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U.S. President Barack Obama recently met with the Dalai Lama at the White House despite strong objections from China. Shortly after the meeting, China expressed its high indignation and determined opposition in a stern formal complaint with the United States.

Tibet-related issues are purely China\’s internal affairs, and the Dalai Lama is just a political refugee who has been trying to separate Tibet from China under the banner of religion for a long time. Obviously, the U.S. president\’s meeting with the Dalai Lama has grossly interfered in China\’s internal affairs.

At a time when the Chinese people were celebrating the 60th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet, an anti-China separatist was invited to the White House to meet with the U.S. president. This has unavoidably hurt the feelings of the Chinese people including the Tibetan people, and undermined China-U.S. relations. China takes a consistent and principled stand on Tibet-related issues as they are closely related to China\’s sovereign rights and territorial integrity.

It should be noted that the purpose of China\’s strong opposition to Obama\’s meeting with the Dalai Lama is not only to safeguard its own core interests, but also to uphold a fundamental principle governing international relations, namely non-interference in each other\’s internal affairs.

The peaceful liberation of and democratic reform in Tibet are as great as the abolition of black slavery in the Untied States, the anti-slavery movement in Europe and the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. Anyone who respects history and human rights knows what kind of person the Dalai Lama is. Certain U.S. media outlets were conquered by the smile of the Dalai Lama and his title of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. A senior State Department official even publicly extolled him as a \”living Buddha.\” Do they have any respect for history, morality and justice?

Just listening to the frank remarks made by former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, \”We have completely lost to the old man who is seeking to change the world using his prayers and smile, and have given up critical thinking in front of him. If we look carefully at the history of Tibet under the rule of the Dalai Lama, we will find that Tibet was still a society of serfdom back then. Tibet\’s serfdom was not abolished until the middle of the 1950s. If we see only the Dalai Lama’s smile, it will mean that we care only about the symbolic meaning of the Tibet issue instead of Tibet itself.\”

Since Americans regard anti-slavery movement leader Abraham Lincoln as a \”Great Emancipator,\” they will not go too far to be completely lost when judging things related to historical human progress. The Dalai Lama has again become a tool of the pragmatist tricks played by the United States. Earlier, a European media agency reported: the West has had a strategy toward China, and the so-called \”Tibet issue\” can be used as an ace in the poker game to fight against China.

It is not difficult for those who pay close attention to public opinion in the United States to find that the awareness of being concerned about the weakening of \”American superpower status\” is increasing in the United States. Some pundits in Washington DC even made clear that the \”soft power\” of the United States is being challenged. It is reasonable for political commentators in the United States to habitually find causes from the rise of major developing countries as well as the changes in comprehensive strength of countries. Nevertheless, the \”superpower status\” of the United States must come with an appropriate moral image, and the immoral pragmatist tricks will do harm to both others and itself.

Many in the U.S. media always speculate that Washington\’s creation problems for China-U.S. relations is driven by political considerations because the White House has to keep its balance. However, it seems that the analysis has become a convention, and China-U.S. relations can only develop in accordance with the U.S. domestic political rules. This is not fair. China-U.S. relations that develop on this basis will also be unstable.

Since the United States welcomes China to come on stage as a thriving and prosperous country, it needs to sincerely treat China as an equal strategic partner. The space for Washington to deal with China-U.S. relations in accordance with its own timetable has been greatly reduced. Agendas of China-U.S. relations are currently arranged one after another, and any destructive actions will have a significant impact on following agendas. The China-U.S. bilateral agenda and the global agenda cannot give Washington more time to do the so-called remedies. Therefore, such remedies will become increasingly difficult at the policy level.

Even the U.S. media have noted that negotiations regarding the U.S. debt issue are currently in progress, and China is the largest creditor of the United States. As the U.S. debt default will certainly cause serious harm to Chinese interests, China has expressed concern about this issue. Obama met with the Dalai Lama at a time when a series of high-level contacts between China and the United States are about to be launched. Therefore, this meeting will certainly have negative effects on the development process of the China-U.S. relations.

The China-U.S. relationship is the world\’s most important bilateral relationship. China has been actively maintaining and promoting the healthy development of China-U.S. relations. However, maintaining the sustained and steady development of China-U.S. relations needs the joint efforts of both sides.

