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Shanghai HIV cases on the increase Cai Wenjun SHANGHAI reported 886 new HIV carriers and 392 AIDA patients, with 25 fatalities, from January to November 20 this year, the city's Health Bureau said yesterday. The release of statistics yesterday comes ahead of World AIDS Day today. Cases positive to HIV tests were 26.5 percent more than for the same period last year. People from outside Shanghai accounted for 72 percent of this year's new HIV cases, while Shanghainese covered 60.5 percent of the new AIDS patients. People younger than 45 and men covered the majority of HIV/AIDS cases registered this...

Hmm, did anyone notice the complete absence of mention of this story by the MSM? Times of India BEIJING: Describing Tibet as part of China, US President Barack Obama today supported the early resumption of talks between Beijing and representatives of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama. ( Watch Video ) "We did note that while we recognise that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue" between the Dalai Lama's representatives and Beijing," Obama said after his meeting with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. Chinese President Hu Jintao hailed...

Listening to President Obama and his Chinese counterpart this week, it was hard to tell who was Hu. One is the leader of a great democracy. The other is the head of a repressive regime. But as the two men faced reporters in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Obama deferred to the wishes of President Hu Jintao: They would not take questions. In lieu of this rite of freedom, the two leaders exchanged platitudes. "We reached agreement in many important fields," the communist leader assured everybody. "Our two governments have continued to move forward in a way that can...

Obama In China Faces Currency Strains And A Great Wall Caren Bohan and Patricia Zengerle BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama will continue efforts to court China on Wednesday while cajoling it on economic and currency strains, with the final day of his visit featuring talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Obama's first visit to China has been a mix of goodwill displays toward its sometimes wary people and leaders and closed-door discussions focused on the two big powers' vast and increasingly complex relationship. Wednesday will be no different. Obama will visit the Great Wall -- for Chinese people...

With the interest in fighting global warming, President Hu Jintao pledged to cooperate with President Obama in making a deal to work together to fight global warming. The plan, to the frustration of the protestors that were gathered en masse around the UN building, lacked specifics over what would be done, while the Secretary General Ban Kai Moon also stated that he felt the talks were moving too slowly. He had convened the day’s meeting, as requested by French President Nicholas Sarkozy. President Hu and Obama will be talking later today. There’s a sense of increasing urgency while poorer countries...

NEW YORK — US President Barack Obama said Tuesday he was looking forward to visiting China in November, as he met Chinese President Hu Jintao and both sides vowed to forge a "comprehensive" relationship. The leaders met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly here and both spoke warmly of improving Sino-US ties during a photo-op, without mentioning a trade dispute sparked by US duties on Chinese tire imports. "I am committed to pursuing a genuinely cooperative and comprehensive relationship with China," Obama said at the meeting at the Waldorf Astoria hotel. "We can make our relationship more...

As the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) marked its 82nd birthday on August 1, the Hu Jintao leadership has taken several major initiatives to raise the quality of its senior personnel. President and Commander-in-chief Hu has also given a big boost to military modernization by pledging unprecedented civilian support for the PLA’s ambitious goals “in the new century and under new historical circumstances.” Yet China’s defense establishment still suffers from enduring problems ranging from an aging leadership to factionalism. Further, Hu’s re-hoisting of the Maoist standard of junmin jiehe, or “the synthesis of the army and the people,” could exacerbate the...

LIMA (AFP) – US President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao on Friday discussed the global economic crisis and efforts to speed the process of ending North Korea's nuclear programs, the White House said. > The US president, who steps down January 20, "at the beginning of the meeting expressed how he 'felt a little nostalgic' given this was their last meeting as heads of state," she said. "He said he felt very comfortable in their personal relationship and that he believes the relationship between our two countries is on solid ground" and passed Hu "warm regards" from...

