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	Jiang Zemin Meets Asahi Shimbun President President Jiang Zemin said yesterday that China and Japan will cooperate in shaping the framework for future Sino-Japanese friendly relations. The Chinese president made the remarks during a meeting with Muneyuki Matsushita, president of Asahi Shimbun, a widely circulated national newspaper in Japan. Jiang added that the framework will be based on a review of the past and an eye to the future. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty and the Chinese president is scheduled to pay a state visit to Japan beginning on November 25. "The forthcoming visit will be extremely important," said Jiang, adding that he expects to meet Japanese Emperor Akihito and hold talks with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. Jiang stressed that Sino-Japanese relations will continue to grow in a stable and sound manner so long as the two nations strictly adhere to the spirit and principles of the treaty and China-Japan Joint Statement and to solve difference of opinion. "Past experiences should be remembered and serve as a guide for the future," said Jiang. He also expressed the hope that the Japanese side will adopt a correct attitude toward history and join hands with China in creating a better future. He praised the Japanese newspaper for the positive role it has played in promoting bilateral friendship, and called on the Japanese media to continue efforts to further promote relations between the two nations. Matsushita said Japanese citizens place high hopes on the complete success of Jiang's forthcoming visit.
	China Lodges Protest Against US Government for Erroneous Moves China lodged a protest yesterday against the US government for sending Energy Secretary Bill Richardson to visit Taiwan recently and allowing the Dalai Lama to visit the United States and meet with US leaders. In a statement in Beijing yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said that a few days ago, the US government, in disregard of the strong opposition and repeated representations of the Chinese side, sent Richardson to visit Taiwan, and during the visit, Richardson met with Lee Teng-hui and other senior political figures of the Taiwan authorities. Moreover, he said, the US side has allowed the Dalai Lama to visit the United States and made arrangements for him to meet with President Bill Clinton, Vice-President Al Gore and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. "The Chinese government expressed its serious concern and strong displeasure over these erroneous moves on the part of the US side and made a protest against the US government," Zhu said. He added that the Chinese side has all along opposed any official contact between the US side and Taiwan, especially any visit to Taiwan by cabinet-level officials of the US side. "We have demanded that the US side confine its relations with Taiwan strictly to those of a non-governmental nature," he said. The sending of its Energy Secretary Richardson by the US side to Taiwan and his meetings with Lee Teng-hui and other senior political figures of the Taiwan authorities constituted a serious violation of the principles of the three Sino-US Joint Communiques and the US commitments of not having any official contact with Taiwan, Zhu said. Zhu said the Dalai Lama is a political exile engaged in separatist activities against China and a long-time advocate of "Tibetan independence". "He is still trying to conduct propaganda, shape international public opinion and cover up his deceptive tricks and ulterior motives by cashing in on contacts and negotiations with the Chinese Central Government," Zhu added. The spokesman said that by allowing the Dalai Lama to visit the United States and arranging his meetings with President Clinton and other US leaders and government officials in particular, the US side has seriously violated its repeatedly stated position of recognizing Tibet as part of Chinese territory and not supporting "Tibetan independence". "What the US side has done is in total contravention of the basic principles governing international relations such as non-interference in other countries' internal affairs and mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and has seriously hurt the Chinese people's feelings," Zhu pointed out. "Such acts on the part of the US side are what we are strongly opposed to and are absolutely unacceptable to us," he continued. "The Chinese government demands that the US government strictly abide by the principles of the three Joint Communiques and basic principles of the international relations, honor its commitments in good faith, immediately correct its mistakes and maintain the improvement and development of Sino-US relations with concrete actions."
	China Releases Trade Statistics According to the General Administration of Customs, China's total trade statistics hit US$259.1 billion in the first 10 months of this year, up 0.4 percent on last year's same period. Exports during that period grew by 1.3 percent to US$148.8 billion, whereas imports dropped by 0.7 percent to end the period at US$110.3 billion. The trade surplus hit US$38.4 billion, up 7.8 percent on the same period in 1997. Exports fell by 17.3 percent in October to US$14.73 billion, and imports by 9.2 percent to US$11.65 billion.