[i]By Zhong Sheng from People\’s Daily, translated by People\’s Daily Online[/i]

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The South China Sea issue became a top agenda item for the 44th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting that opened in Bali, Indonesia on July 19. Whether the ASEAN countries can introduce a legally binding code of conduct for the sea has attracted much attention from reporters.

Obviously, the legally binding code of conduct is targeted against China. The United States, the world\’s only superpower, has long been actively interfering in the South China Sea territorial dispute. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced publicly at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting last year that the South China Sea dispute was related to U.S. national interests. The dispute has been heating up since then.

Right before the 44th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Bali, several U.S. Navy ships arrived in the waters of Vietnam for joint military exercises. There is every reason to be concerned about what remarks Clinton will make at the ministerial meeting this year.

China disapproves of referring bilateral disputes to multilateral forums and is strongly opposed to the intervention of an outside power in the South China Sea dispute. This does not mean that China has done something wrong or feels guilty. China just does not want to complicate the issue.

Admittedly, there are maritime territorial disputes between a few ASEAN countries and China. Every inch of a country\’s territory is sacred — be it a small or big country. Territorial disputes are not unsolvable, no matter how sensitive they are. Such disputes used to be solved with violence, but times have changed. France and Germany successfully settled their long-standing feuds through promoting the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community about 60 years ago, which boosted the integration of European countries. Asian countries have the wisdom and ability to maintain stability in the South China Sea, and to make it \”a sea of peace, friendship, and cooperation\” by completely solving the territorial dispute as soon as possible.

Regarding the South China Sea issue, the standpoint of China is consistent and clear. In as early as 1980s, China already brought forward the proposal of \”putting aside the dispute and developing it jointly.\” China says so and China does so.

The standpoint of negotiating it peacefully and solving it jointly comes from China\’s outlook on the times. In the current times, peace and development are the two mainstreams, and based on this judgment, Deng Xiaoping started the great cause of reform and opening-up. Tightly seizing the trend of the times, China is walking on a road of peaceful development firmly and unshakably. The great achievement in economic development has not only enhanced China\’s comprehensive national strength, but also made China more broad-minded and more patient in dealing with complicated issues. The foreign policy of \”fostering a harmonious, secure and prosperous neighborly environment\” has become an important part of China\’s diplomatic thoughts.

The \”Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in South China Sea\” reached in 2002 is a good document because China and ASEAN countries have all strongly realized that a peaceful, friendly and harmonious environment is needed in order to solve the South China Sea issue. Good conditions need to be created in order to settle the differences and disputes.

In the document, all the parties have clearly undertaken to establish channels of trust based on equality and mutual respect. For the past 10 years, China has actively promoted the implementation of the declaration and the subsequent courses and always tried to make practical progresses as soon as possible. Unfortunately, a few countries have not cooperated with China.

Some ASEAN countries made efforts to push forward a \”binding behavior criterion of the South China Sea\” before the Bali conference and even announced that they hope to solve this problem through the cooperation of countries such as the United States and Japan. Regardless of the original intention of this proposal, is there any realistic foundation for such a strong thrust under the current atmosphere of the South China Sea issue? As certain countries attempt to promote the internationalization of the South China Sea issue to put pressure on China, China has reasons to raise the following questions: what is the true intention of the so-called \”binding behavior criterion?\” Are they trying to act freely while binding China? What if the immature \”behavior criterion\” fails to produce the \”force of constraint\” but make the situation more complex?

The ASEAN now indeed needs to further promote the integration of many aspects, such as internal politics, economy and diplomacy. However, pinning their hope on the internationalization of the South China Sea issue to strengthen the internal integration and promote international influence is obviously not practical. This will influence the relationship between ASEAN countries and even harm the interests of countries in this region.

The dispute in the South China Sea does not correspond with the fundamental interests of China and the ASEAN. Both sides will certainly more fully understand the meaning of peace negotiations as long as they consider the South China Sea issue in the height of the further common development and prosperity in this region. What they need now is to cool down the dispute and fully promote the development of the relationship between China and the ASEAN to create a good environment for the final settlement of the South China Sea issue.

China believes China and neighboring countries have the ability and wisdom to properly deal with the South China Sea issue.

