In This Edition

 

Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie attends an Asia-Pacific security meeting known as the Shangri-La Dialogue for the first time.

 

The Greek government has reportedly managed to work out a deal for a new bail-out package with its European partners in Vienna.

 

China says it has met its pollution reduction targets in the 11th Five-Year Plan between 2006 and 2010.

 

And the President of WildAid, an NGO dedicated to wild animals' protection, shares his views with CRI on the challenge of fighting illegal animal trade.

 

 

Hot Issue Reports

 

Chinese DM to Attend Shangri-La Dialogue

Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie is now in Singapore to attend an Asia-Pacific security meeting, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.

 

As CRI's He Fei reports, this is the first time for a Chinese defense minister to attend this particular meeting.

 

The annual Shangri-La Dialogue attracts defense ministers and senior military leaders from 27 countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific theatre.

 

The meetings have been going since 2002.

 

Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie is set to deliver a speech at the meeting.

 

It's expected his speech will focus mostly on how China is dealing with international security.

 

Guan Youfei is a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry.

 

"This is the first time that a Chinese defense minister has attended the Shangri-La dialogue. The visit demonstrates the importance China puts toward the preservation and improvement of security in the Asia-Pacific region."

 

Organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Shangri-La Dialogue is said to be one of -- if not THE -- most important security meetings in the Asia-Pacific Region.

 

Even though this is the first time for the Chinese Defense Minister to be at the meeting, China has been represented at the Shangri-La since 2007.

 

This year, the dialogue is set to see a special discussion taking place around "China's international security cooperation".

The Chinese military has been putting itself out more in the region recently.

 

In the last two months, senior officials with the People's Liberation Army have made stops in 6 Asian countries.

 

Senior Colonel Ouyang Wei, a military analyst, says it's important for China to be more involved in the region when it comes to security.

 

"China is paying close attention to multilateral security cooperation. Forums like the Shangri-La Dialogue are quite important for strengthening the communication between defense ministers and army leaders in the region. China's active participation in the dialogue also highlights China's need to cooperate on the international stage."

 

Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie will also meet with his counterparts from the United States, Singapore and other countries on the sidelines of the meeting.

 

The meeting with the American side will be the third time in a month that Liang Guanglie will meet with his American counterpart.

 

Military analyst Ouyang Wei says multilateral discussions like the Shangri-La meeting are a good way to set and maintain relationships.

 

"Frequent meetings and communication between defense ministers and army leaders have favorable effects in maintaining peace in the region. What they are looking for is to set up a systematic, cooperative relationship."

 

The Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore runs until Sunday.

 

For CRI, I'm He Fei.

 

Russian Arms Depot Blasts Kill 2, Wound 42 in Volga Region

A series of large explosions at a military arsenal in Russia has now killed 2 people.

 

42 others have been hurt in the blasts, which have ripped through the military installation in the Volga region of central Russia.

 

Some 28-thousand people have now been evacuated from the area.

 

"(We were) sleeping. I grabbed the child, and can you see, I myself am in a nightgown? My daughter called in anger - what is going on there, (she asked). I said we are exploding - where are we to go? What to do with the child?"

 

The Russian Defense Ministry says the intensity of explosions has decreased.

 

However, officials are still not able to say when the explosions will stop completely.

 

Local reports suggest the military installation is mainly used to store and dispose ammunition.

 

This is the second explosion at an arms depot in Russia in the past two weeks.

 

Greece New Bail-out Package 'Agreed'

Reports indicate that the Greek government has now managed to work out a deal for a new bail-out package with its European partners in Vienna.

 

The new three-year plan is said to supersede Greece's existing 110 billion euro EU and IMF bail-out.

 

The plan will reportedly see Greece cut another 6.4 billion euros from it spending, while at the same time, try to save some 50-billion through privatization.

 

In return, Greece is being offered some form of debt reduction.

 

While all this is taking place, employees of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization are now on a nationwide, 24 hour strike amid fears many of them are going to lose their jobs in the cuts.

 

"This is a national crime, it is the biggest betrayal of the Greek people. It is something that will not have a successful result, because the funds from the sale of OTE will not be enough to solve the huge problem that has been created all these years from bad management and wasteful spending in this country. And now we are the ones who are going to pay for all of this."

 

The privatisation plan is being backed by officials in the EU, though implementing it in the politically-unstable country is another matter.

 

Chinese Companies Listing in the US

To list on one of the US stock exchanges has now become the latest trend among Chinese companies trying to drum up cash from the overseas markets.