China's President Hu Jintao made a landmark visit to Cuba Tuesday, bearing millions of dollars in aid and promises of closer future trade ties. The Chinese leader brought 4.5 tonnes of humanitarian aid for victims of three hurricanes that battered Cuba this year, which was handed over late Monday after Hu's arrival at the Jose Marti International Airport. Receiving the gift, Cuba's Minister of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Rodrigo Malmierca said that Cuba "deeply appreciates the visit of President Hu Jintao, at the exact moment the country is struggling to recover and continue its development." It was the third...

BEIJING - CHINA and the United States should 'accommodate each other's concerns,' Chinese President Hu Jintao told US president-elect Barack Obama Saturday in a telephone conversation, state media reported. Mr Hu and Mr Obama spoke on a range of issues including the current global financial turmoil, Xinhua news agency reported on early Sunday, in what is thought to be the first conversation between the pair since Mr Obama's election victory. 'Mr Hu pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries 30 years ago, bilateral relations have generally kept developing despite setbacks,' the report said. <A...

China's Hu stronger, but no strongman Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:11AM EDT By Benjamin Kang Lim - Analysis BEIJING (Reuters) - Almost five years in power, Chinese President Hu Jintao has grown in strength but a failed attempt to retire the chief official bodyguard illustrates a behind-the-scenes struggle as he seeks to consolidate power. At 68, General You Xigui was past the compulsory retirement age, but long-time patron Jiang Zemin used his residual influence as the previous party chief to force Hu to keep You on as director of the Communist Party's Bodyguards Bureau. "Jiang lost his temper ... He...

For at least 150 years, people have been trying to solve the pronoun dilemma. That would be the dilemma that causes odd word formations out of fairness to both genders: "he or she," "him or her," or "s/he." Some avoid the gender question altogether by speaking in the plural, as in "If anyone asks, tell them what they need to know." Some people have taken the more extreme approach of devising entirely new pronouns that specify no gender. "Ne," "hizer," "thon," "shem" and "herm" are just a few that came along and faded quickly. They're known as gender-neutral, or epicene,...

Hu urges "common but differentiated responsibilities" to tackle climate change BERLIN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday called for upholding the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" for developing countries in tackling climate change. "We should work together to make sure the international community upholds the goals and framework established in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities," Hu said while addressing a meeting of the leaders of five developing countries -- China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa. The leaders met...

BEIJING (AFP) - A Chinese cartoonist has been suspended for one month after drawing an image of a weeping President Hu Jintao, Hong Kong media said. Kuang Biao, a 40-year-old artist working for the New Express based in south China's Guangzhou city, said he received the order to temporarily lay down his pen on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post reported. The measure was taken two days after the paper printed the depiction of Hu, shedding tears while replying to a letter from the daughter of a university professor who recently died from overwork at the age of 48. "President...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: The President and First Lady are in Russia for the G8 summit, which will conclude tomorrow. In addition to attending the group sessions, President Bush held a series of bilateral meetings with key leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and French President Jacques Chirac. Significantly, the President also had a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, which was characterized as "on the sidelines" of the G8 summit. (China is not a member of the G8.) Here is a link to the White House transcript of their joint press conference...

In his opening remarks welcoming Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House on April 20, President George W. Bush said: "The United States and China are two nations divided by a vast ocean -- yet connected through a global economy that has created opportunity for both our peoples. The United States welcomes the emergence of a China that is peaceful and prosperous, and that supports international institutions. As stakeholders in the international system, our two nations share many strategic interests. President Hu and I will discuss how to advance those interests, and how China and the United States can...

Microsoft Corp disclosed the details of a deal signed with China's top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Wednesday. Microsoft's vice president and chief technology officer Craig Mundie arrived in Beijing to disclose the details of the MOU signed on Apr 18, according to which, Microsoft Corp will invest $100 million in setting up cooperation with China-based software enterprises and their subsidiaries, joint ventures outside China. It will place orders worth $100 million to software enterprises in China. Microsoft will place a 700-million-U.S.-dollar hardware export order with Chinese companies in each of the next...