[i]By Zhong Sheng from People\’s Daily, translated by People\’s Daily Online[/i]

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\”The whole Party is confronted with growing danger of lack of drive, incompetence, separation from the people, lack of initiative and corruption,\” President Hu Jintao said during his speech on July 1. Meanwhile, Hu also stressed that the tests of governance capability, reform and opening up, market economy and an external environment are long-term, complex and severe. President Hu Jintao\’s speech awakened Party members and encouraged the whole Party to launch self-examination. Hu\’s speech also reminded the people about the seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1945.

Mao Zedong gave a speech on \”getting ready for difficulties\” during the congress more than 60 years ago, as the world neared its final victory in the war against fascism and the Chinese revolution was facing new material changes. \”I see a bright future, but we also have to get ready for difficulties, such as curses from foreign countries and homeland, the loss of a few large bases, the loss of tens of thousands of troops, the explosion of the civil war, the pessimistic psychology and fatigue mood of Party members, economic difficulties, the absence of support from international proletariat for a long time and other unexpected situations,\” Mao said. He actually listed 17 difficulties that the Party might be facing.

Predicting the difficulties that may appear, \”and preparing for them using various countermeasures\” are the political wisdom left by Mao Zedong and other revolutionary predecessors of the same generation and also an inspiration gained by the Communist Party of China (CCP) during its 90-year glorious course.

In fact, since the day when the Party was founded, every step the Party took was difficult, and sometimes the Party was even at a critical juncture of life and death. But the Party members overcame all the difficulties and hardships and carved out their way in these adversities. Mao once said, \”If we did not meet that bad thing, we would have not learned the skills to deal with it. Therefore, difficulties and hardships could make our cause thrive.\”

The 90-year history of the Party has proven it again and again that only when we have fully predicted the difficulties and taken everything into account could we always keep our minds clear, actively prepare for and deal with the difficulties and ultimately realize the great achievement that the whole world would admire.

After the founding of the People\’s Republic of China, the Party has experienced various difficulties and setbacks when leading the people in building socialism. The difficulties and setbacks include the Western economic blockade shortly after the country gained independence, the Great Leap Forward, a serious economic crisis in the early 1960s and the catastrophic Cultural Revolution. The Party has already corrected its mistakes and managed to survive the difficult times on its own. Furthermore, it developed the unprecedented creative reform and opening-up policy, and has been uniting with and leading the people in building China into a modern socialist country with Chinese characteristics.

It is certain that as China\’s ruling party with more than 80 million members, the Communist Party of China will encounter more difficulties and challenges in the process of promoting the arduous modernization drive. However, the Party is never afraid of difficulties and challenges and will overcome them under all circumstances. \”Our Party often encounters big or small problems, and we should not be afraid of them. We have strong will to overcome them. It is impossible to ‘drown’ the Party in the \’sea of China,\’\” said Mao Zedong in an oral report to the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of China.

History proves that being mindful of possible danger can bring success.

[i]By People\’s Daily Online[/i]

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The Dalai Lama recently showed special attention to his reincarnation, which is understandable as he is already an old man. The problem is that the more he talks, the crazier he looks, and the further away he is from his religion. He is like an actor or a politician, often leaving people wondering about the credibility of his words.

The Dalai Lama has made a series of assertions, saying that he would abolish the reincarnation system, that he might choose his reincarnation while alive or that his reincarnation would be found outside China. According to a July 11 article by the Russian newspaper the Independent, the Dalai Lama, who was staying in the United States, would handpick his successor from outside China.

Nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards. The reincarnation system of a living Buddha is unique to Tibetan Buddhism. It has complete religious rituals and long-standing conventions. The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must have the support of Tibetan Buddhist practitioners and the approval of the Chinese central government. If the Dalai Lama violates the historical and religious tradition of the reincarnation system, nobody will support his reincarnation.

What do the religious rituals of living Buddha reincarnations refer to? All enthronements of the reincarnations of the Dalai Lamas have been required to be approved by the central government since the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty conferred the title to the Fifth Dalai Lama in 1653.

