GUANGZHOU, June 30 (Xinhua) — Although almost half of the shoemakers in southern China’s Pearl River Delta closed in the first five months of 2008 and the number of pairs exported fell, the value of exports jumped, customs figures released on Monday show.

    Additionally, industry officials said that big producers were getting bigger and small ones were seeking out niche markets, while those in the middle ranks were largely being driven out.

    The world’s largest footwear production region, located in Guangdong Province, lost 2,331 shoe firms between January and May, but exports rose 9.4 percent to 3.97 billion U.S. dollars, the customs office in Guangzhou, the provincial capital said.

    The closures left 2,428 shoe producers, who shipped 1.35 billion pairs of shoes overseas in the first five months, down 15.5 percent year-on-year.

    China Customs attributed the exporters’ exodus to pressure from the appreciation of the yuan, the Chinese currency, and soaring wages and labor costs, which crimped profits.

    Asian Footware Association secretary general Li Peng said that 62 shoe makers now account for half of the export orders placed inthe Pearl River Delta region. They saw a combined increase of 16.5 percent in export value in the first five months.

    Meanwhile, he said, “small and nimble producers are rapidly adjusting their production to explore new export markets, grabbing small orders from Russia, the Middle East and African countries.”

    He said that mid-sized plants employing 800 to 3,000 workers were being battered worst in this round of market adjustment.

    Many shoe makers have been adjusting their sales strategy by shifting their focus from exports to domestic sales, said Wu Zhenchang, a shoe businessman in Guangdong.

    He said he believed that this round of industry restructuring will help eliminate weak companies and drive up the unit price of China-made shoes.

    The shoe industry in Guangdong experienced a golden era from 2001 to 2007, when the value of shoe exports more than doubled from 4.3 billion U.S. dollars to 9.2 billion U.S. dollars.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R) meets with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Beijing June 30, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

    BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday, called on the United States to take measures to stabilize its currency and prevent further slowdown of the global economy.

    Wen highlighted unstable factors in the world economy, stressing they were challenges for both developing and the developed countries.

    China was taking measures to safeguard its stable economic development and hoped the United States would overcome its credit crisis soon, Wen said, adding that China was willing to cooperate with the United States.

    ”We are willing to make joint efforts with the U.S. to cohere to the dialogue and consultation mechanism and take each other’s concerns into consideration to better achieve mutual benefits,” Wen said.

    He applauded the growth of the bilateral relations and cooperation in fields such as trade, the fight against terrorism, energy and environment.

    ”The consolidation of China-U.S. constructive and cooperative relations is our shared responsibility,” Wen told Rice.

    Wen also expressed gratitude for the assistance offered by the U.S. government and people for China’s earthquake reconstruction.

    After her arrival in China on Sunday, Rice visited Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, to see for herself the effects of the 8.0-magnitude earthquake on May 12.

    Rice said she was very impressed by China’s quake relief and reconstruction work and the United States would continue its support and help for those affected.

    Rice said bilateral relations had developed significantly in the last seven years, citing the fact that the two countries had established close high-level exchanges and communication, a strategic economic dialogue and strategic dialogue, and good cooperation on the Korea and Iran nuclear issues.

    The U.S.-China relationship was of vital importance to the world and the Bush administration would continue to promote ties and help the next administration to fully understand its importance, Rice said.

    She also proposed the two countries work closer on the issues of energy and climate change, address the difficulties and challenges posed by the slowdown of the world economy, and jointly promote free trade.

    Also on Monday, State Councilor Dai Bingguo met with Rice.

    CANGZHOU, Hebei Province, June 30 (Xinhua) — Ten days after the Chinese government raised fuel prices, Vice Premier Li Keqiang has urged domestic oil producers to increase supplies and asked local governments to deliver subsidies to affected sectors and people.

    ”Increasing supplies of fuels such as petroleum and coal is vital to the steady development of the national economy and daily life,” Li said during a visit to Langfang and Cangzhou cities, northern Hebei Province.

    Li made the tour to research energy production and supply and to ascertain how affected sectors and people have reacted to the price rise.

