December 16:
China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and the Russian government-owned petroleum company Rosneft have agreed to the principal terms on a loan for $15 billion and the price of Russian gas supplied to China, a source at Rosneft told Russia's Interfax News Agency. "The Chinese side has agreed to our formula. We are now discussing the technical aspects," the source said. Rosneft is planning to deliver oil to China via rail until 2010. Under its 2004 contract, CNPC would pay a total $6 billion to Rosneft for the railroad delivery of 48.4 million tons of crude by 2010. "Starting from 2011, we plan to deliver oil from a branch of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline," the source said. Under a memorandum of cooperation on energy signed in Moscow in late October, Russian state-owned oil pipeline operator Transneft and Rosneft could receive another additional loan of $10 billion from Chinese banks in exchange for long-term oil deliveries by Rosneft to China and construction of a spur of the ESPO pipeline to China.
[Editor's note: The ESPO pipeline planned between Skovorodino and the Russian-Chinese border is expected to have an initial annual capacity of 15 million tons. China provided $37 million in financing for the feasibility study of the Russian leg of the line, stretching from Skovorodino, and has conducted its own feasibility study for the 960-kilometer-long span from the Russian-Chinese border to Daqing in China's northeastern Heilongjiang Province. It is thought Rosneft will supply most of the oil along the Daqing branch.]
December 22:
The Hindu reports that China is sending its warships to counter piracy in the Gulf of Aden. They ships join foreign vessels from the EU, U.S., Russia, India, Malaysia and others that have been deployed to keep vital shipping lanes free for commerce. Beijing said it was sending to two navy destroyers and a support vessel in the area to counter piracy in the Gulf of Aden. "Their major task is to protect the safety of Chinese ships and crew on board as well as ships carrying humanitarian relief material for the international organizations, such as the United Nations' World Food Programme," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao was quoted as saying in The Hindu. He had earlier said seven ships, which were either owned by China or carrying Chinese cargo and crew, had been hijacked. The pirates continued to hold one fishing boat and its 18-member crew.
[Editor's note: The dispatch follows a decision on December 16 by the UN Security Council that allows countries to attack pirate bases on land as part of the anti-piracy drive. The Gulf of Aden is vital for international trade as it leads into the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. It is estimated that three main clans of between 330-500 pirates are active in Somalia waters. Defense analysts say that six to eight mother ships are steering piracy in area.]
December 23:
China has accused Western media outlets of distorting "relevant information" in a recently released report by the panel of United Nations experts on arms sales to Zimbabwe, Xinhua reports. The UN report, which was addressed to the UN Security Council, said "large amounts of ammunition [are] arriving in eastern Congo without any notification by exporters to the (UN) sanctions committee," and that the Congolese army "may also be exporting weapons and ammunition to other countries in the region." The report, which was dated December 21st, said the experts had "received credible information that the weapons transported originated in China," and that they had written to Beijing and were awaiting a reply. It pointed to four Boeing aircraft flights that took place between Kinshasa, Harare and Lubumbashi that "transported a total of 53 tons of ammunition destined to the Zimbabwean army" between August 20 and 22 this year.
Separately, the report also said “military supplies [were] flown to the FARDC (Congolese army) from Sudan." The experts pointed to five flights ferrying weapons for the Congolese army between Khartoum and the eastern Congolese city of Kisangani last September. Although both Harare and Khartoum maintain close military relations with Beijing Jason Stearns, a member of a panel that authored the report, said there was no link between the cargo flights from Congo to Zimbabwe and those from Sudan. "We have no evidence that they were linked," he told Agence France Presse.
Hong Kong's Beijing-leaning Ta Kung Pao newspaper has interviewed People's Liberation Army Rear Admiral Peng Guangqian, a well-known Mainland military expert. Peng said "cross-Strait relations have survived the highly dangerous period and the chance of a military conflict erupting across the Strait has sharply dropped. These were 30 tortuous, tumultuous years." Peng explained how "the appeal of Taiwan independence will further shrink. The 'three direct links' are an economic issue, but their influence will be far- reaching and once the door is open, no one will be able to close it." Regarding the role the United States will play in cross-Strait relations during the Obama era, Peng Guangqian said that after Obama assumes office, there will be no major changes in the basic framework of the U.S. policy towards Taiwan.