	Chinese Vice-Premier on Closing of Coal Mines Shutting down coal mines that are operating illegally or have been planned irrationally is another major step in the current reform to pull China's coal industry out of stagnation. Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo made the remarks yesterday at a national conference on closing down coal mines and reducing coal output. Wu pointed out that the normal operation of the coal industry has been plagued with problems such as redundancy and the over-opening of coal mines, illegal mining, environmental pollution, and excessive production. By the end of next year, 25,800 small coal mines will be closed to bring down the national annual output by some 250 million tons. Mines to be shut down are those which have been operating without official approval, those operating on the sites of state-owned mines, and those which have obtained official certificates but are now regarded as irrationally planned. While this program is being implemented, he noted, no new coal mines will be allowed to open, and those which have obtained licenses and are shut down will receive certain compensations.
	ROK President Arrives in Beijing President Kim Dae Jung of the Republic of Korea (ROK) arrived in Beijing yesterday afternoon for a five-day state visit to China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin. Kim's 250 member delegation includes his wife, Foreign and Trade Minister Hong Soon Young and entrepreneurs. This is Kim's first visit to China since he became ROK president this February. President Jiang is expected to hold talks with Kim today, and they will discuss issues concerning bilateral relations and international issues of common interest. Kim and his party will visit Shanghai, China's largest economic center in addition to Beijing.
	Shanghai Tries Hard to Guarantee an Increase of 970 Million Yuan in Tax Revenue Financial and taxation departments at various levels in Shanghai are actively implementing the spirit of the video conference on increasing income and reducing expenditure held by the State Council. They are working hard to increase revenue and decrease expenditure, firmly safeguarding the sancity of the state's tax law and guaranteeing achievement of the goal for an increase of 970 million yuan in tax income this year. Considering that industry is a major pillar of Shanghai's tax revenue, the various tax departments of Shanghai have given full play to the lever role of taxation, trying by every possible means to support increased production and expanded sales of industrial enterprises, so that they can pay more taxes.
	Beijing's Taxation Grows in Step With Economy Beijing Municipality has tightened supervision and control over tax funds and made vigorous efforts to organize tax revenues. In the first 10 months of this year, they had collected over 22.34 billion yuan of taxes, bringing about synchronous growth of taxatione and economy. In deepening reform, the Beijing Administration of Taxation has paid attention to opening up new tax funds, tapping potential and increasing income, and thus ensuring that tax revenues are put into state treasury in full and in time.
	Guangxi's Administration of Taxation Goes All Out to Grasp the Work of Clearing Defaults of Tax Payments In order to intensify supervision and control over taxation and guarantee fulfillment and over-fulfillment of this year's task of collecting value-added tax and consumption tax, the Guangxi Administration of Taxation has shifted the work focus at the present stage to the clearing of defaults of tax payments. On November 3, the Guangxi Administration of Taxation held a work conference of regional taxation departments on clearing of defaults of tax payment, and made plans for fulfilling this task before the end of this year. Thereafter, a leading group was formed and concrete measures for this purpose were adopted.
	Key Flood-Control Projects Launched in Changsha Construction of urban and rural key flood-control projects has been started, more than 300 million yuan has been invested in the construction of water conservancy projects, nearly 40,000 flood-damaged projects have been restored, with the rate of superior-quality projects exceeding 90 percent. The city plans to invest 3 billion yuan in three years to put flood completely under control.

	Headed "Igniting the Ray of Hope" an essay gives an account of the role played by science and technology in helping the poverty-stricken regions to shake off impoverishment and get rich. It says that the effective way to help the poor areas get rid of poverty is to give demonstrations with fruitful examples to educate the conservative peasants. So in recent years, focus on setting up specific projects has been shifted to enlightening the peasants. The best way is to run training courses for the peasants. Now the phenomenon of learning and using sciences and technologies has been prevailing in the poor areas. The essay says that the spread of the fruits of advanced practical agricultural sciences and technologies is a powerful driving force to rev up the development of the poor areas. Moreover, it adds, the spread of scientific and technological knowledge has given an impetus to the readjustment of the industrial structure in the rural areas, the rational tackling and utilization of resources in the poor areas and the market competitiveness of products made by the poor areas. In addition, the spread of sciences and technologies can also gear up the peasants' ability to resist natural calamities.
	Beihai Keeps Vigilance against Smuggling Though great gains have been reported, Beihai Municipality in Guangxi continues to maintain vigilance in its fight against smuggling and step up propaganda and education among the people. It took the steps on the basis of knowledge that the smugglers will never be reconciled to their defeat and will come back if vigilance is relaxed.
	Since July Luancheng County in Hebei Province has cut back on power prices to mitigate the burden on the back of the peasants. Power prices have been reduced by 0.07 yuan to less than 0.5 yuan for per kwh. As a result, a total of 8 million yuan has been cut from on the peasants. In Jining Municipality in Shandong Province, 0.085 yuan has been cut from average power prices for per kwh at the beginning of this year. Con- sequently, 4.2 million yuan were cut from the burden on the peasants each month.
