China buoyant as war games end

REUTERS. BEIJING

China praised its first joint military exercises with Russia yesterday far lifting relations to an all time high and opening room for further co operation.

Eight days of drills involving more than 10,000 troops from the former Cold War foes' armies, navies and' air forces concluded on Thursday with a practice air-and-ground assault in eastern Shandong Province.

The last event on the schedule was an outdoors "family-style lunch" of noodles, braised eggplant and fried fish washed down with beer as tank engines roared in the background, Xinhua news agency said.

"Through the exercises, the two armed forces … improved their capabilities to meet new challenges and threats and to fight international terrorism," Xinhua quoted Chinese Minister of defense Cao Gangchuan as saying.

"China and Russia have reached an unprecedented height in their strategic partnership," it said in a commentary.

Relations between Beijing and Moscow have grown closer in recent years around points of common ground that include concern 'about instability across Central Asia.

Both countries want to keep political turmoil in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan from spilling over their borders and to check the US presence in the region.

The two countries are also players in six-patty talks on North Korea’s nuclear crisis, reflecting shared security interests.

China has been looking to Russia for energy resources to feed its booming economy, while Moscow is keen to boost sales to Beijing of military hardware such as the advanced bombers and fighter jets showcased during the war games.

The state-run People's Daily yesterday said that the two countries would increase bilateral trade to a volume of US$60 billion to US$80 billion by 2010.

China would also pour US$12 billion in investment into Russia's energy sector and infrastructure construction before 2020, the newspaper said.

"The war games also made clear that China is willing to cooperate with other countries militarily and is serious about learning from its peers as it modernizes its armed forces," Xinhua said.

"More moves to deepen China's military communication with other countries can be expected," the news agency added.

The exercises started on Thursday last week with consultations and battle-planning on Russia's Pacific coast near Vladivostok, then moved to the Shandong Peninsula for live-fire drills, including a joint offshore blockade and amphibious landing.

Xinhua quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying Russia and China may hold more joint military exercises in the future.

MAC calls drills `preparations for war'

BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN

STAFF REPORTER

The Chinese-Russian military exercises were clearly preparation for a possible war in the Taiwan Strait, Mainland Council Affairs Chairman Joseph Wu said yesterday.

Speaking in response to questions from reporters, Wu said the kinds of exercises carried out in the war games were proof of his claim.

"With the Chinese government taking an increasingly hard line against Taiwan and concealing its intentions from the public, these strongarm tactics are posing an increasingly grave challenge to the nation," he said.

Wu said Chinese President Hu Jintao was using different tactics at different times.

"While the `soft strategies' it has adopted are much softer than before, the `hard strategies' it has adopted are much harder," he said.

He said it was worth noting that the Chinese government tended to make verbal offers to Taiwanese and then delay putting them into effect.

Wu cited China's offer to charge visiting Taiwanese students the same course fees as Chinese nationals, saying that this was aimed at attracting Taiwan's better students and negatively influencing the nation's education system.

"The offer is an example of China's implementation of its `one China' principle, which will result in division among Taiwanese people. This is a serious problem that Taiwan must look at very closely," Wu said.

He also reminded local governments sending delegations to China that they should not engage in agricultural exchanges, as this might lead to the theft of Taiwanese agricultural technology, and thus risk Taiwan's competitive edge in the global market.

Lawmakers go on nuclear waste tour at Nevada facility

CNA , LOS ANGELES

A group of Taiwanese legislators paid a visit to a permanent nuclear waste storage facility in Nevada Thursday in an effort to collect tips on handling radioactive waste.

Accompanied by officials from the US Department of Energy, the lawmakers, headed by Legislator Chiu Yung-jen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), spent several hours touring the Yucca Mountain Repository, located about 160km northwest of Las Vegas, and being briefed by the facility's authorities.

According to these authorities, the nuclear waste dump is built in an area not only far from densely populated cities but also an area where geological conditions is stable, making it suitable for storage of hazardous materials.

So far, they said, the Department of Energy has spent US$8 billion developing the underground dump, which is planned to be fully completed in 10 years. After it is finished, the Yucca Mountain Repository will be used to store all nuclear reactors and radioactive waste that is currently stored in 131 smaller facilities scattered across the US. It is estimated that it will remain safe for 10,000 years.

Nuclear power plants provide about 20 percent of the electricity used in the US.

Chiu said the visit by the legislators, all members of the Legislative Yuan's Science and Information Technology Committee, is aimed at emulating the US experience and working out a policy that will solve Taiwan's nuclear waste problems once and for all.

State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) has in recent years prepared to remove over 97,000 barrels of low-level radioactive waste from Lanyu, which lies off the southeastern Taiwan coast, as the lease on its storage site has expired.

The waste, produced by Taipower's three nuclear power plants over 20 years, is scheduled to be inspected and repacked by the end of 2010.

Taipower has contacted authorities from home and abroad for the treatment and disposal of its nuclear waste over the past several years, including Russia, North Korea and Taiwan's outlying islet of Wuchiu.

After the visit to Yucca Mountain, Chiu and his group proceeded to the Hoover Dam, also in Nevada, to see whether Taiwan can borrow any ideas from the dam that can help Taiwan streamline water conservation and related efforts.

Maoists retaliate after allegations of mass rape

DPA , KATHMANDU

Maoists abducted five villagers, killing one, in southeastern Nepal in apparent retaliation for telling the press and human-rights activists that 25 women in their village were raped by the rebels last week, a Nepalese newspaper said yesterday.

The English-language daily Kathmandu Post said that the body of one villager was found on Thursday -- the same day as the kidnappings -- along a river bank near the village of Jagatpur in Saptari district, which lies 220km southeast of the capital, Kathmandu.

The Maoists denied being involved in the mass rape of 25 women last week. Nine of the victims told journalists and human-rights activists earlier this week that Maoists perpetrated the crime and threatened them if they divulged the rapes.

The rebels admitted to carrying out the murder and abductions this week and accused the victims of perpetrating the rapes, the Post said.

Human-rights activists accused the government of being "weak" and unable to protect the villagers, despite Nepalese media reports this week that the people of Jagatpur were living in fear after the accounts of the mass rape hit the headlines.

The abductions were not the only ones blamed on the Maoists in the past few days. They are accused of more than 100 kidnappings across the country, the Nepali-language daily Kantipur reported yesterday.

The Maoists put their kidnapping victims through indoctrination programs and on several occasions have used them as human shields when attacking security posts.