Bob Dylan addresses ‘China controversy’
In a rare and strongly worded message to his fans, Bob Dylan has denied claims his songs were censored by government authorities when he made his much-publicised China debut last month.
The music legend, who played in Beijing and Shanghai on April 6 and 8, missed out some of his best known politically inspired songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind", sparking speculation he may have been censored.
Addressing the "so-called China controversy" in a post on his official website, Dylan admitted that authorities had asked for the names of the songs he would be playing ahead of the concerts.
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China's leaders -- criticised by rights groups and Western governments for human rights violations -- are widely believed to be nervous about the potential for politically provocative songs or statements by foreign rock acts.
"There's no logical answer to that, so we sent them the set lists from the previous three months," Dylan wrote on Friday.
"If there were any songs, verses or lines censored, nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play."
Dylan, who received a warm reception from a mixed crowd of Chinese and expatriates in Beijing and Shanghai, denied reports that his concerts had been attended mostly by foreigners and that there were many empty seats.
"If anybody wants to check with any of the concert-goers they will see that it was mostly Chinese young people that came," he said, adding the audience responded "enthusiastically" to his more recent songs.
"Out of 13,000 seats we sold about 12,000 of them, and the rest of the tickets were given away to orphanages," he added.
Dylan was playing as part of a tour commemorating 50 years since his first major performance on April 11, 1961. He also denied claims that he had been banned from playing in China last year.
"This was all drummed up by a Chinese promoter who was trying to get me to come there after playing Japan and Korea," he wrote.
"We had no intention of playing China at that time, and when it didn't happen most likely the promoter had to save face by issuing statements that the Chinese ministry had refused permission for me to play there to get himself off the hook."
China clamps down on Inner Mongolia to quash demos
Tight security was reported across China's restive Inner Mongolia region on Monday ahead of possible fresh protests by ethnic Mongols seething over Chinese rule, a rights group said.
The northern region bordering Mongolia has seen a wave of demonstrations triggered by the May 10 killing of an ethnic Mongol herder which have laid bare simmering resentment over what some perceive as Chinese oppression.
Universities and public squares were sealed off in a handful of cities -- a possible sign of mounting unease by authorities already jittery about anonymous online calls for nationwide protests emulating those in the Arab world.
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Authorities are also likely fearful of another major outburst of ethnic turmoil following deadly unrest in Tibet in 2008 and the remote northwestern Xinjiang region in 2009.
"It's kind of sensitive around here right now," a uniformed police officer told AFP outside a vocational school in the old town of Xilinhot, the government seat of the Xilingol area -- the epicentre of the unrest.
Two local residents told AFP that students from the school had been involved in the protests, but declined to offer further details. AFP journalists were denied access to the premises, where police were guarding the entrance.
Armed police were also seen at a nearby middle school, but streets were open to traffic in the area, and AFP journalists did not see any signs of people gathering.
A male resident in the Left Ujumchin Banner, or Xiwuqi in Chinese -- another area hit by unrest -- said police were carrying out identity checks and stopping cars but roads were open. A banner is equivalent to a Chinese county.
The unrest -- which has involved thousands of protesters in different areas over the past week -- erupted after the herder, Mergen, was run over on May 10 by a truck driven by a member of China's dominant Han ethnic group.
In the last reported incident, hundreds of students and herders took to the streets of Chifeng on Saturday, according to the US-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre, which has many contacts in the region.
Riot police and soldiers quickly dispersed the demonstrators, it said in a statement.
The group had called for a regionwide protest on Monday "to demand the government of China respect the human rights, life and dignity of the Mongols in China and to resolve the case of Mergen in a just and fair manner."
China Southern Airlines to buy six Boeing B777Fs
China Southern Airlines, one of China's major air carriers, said on Tuesday that it has agreed to buy six Boeing 777 freighters, as the company continues to grow its cargo business.
The carrier said the six aircraft, to be delivered between 2013 and 2015, have a list price of $1.58 billion with the purchase being funded by bank loans and China Southern's operating fund.
It described the deal as being "consistent with the (airline's) development strategy."
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"The acquisition will facilitate the optimisation of the structure of the group's cargo business, freighter fleet and cargo traffic capacity," the carrier said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange Tuesday.
