1. Chinese FM Reiterates China’s Stand on Iraq
2. U.S. Vice-President Cheney to Visit China This Year
3. China, U.S. to Hold Second Vice-Foreign Ministerial    Consultations Late This Year
4. Ford Executive: China’s Auto Industry Benefits World
5. Taiwan Airliner Flies into History Books

Summary

Meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Feb. 4, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan reiterated China’s position on Iraq, saying that China attaches great importance to the Iraq issue and believes the Security Council should play a major role.

Invited by Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao, U.S. Vice-President Richard Cheney will visit China in the first half of this year.

In order to strengthen cooperation and coordination and work together to help maintain peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region as well as in the whole world, the second round of China-U.S. vice-foreign ministerial consultations on strategic security, multilateral arms control and non-proliferation will be held in the latter half of 2003.

Executive officer of Ford Motor Company said recently that as automobile consumption in North American and European Union countries is almost saturated and the Asia-Pacific region, especially China, still has a high demand, China is set to be attractive to global automakers and China’s automotive industry will become a global supplier of parts and vehicles.

To help the Taiwanese business people and their families members return home for the traditional Chinese Spring Festival, a China Airlines’ charter plane from Taiwan left the Pudong International Airport of Shanghai on Jan. 26. It is the first airliner from China’s Taiwan to arrive on the mainland since 1949.

1. Chinese FM Reiterates China’s Stand on Iraq

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan reiterated China’s position on Iraq when he met with his U.S. counterpart Colin Powell and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Feb. 4.

Tang, who arrived on Feb. 3 in New York for UN Security Council meeting on Iraq, said that China attaches great importance to the Iraq issue and believes the Security Council should play a major role.

“We have always held the view that Iraq should comply with relevant resolutions of the council in a strict, comprehensive and practical manner, and that the international community should seek by every means a political solution of the issue,” he added.

He called on the international community to make greater efforts to help the United Nations proceed with its weapons inspections, and urged the Iraqi side to better cooperate with the UN inspectors to clarify outstanding questions.

Tang also offered the condolences of the Chinese government over the deaths of the seven astronauts on board the space shuttle Columbia and conveyed sympathy to their families.
 
Powell praised the great importance China attached to and its constructive role in the Iraq issue, citing Tang and his delegation coming to the Security Council meeting despite of the Chinese lunar New Year. He expressed the hope that the two sides would maintain close contact on the Iraq issue.
 
On Feb. 4, Tang met with UN Secretary-General Annan and told him that China stood for a continuation of weapons inspections and a political settlement of the Iraq issue. Annan expressed his appreciation on China’s stand and said that it conformed to the goals of the United Nations.  
 
Powell was to present to the Security Council on Feb. 5 evidence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction in a bid to convince the international community of the need for military action.  

2. U.S. Vice-President Cheney to Visit China This Year

U.S. Vice-President Richard Cheney will visit China in the first half of this year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue announced on Jan. 28.
 
Zhang said that Cheney accepted the invitation from Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao last year and would tour China during the first half of 2003.
 
Zhang stressed that high-level mutual exchanges between China and the United States were of vital importance to the development of bilateral relations.  

3. China, U.S. to Hold Second Vice-Foreign Ministerial Consultations Late This Year
 
The second round of vice-foreign ministerial consultations on strategic security, multilateral arms control and non-proliferation will be held in the latter half of 2003 in the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said on Jan. 21st.
 
The specific time will be finalized between the two sides, Zhang told reporters in Beijing.
 
Zhang said that Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Guangya and U.S. Under Secretary of State John Bolton held the first round of vice-foreign ministerial consultations on strategic security, multilateral arms control and non-proliferation on Jan. 20 in Beijing, in accordance with a consensus reached between the two heads of state last year.
 
Zhang said that in the consultations the two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on the current situation of strategic security, international arms control and non-proliferation as well as the Iraq issue and the nuclear issue of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
 
The two sides maintained that China and the United States, both influential countries in the world, have more common interests than differences in these fields, Zhang said.
 