The Qing Dynasty released the golden urn lottery system in 1872. A stone tablet in Beijing\’s Yonghe Lama Temple was established during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor and is engraved with words describing earlier serious nepotism problems in the selection of the Dalai Lamas. It said that the title of the Dalai Lama had been passed on among only those with affinity, so the selected \”reincarnated souls\” (or the \”soul boy\”) were all from one family that virtually maintained a monopoly on the title. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty prepared two golden urns and sent one of them to Tibet for selecting the Dalai Lamas by asking candidates to draw lots from the golden urn.

Thereafter, the religious rituals of living Buddha reincarnations were generally established. First, after a Dalai Lama passes away (people cannot be reincarnated until they die), the living Buddha and senior monks will form a team to select the soul boy. Second, the team will first select candidate boys to participate in the golden urn lottery.

Third, the team will submit the list of the candidates to the central government for approval. Fourth, the central government will assign officials to host the golden urn lottery. Fifth, the team will apply to the central government for the enthronement of the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama selected through the lottery. Sixth, the central government will allocate officials to hold the enthronement ceremony for the Dalai Lama.

The golden urn lottery is the most important step of the aforementioned procedures, because it upholds the central government\’s conferment authority, respects the \”decision by Gautama Buddha\’s Dharma,\” and helps to prevent corrupt practices during the selection of the Dalai Lamas. This system has universally been embraced by Tibetan Buddhists.

What is wrong with the Dalai Lama? Why would he violate the ritual procedure that has been inherited and abided by generations of Dalai Lama?

The Dalai Lama always talks Buddhist words. However, I am afraid that he forgot that the Shakyamuni Buddha teaches people not to indulge in the whirlpool of samsara and take being released from pain as their heavy responsibility. How to be released from pain? The Buddha believes obsession is the main source of the painful samsara. Therefore, he advises people to abandon the obsession.

Can the Dalai Lama relieve himself of the thought of splitting China in his remaining years? How could Dalai Lama, who has troubles in samsara, experience rebirth and be released from pain?

[i]The author is Cao Shimu, a professor of the science of religion from the China Religious Culture Communication Association, and the article is translated by People\’s Daily Online.[/i]

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Experts believe that the slowdown in economic growth can bring some benefits. Fang said that when the economy slows, certain high-pollution industries and low value-added industries, such as the manufacturing outsourcing industry, will gradually whither away, while competitive industries with advantages in brands, technology and intellectual property rights will prosper.

Beim is highly optimistic about the future of China\’s economic growth and agrees that the country\’s economic development pattern should be transformed. He believes that China will make even greater achievements in the future if its economic growth is driven by domestic consumption.

He said that the Chinese economy should follow a domestic consumption-driven growth pattern, but the shift from the old pattern to the new one will be a gradual process, and China\’s economic growth will inevitably slow in the process of structural adjustment.

[b]China\’s total import, export volume maintained steady growth[/b]

According to data about investments, consumption and exports, dubbed the \”troika pulling along China\’s economy,\” China maintains strong momentum for economic growth and will not likely suffer a hard landing.

According to latest government statistics, the year-on-year growth rate of fixed-asset investments in China in the first half of 2011 was nearly 26 percent at the national level and more than 28 percent at the local level. Meanwhile, the country\’s total retail sales of consumer goods reached nearly 8.6 trillion yuan, a considerable increase of nearly 17 percent from a year earlier. Furthermore, China\’s total import and export volume maintained a steady growth rate of around 20 percent in the first six months of the year, though much slower than the same period of last year.

Industry insiders believe that given the current situation and trend of China\’s economic development, there is no need to worry about the economic growth rate. Instead, China should make efforts to improve the quality of its economic growth when the growth rate drops and to increase the economic growth rate in the next round of industrial competition.

[i]By Luo Lan from People\’s Daily Overseas Edition, translated by People\’s Daily Online[/i]
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Tibetans from all walks of life gather together to take part in a grand celebration today, marking the 60th anniversary of the peace liberation of Tibet.

The peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1961 marked the unification of the Chinese mainland. Millions of Tibetan serfs stood up and became the master of their fate, creating a new era of the prosperity and development in the region. From that epoch-making turning point, Tibet has cast off the yoke of imperialism and started the historic course of democratic reform, autonomy, socialist construction as well as reform and opening up, moving from darkness to brightness, from backwardness to advance, from dictatorship to democracy, from poverty to affluence, from a closed society to an open society. Tibet nowadays is in the best period of development in terms of economic growth, social development, culture, livelihood, national unity and religious harmony.

