Chinese Foreign Policy: A Chronology April - June 2009 - Defence ...

"The Chinese government regards aid as mutual, and not as a kind of unilateralalms. The scale of China's development programme in the region is smaller thanother donors, and mostly in the form of projects."The paper stresses support for the Pacific Islands Forum."As a dialogue partner to the PIF, China attaches great importance to exchanges andco-operation with the Pacific island countries within the forum framework. China hasmaintained good coordination with the USA, the European Union, Australia, NewZealand and other development partners in the region in safeguarding regionalstability. We are willing to work jointly with all relevant parties to promote stability,development and prosperity in the region."3 May 2009 Hong Kong - The Mexican tourist who was confirmed as Hong Kong's first swineflu victim on 1 May remains in a stable condition. A seven-day quarantine period wasimposed on the Metropark Hotel in Wanchai, on Hong Kong Island, where the man stayed.3 May 2009 Changchun – According to the Jilin Provincial Tourism Bureau, an officialagreement has been signed to open a railway tourism line by Jilin's Tumen City Governmentand the DPRK North Hamgyong Provincial Tourism Bureau. It would run between China'sTumen to the DPRK's Namyang, Chongjin, and Chibosan. The agreement points out that therailway tourism line opened by China and the DPRK will be jointly run by the two travelagencies. Both sides have planned to hold an opening ceremony for the trial operation inmid-May. The agreement further clarifies China's ownership of the train compartments itprovides, the DPRK's right to use the train compartments, the DPRK's guarantee for theregular dispatches of special tourism trains, and other relevant matters.4 May 2009 Beijing - Ma Zhaoxu, spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said thatChina rejected US President Barack Obama's remarks in a statement on 1 May markingWorld Press Freedom Day. Obama had said that journalists were being harassed or jailed incountries including China, Cuba, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Ma emphasised: "Weurge the US to respect the facts and China's jurisdiction, view China's press freedomcorrectly, and stop intervening in China's press freedom."4 May 2009 Beijing – According to a report in the China Daily, China plans to finish 100gigawatts of wind power capacity and expand its renewable energy consumption to 40 percent of the energy market by 2050. China will also become the biggest growth market forwind power generating capacity this year, ahead of the United States, said the report, citing aforecast from the Global Wind Energy Council. As the world's second largest energyconsumer, China has around 12 gigawatts of wind power capacity and has said it wants toraise that to around 20 gigawatts by next year. China is currently the fourth largest windpower producer in the world after the United States, Germany and Spain.4 May 2009 Beijing – The State Council passed a plan to support the development of theeconomic zone on the western side of the Taiwan Straits. The plan adopted at an executivemeeting of the State Council is aimed to boost development in a region led by FujianProvince and promote cooperation between the region and Taiwan. The blueprint of aneconomic zone on the western side of the Taiwan Straits was included into the country's 11thfive-year plan (2006-2010).4 May 2009 New York – At the United Nations, China called on the international communityto continue to push forward the nuclear disarmament process. Cheng Jingye, Director-General of Arms Control and Disarmament department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry,made the appeal at the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 ReviewConference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. "Chinabelieves that nuclear disarmament should be a fair and reasonable process of gradual51