	The Pishihang Irrigation Area in Anhui Province has yielded good results in resisting natural calamities. Despite draught and flood, paddy averages 550 kg per mu in its 40th bumper harvest.
	Sheyang County in Jiangsu Province earlier mounted the 5-Year Education Program for Modern Farmers. The program is to improve the scientific, technological and cultural level of the farmers and farmers' market awareness.
	Photo: Over 0.l million farmers visited on November 5 the 5th China Agricultural Science and Technology Fair in Yangling, Shaanxi Province.
	A department under the State Development Planning Commission earlier reaffirmed that grain should not be sold at loss-incurring prices. Acts in violation of grain provisions were found when the department was inspecting grain prices. The department called for enhancing guidance for the inspection of grain prices and handling acts in violation of grain provisions.

	Great Creation, Democratic Practice This is written by Our Staff Reporter Fu Xu at a time of the promulgation of the revised draft of the Organic Law for the Villagers Committee. After the introduction of the system of contracted responsibilities on the household basis with remuneration linked to output, production brigades and production teams were dissolved in some localities, no one was in charge of village affairs, disputes often occurred. So villagers committee was elected in some villages. On November 23, 1987, the Organic Law for the Villagers Committee (trial implementation) was discussed and adopted by the Sixth National People's Congress Standing Committee. The Organic Law for the Villagers Committee of the People's Republic of China began to be put into trial practice on June 1, 1988. Statistics indicate that by the end of last year, there had been 905804 democratically elected villagers committees , with nearly 3,79 million cadres. There have been many new creations made by the masses in the trial practice of the Organic Law in relation to the procedures of democratic election, decision-making, management and supervision. Given this situation, proposals were made by NPC deputies in recent years for revising the Organic Law. The Ministry of Civil Affairs wrote out a revised draft on the basis of several years of investigations and studies and extensive solicitation of opinions. New stipulations are set down in the Organic Law for the Villagers Committee in five aspects which was officially promulgated after being revised: First, clearly defining the Party's key role in rural work; second, further perfecting the direct election system; third, stipulating the procedures for recall; fourth, perfecting the villagers system of procedure; and fifth, stipulating implementation of the system of opening village affairs to the public.. It is believed that along with the implementation of the Organic Law for the Villagers Committee, China's rural grass-roots democracy will be further expanded, farmers' enthusiasm and creativity will be brought into fuller play, this plot of green field of the countryside will radiate with greater vigor.

	* The total 1468 state-owned enterprises in Fujian Province have all established the re-employment service centers for their laid-off workers. Some 36,000 laid-off workers have all been transferred into these centers and have acquired basic life guarantee. The re-employment system for the laid-off workers has been basically formed. * The Chongqing Municipal government has made a series of policies to support the re-employment project.
	Economic Development Must Go Hand in Hand with Environmental Protection Environmental protection should be put at a very important position and the relation between economic development and environmental protection must be handled correctly, NPC Vice-Chairman Zou Jiahua noted when he made an inspection tour of Zhejiang Province. Governments at all levels should strengthen the law enforcement and seek sustainable development by relying on the scientific progress, Zou stressed.
	Xiaojin is a small county in Sichuan Province whose economic mainstay used to be forestry. In the past 40 years, this county has felled down about 4.6 million cubic meters of wood and made its forest coverage drop from 64 percent in the 1950s to 48.1 percent in 1997, with the result that natural disasters happened more frequently in this area. Now, this county has stopped deforestation and has adopted a new development plan for its economy. The plan is developing tourism and stone materials as the pillar, increasing added value through science and technology and vigorously developing green food processing industry. There are rich tourism resources in this county, such as the beautiful natural scenery, Tibetan culture and the revolutionary relics of the Red Army which have attracted a lot of travelers from home and other countries, such as Japan, the United States and Canada. There are plenty of high-quality granite materials and raw material of green food resources in this county. Xiaojin County has improved its infrastructure facilities and made some favorable policies to bring in talent and funds.