The Qinghai-Tibetan plateau has witnessed unprecedented changes over the past 60 years, achieving a historical breakthrough in terms of its social system and eco-social development. During the 60 years, more than 95 percent of serfs and slaves were lifted out of the feudal serfdom and became the master of their fate.

Over the past 60 years, production output and the average personal incomes of farmers and herdsmen have increased dozens of times over. Expressways, airports and railways were built and people\’s living standards were greatly improved.

Over the past 60 years, the Tibetan culture has been carried on and developed, with religious freedom respected and protected. Also over the past 60 years, the natural environment was properly handled and protected, making Tibet the world\’s most ecological friendly region in the world. Only under the leadership of Communist Party of China, socialism, regional autonomy for ethnic minority, the development path featuring Chinese characteristics and respecting Tibet can Tibet achieve prosperous today and tomorrow.

The prosperous development of Tibet over the past 60 years is the result of ardent attention from the CPC Central Committee, unconditional assistance from all Chinese as well as the hard work of all ethnic minorities in Tibet. The development of Tibet shows the superiority of the socialist system, the vitality of regional ethnic autonomy and demonstrates the strength of national unity and progress.

It also shows that people of all ethnic minorities devote more sense of belonging and identity to the Chinese nation and the sense of pride to motherland. The great strength of national prosperity, people\’s happiness, social stability and the nation\’s lasting political stability can be achieved as long as everyone works together with one accord in time of difficulty, lives together peacefully and amiably and seeks harmonious development.

Tibet is full of vigor and vitality on the way of building an all-round well-off society. However, there will be new problems, difficulties and challenges that might arise. The united, democratic, wealthy, civilized and harmonious new Tibet will firmly stand on the top of the world as long as we earnestly implement the tenets of the Fifth National Conference of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on work in Tibet, make economic development our central task, safeguard unity among ethnic groups, set our starting point on improving people\’s livelihood, stress the two important issues of development and stability, maintain social and political stability as well as ensure the steady improvement of people\’s material and cultural life.

It is the common wish of the Communist Party of china and all Chinese of all ethnic minorities to make the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau more beautiful, prosperous and peaceful. Let\’s rally closely around the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao at the core, hold up high the great banner of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, be guided by Deng Xiaoping Theory, deeply implement the scientific outlook on development, make concerted efforts, seek common development and wait for the bright future of socialist new Tibet.

[i]By People\’s Daily Online[/i]

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[i]\”Troika\” pulling along China\’s economy is undergoing changes [/i]

Residents\’ income grows more slowly than the economy. Vehicle and home sales drag on consumption growth

Although there is no need to worry about the full-year economic growth, changes in the fields of investments, consumption, and exports, dubbed the \”troika\” pulling along China\’s economy, require special attention.

It is a basic feature of the Chinese economy to rely on investments for growth. The month-on-month growth rates of fixed asset investments in China have been rising slowly since the beginning of the year. However, when inflation was taken into account, the growth rate of fixed asset investments in the January-May period this year was actually lower than that of the same period of last year.

Wang said that the slowdown in investment growth was due to the credit tightening policy, higher cost of funds, real estate cooling measures and increases in business inventories, which all would be conducive to economic restructuring. Spending on water projects, high-speed railways and affordable housing projects would sustain investment growth in the second half of the year, though the nominal and real investment growth rates may both be lower than those of last year.

Since the beginning of the year, China\’s total retail sales of consumer goods have maintained relatively rapid growth, though at a significantly slower rate than the same period of 2009 and 2010, if inflation is taken into account. Will the growth rate of consumption continue to drop?

Wang said that increases in urban residents\’ income can exert a major impact on consumption growth. Urban residents\’ per capita disposable income grew over 7 percent in real terms in the first quarter of the year, lower than the nearly 10 percent economic growth rate in the same period. Furthermore, the slowdown in sales growth in the automotive, real estate, and other industries has also seriously affected consumption growth. The sales of household appliances as well as audio and video equipment fell nearly 9 percent in the first five months of this year from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the sales of furniture dropped 10 percent, and the sales of vehicles dropped 25 percent. They became a drag on consumption growth. In order to enhance the role of final consumption demand in boosting economic growth, China should raise the income of residents at a rate similar to the pace of economic growth, and take effective measures to increase their ability and willingness to consume.

