China describes Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg’s two-day fence-mending visit to Beijing as candid and in depth.

But, if there has been an improvement in ties after Steinberg’s talks with his Chinese counterparts, it was not evident at the media briefing given by the Chinese Foreign Ministry after his departure.

Spokesman Qin Gang repeated in the determined tone used in recent weeks that, if the bilateral relationship is to continue on a stable path, it is up to Washington to make amends and push the relationship back to more friendly terms.

He says Washington has to sincerely respect China’s core interests and specifically mentioned Taiwan and Tibet, referring to the U.S. arms sales to Taipei and the White House meeting with Tibet’s exiled leader, the Dalai Lama – just two of several issues that have angered Beijing.

An American embassy spokesman told VOA it is too early to assess the impact of the deputy secretary of state’s visit.

“Our goal has always been to make our relationship more mature to weather any issue good or bad, to [a point] where we can continue to the number of dialogues and numerous lines of communications we have to overcome our differences and find areas of cooperation,” he said.

His response emphases how the slightest nuances of the talks will be poured over by both sides for true their meaning and significance.

In the talks, Steinberg pressed Beijing to consider sanctions against Iran because of Tehran’s nuclear program. But, with oil interests in the country, Beijing is reluctant to upset a key ally.

And Qin again said China, which has the power to veto any UN Security Council sanctions – still believes there is room for diplomacy.

U.S. officials say they will offer clearer insight into Steinberg’s talks Friday.

The deputy secretary of state has flown on to Tokyo to meet Japanese government officials.

By Peter Simpson
Via

Countries in the Asia-Pacific region are bracing for a possible tsunami following a massive earthquake in Chile.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a warning for the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia and many island nations in the Pacific. A lower-level advisory was issued for the northern Pacific region.

Many countries along the Pacific Rim are evacuating residents from coastal areas.

Sirens warned residents in the French Polynesian islands to move away from the shores to higher ground. The first waves are expected to hit the Gambier archipelago.

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center put that country’s eastern states on a tsunami watch. Officials said high waves could reach Australia early Sunday and cause flooding.

New Zealand also is on alert, with officials warning of waves up to three meters high. The waves are expected to end in Japan.

It is hard to predict the wave length of any tsunami, or its exact path, until after it has hit the shore. The waves may not arrive at all, or could be as high as 10 meters above normal sea level.

Experts also warn that the first waves may not be the highest.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami is the most destructive on record. It was generated by a 9.0-magnitude underwater quake with an epicenter near Indonesia’s Sumatra island. It killed about 150,000 people, most of them in south Asia and southeast Asia.

Officials in the Philippines are planning for possible evacuations. The country is still recovering from last year’s deadly storms that caused flooding and landslides.

Japan suffered its own 7.0-magnitude quake Saturday, off the coast of the southernmost island of Okinawa. No injuries or major damage were reported.

At an earlier hearing, 22-year-old Michael Wright from Swindon admitted trying to sell his own sister, who had learning difficulties, into a marriage with a Chinese immigrant.

Wright was arrested by our officers from the South East region immigration crime team on 20 August 2009 as he arrived with his sister at Reading register office for the ‘ceremony’ with would-be groom Ligang Qiao, 29.

Li Fan, 33, and her boyfriend Bing Liu, 30, were arrested at their home on Erleigh Road in Reading on the same day, as part of an operation led by Thames Valley Police officers seconded to us.

Wright had met the other three members of the gang when they all worked at the same Berkshire burger bar. In 2008, he married Fan in another sham marriage, for which he was paid £4,000.

He then plotted with the other three to allow Qiao to marry his sister in exchange for £8,000, in an attempt to aid Qiao’s application to stay in the UK once his visa ran out.

Their plan was foiled when a registrar raised doubts about the proposed wedding and reported it to us.

At a hearing in November, Wright pleaded guilty to two counts of assisting unlawful entry into the UK and two counts of perjury, while Ligang Qiao admitted two counts of perjury.

Li Fan also admitted two counts of perjury and obtaining leave to remain in the UK by deception, while Bing Liu pleaded guilty to attempting to assist illegal immigration into the UK.

