rumors circulated that he was being tortured.

Video: Artist documents 5335 dead in China quake

When Ai was released on bail in late June, the Chinese government said he remained under investigation for suspicion of economic crimes, including tax evasion. Ai told Reuters earlier that he has not received a formal notice from the authorities to explain the charge of "suspected economic crimes."

Police officers told Ai "you criticized the government, so we are going to let all society know that you're an obscene person, you evaded taxes, you have two wives, we want to shame you. We'll not use politics to deal with you," the source said.

The source said Ai told them "no one is going to believe you," but officers told him "everyone will believe us, tax evasion is a very serious crime in many countries."

Despite the intimidation, Ai is unlikely to leave the country for good, the source said. He had confirmed earlier to Reuters that he had accepted a visiting teaching post at the Berlin University of the Arts and that he would like to go to Germany, if given permission by the authorities.

Ai will not abandon his once prominent role as a free speech advocate, the source said.

On Tuesday, Ai tweeted that if people do not speak out for dissidents Wang Lihong and Ran Yunfei, they do "not stand for fairness and justice...and have no self-respect."

On Monday, he tweeted about the conditions of four associates who had been detained at the same time as Ai, saying "they innocently suffered immense mental devastation and physical torment."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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China launches first aircraft carrier on maiden sea trial (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) – China launched its first aircraft carrier for a maiden run on Wednesday, a step likely to boost patriotic pride at home and jitters abroad about Beijing's naval ambitions.

The long-awaited debut of the vessel, a refitted former Soviet craft, marked a step forward in China's long-term plan to build a carrier force that can project power into the Asian region, where seas are spanned by busy shipping lanes and thorny territorial disputes.

"Its symbolic significance outweighs its practical significance," said Ni Lexiong, an expert on Chinese maritime policy at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.

"We're already a maritime power, and so we need an appropriate force, whether that's aircraft carriers or battleships, just like the United States or the British empire did," he said in a telephone interview.

The carrier "left its shipyard in Dalian Port in northeast Liaoning province on Wednesday morning to start its first sea trial," said the official Xinhua news agency, describing the trip as a tentative test run for the unfinished ship.

The aircraft carrier, which is about 300 meters (984 feet) long, plowed through fog and sounded its horn three times as it left the dock, Xinhua said on its military news microblog.

Xinhua said that "building a strong navy that is commensurate with China's rising status is a necessary step and an inevitable choice for the country to safeguard its increasingly globalised national interests."

Chinese citizens said the carrier launch showed their country deserved more respect from the rest of the world, despite problems it faces at home.

A high-speed train crash last month left many Chinese people bemoaning what they called officials' reckless hunger for showcase technological breakthroughs.

"An aircraft carrier is the mark of major powers," Pan Chunli, a 29-year-old IT technician in Beijing told Reuters.

"China has grown dramatically. The whole world should take a fresh look at China, viewing it as a rising power that it has the ability to defend its rights and territory."

Retired Chinese navy Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo told state-run television that his country intended to build an air carrier group, but the task would be long and difficult.

"As for forming a carrier group, I think that will take at least ten years," he told a Chinese television broadcast on the carrier launch.

PRESTIGE AND POWER

Last month, China was refitting the old, unfinished Soviet vessel bought from Ukraine's government, and sources told Reuters it was also building two of its own carriers.

"China has had a longstanding fascination with the national prestige attached to aircraft carriers, and this first sea trial may be seen as a crucial step toward the goal of achieving great naval power status," said Chengxin Pan, an expert on China at Deakin University in Australia

"But for many neighbors, it may symbolize something different and more unsettling. It is inevitable that neighboring countries will react with some alarm, especially given recent disputes in the South China Sea as well as the maritime incident between China and Japan last year," he said.

If Beijing is serious about having a viable carrier strike group, however, it will need three carriers, Ashley Townshend at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney told Reuters in an interview before the debut of the vessel.

China would also have to develop support ships and aircraft for any carrier group, Townshend said, noting it would take some 10 years to develop a viable carrier strike group.

In China's neighborhood, India and Thailand already have aircraft carriers, and Australia has ordered two multi-purpose carriers. The United States operates 11 carriers.

"The Philippines should not be concerned with this development. An aircraft carrier is an offensive tool but I don't think China has the intention to use it to bully its neighbors," the former chief of the Philippines' navy, retired Admiral Ferdinand Golez, told Reuters.

Before the launch, a Pentagon spokesman played down the likelihood of any immediate leaps from China's carrier program.

LONG-STANDING DISPUTES

But that is just one part of China's naval modernization drive, which has forged ahead while other powers tighten their military budgets to cope with debt woes.

