Hu maps road ahead for Sino-US ties

Updated: 2011-01-22 08:11

By Tan Yingzi and Wu Jiao (China Daily)

President Hu Jintao (L) visits the Walter Payton College Preparatory High School, which houses a Confucius Institute, in Chicago, during the final day of his US visit, Jan 21, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

Chinese president suggests route to take "sound and steady" links with the US forward

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO - President Hu Jintao reaffirmed on Thursday in the United States that China will continue to deepen its reform and opening-up and adhere to peaceful development while he also urged Washington to be mindful of Beijing's "core interests" in Taiwan and Tibet.

Before leaving for Chicago on the final stop in his four-day state visit to the US, Hu delivered a speech at a luncheon in Washington where he explained China's approach to maintaining a cooperative partnership with the US.

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About 500 US business and political leaders attended the event that was hosted by the US-China Business Council and the National Committee on US-China Relations, along with several cooperating organizations.

The two countries issued a 41-item joint statement on Wednesday laying out the foundations for future China-US relations that emphasized their common interests and recognized differences.

During his speech, Hu identified the broad common interests and responsibilities that are the basis of China-US relations and proposed several steps to take the "sound and steady" relationship into a new decade.

He said both nations are committed to upholding world peace and stability and reforming the international system as well as developing the Asia-Pacific region and building stronger bilateral ties in all fields to benefit the people of both countries.

In addition to expanding strategic and economic cooperation, the Chinese president urged the US to treat China with respect and as an equal and to handle major and sensitive issues in an appropriate manner.

"Taiwan- and Tibet-related questions concern China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and they represent China's core interests," he said.

"They touch upon the national sentiment of 1.3 billion Chinese people. We hope that the US will honor its commitments and work with us to preserve the hard-won progress of our relations."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Beijing firmly opposes leaders or government officials from any country meeting with the Dalai Lama in any form, and also firmly opposes any country using the Dalai Lama issue to interfere in Tibet-related issues, which are China's internal affairs.

US President Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama in Washington in February, despite China's strong opposition, an event that worsened bilateral relations that were already disturbed by an earlier US arms sale to Taiwan.

Beijing broke off military ties with the US after the arms sales and the military-to-military relationship did not start to warm back up until the end of last year.

At the end of his speech, Hu assured his US hosts that China - still a developing country - will continue to "deepen reform and opening-up, advance economic, political, cultural and social restructuring in an all-round way, and improve the socialist market economy."

To address growing concerns about China's military modernization, Hu reaffirmed that China will remain committed to peaceful development and strive for a peaceful international environment.

"We do not engage in the arms race or pose a military threat to any country," he said. "China will never seek hegemony or pursue an expansionist policy."

Before the luncheon, Hu held talks with House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, during which he called upon Congress to continue helping the countries boost their relations.

While addressing a gathering of business leaders at a welcome banquet in Chicago held by Mayor Richard M. Daley, Hu said Chicago had played an important role in advancing trade and cultural ties with China.

And he pledged to further elevate bilateral trade and cultural ties, and called for fair treatment from the US on such issues as Washington's control of high-tech exports to China. He also called for a level playing field for Chinese companies wanting to invest in the US.

Several hundred Chinese Americans gathered on the streets in Chicago to welcome the Chinese leader.

In eager anticipation of what they expect will be new economic opportunities thanks to closer links between China and Chicago, local Chinese American leaders had been posting welcome signs throughout the city's Chinatown.

Daley said the city's long-range goal is to make Chicago the most "China-friendly" city in the United States and establish it as China's "Gateway to America".

Hong Liu, president of the Chinese American Association of Greater Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune that local "residents should be honored that Chicago is the only city outside Washington DC that he selected to visit".

Analysts said Hu's visit to the US was a success.

Sun Zhe, director of the Center for US-China Relations at Tsinghua University, said the win-win partnership in business highlighted during the visit was a major improvement on talk of "economic cooperation and helping with the global revival" stressed in 2009 when Obama visited Beijing.

He said, in the post-crisis era, the partnership will help ensure comprehensive business cooperation between the world's top two economies.