Wright was jailed for four years, while Qiao was given a 15-month sentence. Fan and Liu received 18 months and two years respectively. The three Chinese nationals were also recommended for deportation at the end of their sentences.

Detective Inspector Andy Cummins of the UK Border Agency’s London and South East region immigration crime team said:

‘This was a despicable crime. Michael Wright attempted to exploit a member of his own family for his own financial gain. His motive was purely greed.

‘The other members of the gang also sought to take advantage of a vulnerable woman for their own benefit.

‘The sentences handed down today show how seriously we, and the courts, take these kinds of attempts to undermine our immigration laws.

‘My officers and I are determined to track down and stop this kind of abuse, and we hope today’s sentences send out a message that anyone who tries to enter into or organise a sham marriage faces arrest, prosecution and a long time in prison.

‘Foreign nationals who commit this type of crime will also face deportation.’

All allegations regarding any type of sham marriage – including marriage for cash, bigamy and marriage to relatives – are investigated. Where evidence can be obtained, appropriate action is taken.

UK Border Agency area director Gareth Redmond said:

‘I’m pleased with today’s sentences, and it shows once again the success the UK Border Agency is having in stopping this sort of abuse.

‘We now have specialist teams of immigration officers and police working side by side to investigate and prosecute these kinds of cases.

‘This case shows there are now heavy penalties for those who try and abuse the marriage route.’

Via

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu issued a statement Friday, urging the United States to, in his words, “immediately withdraw” plans for a meeting between President Obama and the Dalai Lama.

Ma indicated that the meeting could further hurt Sino-American relations, which are already strained because of a U.S. arms sale to Taiwan, disagreements over China’s currency exchange rate and U.S. concerns over Chinese internet censorship.

Zhu Weiqun, the vice-minister of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, which handles Tibet issues, recently made the same point.

Zhu says if the U.S. leader chooses to meet with the Dalai Lama, it will threaten trust and cooperation between China and the United States.

The White House Thursday confirmed that President Obama will meet the Dalai Lama on February 18, despite China’s objections. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Mr. Obama will meet with the Tibetan spiritual leader, a fellow Nobel laureate, as an internationally respected religious figure.

The United States recognizes Tibet as a part of China, but has urged Beijing and the Dalai Lama to talk together to address differences over the region’s future.

China took over Tibet in 1950. The Dalai Lama fled to exile in India in 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in his homeland. China considers the Dalai Lama a separatist and has tried to isolate him by urging foreign leaders not to meet with him.

The Dalai Lama repeatedly has said he is not seeking independence for Tibet, but instead wants what he describes as a high level of genuine autonomy for his homeland.

China has sent hundreds of millions of dollars in development aid to Tibet, in an effort to ensure stability by actively raising living standards there. Tibetan exiles accuse the Chinese government of discriminating against and repressing their culture and religion.

Via

The State Department says it “absolutely supports” China’s latest interaction with North Korea, and says it is confident that Pyongyang will hear the same message from China that it heard from the United States in December on the need to restart negotiations.

North Korea’s chief negotiator on the nuclear issue, Kim Kye Kwan, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday – a day after the North Korean leader was said to have told a Chinese envoy that he is committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea agreed in principle in 2005 to scrap its nuclear program in return for aid and diplomatic benefits from other participants in the six-party talks. But the negotiations broke down at the end of 2008 and the diplomatic climate worsened with North Korean nuclear and missile tests last year.

State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley says Kim Jong Il’s recommitment to a nuclear-free Korea echoes comments North Korean officials made to U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth during a visit to Pyongyang in December.

Crowley says it is time for Pyongyang to give the words meaning by returning to the negotiating table. “We obviously take note of the public statements by North Korea over the past 24 hours. These are similar to what North Korea said to us back in December when our delegation was in Pyongyang. So North Korea is saying the right things — that the six-party process should resume and that it remains committed to denuclearization. But the right words must be followed by action. Words by themselves are not sufficient,” he said.

Crowley says the United States has long valued China’s role as chair of the six-party talks.

He says the two powers view the North Korean situation very similarly, and he says he hopes China will convey a “very firm” message on the need to return to the bargaining table.

Along with North Korea, the United States and China, the six-party talks include South Korea, Japan and Russia.

The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour is on its way to the International Space Station.