As a responsible citizen I'm supposed to be outraged at the actions of Wenyi Wang, the Chinese woman who disrupted ceremonies honoring Chinese President Hu at the White House last week. To be sure, I do generally have a position against such outbursts at least in those places where a constitution guarantees the right to free speech and freedom to assemble. But when it comes to people who live under brutal regimes that suppress free expression, I find myself rooting for the shouters. One of Ronald Reagan's favorite stories went like this: a Russian and an American were talking about...

Issue Date: April 24-30, 2006, Posted On: 4/24/2006 China Briefing: Another China on another planetCommentary by Kin-ming Liu A summit between the president of the proudest democracy and the leader of the largest dictatorship took place in Washington last Thursday.  Listening to some of the things being uttered in public, however, one can be forgiven for mistakenly thinking that the visitor must have come from another China on another planet. Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, told the gathering on the South Lawn at the White House that the Chinese are “firmly committed to the path of peaceful development.”  Later,...

Bush slammed for charging Hu protester Pastors: Administration 'hypocritical' for throwing book at woman Posted: April 25, 20065:00 p.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com Some Christian leaders are protesting the Bush administration decision to seek up to six months in federal prison for Wenyi Wang, the woman who shouted at the president and Chinese leader Hu Jintao at the White House last week. At the event, Wang, who got access to the White House grounds as a media representative with a Chinese opposition paper, shouted, "President Bush, stop him (President Hu) from persecuting Falun Gong" and "President Bush, stop him from killing." In...

Did I miss something? Have we already been conquered by Communist China? Did Chinese President Hu Jintao blow into Washington last week as a triumphant victor, inspecting his vanquished foe? That's how it felt. Because of the ringing silence about China's horrid, ongoing abuse of human rights. Because of President Bush, who once reiterated our nation's pledge to defend democratic Taiwan, now stressing how we do not support official independence for that already independent nation. Because our pleas for economic relief were ignored. Because Bush not only apologized for the momentary interruption of a Falun Gong protester at the big...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: For a change, a pleasant, even delightful and funny story from the Associated Press about President Bush. An AP reporter accompanied GWB on what the reporter described as a "lung-busting" mountain bike ride this morning in Northern California, and later filed this report (unfortunately no photos were up on Yahoo as of 1:00pm Pacific time): Bush Takes Muddy Bike Ride on Earth Day By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer LAS POSADAS STATE FOREST, Calif. - President Bush marked Earth Day with a lung-busting mountain bike ride high above Napa County wine country, dodging ruts that...

CHINESE President Hu Jintao has defended China's slow political reforms overnight, at the end of a US tour, as hundreds of protestors tried to drown out his speech at Yale University. Mr Hu has been dogged by the Falun gong movement and human rights protesters throughout his four days in the United States. More than 200 protestors, mainly from Falun gong, pounded drums and shouted into bullhorns the auditorium where Mr Hu spoke at the prestigious university. "Falun Dafa is good!" the protestors screamed. Other protestors demanded the release of dissidents including a jailed New York Times researcher, Zhao Yan....

<p>Bush apologized to Hu JinTao over a disruption by Wenyi Wang, a Fan Lun Gong protestor.</p> <p>The protester who disrupted a White House ceremony for Chinese President Hu Jintao remained defiant yesterday, even after prosecutors charged her with a federal crime punishable by up to six months in jail.</p>

In remarks certain to please visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday told a gathering of Chinese-American business and cultural leaders in San Francisco that the United States has no obligation to defend Taiwan if it provokes China into a military confrontation. Feinstein's comments came on a day when Hu and President Bush sat down together in Washington to discuss a range of issues -- including Taiwan, which China regards as the No. 1 issue in U.S.-China relations. Before his first U.S. visit this week, Hu urged Taiwanese leaders to resume talks with China and called...