China has been building new submarines, surface ships and anti-ship ballistic missiles as part of its naval modernization.

The country's growing reach at sea is triggering regional jitters that have fed into long-standing territorial disputes, and could speed up military expansion across Asia.

In the past year, China has had run-ins at sea with Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines. The incidents -- boat crashes and charges of territorial incursions -- have been minor, but the diplomatic reaction often heated.

"Overall, the perception of a rapidly rising and potentially threatening China is likely to be reinforced and Beijing will face enormous challenges in dispelling such a perception," said Pan, the lecturer at Deakin University.

Last week, Japan warned that China's naval forces were likely to increase activities around its waters.

"This is showing that China is in the process of acquiring capability to control South China Sea as well as East China Sea," said Yoshihiko Yamada, a professor at Japan's Tokai University about the carrier trial.

China's defense budget has shot up nearly 70 percent over five years, while Japan, struggling with public debt, has cut military outlays by 3 percent over the same period, a Japanese government report said.

"A single, solitary aircraft carrier floating on the sea, without the accompanying forces, doesn't constitute a battle force," said Ni, the Shanghai professor.

"It would be a sitting duck if you tried to send it out."

(Additional reporting by Sabrina Mao and Sally Huang in Beijing; Manny Mogato in Manila; Jeremy Laurence in Seoul; Michael Perry in Sydney; and Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo; Editing by John Chalmers)

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Slow China: Why One Town is Rejecting Life in the Fast Lane (Time.com)

Like many villagers in this remote corner of Jiangsu province on China's eastern seaboard, Rui Hongxing left his wife and young daughter years ago to find construction work in the nearest big city, Nanjing. Even though it's just one and a half hours away by bus, Rui only came home to see his family a few times a year. Then one day, he decided he'd had enough of the city. He packed up and moved back to Yaxi to open a restaurant in the house he grew up in. "I didn't like city life. It was too noisy, the pace was too fast, there was no natural beauty," he said. "I wanted to return to a slower life."

Slowing down is not a sentiment usually voiced in China. For decades, young people have been streaming out of sleepy hamlets like Yaxi to seek their fortunes in China's coastal cities, fearing they'd be left out of the country's economic boom if they stayed behind. But amid growing unease over tainted food, worsening pollution and spiraling costs of living in big cities - not to mention the widespread anger over the recent high-speed train crash near Shanghai that killed 40 people - attitudes are starting to change. Many are now seeing the benefits of slowing down, if only a little. (See 25 authentic Asian experiences.)

Yaxi believes it can be a model for the rest of the country. Late last year, the village of 20,000 was designated China's first "Slow City" by Cittaslow International, an organization that grew out of the Slow Food movement in Italy as a way of promoting sustainable ways of life in cities. To date, there are more than 130 towns in 24 countries that have been certified as slow cities, including nearly 70 in Italy (the picturesque villages of Positano and Amalfi among them) and three in the U.S. (all in wine country north of San Francisco, naturally). Yaxi is not only a pioneer for China, it's also one of the first slow cities in the developing world.

Cittaslow has dozens of criteria it uses to assess a city's application for membership. First, the town must be small - a population of 50,000 or less is used as the benchmark. More importantly, it must be devoted to sustainability and improving residents' quality of life. For example, candidate towns are expected to have measures in place to combat water, air and noise pollution, practice organic farming, promote locally produced crafts and encourage eco-friendly development projects. Yaxi more than met the requirements, Cittaslow director Pier Giorgio Olivetti says. "It's not easy in China - life is too fast in many parts of the country," he said. "But in Yaxi, we found people very committed to respecting nature. I remember the flowers and fruit trees and butterflies - thousands and thousands of butterflies in the fields."

Local officials say they began paying attention to the environment 20 years ago when they kicked out the only polluting industry in town - a chemical factory. Now, sustainability is not just a buzzword, it's become a propaganda priority. Painted in green on the walls in the village are environmental slogans - "Everyone should be devoted to environmental protection, then our life will be better tomorrow" - instead of the usual messages extolling the virtues of infrastructure projects. "In the past, we had nothing to eat so our country paid attention to economic development," says Wang Cuixiang, the local propaganda chief. "But we've learned lessons from other cities - their economies developed but their environments got worse and worse. We cannot follow their way."

Of course, Wang sees other opportunities for making money in Yaxi, namely through tourism. Yaxi's is unquestionably beautiful, like a postcard from China's pre-industrial past. The hillsides are green with bamboo forests, tea plantations and fruit orchards; the only people in sight are farmers with wooden baskets slung over their backs and two-pronged wooden poles to till the earth. Villagers live in tidy, white-washed homes with gray tile roofs and courtyards planted with vegetables and grape vines. Nearly everyone walks or rides a bike. Cars - and their horns - are a rarity. (See pictures of a modern-day Chinese ghost town.)