China Southern said the new aircraft will boost its cargo capacity, measured in available tonne kilometres, by 8.4 percent and enhance its operational efficiency, as well as the competitiveness of its cargo business.
The airline said it was granted "certain price concessions" by Boeing and was paying an amount "significantly lower" than the list price, without disclosing the actual cost.
Launched in 2005, the B777F is the world's longest-range twin-engine freighter, according to Boeing.
It has a revenue payload capability of more than 226,000 pounds (102.8 metric tonnes) and it can fly 4,880 nautical miles (9,038 kilometres) with a full payload.
The deal is the second major purchase this month by China Southern from the US aircraft giant.
Three weeks ago, the Chinese firm announced that its Xiamen Airlines unit would buy six 787 Dreamliners from Boeing, worth around $1.1 billion at list prices, as Chinese airlines boost their fleets to meet fast-growing travel demand.
The aircraft are due to be delivered between 2014 and 2015, and will boost Xiamen Airlines' fleet, which already stands at 71 Boeing jets serving 150 domestic and regional routes.
China Southern Airlines owns 60 percent of Xiamen Airlines.
China Southern has been aggressively ramping up its fleet, saying in November that it had agreed to buy 36 planes from Airbus for $3.78 billion, while rival Air China said in March it would buy five of Boeing's new 747-8 passenger planes with a combined list price of $1.54 billion.
The Chinese carrier's 2010 profit has rocketed as demand for air travel booms in China with the firm's passenger numbers rising 15.4 percent to 76.46 million.
A total of 267 million air passenger trips were recorded in the country in 2010, up 15.8 percent from the previous year, official figures showed, reflecting growing prosperity among the country's booming middle class.
Hong Kong-listed shares in China Southern closed down 1.23 percent at HK$4.03 (52 US cents) on Tuesday.
China credit policies may dent bank profits: S&P
Chinese banks could see their profits squeezed as Beijing orders lenders to keep more money in reserve, reducing the amount they can loan out, ratings agency Standard & Poor's said Wednesday.
Official moves to tighten monetary policy and other efforts to contain credit risks could "noticeably weaken" the profitability of China's banking sector over the next few years, the agency said, but added that it would maintain its stable outlook on the sector.
In a bid to keep the lid on soaring inflation, authorities in Beijing have hiked interest rates four times since October and increased the so-called reserve requirement ratio on several occasions, effectively limiting the amount of money banks can loan out.
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"Inflation and a possible economic slowdown stemming from tightening measures could lead to a spike in credit losses over the next two to three years," Qiang Liao, S&P's director of financial services ratings, said in a conference call Wednesday.
If officials "push too fast" on the measures and banks chop their loans, it could "affect the corporate sector and wider economy," added Ryan Tsang, S&P's managing director of financial institutions ratings.
China's central bank earlier this month announced the fifth hike this year in the reserve requirement ratio, after raising the rate six times last year.
The country's consumer price index rose 5.3 percent year on year in April -- a slight easing from March but well above Beijing's official four percent target for 2011.
Nearly one in 10 toys in China unsafe: watchdog
China's safety watchdog has found nearly one in ten toys in the domestic market is unsafe, highlighting widespread quality problems in the country's poorly regulated manufacturing industry.
Twenty out of 242 toys selected randomly in eight provinces and metropolitan areas were found to be substandard, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement Friday.
Three of the toys contained heavy metals such as lead and chromium, which can be poisonous, while other products had sharp edges and "dangerous protuberances", the statement said.
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The safety watchdog also tested other items including children's shoes, bicycles and baby walking chairs. Up to 20 percent of each product were found to have problems including excessive levels of formaldehyde and durability issues.
The reputation of China's domestic manufacturing industry has been tarnished in recent years by a series of product safety scandals including contaminated food, toys coated with toxic lead paint and dangerous tyres.
Environmental group Greenpeace said this month that some children's toys sold in mainland China and Hong Kong contained phthalates, chemicals used to soften plastic and said to cause hormone and reproductive problems.
Three blasts hit govt buildings in east China: Xinhua
Three explosions including two car blasts struck government buildings in eastern China's Jiangxi province Thursday, an official said, with state media reporting at least five people were injured.