The world economy also showed grim signs to China in the first half. Wang said that although the world economy has continued to recover, the economic growth in developed countries has slowed remarkably. The U.S. economy rose at an annualized rate of only about 2 percent in the first quarter, remarkably lower than the previous quarter. The euro zone\’s economy has remained weak, with sovereignty debt-distressed countries, such as Greece and Portugal, approaching zero growth. Japan\’s economy in the first quarter shrank by nearly 1 percent from the previous quarter or about 4 percent from the same period of last year because of earthquakes, tsunamis and nuclear radiation leak.

The weak economic growth in developed countries has posed a negative impact on China\’s external demand. China\’s exports to the United States were up 19 percent in the first five months to 118 billion U.S. dollars, and its exports to the European Union were up 18 percent during the same period to 134 billion U.S. dollars, both considerably lower than their respective growth rate for the same period of last year as well as below China\’s overall export growth rate during the period. The weak global economic growth will slow global trade growth and further promote various types of protectionist measures, undoubtedly increasing the difficulties in China\’s effort to stabilize and expand the external demand.

[b]No fundamental changes to happen in overall economic growth trend[/b]

[i]Size of local government financing platforms not as large as expected [/i]

Following China\’s economic growth slowdown, domestic and foreign scholars have successively made analyses and predictions on China\’s economy, forecasting either \”a hard landing\” or \”a soft landing.\” Will there be fundamental changes in the factors concerning China\’s medium and long-term economic growth?

The \”hard landing\” view, put forward by U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini, has attracted more attention among various discussions. He said that given China\’s vast investment scale, increased investments by local governments through their financing platforms and overly rapid expansion in production capacity, China will likely suffer a hard landing once the market becomes soft.

Wang said that as the investments made by central and local governments after the international financial crisis have mainly focused on infrastructure and projects relating to public livelihood, they will not result in further overproduction, but rather improve China\’s medium and long-term development environment. Therefore, China will not face a \”hard landing.\” Latest statistical data shows that the size of local government financing platforms is not as large as expected and is at relatively lower risk.

\”There will be no fundamental changes in medium and long-term overall economic growth trend. Nevertheless, some conditions are changing, mainly including changes in labor demand and supply related to the aging population and adjustments to saving and investment rates as well as increasingly strict restraints on resources and environment. This will pose an impact on China\’s medium and long-term economic growth, which will definitely be a gradual process,\” Wang said.

[i]By Zhu Jianhong from People\’s Daily and the article is translated by People\’s Daily Online[/i]
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China\’s attempts to deal with trade disputes through the World Trade Organization have met with varying degrees of success, ranging from the preliminary judgment against China in a dispute concerning restriction of raw material exports to China\’s successful challenge of the European Union’s anti-dumping measures for steel fastener pieces. It could reflect the conflicts of interests between WTO members and the actual unequal treatment received by the members.

Both the current WTO and the former General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade clearly take non-discriminatory treatments as a fundamental principle, and every member should absolutely enjoy equal rights under the WTO. But that is not the case, and the old and new members are actually treated differently.

The reason for this fact is that if a country or region wants to join the GATT or WTO, it must obtain the approval of the old members. Related articles say that if a country or region wants to join the WTO, it must obtain more than two-thirds of the affirmative votes of the 153 WTO members. However, up to now, the WTO has been using the measure of all members discussing together.

In this way, when a country or region is negotiating with old members for joining the WTO, the old members usually will have a series of requirements and high prices that not only cover the area of foreign trade but also increasingly cover the area of traditional domestic economic system. These requirements also usually set limitations for the new members to enjoy the rights of the GATT or WTO, and so lead to actual inequality between old and new members.

From 1986 to the end of 2001, China\’s negotiation for joining the WTO lasted such a long period of 15 years because the game played between enjoying rights and limiting rights was very intense.

Provisions of the \”Protocol on China\’s Accession to the WTO\” such as the No. 15 provision, which refers to determining the price comparability of subsidies and dumping; the No.16 provision, regarding transitional product-specific safeguard mechanism, and the No. 17 provision, referring to reservations by WTO members, are relatively typical unequal provisions.