Even with the media attention that Cittaslow certification brought, tourism has been slow to take off. But that doesn't mean the bullhorn-blaring tour groups won't soon flood into Yaxi, threatening the peaceful nature and sustainable ethos of the village. Yaxi could go the way of the ancient canal towns outside Shanghai, which have become Disneyfied tourist traps overrun with buses on the weekends. Olivetti recognizes the danger in every slow city, stressing the need for an annual limit of tourists. "We prefer small numbers, spread out over all seasons," he says. Slow cities are recertified every three years, he adds, and if a town grows too quickly, it could be taken off the list.

Whether the idea of slowing down actually spreads any to major Chinese cities remains to be seen. There is a fledgling LOHAS (an acronym for lifestyles of health and sustainability) movement growing in popularity among the affluent in China's big cities, but it's still somewhat misunderstood. "It's less about the actual steps I need to take - like recycle, ride a bike - and it's more about a mentality of wanting a stress-free life," says Amena Schlaikjer, the Shanghai manager for the Asia-Pacific LOHAS organization. "It's about realizing, 'I wish there wasn't such a demand to be successful, to own a Hummer and a mansion. Is there another choice?'" She said nearly a fifth of middle-class consumers surveyed by the group in Chinese cities desire a slower lifestyle, but there's a lack of awareness about how to achieve it.

Moving to a place like Yaxi might be a start. Zhuang Qing Quan, a Taiwan-born architect, quit his job in Nanjing five years ago to come to the village and start a pear, watermelon and honeydew farm and build a guesthouse for visitors. "I don't like being around so many people," says Zhuang, looking deeply tanned and well rested. "I feel in harmony with the mountains, water and earth here. It's kind of a magnetic feeling." Plus, he adds, slowing down is better for your health. To prove his point, he stands up, grinning broadly, and bends over to touch his toes. "You just have to adjust your attitude to enjoy it."

Read about China's largest city.

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No sexy girls please, China tells online game fair

SHANGHAI | Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:53pm EDT

SHANGHAI (Reuters Life!) - Hemlines are a little longer at this year's annual online gaming fair in Shanghai, as companies take to heart a government directive against "vulgarity," a Chinese newspaper reported on Friday.

The ChinaJoy Expo, an annual online game showcase, is well-known for its "spicy girls" who dress up in hot pants and bras to dance and pose at company booths.

But a recent government crackdown on "vulgarity" in the online games sector is forcing the girls to cover up, the Shanghai Daily said.

"The length of my dress is longer than before," said Zhou, a model who has been a ChinaJoy showgirl twice.

The new policy prohibits costumes that show more than two-thirds of a showgirl's back and bans the girls from sticking printed logos on "sensitive positions" like over their breasts, the paper reported.

Some online games companies feared the change would lessen the attractiveness of the expo given that the girls are as much a draw for men as are the games on display, reported the paper.

"To be honest, I came here largely for spicy girls," said Xaiver Du, a college student and online gaming fan.

"I'm satisfied with the female models for this year's ChinaJoy ... I care more about them rather than only sexy clothing," Du said.

The government frequently launches campaigns against what it sees as obscene and base behavior -- including once banning "sexually provocative sounds" on television -- but to little apparent effect.

Scantily-clad women promoting drinks are a feature of many bars in cosmopolitan Shanghai and capital city Beijing, and pornography is widely available online and on pirated DVDs.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Ben Blanchard and Daniel Magnowski)

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China train crash due to signal gear design flaw: Xinhua (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) – A deadly train crash in eastern China on the weekend was caused by a "severe flaw" in the design of signaling equipment, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Shanghai Railway Bureau.

A high-speed train rammed into another stalled train near the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province late on Saturday, the report said, because a signal should have turned red after a lighting strike, but it was mistakenly still green, Xinhua said.

Xinhua cited Shanghai Railway Bureau head An Lusheng as saying that railway staff at the Wenzhou station did not respond correctly after the signaling system failed.

The signal equipment was designed by a research and design institute in Beijing, Xinhua said, but it did not disclose the full name of the institute. The equipment had been in operation since September 2009.

Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered an investigation into the crash and pledged the government would take "resolute" safety steps in its aftermath.

The crash killed 39 people, China's worst train accident since 2008.

Wen arrived in Wenzhou on Thursday morning to mourn the victims, express condolences to the relatives of the victims, and visit the scene of the accident.