The Xinhua news agency said the explosions were carried out by a local resident who was disgruntled over a legal case currently being reviewed by authorities, giving no further details.
The explosions went off in the city of Fuzhou at roughly 10-minute intervals shortly after 9:00 am (0100 GMT), an official with the provincial propaganda department surnamed Zhang told AFP.
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The first was a car explosion in the parking garage of the city prosecutor's office, the second occurred on the first floor of a district government office, and the last was a car blast next to the city's food and drug agency, he said.
He said authorities were investigating the causes of the explosions and had no immediate information on casualties.
However, Xinhua quoted witnesses saying at least five people were injured.
The incident is likely to add to official fears over possible public unrest stemming from a range of grievances, with soaring inflation topping the list.
China sees thousands of protests and other public disturbances each year, often linked to anger over official corruption, government abuses and the illegal seizure of land for development. But bomb attacks are extremely rare.
At least 10 vehicles were damaged in the explosions, which also shattered windows in the buildings, Xinhua said.
The news agency added that the prosecutors' office and the Linchuan district government office are located just minutes apart.
Pictures posted on the Twitter-like microblog account of the official China News Service showed a white plume of smoke towering over crowds of onlookers.
Jiangxi is overwhelmingly populated by the country's dominant Han ethnic group, unlike other areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang with significant minority populations that have seen violent unrest.
More than 40 people were injured earlier this month when a disgruntled former employee set off a petrol bomb at a bank in a Tibetan-inhabited region of northwest China, according to authorities.
Lagarde plans IMF charm trip to woo China, Brazil
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is planning a charm offensive to convince emerging economic powers like China and Brazil that another European should head the IMF, sources said Thursday.
Lagarde, one of two declared candidates for the IMF job vacated by the disgraced Dominqiue Strauss-Kahn, "could go in the coming days to China and Brazil," said one source in Lagarde's entourage.
Details had yet to be agreed, the source added.
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Lagarde could also visit other BRICS states -- the collective name for Brazil, Russia, India, China and and South Africa -- "to make herself better known, to explain her candidacy and lobby," the source added.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meanwhile said on Thursday that Washington had not yet made its choice on the IMF post, although "unofficially" she would welcome a woman in the job.
Lagarde announced her candidacy on Wednesday after her countryman Strauss-Kahn resigned from the International Monetary Fund to fight sexual assault charges, which he denies, in the United States.
She has run into strong resistance from the major developing countries who think it is time they got a say at the top of one of the global economy's most important institutions.
China said on Thursday that the choice of a new IMF chief should be based on "openness, transparency and merit, and better represent emerging markets and better reflect changes in the world economic structure."
China's foreign ministry said it had "noted" the nomination of candidates for the post of IMF managing director but a statement did not directly address Lagarde's candidacy -- even though Paris claimed on Tuesday that Beijing would back her.
Lagarde told the Wall Street Journal in an interview on Thursday that she was prepared to visit China, as early as Sunday, to drum up support for her bid.
"China, Brazil and India are an absolute necessity," Lagarde said.
If the developing countries oppose another European as head of the IMF, they have up to now failed to agree a candidate of their own, with some critics seeing their opposition as just sour grapes.
On Thursday, however, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he was "in touch with some of the finance ministers of developing countries and emerging economies ... We are trying to consolidate our position."
On Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called on developing countries to help reform the IMF while on Tuesday, the BRICS IMF directors said Europe's grip on the top post "undermines the legitimacy of the Fund."
South Africa insisted on Thursday that the next IMF chief should come from the developing world but added that it had not discussed potential candidates.
The head of South Africa's national planning commission Trevor Manuel has been floated but Mexico put forward its central bank head Agustin Carstens earlier this week.
Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said Thursday that Asia had "a number of potential candidates," adding that IMF head should be selected "regardless of nationality."
Germany, France, Britain and Italy have all backed Lagarde.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday called Lagarde and Mexico's Carstens "very credible" candidates, without endorsing either, adding that "there may be others to join them."
By a convention dating back to its 1945 founding, the IMF has a European head while an American takes the top job at its sister body, the World Bank.
Currently, European nations hold close to a third of the voting power at the International Monetary Fund while the United States has nearly 17 percent.