    On Sunday, Li visited the PetroChina Huabei Oilfield Company, Huabei Petrochemical Company, two local pump stations at Gu’an County and Bazhou City, rural bus stations, a supermarket in Renqiu City, as well as farmers, urban low-income families and taxi drivers.

    Local oil producers told Li they had been running at full capacity to increase supplies after retail fuel prices were lifted.

    Li asked centrally-administered companies such as China National Petroleum Corporation and China Petrochemical Corporation as well as local producers to “dig deep into their potential” to substantially increase oil production and supplies.

    He also ordered local governments to deliver subsidies to farmers, the fishery and forestry sectors, low-income families, the public transport sector and taxi drivers as soon as possible, and urged them to step up monitoring of illegal price rises.

    The government raised the benchmark retail price of gasoline by 16 percent and diesel 18 percent on June 20, meaning mark-ups of 0.8 yuan per liter of gasoline and 0.92 yuan per liter of diesel at filling stations.

    Before the rise, soaring world crude prices had pinched domestic oil refiners, which suffered losses because of state-controlled, below-cost fuel prices and some halted or suspended production to avoid further losses.

    Short supply has led to long queues of vehicles at service stations in some parts of the country.

    BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) — China’s first inter-city express railway will undergo a one-month trial from July 1 on the route line Beijing and Tianjin, the Ministry of Railway said here Monday.

    The Beijing-Tianjin express railway is the country’s first self-developed express railway, with a designed speed exceeding 300 kilometers per hour. The 115 km journey would only take 27 minutes.

    The trial, to be run without passengers, would include spot repairs, train management system control, cleaning and catering services.

    From July 1 to 10, three pairs of trains will run the route to collect data such as departure and arrival times, said a ministry statement.

    In the next 10 days, four pairs of trains will run continuously at five-minute intervals while simulating emergency situations, such as power failures, communication signal blackouts, equipment errors and bad weather.

    The last 10 days, four pairs of trains would run the route at five minutes intervals to ensure coordination of all departments.

    The express service is scheduled to begin on Aug. 1.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R) shakes hands with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej at the welcome ceremony held in Beijing, capital of China, June 30, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)
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    BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday said he hoped China and Thailand would promote friendly exchanges and pragmatic cooperation.

    During talks with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who is on a four-day official visit to China, Wen said China and Thailand had always supported each other and safeguarded their common interests since forging diplomatic ties 33 years ago.

    The assistance offered by Thailand to the Chinese people after the May 12 earthquake indicated the friendship between the two nations, Wen said.

    China was ready to work with Thailand to jointly deal with challenges, Wen said.

    He hoped the two nations would keep the momentum of high level visits to cement and expand mutual political trust, lift cooperation in economy, trade, investment, infrastructure, culture, education, health, agriculture and defense, and promote exchanges in youth and technical training.

    Wen also hoped China and Thailand would work together to push forward the China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) strategic partnership and safeguard the stable development of east Asia cooperation.

    Samak said the two nations had witnessed smooth cooperation in the past 33 years.

    Samak said Thailand would work with China to increase cooperation in economy, trade, education, agriculture, tourism, infrastructure construction, water resources application and defense areas, to push forward bilateral strategic cooperation.

    He said Thailand would keep close contact with China to contribute to the development of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership and east Asia cooperation.

Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake¡¡

    CHENGDU, June 30 (Xinhua) — Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang on Monday called for adherence to scientific assessment and planning in the process of reconstruction after the May 12 earthquake.

    Reconstruction efforts should make the most of the industrial structure in the quake zone, he said, adding high energy-intensive, highly polluting, and out-of-date projects should be eliminated.

    Low quality reconstruction should be avoided and reconstruction should include upgrading technological infrastructure, he told a meeting on industry restoration and employment expansion in the quake zone.

    Emphasis should be given to pillar industries and building material industries in the region, he noted.

    Zhang acknowledged industry restoration and employment in the devastated area faced severe challenges.

    More efforts should be made to create jobs, he said, adding job creation in the quake zone was important to the livelihoods of survivors and maintaining the stability and development of the region.