A woman accused of heckling Chinese President Hu Jintao during a White House appearance this week was charged Friday in federal court with a misdemeanor of willfully intimidating, coercing threatening and harassing a foreign official. ADVERTISEMENT Wang Wenyi, 47, had obtained temporary press credentials as a reporter for a Falun Gong newspaper and positioned herself on a camera stand. According to Secret Service translations provided in court documents, she shouted in Chinese: "Stop oppressing the Falun Gong," as well as "Your Time is running out," and "Anything you have done will come back to you in this lifetime." She also...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A heckler from the Falun Gong spiritual movement who disrupted a White House appearance by Chinese President Hu Jintao was charged in federal court on Friday with harassing, intimidating or threatening a foreign official. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington said the misdemeanor charge carries a penalty of up to six months in jail. The woman, who entered the White House grounds as a reporter, interrupted a formal arrival ceremony between Hu and President George W. Bush on Thursday and shouted: "President Hu, your days are numbered. President Bush, make him stop persecuting Falun...

Two sources appear in public for the first time to detail organ-harvesting in China Informants Annie and Peter in Washington DC on April 20. Their speeches were their first public testimony about large-scale organ harvesting atrocities in China. (The Epoch Times)WASHINGTON – Two sources who exposed concentration camps in China told their stories in public for the first time on Thursday afternoon. The two Chinese sources, who go by their aliases Annie and Peter, spoke at a rally at McPherson Square the same day Chinese leader Hu Jintao met with U.S. President George W. Bush, explaining why they felt the...

Yesterday China's president Hu Jintal was heckled by someone who managed to sneak into the press gallery covering a White House event. This is simply not allowed in China. In fact, when the video of Hu's remarks at the White House were shown in China the part involving the heckler was blacked out. We now learn that after the incident President Bush apologized to Hu. Apologized? For what? Did Bush apologize because someone managed to slip by White House security? If so ... probably appropriate. On the other hand, if Bush apologized because someone actually heckled the Chinese president, not...

Critics of China's human rights record say they face a tough battle to keep the issue high on the crowded U.S.-China agenda as President Bush prepares to welcome Chinese President Hu Jintao to the White House tomorrow. Once a prickly centerpiece of the bilateral relationship, Beijing's record on human rights and political freedoms now must compete with a wealth of other pressing issues at the half-day summit, from nuclear crises in Iran and North Korea to energy, trade and the proper value of the Chinese currency. "Certainly, we are using this issue to highlight China's record, which is bad and...

WASHINGTON - Poultry processed in China will be allowed to enter the United States despite outbreaks of deadly bird flu in China, the Bush administration said Thursday. Critics said the imported poultry will put public health at risk. The Agriculture Department said the meat would be fully cooked and perfectly safe. "It will have been processed," said Richard Raymond, the department's undersecretary for food safety. "Cooking will kill the virus, if there is any virus, in poultry meat." The U.S. does not accept live poultry from countries where the virulent flu strain is present. That policy has not changed. The...

A HECKLER from the Falun Gong spiritual movement, who entered White House grounds as a reporter, interrupted a formal arrival ceremony for Chinese President Hu Jintao today, prompting President George W. Bush to apologise to his guest. After being welcomed by Mr Bush, the Chinese president was just beginning his response when a woman, who had been allowed into the press section, started shouting. She was escorted away by a uniformed US guard. "President Hu, your days are numbered. President Bush, make him stop persecuting Falun Gong," the woman yelled. US officials later identified her as Wang Wenyi, 47, a...

CHINA’S President suffered the embarrassment of being heckled for more than a minute on the White House lawn yesterday by a protester who accused him of persecution.The arrival ceremony for Hu Jintao was interrupted by a woman from the banned Falun Gong religious movement. She began shouting from the top of a camera stand directly in front of President Bush and his guest. “President Bush, stop him from killing,” she shouted. “Stop persecuting the Falun Gong. . .President Hu, your days are numbered. No more time for China’s ruling party.” The incident occurred immediately after Mr Bush urged President Hu...

