German chancellor calls on China to strengthen measures against warming / Merkel tells China to respect international rules
Four stories from today that are related to, most recently, yesterday's batch:
(These only include the ones that specifically mention Sudan.)
A composite Reuters/AP story from the "International Herald Tribune"...
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany urged China on Monday to do more to halt climate change, prompting the response that the West has been polluting the skies for much longer than the developing Chinese.
Merkel's visit is her second to China as chancellor, and comes four months before world environment ministers meet in Bali [in order] to try to launch new talks to extend the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2012.
She pressed the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, for stronger protection of intellectual property rights. She also said [that] the ground rules for gathering resources should be the same worldwide, an apparent criticism of China's activities in Sudan, where Chinese oil companies have struck lucrative deals that human-rights advocates say help Khartoum defy international condemnation of repression in Darfur.
Merkel spoke warmly of the relations between the leaders and their countries. "Our contact has been frequent, and we have always carried out a very frank and constructive dialogue," she said at the Great Hall of the People.
Wen said [that] China would do everything [that] it could to fight product piracy. but that there were differences concerning climate change.
"The Chinese wish, like all people, for blue skies, green hills, and clear water," he told a joint news conference.
He said [that] the task of reducing emissions was tougher in China than in Germany, because it had more people and had not yet reached economic growth of industrialized countries in terms of GDP per capita. "China has taken part of the responsibility for climate change for only 30 years, while industrial countries have grown fast for the last 200 years," he said.
The Kyoto Protocol obliges 35 rich nations to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, but developing nations including China have no targets. China will overtake the United States by 2008 as the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases.
Wen also responded to recent news reports that Chinese hackers had infected German government ministries with spying programmes. The Der Spiegel magazine said [that] top German ministries, including Merkel's office, had been infected by the attack.
"We in the government took it as a matter of grave concern," Wen said of the report. "Hackers breaking into and sabotaging computers is a problem faced by the entire world."
Merkel later met with the Chinese president, Hu Jintao. Merkel said [that] she discussed human rights and ways of expanding relations beyond trade relations. "I pointed out that, especially with the Olympic Games coming up, the world will be looking at China with increased scrutiny," Merkel told reporters after the meeting.
Merkel was scheduled to visit the former capital of Nanjing, before flying to Japan on Wednesday. Once there, she will travel to Kyoto, where the current protocol limiting greenhouse-gas emissions was negotiated a decade ago.
From Reuters...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged China on Monday to do more to halt climate change, prompting the response that the developed West has been polluting the skies for much longer than the newly developing Chinese.
Merkel is on her second visit to China as chancellor, and the trip comes four months before world environment ministers meet in Bali [in order] to try to launch new talks to extend the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.
She pressed for stronger protection of intellectual property rights, and said [that] the ground rules for gathering resources should be the same worldwide, an apparent criticism of China's relations with Sudan.
China has sizeable economic interests in Sudan, and has been under pressure to take a more-critical approach to Khartoum, after accusations [that] aid from Beijing feeds violence in Darfur.
Premier Wen Jiabao said [that] China would do everything [that] it could to fight product piracy, but that there were differences concerning climate change.
"The Chinese wish, like all people, for blue skies, green hills, and clear water," he told a joint news conference.
"China's development is an opportunity, not a threat," he said earlier.
He said [that] the task of reducing emissions was tougher in China than in Germany, because it had more people and had not yet reached economic growth of industrialised countries, in terms of GDP per capita.
"China has taken part of the responsibility for climate change for only 30 years, while industrial countries have grown fast for the last 200 years," he said.
Wen also responded to recent news reports that Chinese hackers had infected German government ministries with spying programmes. The Der Spiegel magazine said [that] top German ministries, including Merkel's office, had been infected by the attack.
"We in the government took it as a matter of grave concern," Wen said of the report. "Hackers breaking into and sabotaging computers is a problem faced by the entire world."
He told reporters that China would take "firm and effective action" to prevent hacking attacks.
Merkel also met President Hu Jintao later on Monday, and she heads to Japan on Wednesday, where she will also address climate change and economic issues.
Merkel told Hu that their two countries needed to work together in human rights, intellectual-property protection and climate change, as well as trade.
At a June summit chaired by Merkel, G8 leaders agreed to pursue substantial, if unspecified cuts, in greenhouse gases, and [to] work with the U.N. on a new deal to fight global warming.
The Kyoto Protocol obliges 35 rich nations to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, but developing nations including China have no targets. China will overtake the United States by 2008 as the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases.
China is overtaking the United States as the world's second-biggest exporter, and steadily catching up with Germany, the world's biggest.
From AFP...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday urged China to respect the rules of international trade and development, as Premier Wen Jiabao insisted [that] the rising Asian giant was no threat.
In her first official meeting of a three-day trip to China, Merkel discussed with Wen and President Hu Jintao ways to improve trade ties between the world's third- and fourth-biggest economies.