Fan Jishe, an expert on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was interested in why Hu decided to visit Chicago instead of cities with large Chinese American populations such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, or financial centers such as New York.

"I think Beijing wants to convey the message that the economic surge of China is not a burden but a benefit for the US," he said.

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger said on Wednesday: "They can call this summit a success, not because it has solved every problem but because it has sought the way by which the problems can and will be solved."

Nicholas Berry, director of Foreign Policy Forum, told China Daily the US treated China as a partner.

"The state visit is staged as a celebration of China's rise - a message from Obama to both the American people and the Chinese that the United States does not consider China a 'strategic competitor', that is, a military threat. Instead, China is now a major power that the US will treat as such."

John Frisbie, US-China Business Council president, said: "Most simply, the visit by President Hu is a reminder of the importance of the relationship - seen by many as the most important bilateral relationship for both sides in the 21st century.

"This is a relationship in transition, and this visit is an important part of navigating that transition."

Kelly Chung Dawson in New York and Li Xiaokun in Beijing contributed to this story.

15 people die in Uganda bus crash, baby survives

• AP foreign, Saturday January 22 2011

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A Ugandan police spokeswoman says 15 people have died in western Uganda after a bus lost control when it hit a cow on the road and rammed into an oncoming truck.

Zura Ganyana says an 8-month-old baby whose mother died in the accident early Saturday is among 30 survivors from the bus crash admitted to the hospital in serious condition. Others were treated and discharged.

The bus was carrying 65 passengers traveling to the capital Kampala.

Ganyana says 10 people died at the scene of the accident at Kiryandongo while others died as they were being taken to Mulago hospital in the capital nearly 140 miles (220 kilometers) from the accident site. She says all three people in the truck died.

According to Ugandan police at least 2000 people die from road accidents every year.

Tony Blair's promise to George Bush: count on us on Iraq war

Blair feared marring relations with ally – and looked beyond legal warnings against invasion, Chilcot inquiry is told

Tony Blair leaves the Chilcot inquiry at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre in London. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

Tony Blair today admitted to brushing aside warnings that invading Iraq would be unlawful and made clear his overriding priority, even at the expense of opposition and secrecy at home, was to maintain a close relationship with the US president.

In four hours of testimony to the Chilcot inquiry, ending with expressions of regret for lives lost that provoked jeers from relatives of the dead, Blair disclosed that he privately told George Bush he could "count on us" in helping get rid of Saddam Hussein, an aim, he said, for which his government should be "gung-ho".

A move from Britain to back off after the UN refused to support military action, would have had "disastrous consequences for a tough stance on WMD and its proliferation – and for our strategic relationship with the US, our key ally", Blair said.

He acknowledged the cabinet might not have seen official papers about plans for war, but said ministers would have been aware of the plans from the media.

The former prime minister came to the Chilcot inquiry early this morning, perhaps to avoid an anticipated large number of protesters. Barely 50 were there. More arrived later but were almost outnumbered by a large police presence.

Throughout the hearings, and only occasionally subjected to sharp questioning, Blair described how he told Bush during a phone conversation in December 2001, well over a year before the invasion, that "if [regime change] became the only way of dealing with this issue, we were going to be up for that".

Inquiry documents show how government lawyers, including Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, repeatedly warned that regime change as an objective of military action would be unlawful.

Asked about letters he wrote to Bush, which the inquiry has seen but is prevented by Whitehall from disclosing, Blair said: "What I was saying to President Bush was very clear and simple: 'You can count on us. We are going to be with you in tackling this but here are the difficulties.' As you see, the rest of the note is actually about all the issues and difficulties."

The difficulties were spelt out in a memo, declassified today, sent by Blair to Jonathan Powell, his chief of staff, shortly before he met George Bush at the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas, in April 2002. "I do not have a proper worked-out strategy on how we would do it," Blair told Powell. After referring to the need for a "game plan", he added: "I will need a meeting on this with military folk."

Blair added: "The persuasion job on this seems very tough. My own side are worried. Public opinion is fragile ... Yet from a centre-left perspective, the case should be obvious. Saddam's regime is a brutal, oppressive military dictatorship."