Asian nations hold around 20 percent, with the rest held by other countries.
The IMF has said it would like to make a choice by the end of June, based on consensus among the 24 executive board directors, or possibly by a vote.
Strauss-Kahn resigned last week to face sexual assault charges in New York.
Two dead as blasts rock govt buildings in east China
A jobless 52-year-old man allegedly triggered a series of explosions at government buildings in eastern China on Thursday, killing himself and at least one other, state media said.
The unusually brazen and premeditated incident is likely to add to official fears over possible public unrest stemming from a range of social grievances, with soaring inflation topping the list.
The three explosions went off in the city of Fuzhou in Jiangxi province at roughly 10-minute intervals shortly after 9:00 am (0100 GMT), an official with the provincial propaganda department surnamed Zhang told AFP.
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Xinhua news agency initially said two people were killed and six injured, three of them seriously.
It later added that the suspect, identified as Qian Mingqi, also died, without clarifying whether he was among the two dead first announced.
It called Qian a jobless local resident, after earlier saying the suspect was a farmer upset over a legal case.
The first blast was a car explosion in the parking garage of the city prosecutor's office and the second occurred on the first floor of a district government office, said Zhang, who would not give his full name.
The last was another car explosion next to the city's food and drug agency, he said.
China sees thousands of protests and other public disturbances each year, often linked to anger over official corruption, government abuses and the illegal seizure of land for development.
Bomb attacks, while still rare, have been increasingly frequent in recent years and are typically carried out by individuals angry over perceived injustices, business disputes or other pressures associated with China's rapid modernisation.
Photos posted on Jiangxi websites showed the prosecutors' building after the blast, with nearly all of the windows on one side completely blown out and debris scattered in front of the building.
The photos however did not appear to show any structural damage.
At least 10 vehicles were damaged in the Fuzhou explosions, Xinhua said, adding that the prosecutors' office and the Linchuan district government office are located just minutes apart.
Pictures posted on the Twitter-like microblog account of the official China News Service, apparently taken as the blasts were occurring, showed a white plume of smoke towering over crowds of onlookers.
Fuzhou has a population of 3.9 million, according to the local government. A much larger city of the same name is the capital of neighbouring Fujian province.
More than 40 people were injured earlier this month when a disgruntled former employee set off a petrol bomb at a bank in a Tibetan-inhabited region of northwest China, according to authorities.
The attacker threw the petrol bomb into a room at the bank while a meeting was under way, triggering a fire.
Early last year, China saw a string of stabbing attacks at schools over a span of two months that left 17 people -- including 15 children -- dead and more than 80 wounded.
The attacks were carried out by disgruntled loners or mentally unstable people and prompted national hand-wringing over China's focus on economic growth at the expense of addressing mental problems linked to head-spinning social change.
China drought affects more than 34 million people
A debilitating drought along China's Yangtze river has affected more than 34 million people, leaving farmers and livestock without water and parching a major grain belt, the government said Saturday.
More than 4.23 million people are having difficulty finding adequate drinking supplies, while more than five million are in need of assistance to overcome the drought, the Civil Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
"The special characteristics of this drought disaster is that it has persisted a long time," the ministry said.
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"Secondly the losses to the agricultural and breeding industries have been severe... while drinking water for people and livestock have been seriously impacted."
Rainfall levels from January to April in the drainage basin of the Yangtze, China's longest and most economically important river, have been up to 60 percent lower than average levels of the past 50 years, it said.
"Large areas of farmland have been severely parched and are cracking, making it impossible for early rice to take root," the ministry said.
The agricultural impact is likely to further alarm officials already trying to tame high prices, including grain prices which have been rising steadily on global markets in recent months.
So far the drought has led to direct economic losses amounting to 14.94 billion yuan ($2.29 billion), the ministry said.
Water levels in lakes and reservoirs mostly in the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan are close to historic lows, decimating fish farms, state press reports said.
Water levels in Dongting lake, China's second largest, were so low that experts issued warnings of a possible explosion of the lake's rat population, Xinhua news agency said.
The national flood and drought control authority has ordered the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project, to increase its discharge of water to alleviate the regions downstream, the China Daily said.
