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 China’s relief materials leave for quake-hit Haiti

 Rescue continues for 8 Chinese police officers buried under Haitian quake debris

 China vows all-out rescue efforts after buried Chinese policemen in Haiti quake located

    BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — China has been engaged in a flurry of efforts to help Haitians and Chinese nationals after the Caribbean island country Haiti was battered by a devastating earthquake on Tuesday.

    Immediately after the quake was reported, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered related Chinese departments to be prepared for assistance.

    On Wednesday, a Chinese emergency rescue team made up of 60 members was dispatched to Haiti, where they went all out to look for traces of lives as soon as they reached the debris of the UN headquarters.

    The Chinese team set up on Friday a medical assistance station, the first one by a foreign rescue team. The station not only provided medical treatment to the injured, but also tried to improve the local people’s awareness of and knowledge about epidemic prevention.

    A team member told Xinhua that local people believe that the medical assistance the Chinese rescuers are giving is desperately needed.

    On Saturday night, a Boeing-747 jumbo jet carrying 90 tonnes of emergency humanitarian aid provided by the Chinese government tookoff from Beijing Capital International Airport for Haiti.

    The relief supplies, worth 13 million yuan (1.9 million U.S. dollars), included tents, stretchers, food, medicines, clothing and water purification equipment.

    The aid was the first batch of a 30-million-yuan (4.41-million-dollar) relief package announced by the Chinese government Friday. The supplies were prepared within 24 hours after the government decided to provide emergency aid for Haiti.

    China’s Red Cross Society has also pledged 1 million dollars in emergency aid.

    In response to the UN flash appeal for Haiti on Friday, Liu Zhenmin, deputy Chinese permanent representative to the UN, said “the Chinese government will closely follow the developments of the disaster in Haiti” and “will do what it can to provide assistance and contribute to the efforts of the Haitian people to triumph over the disaster and rebuild their homes at an early date.”

    The bodies of all eight Chinese police officers who were buried in the debris of a UN building were discovered as of late Saturday local time.

    They were having a meeting with Hedi Annabi, head of the UN Stability Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), when the strong quake destroyed the building. Annabi’s body was discovered by Chinese rescuers shortly after noon in the day.

    ”The eight comrades who sacrificed their lives during the Haiti quake are outstanding representatives of the 2 million Chinese police force members … They are the models for public security departments across the country to learn from,” said a statement of the Chinese Public Security Ministry.

    Before the quake, a total of 142 Chinese police officers were deployed in Haiti as part of the UN peacekeeping mission.



Chinese rescuers provide much-needed medical assistance in Haiti 

    BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) — Being the only foreign rescue team to run medical-aid stations in quake-ravaged Haiti, Chinese rescuers are giving quake victims what they desperately need: medical assistance, team members told Xinhua via phone Saturday.

    The China International Search and Rescue Team, arriving in Port-au-Prince at 2 a.m. local time on Jan. 14, opened the first medical assistance station at 8 p.m. the next day, said captain Hou Shike. Full story
China confirms death of all 8 Chinese police officers in Haiti quake

Chinese peacekeeping police salute to a vehicle carrying the last body of their buried colleague in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, on Jan. 16, 2010. The bodies of all eight Chinese police officers who were buried during the Haiti quake had been found as of early Sunday morning Beijing time, the Ministry of Public Security said. (Xinhua/Yuan Man)

    BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — The bodies of all eight Chinese police officers buried under a collapsed building in the Haiti quake had been found as of early Sunday morning Beijing time, the Ministry of Public Security said.

    The first body was found at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 16 Beijing time after more than 80 hours of search and rescue work, and the other seven were retrieved from 10:42 p.m. to 3:56 a.m. Jan. 17 under the joint efforts of the Chinese rescue team, the Chinese peacekeeping force in Haiti and several foreign rescue teams, the ministry’s emergency response work team announced Sunday. Full story
China’s rescue team finds one Chinese body in Haiti 

Chinese rescuers observe a moment of silence to pay last respects to a dead Chinese colleague in quake-hit Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 16, 2010. Chinese rescue team found one dead Chinese body from the rubbles Saturday.(Xinhua/Yuan Man)

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) — A Chinese body had been found among the rubble of a building here destroyed by Haiti’s massive earthquake, Chinese rescue team leader Huang Jianfa said here early Saturday morning.