President Bush welomed recipients of the President's Environmental Youth Awards at the White House. He met with China's President Hu at the White House today. Dow Closes at Six Year High, According to CNBC and MSN Money. Welcome to Sanity Island!

Rather than press China's president to liberalize, the White House imports his muzzle on the media. FOR HU JINTAO, the substance of his summit meeting with President Bush today will occur before it ever begins -- with the 21-gun salute the Chinese president will receive on the White House lawn. Broadcast back to China, the reception will be offered by the communist regime as proof that Mr. Bush regards Mr. Hu as a strategic partner in managing global affairs. But there's another signal moment of the day's events, which will occur just after the Bush-Hu talks. Contrary to the standard...

The past few weeks have revealed much about the great paradox that is China. It is a nation that wants a capitalist lifestyle with centralised totalitarian rule. The past weeks have also revealed a lot about the Western World's biggest IT companies, Namely, they'll do just about anything to crack the giant fortune cookie market. Some will give away their software, others will allow their search results to be censored and others may even be prepared to help the Chinese Government track down its dissidents. The more principled ones among us may say: "IT companies beware of the Chinese trap."...

FLASH: Heckler disrupts Chinese President Hu's speech on south lawn at White House: 'President Bush, stop him from killing'... one cameraman put a hand on her shoulder as she shouted... seemed to be trying to quiet her down... 'Stop persecuting the Falun Gong,' she yelled... She also shouted in Chinese, 'President Hu, your days are numbered'... woman is taken away by uniformed secret service officers... right after Bush urged Hu to allow Chinese to 'speak freely'...

WASHINGTON (AP) President Bush has expressed regret to China's president for a protester at the White House welcoming ceremony.

In the world of diplomacy, form is often way more important than substance. Consider Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington this Thursday. Last September, Hurricane Katrina postponed what was to have been Hu's first D.C. trip since taking the helm as president in 2003. Remarkably, Beijing engaged in nearly eight months of diplomatic kung fu over the level of pomp and circumstance. The Chinese demanded Hu's White House call be granted diplomacy's top-drawer "State visit" to connote China's rising status. That would've meant a 21-gun salute, Oval Office meeting and star-studded, black-tie state dinner -- all memorialized for the...

President Hu Jintao showed particular interest in Microsoft's "Home of the Future", as befits the leader of the country most likely to dominate the 21st century."Bill Gates is a friend of China and I'm a friend of Microsoft," Mr Hu announced at the end of his visit to its showcase for experimental technology. "Also, I am dealing with the operating system produced by Microsoft every day," he added. "Thank you, it's a fantastic relationship," his tour guide, the world's richest man, replied. "And if you ever need advice on how to use Windows, I'll be glad to help." The site...

Excerpts - Later [Hu] said to Gates: "I admire what you have achieved at Microsoft," Hu said. "Because you, Mr. Bill Gates, are a friend of China, I'm a friend of Microsoft," he said. "Also, I am dealing with the operating system produced by Microsoft every day," he added, amid laughter. "I certainly look forward to the extension of your cooperation with China," Hu said. Hu also said he would certainly welcome a further increase in Microsoft's investment in China. "I'd also like to take this opportunity to assure you, Bill Gates, that we will certainly our words in protecting...

CHINESE leader Hu Jintao has been tailed by protesters after arriving in Seattle on the first stop of his US visit, with signs and chants denouncing China's treatment of Falun Gong members and calling for the release of dissidents. Dozens of demonstrators lined the streets outside the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle, where Mr Hu was staying, holding large banners and using bullhorns to try to grab his attention as his motorcade whisked through. "Nazi-like brutal genocide concentration camps is re-emerging in China," one sign by the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement said outside the hotel. "Free Tibet! China...

