CANBERRA, July 5 (Xinhua) — The Australian, the biggest-selling national newspaper in the country, has highly praised the efforts made by the Chinese government in preparing the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games.

    ”We should all wish the People’s Republic of China success as host of the 2008 Olympics, for which it has made heroic efforts to prepare itself,” Frank Devine, a senior columnist with the newspaper, said in an article published Friday.

    The article, entitled “China, this is the World,” said China has spent a lot of money on Olympics-related construction in Beijing.

    ”The city has doubled the capacity of its public transport system. It has not only spruced up its neighborhoods but had a go at sprucing up its citizens, imposing sanctions against two of their favourite pursuits, smoking in enclosed spaces and spitting,” said the article.

    It pointed out that in an effort to reduce air pollution, China has closed down a number of factories in the vicinity of Beijing and, by cumulative restriction and decree, “has cut the number of cars on its streets by one-third.”

    The article also mentioned the first Olympic Games in Asia, staged by Tokyo in 1964, which it said were an image-transforming triumph for the host country.

    As a result of the Olympics, the world embraced Japan’s culture and products, it said.

    ”The 1964 Olympics helped Japan merge virtually seamlessly with the modern world,” the article said.

    The article went on to say that when a country takes on the expense and sweat of staging the Olympics, it professes a willingness to display itself to the world as it is, bright side uppermost.

    ”But this is not an invitation for outsiders to try to remodel it in their own image,” it said.

    Journalists reporting on the Beijing Olympics “will deliver a portrait of China’s realities beyond anything we have previously seen,” the article said.

    ”Olympics coverage may also afford the Chinese, as it did the Japanese, useful perceptions of how others see them,” it added. 

Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

    MOSCOW, July 5 (Xinhua) — Five hundred children from China’s quake-hit province of Sichuan will tour Russia’s Primorsky territory for rehabilitation, the regional press service said Saturday.

    These Chinese children are expected to arrive in Primorsky on July 17 and stay there for three weeks.

    In addition, they will be allowed to enter Russian territory without a visa, and psychologists will be assigned to ensure the best treatment, the press service said.

    The regional governor has asked relevant departments to make every effort to prepare for the arrival of these visitors.

    Earlier, the country’s regions of Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Kemerovo also invited the Chinese students from the quake-hit area to join in summer camps. The number of children, who arrived in Russia for rehabilitation, has reached 1,000.

    A strong earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale hit southwest China on May 12, leaving nearly 70,000 people dead.

    Russian President Dmitry Medvedev invited a group of students from the quake-stricken region to Russia for rehabilitation during his first visit to Beijing last month.

Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

    NAIROBI, July 5 (Xinhua) — The Kenyan government has stepped up campaigns to woo Chinese investors so as to benefit from the one billion U.S. dollar China-Africa Development Fund.

    A local daily, Saturday Nation, reported that the business scope of the fund mainly includes equity and quasi-equity investment, fund investments, fund management, investment management and consulting services.

    ”They have declared interest in agriculture, manufacturing, energy, transport, telecommunications as well as oil and gas,” Trade minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, told reporters in Nairobi.

    ”They are also keen on the establishment of an industrial park and free port in Mombasa,” he added. Kenyatta said as a technical team from China, whose mission was to establish areas Chinese companies could invest in, concluded a week-long tour in the country on Friday.

    The minister said that the China-Africa Development Fund which started with one billion dollars in 2007 would be raised up to three billion dollars in the second phase with an eventual target of five billion dollars.

    ”We will fight for this to ensure that we get the bulk of this fund,” the deputy Prime Minister said.

    ”There is no portion that is set aside for Kenya but we will fight aggressively to show them we are the best investment destination in Africa,” he said.

    The China-Africa Development Fund (Cadfund) was formed as a follow up to the 2006 Beijing summit on China - Africa cooperation, where Chinese President Hu Jintao promised to improve Sino-Africa ties.

    MEXICO CITY, July 4 (Xinhua) — Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Maria del Lourdes Aranda said Friday that the current ties between Mexico and China are “at its optimum level.”

    Aranda made the statement at a press conference at the presidential house ahead of President Felipe Calderon’s visit to Japan and China slated for July 6-12.

    Aranda said that Mexico and China have held a series of meetings which strengthened their cooperation in the fields of economy, science and technology, education and culture.

    Calderon’s visit to China will focus on bilateral economic cooperation as many Mexican companies are interested in investing in China, Aranda said.

    A package of agreements on extradition and on fighting poverty as well as on pork exports and an act of the China-Mexico Bi-national Commission are expected to be signed during Calderon’s upcoming visit.

    Calderon will also attend the meeting of the Group of Eight (G-8) in Japan, where he will propose to create a fund to eliminate the damages of world climate change, the deputy foreign minister added.

    LUANDA, July 4 (Xinhua) — China has always paid great attention to Sino-African relations, and is willing to strengthen unity and cooperation with African countries including Angola, said visiting senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) He Guoqiang here Thursday.

    In a meeting with Juliao Mateus, general secretary of the People’s Liberation Movement of Angola (MPLA), He, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said Sino-Angolan relations have witnessed a sound development momentum in recent years and such relations are at their best in history.

He Guoqiang (L), member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, holds talks with Juliao Mateus, general secretary of the People’s Liberation Movement of Angola (MPLA), in Luanda July 3, 2008.(Xinhua Photo)

    Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, during his visit to Angola in 2006, attributed the rapid and sound development of China-Angola relations to political mutual trust and win-win economic cooperation of mutual benefit.

    He, also secretary of the CPC’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said Wen’s words not only sum up the experiences of bilateral cooperation, but also show the direction of its future development.

    He, who started the visit to Angola early Thursday morning after a goodwill visit to Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil, said to strengthen Sino-African relations is an important part of China’s independent foreign policy of peace .

    To further Sino-African relations is not only in the common interest of both sides, but also conducive to world peace and development, He noted.

    China will, as always, enhance friendship and cooperation with African countries, he said.

    Mateus said bilateral cooperation is mutually beneficial and win-win and the Angolan side is firmly committed to the development of bilateral friendship and cooperation.

    They also had in-depth exchange of views on promoting the relations between the two parties and other issues of common concern.

    Angola is the last leg of He’s four-country visit.

    BUCHAREST, July 4 (Xinhua) — The Romanian Gendarmerie on Friday provided 535,000 lei (about 233,000 U.S. dollars) to the Chinese Ambassador to Romania Liu Zengwen to help the victims of a devastating quake that hit China’s southwestern province of Sichuan on May 12.

    Costica Silion, general inspector of the Romanian Gendarmerie, said it is the first time the institution offers financial help tothe Chinese people. The money was collected through voluntary donation by gendarmes across the country.

    ”We could not forget the help which China offered in 1977, when Romania was hit by a similar quake. Now we have the opportunity to offer a modest help to those who backed us permanently, through the Chinese Armed Police Forces and martial arts expertise,” said Silion.

    The Chinese ambassador thanked Romania for the humanitarian assistance, stressing that the move again proves the friendship and collaboration between the two countries, as well as the close relations and exchanges between the two nations’ armies.

Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake