BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) — The Chinese government has begun issuing civilian identification cards to all members of the armed forces, in order to better protect the civil rights of military personnel.

    More than 460 members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese People’s Armed Police (PAP) became the first service personnel to officially receive the cards at a ceremony in Beijing on Thursday.

    The event was jointly organized by the Army’s Leading Group on the issue, Beijing’s Municipal Public Security Bureau, and the Beijing Garrison of the Chinese Liberation Army (PLA).

    A PLA spokesman explained that on Sept. 6, 1985, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) approved regulations that denied service personnel civilian ID cards, but this was overturned in the Law on Identification Cards passed on June 28, 2003.

    Civilian ID cards would make life easier, however, military personnel are still prohibited under army regulations from traveling abroad or get married without approval, the spokesman said.

    HONG KONG, July 31 (Xinhua) — The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government recorded a deficit of 10.8 billion HK dollars (1.38 billion U.S. dollars) for June, resulting in a deficit of 16.5 billion HK dollars for the quarter that ended on June 30, the Census and Statistics Department said on Thursday.

    The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said the government collected 10.2 billion HK dollars in revenue and spent 21 billion HK dollars in June.

    The deficit was recorded mainly because some major revenue items including salaries and profits taxes were mostly received towards the end of the financial year, which starts in April, it said.

    Spending for the first April-June quarter was 59.7 billion HK dollars and revenue was 43.2 billion HK dollars.

    Fiscal reserves stood at 476.4 billion HK dollars at the end of June.

    BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) — China’s military would increase cooperation with foreign armed forces in order to contribute more to common development, Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said on Thursday.

    At a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to mark the 81st anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Liang said, “China will take the road of peaceful development, unswervingly, and carry out an independent and self-reliant, peaceful diplomatic policy and a defensive defense policy, no matter how the international situation changes.”

    A member of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and a state councilor, Liang stressed the fundamental necessity of the Army’s acceptance of “the absolute leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC)”.

    China would never take to hegemonism and expansionism and posed no threat to any other country, Liang said.

    He noted the “positive changes” regarding the situation across the Taiwan Straits, while pointing out that pro-independence forces in Taiwan had never abandon their activities.

    ”We are strongly determined to oppose and curb the separatist activities of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces,” he said.

    The mainland would show its utmost sincerity and exert its greatest efforts for the welfare of Chinese compatriots on both sides of the Straits, to seek peace, safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and safeguard the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation.

    Liang also praised the efforts of the armed forces during the severe winter weather chaos at the start of the year and after the May 12 earthquake.

    The reception was attended by other CMC members, including Chen Bingde, Li Jinai, Liao Xilong, Jing Zhiyuan, Wu Shengli and Xu Qiliang, as well as foreign military attaches.

    In August 1927, the CPC-led armed forces held an uprising against warlords, which is regarded as the founding day of the services.

    BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) — China’s combined retail sales in rural areas reached 1.62 trillion yuan (243 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half, up 20 percent from the same period last year, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) revealed on Thursday.

    The growth rate was 5.7 percentage points higher than that of the first half last year, said the MOC in a statement on its website.

    Experts held that this indicated greater spending confidence among rural dwellers with their increasing income.

    Chinese farmers’ per-capita cash income stood at 2,528 yuan from January to June, up 19.8 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said last week.

    However, the increase was still 2.1 percentage points lower than the retail sales rise in urban areas.

    ”Commerce departments at all levels have assisted rural areas in tiding over the severe winter weather and the effects of the May 12 earthquake to secure market supplies of daily necessities and agricultural materials,” said the ministry.

    Prices of agricultural products kept rising amid increasing market demand. Agricultural product wholesale prices increased by 22.9 percent in the first half.

    China has about 900 million rural dwellers.

    BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Hu Jintao has written back to students of a U.S. high school to thank them for their “heartfelt” condolences and sympathy to victims and survivors in China’s May 12 earthquake.

    ”Thank you for your heartfelt condolences to people affected by the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, China and for your sincere donation to children in the quake zone,” Hu said in his letter dated July 27 to the students of the Marching Band of the Londonderry High School in New Hampshire of the United States.

    He said he has read the letter from the students carefully and was moved by the warm and kind feelings expressed in the letter.

    A total of 345 students of the Londonderry High School Marching Band performed in China from June 20 to 27 to express their support for the Beijing Olympics, and on June 25, the students wrote a letter to President Hu, expressing their sorrow and condolences to the people in Sichuan for the loss of lives and properties.

    The students also offered 2,008 U.S. dollars to help quake-affected students.

    Hu said he is confident that with the joint efforts of all the Chinese people and strong support of the international community, people in the quake-hit areas will rebuild their homes at an early date.

    He said to stage a successful Olympic Games is a long cherished dream of the Chinese people and also an aspiration shared by people around the world, and the Chinese people will share the joy of this grand event with people of other countries.

    ”Young people represent the future of a country and the future of the world,” said Hu. “I hope the young friends of China and the United States will strengthen exchanges, learn from each other, increase friendship and make greater contribution to promoting the friendly relations between China and the United States and to creating an even better tomorrow for the world.”

    BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) — China on Thursday dismissed accusations on its security measures toward foreign visitors, saying those measures in public places accord with international common practice.

    ”Those accusations are unfair,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in response to U.S. Senator Sam Brownback’s claims this week that China was planning to monitor foreigners in hotels during the Olympic Games.

    ”Privacy is respected and guaranteed in China. China’s security measures in hotels and other public places are not beyond the internationally, generally used measures,” Liu told a press conference.

    Liu urged the U.S. senator and other relevant politicians to discard bias, stop slandering China and avoid doing what may sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games and undermine the China-U.S. relations.