In the new situation, Zhang said, the two countries should strengthen cooperation and coordination and work together to help maintain peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region as well as in the whole world.
 
Both sides expressed satisfaction with the results of the consultations and agreed that the consultations were constructive and helped promote mutual understanding. They agreed to continue dialogues on the above-mentioned issues, Zhang said.
 
4. Ford Executive: China’s Auto Industry Benefits World
       
China’s automotive industry is set to become a global supplier of parts and vehicles, according to David W. Thursfield, executive vice-president of Ford Motor Company.
 
Automobile consumption in North American and European Union countries is almost saturated, but the Asia-Pacific region, especially China, still has a high demand, which attracts global automakers to China, he told reporters recently.
 
Thursfield said China’s huge market, its successful long-term opening-up policy, and rapid construction of infrastructure such as roads have created a good environment for the industry.
 
“I believe China will become a global supply center for auto parts and even autos,” he said.
 
For middle-class Chinese, cars have become symbols of being wealthy, higher social status and more freedom in movement. As China enhances development of its western regions, the popularity of cars will spread from coastal regions to the remote western regions and from middle classes to working people.
 
Thursfield predicted that by the end of 2010, the global output of vehicles would increase by 11 million, of which the Asia-Pacific region will increase 7 million with half from China. By the end of 2020, the production of Chinese automobiles will reach 10 million.
 
Ford has cooperated with Chinese firms in parts supply, technology transfers, research and development. It built an export sourcing center in Shanghai not long ago and it is estimated that supplying materials worth of US$ 1 million will be sourced from China this year.
 
Last month, Ford promoted its first family sedan Fiesta through its joint venture in Chongqing and planned to introduce at least one new model to China every year.

5. Taiwan Airliner Flies into History Books

A China Airlines’ charter plane from Taiwan made a historical flight when it left the Shanghai Pudong International Airport on Jan. 26 after a two-hour stop over, becoming the first airliner from China’s Taiwan landing on the mainland since 1949.

            Aboard the Boeing 747-400 were some 240 Taiwanese business people and their families members, returning home for the traditional Chinese Spring Festival on February 1 this year.

             They were the first batch of passengers on the 32 indirect chartered flights scheduled by six Taiwanese airlines during the Spring Festival holiday.

             Many of them recorded the event, which was marked by a celebratory lion dance, on their video cameras, as 180 reporters from over 70 countries looked on.

              Booming Shanghai has attracted more than 300,000 people from Taiwan Province who have investment and live in the city or nearby areas. They used to take other airlines, like Shanghai Airlines or Dragonair, to Hong Kong or Macao where they had to stop for 45 minutes or up to two hours and then transfer planes to Taiwan.

              It is the first time since 1949 that Taiwanese airlines flew to Shanghai to help transport the Taiwanese back home for the most important Chinese festival.

              “The chartered flights cannot eradicate the inconvenience to Taiwan compatriots of crossing the Straits,” said Shanghai Vice-Mayor Han Zheng at a ceremony to mark the first flights.

              “Only when the distance is covered by the one-hour-and-half direct flight will the Taiwan people benefit,” Han said.

               The first plane, which landed as No.CI585 in Pudong at 8:52 a.m. and took off as No.CI586 at 11:25 a.m. Sunday, was scheduled to stop over in Hong Kong for 50 minutes before flying back to Taiwan Province at about 16:00 p.m. the same day.

                The journey is expected to take four hours and 40 minutes, about two hours less than usual and passengers need not change planes as they did before.

                 Transasia Airways, another Taiwan-based airline, also sent a plane to the Pudong Airport to bring Taiwan passengers back Sunday afternoon. The other four Taiwanese carriers are EVA Airways, Mandarin Airlines, Far East Air Transport and UNI Airways.

                The indirect flights will run till February.

                According to officials from the Shanghai Taiwan Affairs Office, more than 1,200 tickets were sold to Taiwan passengers, achieving an average occupancy rate per flight of nearly 70%.

             Analysts say that the occupancy rate would have been higher if the indirect flights had been launched much earlier.