	Specially Invited Professors Post Decided The first group of schools and disciplines under the specially invited professors system has been decided. The decision was made under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. These schools and disciplines will be made known recently on related media and the internet. This scheme is part of the "Changjiang Scholars Award Plan", a project cosponsored by the Ministry of Education and celebrated HK industrialist Li Ka-shing. The specially invited professors system is to be consummated by degrees. Officials from the Ministry of Education said that the "Changjiang Scholar Award Plan " formally started at Beijing University in August 1998. In three to five years, 300 - 500 specially invited professors posts will be established in the key disciplines at Chinese universities. This piece of news has riveted the eyes of all circles at home and abroad. Up to August 18, 687 disciplines at 139 colleges and universities have submitted applications for these posts. After a careful appraisal, 148 disciplines at 63 colleges and universities have been decided.
	Military Radio Gateway Manufactured A military radio gateway, which was developed by a research institute under the Headquarters of the General Staff, passed technology examination in Beijing on November 10. This gateway adopts an advanced software radio technology and has successfully made communication work between radio stations using different frequencies and systems. It is a breakthrough in the military coordinated communication research. It has also a bright future in the military and civil application. "Software Radio" is a new branch of technology which has recently emerged in the world. It adopts analogue/digital exchange module to transform information into digits. It can be programmed according to different requirements for various communication equipment. This research institute developed the first prototype of the military radio gateway in merely one and half a year. Thie prototype is expected to solved the long standing knotty technical problem troubling communication between navy, infantry and air force.
	Yu Dianquan, a peasant from Zhuwu Village in Anqiu City, Shandong Province, has been devoting himself to fruit tree cultivation for over 20 years and was called "fruit fiend" by the folks in his village. Now he is imparting the date tree cultivation method to a woman.
	China Further Codifies Environmental Management China announced in Beijing on November 11 the appointment of its first 549 registered auditors, six certification organs, and 11 consultative institutes of environmental management systems (EMS). An official from the State Environmental Protection Administration said at a news conference that China's first group of EMS-registered auditors and certification and consultative organs will help standardize environmental control in the country.

	UN Arms Inspectors Pulled out From Iraq The UN Special Commission in charge of Iraq's disarmament (UNSCOM) was ordered on November 11 to pull out of Iraq. According to some political analysts, all UN weapons inspectors left Iraq amid the current Iraq-UN standoff in a sign that the US will probably launch military strikes against Iraq. Iraq: Oil-for-Food Program Fails The Iraq-UN oil-for-food program has failed to alleviate the Iraqi people's suffering caused by the trade sanctions imposed on Iraq for eight years, said Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh on November 10. He made the remarks at the closing ceremony of the 31st Baghdad International Fair. Saleh told reporters that the fourth phase of the oil-for-food program, which came into force last June, will expire by November 25. However, he said, only 10 percent of the contracted food has arrived in Iraq. "What is even worse is that no contracted medicine in this phase has reached Iraq at all," he stressed. Saleh termed the UN trade sanctions on Iraq being " equivalent to mass genocide of the Iraqi people", noting that 5,000 Iraqi children died every month due to shortages of medicine and food.
	New German Leader Pushes for More Jobs German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder delivered his first major policy speech on November 10. In his address to parliament, Schroeder said he would take the reduction of unemployment as the most urgent task for the new government. Specifically an immediate program is to create 100,000 jobs for young people. In relatively brief remarks on foreign policy, he said Germany would maintain its obligations to the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
	Primakov Opposes Banning Russian Communist Party Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov said on November 10 that he is against banning the Russian Communist Party. "I think a ban on a party which has a majority in parliament, may destabilize the situation," Interfax quoted Primakov as saying. Primakov's comments followed suggestions by leader of Russia's Democratic Choice Yegor Gaidar and CIS Executive Secretary Boris Berezovsky to ban the Russian Communist Party. Also on Tuesday, Mikhail Mityukov, President Boris Yeltsin's representative to the Constitutional Court, said a ban on the Communist Party would aggravate the political situation in Russia.

	The findings of the " overseas direct investment preference" survey, released by Japan's Import and Export Bank, indicate that the Japanese enterprises treat China as the most promising country for long-term investment. Japan's Import and Export Bank has recently conducted a sampling survey on 749 manufacturers which have at least three branches abroad. Some 55 percent of those investigated believe that China is the most promising country for medium-term (around three years) investment and 64 percent of them have long-term (around 10 years) plan to invest in China. The survey also shows that 41 percent and 34 percent respectively believe the United States is the second most promising country for medium- and long-term investment. Such a kind of survey started in 1989. In the past three years' surveys, China was believed to be the ideal place for investment. US President Bill Clinton on November 10 again urged Japan to quickly carry out banking reform, spur domestic growth and open its markets in order to help revive Asian economies. Speaking at a "town hall" meeting on trade, Clinton told the audience that Japan's economic recovery was "absolutely vital" to the entire Asia-Pacific region.