    The body was found at 03:30 a.m. local time (0830 GMT) among the ruins of the collapsed building of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Full story

China’s relief materials leave for quake-hit Haiti

   BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) — A Boeing-747 jumbo jet carrying 90 tonnes of Chinese government’s emergency humanitarian relief materials took off from Beijing Capital International Airport to quake-hit Haiti at 12:22 p.m. on Saturday.

Emergency humanitarian aid cargo is seen before being loaded on a plane at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, Jan. 16, 2010. A Boeing-747 jumbo jet carrying 90 tonnes of Chinese government’s emergency humanitarian aid cargo took off from Beijing Capital International Airport to quake-hit Haiti at around 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Commerce. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

    The 13 million yuan (1.9 million U.S. dollars) quake-relief materials, including tents, stretchers, food, medicines, clothing and water purification equipment, is China’s first batch of relief material to the Caribbean country. Full story

Chinese FM offers deep sympathy to victims in quake-hit Haiti 

    TOKYO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) — Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechion Saturday extended condolences and deep sympathy to families of the victims in quake-hit Haiti.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, is interviewed by Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television (CCTV) in Tokyo, capital of Japan, Jan. 16, 2010. Yang is in Japan for the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC). (Xinhua/Ren Zhenglai)

 
    “We feel great regret over the heavy casualties and enormous damage to properties caused by the major earthquakes in Haiti,” said Yang in an interview with Xinhua and China Central Television(CCTV). Full story
Chances slim for survival of 8 Chinese officers in Haiti 

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — Hopes of survival are dwindling for eight Chinese police officers trapped under rubble in Port-au-Prince, chief of the Chinese rescue team said Friday.

  The Chinese rescue team was doing everything possible to speed up the search for the officers, hoping that miracles could happen, Huang Jianfa told Xinhua. Full story

Rescue continues for 8 Chinese police officers buried under Haitian quake debris

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — Chinese rescuers were still looking for eight Chinese police officers buried under the debris of the devastating Haitian quake, a Chinese official said on Friday.

Chinese peacekeepers work on the remains of a building in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, Jan. 15, 2010. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)

    A Chinese rescue team of over 60 members had been dispatched from home, and the Chinese peacekeeping police in Haiti were looking for the eight police officers buried under the local UN building, said Wang Shuping, Chinese business representative in Haiti. Full story

Special Report: Strong Quake Rocks Haiti

    SHANGHAI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — China’s economic hub Shanghai in December posted the first year-on-year growth in both imports and exports in 14 months, indicating further recovery from the economic downturn, local customs said Sunday.

    Last month, Shanghai’s foreign trade stood at 30.7 billion U.S. dollars, a growth of 35.3 percent over the same month of 2008. This was the second year-on-year growth of foreign trade in two consecutive months in the city, the sources said.

    Exports in particular, which stood at 15.21 billion U.S. dollars, reported the first year-on-year growth of 23.5 percent since November 2008, while imports surged 49.5 percent, up from the 26.7 percent growth rate in the previous month.

    Last month saw the city’s trade with the European Union, the United States and Japan up 15.4 percent, 36.8 percent and 19.8 percent, respectively.

    However, Shanghai’s foreign trade in total last year went down 13.8 percent from 2008 to 277.73 billion U.S. dollars due to the economic crisis effect. The total included 141.91 billion dollars in exports, down 16.2 percent, and 135.82 billion dollars in imports, down 11.1 percent. 

Special Report:  Expo 2010 Shanghai China  

    HAIKOU, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — China’s southern island province of Hainan will suspend land leasing and development approval in a move to curb property speculation, the province’s Party chief has said.