Public anger has boiled up over the crash in online postings and in at least one organized protest.

On Wednesday, more than 100 relatives of passengers who were killed protested outside a railway station, angered by the lack of accountability over the incident, state media reported.

The Global Times, a tabloid owned by Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, said the protesters demanded direct talks with officials from the Railways Ministry.

"They claimed that the bullet trains were built with advanced technology. How could lightning paralyze them so easily?" the newspaper quoted Wang Hui, whose husband died in the accident, as saying.

"Help us and tell us what really happened," the paper quoted the protesters, who gathered outside the station near the accident site in Wenzhou in Zheijiang province, as saying.

The newspaper showed photographs on its website of dozens of people with some holding a banner that said: "Disclose the true reason behind the July 23 train crash and respect the dignity of victims."

Efforts by the propaganda department to bar Chinese media from questioning official accounts of the accident fueled the anger and suspicion, especially about the death toll and rescue efforts.

The Railway Ministry is still investigating the cause of the accident, and has ordered a two-month safety review of railway operations.

State media has said the lightning strike knocked out power which in turn knocked out an electronic safety system designed to alert conductors about stalled locomotives on the line.

(Reported by Sui-Lee Wee, Jim Bai, Ken Wills and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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US Senate confirms Locke as China ambassador (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Former US commerce secretary Gary Locke won unanimous Senate confirmation as ambassador to Beijing, becoming the first Chinese American to hold the prestigious and difficult diplomatic post.

Locke, whose grandfather came from China to the United States on a steamboat, promised during his smooth confirmation hearings to be a forceful advocate for human rights and for US businesses.

The new envoy succeeds Republican former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who left Beijing some three months ago and has mounted a run against former boss President Barack Obama in the November 2012 elections.

Locke, 61, takes over at a time of tensions in US-China relations, which have been fraught over a range of disputes including Beijing's export-driven economic policies, growing military spending and human rights record.

And US lawmakers, locked in an angry debate over cash-strapped Washington's debt, have increasingly expressed concern at China's status as the country's largest foreign creditor.

Senators approved Locke by voice vote.

He grew up in Seattle's public housing projects and worked his way through Yale University, eventually becoming a prosecutor and the governor of Washington state. He had been commerce secretary since 2009.

During his Senate confirmation hearings, Locke said he would use his personal story to reach out to China's people, but vowed not to shy away from sensitive issues like his "vigorous disagreement" with Beijing's leaders on human rights.

"The protection and the promotion of liberty and freedom are fundamental tenets of US foreign policy, and if confirmed, I will clearly and firmly advocate for upholding universal rights in China," he said.

Locke, pointing to his work in Obama's cabinet, said he would also fight for US businesses by pressing for protection of intellectual property and for the right of foreign firms to compete for government contracts.

Under questioning by senators, Locke said he would put a top priority on non-proliferation and that Beijing "can, definitely, and must do more" to rein in North Korea -- whose reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il recently visited China.

Senators also voiced concerns about China's military strength against Taiwan and the value of its currency, which critics accuse Beijing of keeping artificially low to boost exports at the expense of US firms.

Locke recognized that China has let the yuan appreciate but said: "We, of course, think that it should float more and faster."

At the time of his nomination in March, China had welcomed the prospects of his arrival in Beijing.

"China-US relations are highly important. We hope the new US ambassador to China will play a positive role in promoting greater development in bilateral relations," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

After his arrival in the United States, Locke's grandfather worked for a family as their houseboy in return for English lessons.

"China is a nation they would hardly recognize from their childhoods," Locke, who has traveled frequently to China, said of his ancestors.

"It's a country filled with ultra-modern cities, where hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty. The administration welcomes a strong, prosperous and successful China.

"But this new status comes with important responsibilities. This administration seeks to engage China on regional and global affairs to advance international peace and stability in ways consistent with prevailing international norms, rules and institutions," he continued.

Locke's confirmation came as Chinese state-run media reported that Beijing has demanded that the United States stop spy plane flights near the Chinese coast, saying they have "severely harmed" trust between the two countries.

The comments came after Taiwan media reported two Chinese fighter jets attempted to scare off an American U2 reconnaissance plane that was collecting intelligence on China while flying along the Taiwan Strait in late June.

The Business Roundtable hailed Locke's confirmation, with president John Engler saying the association looked forward "to working with him to advance the interests of US businesses and workers" at "a pivotal time" in Sino-US ties.

And Democratic Representative Mike Honda, a friend of Locke's, said "Gary will represent us well in all economic, social and environmental policy-related conversations with China."

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