He went on: "A political philosophy that does care about other nations – eg Kosovo, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and is proud to change regimes on the merits, should be gung-ho on Saddam. So why isn't it? Because people believe we are only doing it to support the US, and they are only doing it to settle an old score. And the immediate WMD problems don't seem obviously worse than three years ago. So we have to reorder our story and message".

In a memo sent to Blair two months later and also released today, Powell wrote: "We need to establish a legal base ... We need to make the case ... We need to have the sort of Rolls-Royce information campaign we had at the end of Afghanistan before we start in Iraq." Blair wrote in the margin: "I agree with this entirely."

Blair, summoned back to the inquiry after apparent discrepancies in his evidence came to light, was questioned by Sir Roderic Lyne, a former ambassador and the most persistent member of Chilcot's five-member panel, about claims he made to the Commons about the legality of an invasion, and what he was told privately.

Goldsmith has told the inquiry that by telling MPs in January 2003 that a fresh UN resolution was not necessary before an invasion, the former prime minister was ignoring legal advice he had given. In exchanges yesterday, Blair told Lyne: "I was making basically a political point."

He continued: "I accept entirely that there was an inconsistency, but I was saying [that] not in a sense as a lawyer but politically." If he had revealed publicly that the government had doubts about whether fresh UN authority was needed before an invasion went ahead it would, he added, have been a "political catastrophe for us".

Blair made plain that in his view it was essential that no cracks should be seen in his alliance with Bush. He said that would have been the case had Goldsmith persisted in his view that an invasion without fresh UN approval would be unlawful.

However, when Goldsmith "saw the Americans it moved him over the line, to the position where he said, 'on balance it is lawful'," Blair told the inquiry, referring to the attorney general's visit a month before the invasion to see Bush's legal advisers.

Blair concluded by giving an impassioned warning about the threat from Iran: a threat, he said, that would have been compounded had Saddam survived.

Hostile murmurs in the hearing room met his warning that the west should end its "wretched posture of apology" towards Iran and, if necessary, use force to deal with the Tehran regime.

He called on western countries to deal with the "negative, destabilising" influence of Iranwith its support for terrorism and its nuclear programme. "This is a looming and coming challenge," he said.

"This is not because we have done something. At some point – and I say this to you with all the passion I possibly can – the west has got to get out of this wretched posture of apology for believing that we are responsible for what the Iranians are doing, or what these extremists are doing.

"We are not ... they are doing it because they disagree fundamentally with our way of life and they will carry on doing it unless they are met by the requisite determination and, if necessary, force."

Karzai looks to rebuild Soviet-era trade ties

Afghan President Hamid Karzai (right) has secured a Russian pledge to revive Soviet-era infrastructure projects in Afghanistan and invited his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev (left), to visit the country.

By News Wires (text)

REUTERS - Afghan President Hamid Karzai invited Russia on Friday to rebuild Soviet-era facilities in Afghanistan, courting a nation eager to expand its influence decades after the Soviet Union's costly war there.

"We want to give a new start to vital projects that were begun very long ago," Karzai, on his second visit to Moscow in six months, said at a news conference with President Dmitry Medvedev after their talks in the Kremlin.

The leaders issued a joint declaration in which Russia expressed its readiness to participate in "priority economic projects" in Afghanistan, some dating back to the Soviet era.

The projects included the Salang Tunnel in the Hindu Kush mountains, hydroelectric power facilities in Kabul and Baglan provinces, a customs terminal and a university in Kabul.

Neither the declaration nor the leaders mentioned the cost or potential terms. Russia has said it would rebuild Soviet-era infrastructure in Afghanistan provided the international community underwrote the cost.

The declaration expressed support for Russian involvement in a proposed gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to India via Afghanistan and Pakistan, subject to other countries' approval.

Ex-Soviet Turkmenistan, eager to lessen reliance on long-dominant gas buyer Russia, has been cool toward Russian participation.

Russia is seeking to increase its influence in Afghanistan, where Soviet forces fought a nearly decade-long war in the 1980s.

Karzai, whose country is eyeing the eventual withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces after their own decade-long war against the Taliban, said he wants to step up ties with Moscow.