    Following a tourism promotion policy document issued by the central government earlier this month, real estate developers have flocked into the island, causing new property bubble concerns, WeiLiucheng, secretary of the Communist Party of China Hainan provincial committee, said at a meeting in Haikou Friday.

    The provincial government would not approve any program for land leasing and development before a specific plan gets nod from the the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in an effort to clamp down on potential speculation in the housing market, he said.

    The central government announced on Jan. 4 a plan to build the island into a top international tourist destination by 2020. The specific tourism promotion plan is currently under study and scheduled to be submitted to the National Development and Reform Commission between March and April.

    Housing prices in Hainan has surged after the release of the tourism-boosting plan, with some programs hitting 70,000 yuan (10,249 U.S. dollars) per square meter, arising high alertness from the local government.

    The government will step up efforts for affordable housing construction, intensify governmental regulations in market planning and land supply, so as to guide the real estate market todevelop in a healthy and steady way, according to Wei.

Chinese peacekeeping police salute to a vehicle carrying the last body of their buried colleague in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, on Jan. 16, 2010. The bodies of all eight Chinese police officers who were buried during the Haiti quake had been found as of early Sunday morning Beijing time, the Ministry of Public Security said. (Xinhua/Yuan Man)

    BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — The bodies of all eight Chinese police officers buried under a collapsed building in the Haiti quake had been found as of early Sunday morning Beijing time, the Ministry of Public Security said.

    The first body was found at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 16 Beijing time after more than 80 hours of search and rescue work, and the other seven were retrieved from 10:42 p.m. to 3:56 a.m. Jan. 17 under the joint efforts of the Chinese rescue team, the Chinese peacekeeping force in Haiti and several foreign rescue teams, the ministry’s emergency response work team announced Sunday.

    Of the victims, four were officers of China’s peacekeeping force in Haiti and the rest were in a team sent by the ministry to Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, for peacekeeping consultations, according to the ministry.

    The eight were meeting UN officials in the headquarters of the UN Stabilization Mission in Port-au-Prince when the quake struck at about 4:50 p.m. Tuesday local time.

    The team arrived in the Caribbean city Tuesday afternoon. The victims were: Zhu Xiaoping, 48, director of the ministry’s equipment and finance department; Guo Baoshan, 60, deputy director of the ministry’s international cooperation department; Wang Shulin, 58, and Li Xiaoming, 35, both researchers at the ministry.

    The four peacekeepers were: Zhao Huayu, 38; Li Qin, 47; Zhong Jianqin, 35; and He Zhihong, 35.

    They were all men except for He.

    According to the ministry, the bodies will be transferred back to China as soon as possible.

    ”The eight comrades who sacrificed their lives during the Haiti quake are outstanding representatives of the 2 million Chinese police force members… They are the models for public security departments across the country to learn from,” said a statement of the ministry.

    A total of 142 Chinese police peacekeepers are deployed in Haiti.

    A Chinese rescue team of more than 60 people left Beijing Wednesday evening along with 10 tons of food, equipment and medicines.

Liu Xiangyang (L), deputy chief of the National Earthquake Disaster Emergency Rescue Team, salutes to a Chinese victim in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, on Jan. 16, 2010. The bodies of all eight Chinese police officers who were buried during the Haiti quake had been found as of early Sunday morning Beijing time, the Ministry of Public Security said. (Xinhua/Yuan Man)

Second body of buried Chinese peacekeeping police in Haiti found 

   BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — The Ministry of Public Security confirmed early Sunday morning that a second body of eight Chinese peacekeeping police buried in the debris of Haitian earthquake was found just hours ago.

    The body was identified to be Zhong Jianqin, a public relations officer for anti-riot peacekeeping police of China in Haiti.Full story

China’s rescue team finds one Chinese body in Haiti 

Chinese rescuers observe a moment of silence to pay last respects to a dead Chinese colleague in quake-hit Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 16, 2010. Chinese rescue team found one dead Chinese body from the rubbles Saturday.(Xinhua/Yuan Man)

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) — A Chinese body had been found among the rubble of a building here destroyed by Haiti’s massive earthquake, Chinese rescue team leader Huang Jianfa said here early Saturday morning.