But she also raised contentious issues such as China's need to stem rampant copyright abuse, raise the quality of its exports, and tackle climate change -- areas that critics say Beijing is not doing enough to address.
"In our talks, I made clear that every country has the right to development," Merkel told a joint press conference after a one-hour meeting with Wen.
"But at present, there are a great many large countries such as China that are developing fast, and there is a need to respect the rules of the game."
Merkel said [that] her talks with Wen covered issues such as intellectual property rights and product quality, areas where China has been accused of cutting corners, at the expense of shoppers and competing manufacturers overseas.
At the beginning of her meeting with Hu, she also signalled [that] she was prepared to discuss human rights, an issue of particular sensitivity to China's communist rulers.
"On the one hand, we have economic ties, but there is still a lot of work [that] we can do in other areas," Merkel told Hu, with reporters present.
"We have also created a foundation on which we can discuss other issues in which we share an interest, such as human rights, intellectual-property-[rights] protection, and climate change."
Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, had said in a video message released to the press over the weekend that she would be discussing human rights and other sensitive issues during her talks with her Chinese hosts.
Merkel also said in her video message that she would discuss the ongoing violence in Sudan's Darfur region. China is one of Sudan's closest allies and biggest trading partners.
In the few comments from Hu before reporters were ushered out of the room, he merely said [that] he expected Sino-German ties to improve.
Following his meeting with Merkel, Wen sought to assure Germany and all other nations that China's rapid development posed no threat to the rest of the world.
"China will always take the peaceful road. China is very happy to cooperate with all nations, but will never threaten (others)," Wen said at the briefing.
"So it's clear, everyone please be at ease, there is no such thing as the 'China Threat Theory.'"
With climate change on the agenda, Wen said [that] China would do its best to tackle global warming and cut pollution, even as he downplayed hopes for success in reaching its own environmental targets.
"It will be extremely difficult to reach these targets, but we have already shown our determination," Wen said, emphasising that developing China still lacked the same capabilities to fight pollution as rich nations.
"We have a much tougher task than Germany does."
A delegation of 25 heads of German companies and industry representatives are travelling with Merkel.
On Monday, ThyssenKrupp Technologies AG signed a memorandum of understanding with an economic and technology zone in the east Chinese city of Nanjing for an engine-components project.
Two other contracts were signed on environmental technology and energy cooperation.
Merkel will stay in China until Wednesday, then travel on to Japan.
The chancellor is both the leader of Europe's biggest economy and the president of the Group of Eight most-industrialised nations [sic], a role [that] Japan will take over in 2008.
The German chancellor has arrived in China, planning to push for tougher action against Sudan.
Angela Merkel said [that] she would press China for help in ending human-rights violations in Sudan's Darfur region.
"China has very close ties with Africa, and we will obviously talk about what we can do now to combat the appalling human-rights violations in Sudan's Darfur region," Merkel said over the weekend.
A German government official said [that] the aim of the trip was to deepen relations with Beijing, including "closer co-operation on the environment, energy efficiency, green technology, and innovation".
Climate issues
After inspecting a guard of honour at a formal welcoming ceremony in Beijing's Tianmen Square on Monday, Merkel spoke warmly of the relations between the two countries.
"Our contact has been frequent, and we have always carried out a very frank and constructive dialogue," she said at the Great Hall of the People, before holding talks with Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier.
"We want to make these exchanges even closer and [to] work together increasingly in the international sphere."
Merkel's second visit to China as chancellor comes four months before world environment ministers meet in Bali, Indonesia, [in order] to try to launch new talks aimed at extending the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.
At a June summit chaired by Merkel, G8 leaders agreed to pursue substantial but unspecified cuts in greenhouse gases and [to] work with the UN on a new deal to fight global warming.
Kyoto obliges 35 rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but developing nations such as China – which is set to overtake the US by 2008 as the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases – are exempted.
Later on Monday, Merkel is expected to hold talks with Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, as well as Chinese cultural and civil-rights groups.
Business, human-rights issues in China, and protection of intellectual property rights will be among the other issues on the agenda.
Cyber sparring
On Sunday, China rejected a news report that Chinese hackers linked to the military were responsible for infecting German-government computers.
The German weekly Der Spiegel, which did not specify its sources, reported in its Sunday edition that German security agencies had found that computers at the chancellery and three ministries had been infected with so-called Trojans, or spy programmes, from China.
It said [that] the country's domestic-intelligence agency believed that a group of hackers associated with China's People's Liberation Army might be behind the alleged hacking.
But Jiang Yu, a spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry, said that Beijing "has always been against, and strictly opposes, the criminal action of hacking and harming computer systems", adding that "China is willing to strengthen co-operation with Germany on the issue".
German government officials refused to comment on the report.
Merkel heads to Japan on Wednesday, where she will also hold talks addressing climate change, as well as economic issues.
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