"Russia is a great power," Karzai said in a speech at Russia's Academy of Sciences. "For us, Russia is ... a teacher."

Moscow has ruled out sending troops to Afghanistan, where some 15,000 Soviet soldiers died fighting mujahideen insurgents before pulling out in 1989.

With the Afghan government expected to take the lead in security nationwide by the end of 2014, Medvedev said Moscow would continue to help train and equip Afghan forces and provide transit routes for NATO.

Russia will hold talks with the United States next month on plans for the sale of 21 Mi-17 helicopters for use in Afghanistan, Russian foreign ministry official Zamir Kabulov said on the sidelines of the Kremlin meetings.

In a separate meeting, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said his country would invest $500 million in the Central Asia-South Asia (CASA) 1000 electricity project if Russian utility Inter RAO is selected as its operator.

"If our company Inter RAO is granted the right to be the operator, we can join in the construction of the high-voltage CASA 1000 transmission line," Putin said.

The project is designed to transmit electricty from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to South Asia.

Shot US congresswoman moved to Texas rehab centre

Crowds of well-wishers lined the streets of Tucson, Arizona, Friday as US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was transferred to a rehabilitation centre in Houston two weeks after being shot in the head by a gunman at a constituency meeting.

By News Wires (text)

AP - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords got a dramatic send-off from her hometown Friday as throngs of sign-carrying well-wishers lined the streets to wave at the ambulance taking the wounded congresswoman from the hospital to the airport, where she was flown to Houston just two weeks after she was shot.

The trip by ambulance, jet and helicopter took her to a Houston hospital where she will undergo weeks of rigorous rehabilitation.

“We want to be here to help her and show her a good farewell, and hope that she has a great recovery,” said Al Garcia, a Marine veteran who came on his Harley Davidson motorcycle. “It’s through all of these prayers that she’s leaving in just two weeks.”

Arizona shooting: are politicians guilty? By FRANCE 24

A gunman shot Giffords and 18 other people Jan. 8 as she met with constituents outside a grocery store in Tucson. Six people died; all other survivors have been released from the hospital. The suspect in the attack, Jared Loughner, 22, of Tucson, is being held in federal custody.

Giffords has been making progress nearly every day at University Medical Center in Tucson. Her husband, Houston-based astronaut Mark Kelly, tweeted Friday: “GG going to next phase of her recover today. Very grateful to the docs and nurses at UMC, Tucson PD, Sheriffs Dept....Back in Tucson ASAP!”

Kelly traveled with Giffords, along with her mother, a doctor and other medical workers. A helicopter took her from the Houston airport to the ICU at Texas Medical Center, where she’ll be evaluated before going to the center’s rehabilitation hospital, TIRR Memorial Hermann. U.S. Capitol police arrived Thursday afternoon to set up extra security measures at the 119-bed facility.

Despite the steady progress, doctors warn Giffords has a long road to recovery. Doctors are not sure what, if any, disability she will have.

She moves her lips, but it’s not clear whether she is mouthing words, nor how much she is able to see.

“Not everyone always gets 100 percent restoration, but we help them to get to a new normal,” said Carl Josehart, chief executive of the rehab hospital that will be Giffords’ home for the next month or two.

Dr. Gerard Francisco, the hospital’s chief medical officer, will coordinate her care.

“It’s going to be a very big team that will address different impairments, but they will have to work together,” he said.

First, they’ll check her vital signs to make sure her blood pressure and heart rate are good. Then specialists ranging from physical and occupational therapists to speech therapists and psychologists will give a slew of tests to see what she can and cannot do.

They’ll determine the strength of her legs and her ability to stand and walk; the strength of her arms, and whether she can brush her teeth or comb her hair; whether she can safely swallow on her own; how well she thinks and communicates, not just her ability to speak but also to understand and comprehend.

While she is moving both arms and legs, it’s uncertain how much strength she has on her right side; the bullet passed through the left side of her brain, which controls the right side of the body.

Giffords will stay at Memorial Hermann until she no longer needs 24-hour medical care _ the average is one to two months. Then she can get up to five hours a day of physical and other rehab therapies on an outpatient basis, Josehart said.