China\’s first failure in the battle of raw material disputes is mainly because the No. 11 provision regarding taxes of import and export products formulates that China should abolish taxes related to export products in principle. Although the No. 20 provision of the GATT clearly formulates that the contracting party can restrict raw material exports to ensure domestic supply, the No. 11 provision of the \”Protocol on China\’s Accession to the WTO\” deprives China of this right.

Such conflicts of interests between the old and new WTO members can be partly attributed to the conflicts between developed countries and developing countries because most developing countries and regions were established one after another during several decades after the World War II while the GATT was established shortly after the World War II.

Most of the 23 original contracting parties are developed countries and developed countries always hold the dominant right of the development and evolution of WTO rules. Developed countries exert various restrictions to new WTO members to consolidate their economic supremacy. However, even if all the old and new members are developing countries, old members will always strive to ensure their competitive advantage because their interests could not be completely the same, and there will be still competition in aspects such as domestic market, export market and source of foreign investment.

As major Western economies, particularly the United States, embrace unilateralism, they have intensified the issue. The WTO paid particular attention to trade dispute settlement during the early period after the GATT was signed. The 22nd and 23rd clauses of the agreement stipulate the basic principle of settling disputes through bilateral or multilateral negotiations among the members involved, which were gradually developed into a set of dispute settlement system later.

Nevertheless, the United States failed to adhere to the basic principle in its first complaint filed to the GATT. During the second convention of the GATT on Sept. 9, 1948, the United States refused to conduct negotiations with Cuba, firmly required Cuba to unconditionally correct new regulations concerning textile import restrictions and asked the convention to allow it to take retaliatory measures. Fortunately, the convention rejected the irrational complaint from the United States and decided to set up a working panel to settle disputes. Thereafter, the working pane/expert panel pattern was established and has been adopted by the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization.

New WTO member states are generally not familiar with international trade rules and urgently need external markets. In order to create more stable and reliable environment for their economic development, they have no choice but to accept a few unequal conditions and to endure a few restrictions on their rights as WTO members for some time on the basis of overall equality and mutual benefit. Something is better than nothing, after all. However, a country cannot endure unequal conditions and restrictions forever. After joining the WTO, new members should actively participate in new multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations, and gradually get rid of the unequal conditions and restrictions by promoting the establishment of fairer and more reasonable rules.

[i]By Mei Xinyu from People\’s Daily, translated by People\’s Daily Online[/i]

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Infrastructure construction across China is advancing by leaps and bounds thanks to the reforms adopted 30 years ago, with a network of expressways, high-speed railways, airports, ports and bridges covering the entire country. The Urban environment has been greatly improved, but the construction of water conservancy facilities still lags behind.

Over the past 30 years since the founding of New China, with a weak economic basis and concerted effort, we have made brilliant achievements in terms of water conservancy. We have built more than 80,000 large and medium-sized reservoirs, reinforced embankments with a total length of 200,000 kilometers, created more than 1 million wells and irrigated some 470,000 square kilometers of arable land.

However, over the past 30 years, there has been little investment in this regard except for the construction of large hydraulic power stations and the south-to-north water diversion project, the farmland irrigation facilities in particular. We cannot be content with out past achievement, and the lack of investment and construction greatly threats the security of grain production.

China is not rich in freshwater resources, with the annual water resources per capita accounting for only one quarter of the world\’s average. Domestic water demands of urban and rural inhabitants and of industrial usage have increased sharply thanks to the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization. Additionally, the discharge of large amounts of waste water is a common practice in every city across the country. The shortage of water resources has become the bottleneck hindering regional development.

China has a marked continental monsoon climate. Rainfall is not distributed evenly geographically and is mainly concentrated during summer months. The annual rainfall in southeast areas stands at 1,800 millimeters, while in the northwest it is merely 200 millimeters. In addition, the distribution of water resources and farming land is also not even. The area south of the Yangtze River accounts for 33 percent of the country\’s total farming land but enjoys 83 percent of the country\’s water resources. By contrast, the area north of the Yangtze River covers 67 percent of national farming land but only has 17 percent of water resources.