	The UN 1998 World Investment Report arranged the placing of the world's 100 largest transnational companies according to their overseas capital. General Motor, Shell and Ford take the first three places. Among the 50 largest transnational companies in developing countries, Korean Daewoo tops the list and HKSAR's First Pacific Co. comes fourth. Four Chinese companies are among the 50 largest. Global foreign direct investment (FDI) was expected to reach a record US$430-440 billion in 1998, rising 10 percent from the previous year, said the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on November 10. UNCTAD said in its annual world investment report that direct investors will be free from the temporary predicament caused by the financial turbulence and economic recession in some regions. The report also said that the global FDI reached a record US$400 billion in 1997, increasing 19 percent from 1996.
	Foreign ministers of the 15 EU member states signed the "Cross-Atlantic Economic Partnership Action Plan" in Brussels, Belgium on November 9, authorizing the European Commission to implement the action plan immediately. Displeased with the new EU policy on banana import, the United States on November 10 published the lists of EU export goods which the United States is ready to impose sanctions on. The EU showed an enthusiastic response to the US moves.
	Elephant Egg Bred Inside Mouse According to a report from the latest issue of Animal Reproduction Science, scientists from US Purdue University succeeded in producing elephant egg by transplanting ovarian tissue from African elephants into lab mouse. Experts said that this technique could someday be used to help save some of the world's endangered species. Purdue researcher John Critser said they took ovarian tissue from three freshly killed African elephants. The tissue was frozen, then thawed a year later and transplanted into the lab mice which are commonly used in biomedical research and bred not to reject foreign tissue.
	The US Dow Corning Corp. on November 9 filed its long-awaited bankruptcy reorganization plan that includes a US$3.2 billion settlement with a large number of women who say they were injured by silica gel breast implants. Dow Corning was once the world's largest maker of silica gel breast implants. Since the 1960s, about 1 to 2 million women have been implanted its products. From the mid-1980s, thousands of women began to sue Dow Corning, claiming health problems caused by implants.

	China Sail into Finals of Women's Volleyball Worlds China entered the finals of the women's volleyball World Championship after trouncing Russia 3-0 in Osaka, Japan, on Wednesday. Chinese players set up a rematch of the semi-finals at the Atlanta Olympic Games. The Chinese team, which had conceded two losses earlier in the tournament, displayed a sparkling performance, beating their taller and stronger Russia opponents 15-4, 15-4, 15-9 in just over one hour. Before the match, the Russian team had a perfect record through the group competitions and second-phase competitions. However, the Chinese team, which booked their semi-finals berth thanks to Bulgaria's surprise victory over South Korea, played their best match in recent years. They dominated the match throughout with their tight blocking, powerful smashing and effective team combination. The Russian team, to the contrary, suddenly found they lost their winning touch in the group competitions and committed lots of mistakes. After losing the first two sets with an identical score of 15-4, the Russian team again lagged behind 12-3. They fought desperately and narrowed the gap to 12-9 but their Chinese rivals again pulled away to wrap up the match 15-9. The Chinese team will play the finals against Cuba, who beat Brazil 3-1 in another semi-finals. In two other playoffs for 5th to 8th places. Italy beat the Netherlands 3-0 and Croatia beat Japan 3-0.
	Chinese Weightlifter Breaks World Records At Worlds China weightlifter Wang Xiufen shattered two world records as she won three golds at the 12th world weightlifting women's championships at Lahti, Finland on Tuesday night. Wang, competing in the 53-kg category, lifted 117.5 kg in the jerk competition to beat the old mark of 113 kg. The national champion also broke the record for total, registering 210 kg with 92.5 kg from snatch. Wang won the snatch gold as well. Izabela Dragneva of Bulgaria swept three silvers in the division with Robin Goad of United States pocketing the three bronzes. In the women's 48 kg class, another Chinese Li Yunli came away with three golds as she lifted a total of 182.5 kg, followed by two weightlifters from Chinese Taipei. The title of men's 56 kg category went to Mutlu Halil of Turkey as he registered 295 kg. Lan Shizhang of China placed second with a total of 285.0 kg.
	Non-Olympic Events Games to Be Held Next Year in China '99 National Sports Congress will open next year. Its characteristics is that all the events played at this games are non-Olympic. Some events listed for competition are acrobatic gymnastics, parachuting, golf, billiards, bowling, weiqi, Chinese chess, and bridge. Other events can also be added to the meeting in line with the demands of the sponsor city.

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