BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) — Forestry researchers and technicians need to speed up technical innovation as the forestry industry faces increasing challenges in maintaining ecology and energy safety, alleviating global warming and easing lumber shortage, Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said Thursday.

    Hui encouraged scientific and technological workers at a meeting to mark the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Society of Forestry to take up the heavy tasks with determination and make more brilliant achievements.

    He urged them to start more field research on major and crucial issues, contribute suggestions to the governments to facilitate the development of forestry industry.

    He said the society should double its efforts to spread popular science among the public in a regular and more efficient manner and help farmers to grasp advanced forestry technology.

    BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) — China will put missiles and models of the country’s first atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb on show in Beijing at an exhibition to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

    ”The exhibition, which begins next Monday and is free of charge, showcases the development of the PLA and its contribution to national security and world peace,” said Guo Dehe, curator of the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution, the display venue in Beijing.

    Advanced military weaponry will be on display, including new types of ground-to-ground missiles, medium-range surface-to-air missiles, fighter aircraft and new logistic outfits, said Guo.

    Other attractions on display include a punchbag pummeled by late chairman Mao Zedong when he watched a military competition, a hand calculator used in research for the first atomic bomb, the first national and army flags raised by the PLA Hong Kong and Macau troops and items belonging to army martyrs and heroes.

    Guo said the exhibition would simulate such scenes as the big Yangtze River floods in 1998 when PLA soldiers rolled up their sleeves to help victims out.

    Visitors can experience driving warships and tanks at the exhibition which runs from July 16 to August 20 and displays a total of 970 pictures and 1,750 army exhibits on a total area of 6,540 square meters.

    August 1 this year marks the PLA’s 80th anniversary.

Local villagers row their boats along water alleyway marked by red flags at the Houhu Village of Fengtai County in east China’s Anhui Province, July 12, 2007. China’s central government allocated another 95 million yuan (12.5 million U.S. dollars) on Thursday to fund disaster relief work in flood-hit Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan and Shanxi provinces, a spokesman of the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.(Xinhua/Wang Jianhua Photo)

    BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) — A total of 403 Chinese have died, 105 are missing and 3.17 million people have been relocated as the rainy season coupled with ferocious flood waters continues to batter central and southern China.

    Millions of people strung across 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have been lashed by torrential rains and floods.

    More than 5.5 million hectares of grain crops have been damaged while 30,000 houses are partially or wholly destroyed.

    Economic losses had risen to 31.9 billion yuan by Thursday (about 4.25 billion U.S. dollars). The damages to hydrological projects amounted to nearly five billion yuan (about 667 million U.S. dollars) or 15 percent of the total.

    Cheng Dianlong, deputy director of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said that the water levels of the trunk Huaihe River are still above warning marks, with Wujiadu registering a water level of 20.86 meters and Jiangjiaba as much as 13.85 meters.

    Seven flood buffer zones have been used to reduce flood peaks in the middle reaches of the Huaihe River, he said.

    A total of 511,200 people including civilians, armed forces and reserve military personnel in Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces along the river have been mobilized to patrol river banks and water dams.

    More relief materials including 80 rubber boats, 40,000 square meters of water-proof fabric, 6,000 life jackets and 100,000 knitted sacks have been sent to the flood-hit provinces.

    The three provinces have suffered a direct economic loss of 8.4 billion yuan (about 1.12 billion U.S. dollars), more than a quarter of the country’s total.

    The China Meteorological Station forecast Thursday heavy rain for the next three days in the Huaihe River valley and the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River.

    BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) — China’s land control authorities Thursday named four local governments who have been ordered to rectify illegal arable land use situations and pledged not to be soft or tolerant of any shirking of duties.

    They are the Beijing Municipal government, the provincial governments of Henan and Yunnan and the Dalian City government.

    Xu Shaoshi, the state land inspector general who doubles as the minister of Land and Resources, said all four governments have taken immediate actions to straighten out their problems.

    The problems included acquiescing in land expropriation without actual approval, encouraging the leasing of farm land to get round the ban on confiscation and revising land use plans to erode the area of farm land.

    Responding to the ministry, the Beijing Municipal government carried out a check and detected 442 illegal land use cases involving a total area of 1,053 hectares, more than half of which was arable land.

    The Henan Provincial government revoked its prior approval of the land use application of Henan Fengshen Tyre Company supported by Jiangzuo City government and returned the 26.7 hectares of farmland occupied to farmers. Three other similar violations were detected.

    The Yunnan Provincial government reclaimed 4.4 hectares of farmland from the Qujing City Government who illegally expropriated the land for the construction of a vocational education center. The project has been banned after the Qujing City government submitted a written self-criticism to the provincial government. Atotal of 2,034 illegal land use cases have been uncovered in the province since 2005 involving an aggregate land area of 655 hectares.

    The Dalian City government responded by initiating an investigation which exposed 879 hectares of land misused without prior authorization.

    ”These cases are not exceptional. Quite a number of city and county government acquiesced, countenanced or even pulled the strings behind deals involving the illegal use of arable land,” said Xu Shaoshi at a press conference in Beijing.

    He warned that land inspectors would use all possible means–legal, administrative, economic or technical– to catch violators. He added that the land use quota of local governments cited in these cases would be reduced for the following year.

    ”We will not let them get an unfair advantage”, he said.

    The world’s most populous nation faces a severe farm land shortage. At the end of 2006, its arable land declined from 2005’s122 million hectares to 121.8 million hectares, only a stone’s throw away from the official bottom line of 120 million hectares.

    The central government has pledged to adopt very strict land control but some local governments obsessed with economic growth still break laws and brutally sacrifice the interests of farmers.

    ”The number of land misuse cases is going down, but the problem is far from being eradicated,” Xu said.

    Between January and May, China investigated 24,245 illegal land use cases, down 3.6 percent year-on-year, involving 14,667 hectares, down 12.14 percent year-on-year.

    Ninety-nine commercial bribery crimes relating to land use have been uncovered worth a combined 43.3 million yuan (about 5.85 million U.S. dollars). Sixty-six people received criminal sentences, with another 37 getting Party or administrative disciplinary penalties.

    Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan has urged local governments and individuals to provide and gather accurate land data in the second national land survey that began on July 1st as up-to-date and accurate land data would bolster the government’s tough land control measures and safeguard the arable land minimum.

    ”The central government will tolerate no cheating or changing data,” he has warned.

    Sources with the Ministry of Supervision and Land and Resources have required their provincial departments to submit monthly reports on their latest inspection results and the response of local governments.

    They say that a new land inspection storm is brewing as the land use overhaul will be strengthened at grass-root levels, with the focus at government officials flouting regulations to approve illegitimate land use and the transfer of use rights for state-owned lands at cheaper costs.

    According to a joint statement released by both ministries on Thursday, major leaders of local governments are to be held full responsible for perpetrations within their jurisdiction and required to provide full support to land inspectors and to respond quickly to problems.

    The ministries urged local governments to “turn their head” to review the illegal land use cases uncovered between January 2005 and September 2006 to make sure past problems were rectified and perpetrators were penalized in line with law.

    No organizations or individuals are allowed to hide or shelter land misuse cases.

    HARBIN, July 12 (Xinhua) — The first phase of a Chinese-funded economic and trade cooperation zone that has gone into operation in Russia’s Far East will simplify trade procedures and provide mutual benefits.

    The zone, located in the city of Ussuriysk near the border of Heilongjiang Province in northeast China, is one of six zones to be established in foreign countries — the others are Zambia, Mauritius, Thailand, Pakistan and Cambodia.

    The Ussuriysk Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, approved by Russian and Chinese commercial authorities, covers 2.28 million sq meters.

    More than 60 large and medium-sized domestic and overseas companies specializing in a large variety of manufacturing and processing industries, including shoes, apparel, timber, household appliances, automobiles and components, are expected to set up offices and plants in the zone.

    Products will be exported to Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States and southeastern Asian regions, with transportation and costs considerably lower than on the Chinese mainland.

    Companies in the zone will enjoy preferential tax policies and comprehensive legal and logistics services including business registration, customs and land procedures and visa applications.

    The first phase costing 400 million yuan (53 million U.S. dollars) has seen production lines of six Chinese enterprises go into full operation, making shoes, wood and furniture.

    More than 500 Ussuriysk residents are working in the zone, earning about 2,000 yuan (263 U.S. dollars) a month, which is higher than the local average wage.

    Russian people are expected to have more job opportunities when the project comes fully on stream in 2010.

    Establishing overseas economic and trade zones is one of the three “go-out” steps initiated by China’s Ministry of Commerce to mobilize domestic privately-run enterprises to explore the world market during the country’s 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) period.

    The ministry also encourages companies to set up branches in technologically developed countries and regions. Enterprises in the tertiary sector are encouraged to provide contracted project services, labor, and telecom, transport and technological services to the world market.

    The Ussuriysk zone fills a need after a ban on foreigners selling goods in Russia’s hugely popular retail markets came into force in April. A large number of Chinese retailers who have been active across Russia were forced to desert their stalls.

    Russian police occasionally raided some retail markets, carting away goods from Chinese merchants on the grounds that there were no legal entry papers for the commodities.

    The goods, however, entered the country through what is known as “grey customs clearance,” which is recognized by Russia’s Customs Commission.

    The long-standing practice involves intermediaries that handle customs clearance for bulk commodities loaded in planes or containers trucks.

    After paying the so-called “customs clearance companies,” the consignors of the goods do not have to deal with Russian customs authorities in person. However, they receive no official customs declaration documents.

    The cooperation zone, with legal registration and governmental recognition in all processing and trading procedures, is expected to standardize non-governmental bilateral trade, reduce business friction and bring economic benefits to both sides.

    SHENZHEN, July 12 (Xinhua) — Vanuatu’s President Kalkot Mataskelekele visited Shenzhen, south China’s economic powerhouse on Thursday, continuing his six-day state visit to China.

    In his meeting with Shenzhen Mayor Xu Zongheng, Mataskelekele said Vanuatu will engage in cooperation with China on e-government project. Shenzhen Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., a leading Chinese telecom equipment supplier, is a major participant.

    He expressed the hope that such cooperation between the two countries would continue in the future as it is beneficial to both peoples.

    Mataskelekele arrived in Shenzhen, the last leg of his six-day China tour, on Thursday afternoon.