    The body was found at 03:30 a.m. local time (0830 GMT) among the ruins of the collapsed building of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Full story

Rescue continues for 8 Chinese police officers buried under Haitian quake debris

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) — Chinese rescuers were still looking for eight Chinese police officers buried under the debris of the devastating Haitian quake, a Chinese official said on Friday.

Chinese peacekeepers work on the remains of a building in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, Jan. 15, 2010. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)

    A Chinese rescue team of over 60 members had been dispatched from home, and the Chinese peacekeeping police in Haiti were looking for the eight police officers buried under the local UN building, said Wang Shuping, Chinese business representative in Haiti. Full story

Special Report: Strong Quake Rocks Haiti

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    MOSCOW, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) — An assembly line of Chinese automaker Geely was officially launched in Russia’s Caucasus republic of Karachay-Cherkessia, local media reported Saturday.

    Russian car company Derways has started body welding and other assembling work of Geely-brand vehicles on Friday, according to Russian state TV channel Russia-24.

    Some 1,100 units were expected to be produced by the end of February, the first batch of which will be delivered to Moscow by Jan. 20. The annual production of Geely will be no lower than 12,000 units.

    Besides Geely, Derways was also scheduled to manufacture for other Chinese brands such as Li Fan, Great Wall Motors, Chery and Haima. The total annual output of the Derways company was estimated to reach 100,000 units.

    Local residents could enjoy price discounts when purchasing these cars, according to the company, which also foresees a great demand of Chinese vehicles on Russian market.

    HONG KONG, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) — The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Saturday approved a HKSAR government proposal to earmark 66.9 billion HK dollars (8.6 billion U.S. dollars) for the construction of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link.

    Speaking after the meeting of the finance committee of the Legislative Council (LegCo), Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng said the project was in the best interest of Hong Kong and built for the next and future generations.

    ”It is not only a transport project, but also an important community investment,” she said, adding people from different sectors and levels will benefit.

    The approval came after marathon meetings of the finance committee as some of the LegCo members raised questions about the plan, and supporters and protesters gathered outside the LegCo building to voice their opinions.

    The Hong Kong section of the express rail link will be a 26-km underground rail corridor from the terminus in west Kowloon to the boundary south of Huanggang, where it will connect to the mainland section of the rail link.

    The funding approved on Saturday comprises a 55 billion HK dollars (7.1 billion U.S. dollars) cost for the construction of the railway works, 11.8 billion HK dollars (1.5 billion U.S. dollars) for non-railway works and about 86 million HK dollars (11. 0 million U.S. dollars) for land acquisition and clearance.

    Cheng said the HKSAR government would address people’s concern carefully and closely monitor the construction expenditure, regularly report the details to LegCo, and put in place a spending control mechanism.

    The HKSAR government will consider working with the district council to hire professionals to provide advice to owners and residents of affected buildings in the Tai Kok Tsui area. It will also actively work on the compensation arrangements for the affected households in the Choi Yuen Tsuen village, she said.

    Cheng also announced that the registration period will be extended to the end of February for those affected households that have not registered with authorities.

    The HKSAR government will improve its consultation work in future railway development and transport projects, she added.

    The express rail link is part of a 16,000-km national high- speed rail network currently under construction in China. Works on the mainland section of the rail link between Hong Kong and Guangzhou started in late 2005. The HKSAR government has previously planned for the construction of the Hong Kong section to start in late 2009. The Hong Kong section is expected to be completed in 2015.

    The traveling time by railway from Hong Kong to Guangzhou will be reduced from about 100 minutes to 48 minutes. Passengers from Hong Kong shall also be able to arrive in Wuhan in five hours, Shanghai in eight hours and Beijing in ten hours.

    The HKSAR government said it expected economic benefits of 87 billion HK dollars (11.2 billion U.S. dollars) for the express rail link in the first 50 years.