NASA launched the shuttle from the Kennedy Space Center on the Atlantic coast in Florida early Monday. A Sunday morning launch had been called off because of poor weather at the launch site.

The six astronauts aboard the shuttle arescheduled to deliver parts to the International Space Station for the last major construction operation on the orbiting outpost, which is almost complete.

Endeavour is carrying a connecting node, Tranquility Node 3, and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center that provides a 360-degree view around the International Space Station.

Following this 13-day mission, four more shuttle flights are planned before the fleet is retired at the end of this year.

U.S. President Barack Obama, in the budget he presented to Congress last week, has canceled the space agency’s plans to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020.

Via

Traditionally, an unmarried woman who became pregnant could have her head shaved and smeared with lime as punishment in Vietnam’s traditional rural societies.

But increasingly, young Vietnamese who move to the cities and away from traditional strictures are finding it easier to simply move in together, or to have a sexual relationship without settling down.

Vietnam’s rapid economic development also means that its surging population of young people—who now account for more than half the country’s total population of 87 million—can often afford apartments and homes of their own.

They can also discuss relationships and chat online.

A 2008 study conducted by the Health Ministry found that 66.7 percent of men believe having sex before marriage is “acceptable.”

Currently, the average reported age at which Vietnamese youth have sex for the first time is 19.6 years.

But many couples who cohabit in larger cities still keep quiet about it, especially to their families, despite signs that social attitudes to sex are relaxing.

Premarital sex, according to Hanoi-based lawyer Nguyen Viet Son, remains illegal under regulations set forth by the ruling Communist Party.

“People reject the concept that people who are not married can live together as husband and wife,” Son said.

“For example, if the police checked residency status and found out that people of two different genders were living with each other without a marriage certificate, they would receive an administrative fine,” Son said.

But he added: “Socially some say it’s bad, but others say it’s not.”

Morality, or chastity?

“When falling in love, almost every man wants to have sex with his girlfriend,” said a Hanoi-based man identified as Phuoc, 21.

But he added that traditional attitudes still linger, even among young men. “Somehow we men want to marry women who are still virgins,” he said.

One young man, identified by his nickname “Crazy,” said he sees no problem with premarital sex.

“I’m definitely not concerned about this. If all men didn’t care about this issue, it would be great,” he said.

“Girls wouldn’t suffer a loss.”

Ho Chi Minh City resident Nguyen Thuy Phuong, 34, said morality on the part of men is just as important as chastity for women.

“Sometimes a woman loses her virginity because she met a Don Juan, for example,” she said.

“They think of having sex with women the way they think about eating cakes.”

Gender politics

Instead, Phuong said, the problem lies with the perceived dominance of men in Vietnamese society.

“They think they can have sex with many women but their wives should be virgins,” she said.

“Sometimes I joke if that’s what you think, you should go to a child-care center to find a wife.”

Hanoi-based lawyer Son said he doesn’t oppose sex before marriage, though he believes chastity is better for both genders.

“In my opinion, sex is showing love. When someone is in love, sex is inevitable,” he said.

“We can’t say that when someone has sex before marriage he or she is bad, but we can say he or she loves the other person very much.”

Middle-aged women who grew up in harsher times appear to have a more open attitude to sexuality among the young.

Canada-based former Hanoi resident Nguyen Thi Lan, 45, said each case should be treated as a different situation.

Women’s risk ’still greater’

“Sometimes they love each other very much and they don’t wait, and as a result, the woman is the one to bear a loss,” Lan said.

She said she wouldn’t discourage her own 19-year-old daughter from following general social trends.

“If my daughter follows what people are doing in the society, I can’t stop her,” she said.

“If she loves someone, she has the choice.”

But she added: “If she has a child before getting married, it would be hard for her.”

Original reporting and translation by Hạnh Seide. Vietnamese service director: Khanh Nguyen. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

Copyright

Government estimates released Monday indicate strong growth in the industrial and services sector is helping the economy rebound after slowing in the wake of the global financial crisis.

The forecast of 7.2 percent growth for the fiscal year that ends in March comes amid growing optimism in India.

Consumers have returned to shopping malls, and sales of cars and mobile phones have picked up rapidly in recent months. Many companies are posting good profits and hiring new staff. Economists say India’s recovery has been largely driven by strong domestic consumption among its more than one billion people.

Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla says that even the agriculture sector, which has shrunk in the wake of a widespread drought last year, could revive because of good winter harvests by farmers.

“The fourth quarter we are expecting it to be much better, more robust so overall agriculture is not going to see the kind of dip which was initially out,” Chawla said.

Although farming contributes relatively little to the country’s gross domestic product, it remains a key concern because two-thirds of the country’s population depend on agriculture for a living.

However, economists say uncertainties lie ahead. The shrinking agricultural output last year has stoked high inflation and led to a huge jump in food prices. This in turn has brought pressure on the government to scale back the stimulus measures that infused billions of dollars into the economy and helped its recovery.

A top official at the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, says the government will have to contemplate tightening monetary policy as the economy strengthens.

“It has been my consistent view that if it looks that the economy is back on seven plus per cent growth path, which it clearly now is, yes, we should say the stimulus has succeeded and we should begin to phase it down,” Ahluwalia said.

Stock markets and the private sector have been wary of such a move by the government, hoping it will not set back the tentative recovery.

However, the Indian government’s estimates of a return to a high growth path are backed by international institutions such as the World Bank. In a report last month, the World Bank said that economic revival in India remains resilient despite a slow global economic recovery.

Via

Shipping containers are piled up at at a container terminal in the port of Dalian, China (11 Sep 2009 Photo: AP)

China has hit back at the United States after President Barack Obama promised to take a tougher line with Beijing over currency and trade. Meawhile, the United States is downplaying reports of rising tensions with China, saying the two countries will work together on issues of mutual concern but that they sometimes disagree.

In the latest disagreement between Washington and Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu on Thursday said the country’s currency was set at a “reasonable level.”

And he warned “accusations and pressure” would not help solve the problem.

Ma says the exchange rate is not the cause of the trade deficit between the two countries. He says China hopes the United States will regard trade and currency issues “in a balanced and fair light.”

The terse response comes a day after President Obama promised to adopt a tougher stance toward Beijing, and push for a further opening up of Chinese markets.

U.S. companies, along with many in Europe, have longed complained that Beijing’s currency policies give Chinese firms an unfair advantage.

Many trade analysts and economists say the yuan is set at an artificially low level, making Chinese goods cheap overseas.

But Beijing rejects calls for it to revalue its currency.

The issue is the latest in a growing list of grievances between the two economic powers.

Ties have been strained in recent weeks, starting with claims of Chinese cyber-attacks on U.S. Web sites, including Google.

President Obama’s plans to meet the Dalai Lama, and Washington’s deal to sell arms to Taiwan have strained relations further.

Ma repeated threats of sanctions against U.S. companies involved in the Taiwan arms deal.

Ma says China “will surely” impose sanctions against these companies due to what he calls Washington’s “blatant disregard of our opposition and representations.”

Wednesday, President Obama said he would not take a protectionist stance toward China, which is expected to become the world’s second largest economy this year.

He said to shut the U.S. off from the Chinese market “would be a mistake.”

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Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi answers questions after a meeting with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner in Paris, 03 Feb 2010

Iran’s key allies, China and Russia, are sending divergent messages on whether to pursue further sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi warned Thursday that talk of additional sanctions is complicating the situation and hindering efforts to find a diplomatic solution.

Meantime, a leading Russian lawmaker, Konstantin Kosachyov, suggested Russia is more in agreement with Western nations calling for additional sanctions.

He told Russian state news that Iran’s recent launch of a satellite has raised concerns that the Islamic Republic could eventually fire a long-range nuclear weapon.

China and Russia, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, traditionally have opposed past efforts to punish Iran for its nuclear activity.

Western countries are pushing for a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran to try to force the country to enter into negotiations.

In another development, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said his country blocked at least three shipments of cargo to Iran after invoking an Australian law aimed at preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Rudd did not reveal the contents of the blocked cargo, but the Australian newspaper reports one shipment included pumps that could be used to cool nuclear power plants.

The Australian says Australia’s defense minister, John Faulkner, issued the order late last year.

Western nations fear Iran is working to produce atomic weapons, but Iran says its nuclear program is meant only for peaceful purposes.

Via