 

However, as a number of Chinese companies have discovered, the road to being a public entity in the United States isn't always a smooth one.

 

Recently, US-listed Longtop Financial Technologies has come under US regulatory scrutiny for alleged fraudulent reporting of its financials.

 

For more on the challenges Chinese companies face trying to list, and remain listed, in the US, CRI's Zheng Chenguang spoke with international lawyer Rocky Lee with Cadwalader.

 

China's Pollution Reduction Meets Targets Set for 11th Five-Year Plan

The central authorities here in China now say that this country has met it's pollution reduction targets in the 11th Five-Year Plan between 2006 and 2010.

 

The authorities have now released new figures show emission of sulfur dioxide has been reduced by nearly 14.3 percent.

 

Chemical oxygen demand has been reduced by nearly 12.5 percent since 2005.

 

Vice Environmental Protection Minister Li Ganjie is stressing, though, that the next 5-years is still going to bring a lot of environmental challenges with it for China.

 

"The environmental pollution is some areas is very serious. Heavy chemical industry takes up a large part of industrial pollution emission. The new environmental problems, such as electric waste, are emerging. The emergency situation and pollution incident are also at it peak period as social issues triggered by environmental pollution are increasing."

 

Li Ganjie says the Environmental Protection ministry has been making the best preparations it can for the changing environmental situation here in China.

 

"We will protect the drinking water source by improving the protection of key basins area, making out joint prevention plans for air pollutions in the next five years, improving the system for preventing vehicle pollutions."

 

Li says several government departments are now working on creating legislation to deal with the pollution caused by heavy metals.

 

The Foremost Task of Building a Comprehensive Children's Welfare System in China

Experts are now suggesting that children need a stronger voice within government.

 

As CRI's Su Yi reports, this suggestion comes in a report designed to try to help the central government here in China put together a new welfare system for children.

 

The report is jointly released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the United Nations Children's Fund and Beijing Normal University.

 

It suggests that 60 billion RMB, or about 9 billion US dollars' of government investment will be needed to cover the nationwide children's health insurance, handicapped children and pre-school education.

 

Professor Shang Xiaoyuan from Beijing Normal University says to make the utmost use of the investment, a mechanism directly linking governmental resources to targeted children is crucial.

 

"The government has allocated a special fund giving each orphan in the country 600 yuan per month, which addresses the need of a mechanism. Currently in many areas, this money is distributed under the country's basic living allowance system. But more detailed works are needed to supervise and ensure that orphans are the actual beneficiaries."

 

A pilot scheme, launched by the three parties which released the report, is underway in five provinces to cope with the need.

 

Gillian Mellsop, UNICEF Representative to China, tells more:

 

"The key innovation of the program is that in each of the 120 villages there is a child welfare director who looks after vulnerable children to make sure they go to school, their health is ok and they get the right care."

 

Community-based children centers are also to be built in remote and impoverished areas under the scheme, according to the UN representative.

 

Such a center can ensure that vulnerable children receive care and support on family, kinship and community bases.

 

"All our research shows is that children develop best within a family sitting, within a community sitting, not in an institutional sitting. And I think that is really what a lot of other countries have now come to, and I think China is well on the way, what social protection and welfare for children is all working toward social cohesion, so that we reduce the inequity between the rich and poor so that every child has their opportunities to develop to their full potential and then China will develop its full potential as well."

 

According to the report on China's children's welfare system, the number of children who lost their parents, or who are handicapped, abandoned in rural areas or affected by HIV has exceeded 60 million.

 

For CRI, this is Su Yi.

 

The World Environment Day

Sunday, June 5th, is World Environment Day.

 

As always, various campaigns hope to use the day to highlight concerns about the environment around the world.

 

One of the NGO's working here in China is called WildAid.

 

It's mandate is to try to stop the illegal trade of wild animals and animal parts.

 

Earlier, CRI's Paul James talked with Steve Trent, President of WildAid on the challenge of fighting illegal animal trade.

 

Newspaper Picks

 

Xinhua News: Luxury private clubs here in China are under the spotlight as the government says it is launching an investigation into illegal clubs run by museums and other cultural heritage sites. It comes hot on the heels of the discovery of the Forbidden City's Jianfu Palace luxury club that cost members 1-million-yuan in fees. It caused public outcry last month when news leaked out online of the secret club being held in one of Beijings oldest and much loved heritage sites. This story is one to keep an eye on in the press and it could be interesting to see what turns up as a result of the investigation.