“It’s hard to speculate on the trajectory or course that any one patient will have,” he said.

President Obama speaks at Arizona shooting memorial service

Sometimes, areas of the brain that seem damaged can recover, said Mark Sherer, a neuropsychologist at the rehab center.

“Some of the tissue is temporarily dysfunctional, so the patient appears very impaired very early on after the injury,” but may not be permanently damaged, he said.

Kelly said Giffords would be proud of the way Tucson has responded. Memorials continued to grow Friday outside the hospital, in front of her office and at the scene of the shooting.

“I know one of the first things Gabby is going to want to do as soon as she’s able to is start writing thank you notes,” he said.

Dave Sanderson stood along the ambulance route as Giffords left, along with his dog who had an American flag attached to its collar. Sanderson said he’s been coming to the memorial outside the hospital every day since the shooting happened.

“I just wanted to wish her well and the best of luck,” he said.

With Tsonga's exit, France underwhelms at Australian Open

Former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's injury-blighted 2010 caught up with him Saturday when he was bounced out of the Australian Open by Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov even as the last Frenchwoman, Alizé Cornet, fell to Belgium's Kim Clijsters.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - France's giant contingent crashed to its worst performance in 19 years at the Australian Open Saturday when last players standing Alize Cornet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga both failed to make the last 16.

Cornet fell to women's favourite Kim Clijsters and Tsonga, the 2008 men's finalist, lost out to Alexandr Dolgopolov as an expected strong French challenge fizzled.

France had the biggest number of men's players with 14, plus another seven women, making it one of the Grand Slam tournament's best-represented countries.

"Every day I try to get back on top. I was injured for many months," said Tsonga, who faded after an injury-hit 2010. "It's okay when you play your best level every time and you are consistent. But not like this."

World number 34 Gilles Simon, another former top-10 player who is returning from injury, pushed defending champion Roger Federer to the brink in a five-set tussle late on Wednesday.

"There are not too many players who can play longer than me, but Roger is one of them," Simon said.

Richard Gasquet fell to Tomas Berdych and an out-of-sorts Gael Monfils went down to Stanislas Wawrinka, also in the third round.

Marion Bartoli and Virginie Razzano made it to the second round along with 17-year-old hope Caroline Garcia.

France has had a player in every Australian Open last 16 since 1992, when Alexia Dechaume lost in the third round.

Algerian authorities warn against pro-democracy march

Algerian authorities have warned residents of Algiers against attending a march organised by the pro-democracy opposition party, Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD). The protest defies a law banning demonstrations implemented in 1992.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - Authorities in Algeria called on residents of the capital to ignore opposition calls to join a pro-democracy march Saturday and warned it was not legal, amid concern of more Tunisia-style unrest.

ON FRANCE 24 THE DEBATE After Ben Ali: who's next? THE DEBATE After Ben Ali: who's next? (Part 2)

The demonstration called by the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) comes with the region rattled by the toppling a week ago of Tunisia's authoritarian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after weeks of protests.

"Citizens are asked to show wisdom and vigilance and not respond to possible provocation aimed at disturbing their tranquillity, peace of mind and serenity," the Algiers administration said on state news agency APS.

It reminded in a statement that "marches are not allowed in Algiers" and "all assemblies on public roads are considered a breach of public order".

The march was planned "without authorisation", it said. Demonstrations are banned in Algeria because of a state of emergency in place since 1992.

RCD head Said Sadi has said he is determined to push on with the march, despite the ban, with the demonstration to also demand the release of suspected rioters arrested in

TUNISIA Copycat effect: How one man's self-immolation engulfed a region

January.

As protests that started in neighbouring Tunisia in mid-December gathered pace, riots erupted in Algeria in early January over soaring food costs and unemployment.

Five days of clashes between demonstrators and security forces left five people dead and more than 800 wounded -- almost all of them soldiers. Authorities have announced that 1,100 people were arrested.

Tunisia's Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14, the unprecedented street protests ending his 23-year grip on power. Algerian commentators have said that more Tunisia-style protests could break out in Algeria.