Although Jiangnan region, an area covering the lower Yangtze valley, is rich in water resources, it is still not equally distributed due to the seasonal rainfall. Because of lack of water conservancy facilities, the region suffers from the phenomenon of \”either drought or floods.\” The severe drought in southeast China this year caused many rivers to dry up and led to a drinking water crisis for people and livestock. Afterward, rain-triggered floods and drought came one after the other, inundating the whole region.

China\’s urban construction is changing with each passing day: broad avenues, towering buildings and so on. However, with so much investment in ground construction, the underground drainage system is out of repair. When torrential rain comes, the road is inundated, vehicles submerged and traffic paralyzed.

The Chinese government pledged to intensify construction of water facilities in the next five to ten years, an urgent effort to enhance grain safety and fight drought and floods at a work conference of the central government on water conservancy in Beijing on July 8, 2011. According to the conference, China will establish four systems that can shield the nation from the impact of floods and drought, utilize water efficiency, protect water resources and set up a scientific water conservancy mechanism.

The establishment of four systems depends on our country\’s superiority of pooling resources of all sides for accomplishing large undertakings and abundant capital support. Meanwhile, we also need to put in a lot of effort on reform.

The CPC Central Committee also put forward five principles at the conference: make people\’s livelihood a priority; make overall plans and take all factors into consideration; seek harmony between people and water resources; maintain the government\’s leading role and insist on reform and innovation.

Work conference of the central government on water conservancy this time offered timely help to the cause of water conservancy. It is a population-winning project that benefits the fundamental interest of 1.3 billion Chinese.

China has witnessed the robust growth of comprehensive national strength, national wealth and pubic finance. We need to use the resources where they are needed most and step up efforts to make up for lost time in developing water conservancy facilities.

[i]The author is Zhu Xiangyuan and the article is translated by People\’s Daily Online editor Zhang Xinyi[/i]

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[b]Focus Three: Will China\’s overseas patent application be challenged? [/b]

[b]Response:[/b] The overseas patent application of China\’s enterprises is right and legal.

According to a report issued by Japan\’s \”Asahi Shimbun\” on July 5, Tadaharu Ohashi, president of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. said, \”If the content of the overseas tenet application of China\’s high-speed railway contravenes the Shinkansen Line technology export contract signed by China and the Kawasaki Heavy Industry, Japan will have to accuse China.\”

Regarding the report, Wang said, \”It is right and legal that China\’s enterprises apply tenets for their related high-speed railway technologies. The application is for better promoting the innovation, transfer and spread of the high-speed railway technologies and for better serving the entire human race. We are legal and confident.\”

Wang also said China currently has established more than 100 high-speed railway construction standard specifications, covering the six important systems of public works and projects, traction power supply, communication signal, system device, operation control and passenger service, and possessed a set of internationally-advanced high-speed technical standard systems and integrated engineering technology kits.

According to preliminary statistics, China\’s high-speed railway has already successfully applied 1,900 tenets and is applying 481 tenets. China\’s high-speed railway has never had any intellectual property right disputes with any foreign company.

It is known that U.S.-based General Electric and China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co., Ltd. conducted wide exchanges on the establishment of a joint venture and technical cooperation last year that did cover technology. GE\’s legal team concluded based on massive research that there was no obstacle to applying China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co., Ltd.\’s technology in the U.S. market. Both sides signed an agreement on December 2010, under which, China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co., Ltd. will transfer its independent EMU train technology to its joint venture with GE in the United States.

Three basic factors determine whether China has independent intellectual property rights in EMU trains: innovation, independence and patents. \”China\’s EMU trains have its unique features and come with independent intellectual property rights, particularly in major techniques,\” said Zhou Li, deputy director of passenger car department of the transportation bureau under the Ministry of Railways.

Wang said that similar to Japan\’s success in the past in doubling the train speed to 200 kilometers per hour based on the technology introduced from Europe, today\’s China has raised the speed level of the world\’s high-speed train technology from 250 kilometers per hour to 350 kilometers per hour, both of which are significant improvements in global railway development.

Both improvements were made based on the tenet of the intellectual property rights clauses in the international law – desiring to reduce distortions and impediments to international trade, and taking into account the need to promote effective and adequate protection of intellectual property rights, and to ensure that measures and procedures to enforce intellectual property rights do not themselves become barriers to legitimate trade.

[i]By Lu Yanan from People\’s Daily and the article is translated by People\’s Daily Online.[/i]
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