Chinese President to Visit Gates Home By Nate Mook, BetaNews April 17, 2006, 12:19 PM China's President Hu Jintao will be making a historic trip to the United States this week, but his host will not be U.S. President George Bush. Rather, Hu is traveling to Seattle, Washington to have dinner with Bill Gates in the Microsoft chairman's 66,000 square-foot house that overlooks Lake Washington. President Hu will join a group of 100 dinner guests, including Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire and Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz. A key topic for the evening will be China's efforts to crackdown on software...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - The first lavish dinner of China President Hu Jintao's historic visit to the United States next week will be in a big, secure house in Washington where the host is one of the world's most powerful men. The White House? No. It won't be in Washington D.C., but Seattle, Washington, and the April 18 dinner will be held at the $100 million lakeside mansion of Microsoft Corp. founder and the world's richest man, Bill Gates. The approximately 100-person guest list is a who's who of the U.S. Pacific Northwest power elite, including Starbucks Corp. Chairman Howard Schultz...

AT an autumn meeting of China's all-powerful politburo, Hu Jintao, the President and Communist Party chief, left the floor to his Prime Minister to discuss economic policy. Hu took centre-stage only when it came to the issue of ideology, using the opportunity to propose a revival in Marxism for modern China. An pound stg. 8million ($18.7million) Marxism-Leninism Academy has opened in Beijing to mark the 112th anniversary on December26 of the birth of Mao Zedong, while an existing institute has been upgraded, with staffing expanded from 75 to 200. The relevance of Marxism may be hard to grasp with Mao's...

"Who's On First" -- new version George: Condi! Nice to see you. What's happening? Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China. George: Great. Lay it on me. Condi: Hu is the new leader of China. George: That's what I want to know. Condi: That's what I'm telling you. George: That's what I'm asking you. Who is the new leader of China? Condi: Yes. George: I mean the fellow's name. Condi: Hu. George: The guy in China. Condi: Hu. George: The new leader of China. Condi: Hu. George: The main man in China! Condi: Hu...

No bilateral relationship is more important than America's and China's. Yet as George Bush and Hu Jintao prepare to meet, it is in a fractious state. IN 1979 China's late leader, Deng Xiaoping, impressed many Americans by donning a Stetson at a rodeo in Texas. The impromptu gesture was taken as a sign that China was at last ditching Maoism and fervent anti-Americanism, including distaste for its “bourgeois” line in hats. America was to be its new friend in the cold war with the Soviet Union. In Washington next week, on his first visit since he took over as Communist...

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Chinese counterpart Thursday in a bid to strengthen ties between the former Cold War rivals and to quadruple trade now worth about $20 billion a year. The two leaders were upbeat, noting Beijing and Moscow had progressed on several issues in recent years. Chinese President Hu Jintao's four-day trip reflects the strategic importance Beijing places on ties with Russia. ``Our countries signed a strategic accord on cooperation and resolved our border issues. Russia and China are actively cooperating on the international arena,'' Hu noted in talks late Thursday with Putin. Hu...

BEIJING (AFP) - More than 100 relatives of people killed in the Tiananmen massacre have called on the government to apologize as the 16th anniversary of the tragedy approaches. In an open letter by 125 relatives to President Hu Jintao, the Tiananmen Mothers group said the government's recent accusations against Japan for failing to acknowledge its World War II atrocities were meaningless because it has not apologized for its own transgressions. "You and your predecessors have wiped the memory of the June 4 massacre from the books and have covered up this despicable event from history," the letter said....

CROSS-STRAIT TIES: The president said Beijing's attitude has not changed and he wouldn't meet with Beijing's leaders if it meant compromising Taiwan's national interests CNA AND AP , TAIPEISaturday, May 14, 2005,Page 1 President Chen Shui-bian (’Â�…�G) said yesterday that he will hold talks with China only on condition that he can protect Taiwan's national sovereignty and the interests of the 23 million people of Taiwan. Chen, who made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Formosa TV, also questioned the meaning of a visit to China that might demand that the nation's leadership accept some conditions set by Beijing....