"If the drought continues and there is no rainfall before June 10, the dam will lose the capacity to relieve the drought," the paper quoted Wang Hai, an official with the corporation that oversees the dam, as saying.
According to the state meteorological station, no rains are predicted in the region until June 2.
The Three Gorges Dam has already had to cut back on electrical production due to the drought, while shipping along the river below the dam has been hampered due to the low water levels, media reports said.
The State Grid, China's state-owned power distributor, reportedly said this week that 10 of its provincial-level power grids were suffering severe shortages due to the drought's impact on hydroelectric generation, including Shanghai and the heavily populated southwestern Chongqing region.
China could face a summer electricity shortage of 30 gigawatts -- the most severe power shortfall since 2004, the company said.
China's north has been suffering from a lack of rain for nearly 15 years -- largely attributed to global warming -- while the south, especially the Yangtze river basin, has been prone to flooding during the annual summer rainy season.
Just last summer, sustained torrential rainfall across the region caused widespread flooding and landslides leading to the deaths of more than 3,000 people, state press reported.
N. Korea confirms Kim’s secretive China visit
North Korea confirmed that leader Kim Jong-Il ended a secretive visit to close ally China Thursday, but its report of his talks with President Hu Jintao struck a different note to Beijing's account.
The official KCNA news agency said Kim met Hu Wednesday but it gave no details of any firm agreements on the North's denuclearisation, economic aid or other issues.
China's state media, in contrast, quoted Kim as telling Hu he wants stalled six-party denuclearisation talks resumed at an early date, and "sincerely" hopes for an improvement in ties with South Korea.
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China is pressing to restart the talks on the North's nuclear disarmament, which have been in limbo since Pyongyang walked out in April 2009. It staged its second atom bomb test a month later.
KCNA said the two leaders agreed that denuclearisation "on the whole Korean peninsula" was in the region's interests.
It should be achieved through dialogue including the resumption of six-party talks "and the elimination of obstructive elements", the agency quoted them as saying.
The two sides "shared views on making good understanding and coordination" on the issue, KCNA said.
China's state television showed Kim, dressed in his trademark brownish tunic outfit, hugging Hu, who was attired in a Western suit.
According to Chinese accounts, Kim told his host that the North "is currently focusing its efforts on economic development and we really need a stable environment for this".
Inter-Korean relations have been icy for over a year, with the South blaming the North for two deadly border incidents, and the impasse is complicating efforts to restart the six-party talks.
The South cut off vital food aid to its hungry neighbour in 2008 as relations worsened.
Kim's trip was his third in just over a year to China, his country's sole major ally and economic lifeline.
China's Premier Wen Jiabao, in comments in Tokyo Sunday, said Kim had been invited to study China's dramatic economic development, in hopes he would use the knowledge to revive his own country's economy.
China has long pressed its impoverished ally to open up the state-directed economy. Analysts say Kim's regime fears the loss of political control this would entail.
Kim praised China's "dynamic progress", KCNA said, but there was no hint his own country would follow suit in freeing its faltering economy.
Instead, Hu reportedly supported the North in "firmly preserving socialism and exploring the road of development suited to its reality".
Kim said his country's friendship with China would stand the test of time no matter "how frequently one generation is replaced by another".
His son and heir apparent Kim Jong-Un was not in the delegation.
Seoul's Dongguk University professor Kim Yong-Hyun said it was premature to assess the outcome of the visit, which focused on economic cooperation.
"It's not sure whether the two sides reached any clear agreement on sensitive matters such as denuclearisation," he told AFP.
"We have yet to see if Kim has achieved his goal -- winning China's full support for North Korea's dynastic power succession and economic assistance."
The North's economy is beset by serious shortages of electricity and raw materials and it grapples with persistent serious food shortages. International sanctions imposed to curb its missile and nuclear programmes have discouraged foreign investment.
A US government team is visiting the North this week to assess its request for food aid.
The regime is desperate to improve living standards before the 100th anniversary next year of the birth of late founding president Kim Il-Sung, the current Kim's father.
In addition to Beijing, Kim visited the northeastern cities of Mudanjiang and Changchun as well as the eastern cities of Yanzhou and Nanjing, China's Xinhua news agency reported.