September 17:
Following an alarming International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on the Iranian nuclear issue China has urged Iran to cooperate with the international agency. In a statement directed at Tehran, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said: "Fanning tensions in the current situation will not lead to the resolution of these problems." Russia’s Interfax News Agency reports that the statement came in response to proposed new sanctions on Iran drafted by London and Washington intended to compel the regime to stop enriching uranium and to begin more active cooperation with UN inspectors.
September 18:
The official Xinhua News Agency’s domestic news service reports that the U.S. and China have reached “extensive consensus” at the 19th meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in Los Angeles. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, Commerce Minister Chen Deming, head of the State Customs Administration Sheng Guangzu, and Chinese Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong joined U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, and Ed Schafer, secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in attending the meeting. It concluded with agreements on food safety, medical equipment, agricultural cooperation, digital television, and trade statistics. Both sides also agreed to boost the cooperation between their 12 working groups in such fields as intellectual property rights, product safety, agriculture, industry, and the information industry within the framework of the Sino-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade.
September 19:
President Ma Ying-jeou and Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) have expressed disappointment after the United Nations again rejected Taiwan’s request for “meaningful participation,” the Taipei Times reports. Ma said the government would not give up its efforts to work with the UN and called on Beijing to display “wisdom and flexibility” with regard to Taiwan’s international space. This year Taiwan dropped its bid for UN membership in favor of a framework that did not assert the sovereignty of the self-governing island yet Beijing still maintained that Taiwan does not qualify to be part of the world body. “We were not surprised [but] we absolutely cannot accept China’s reasoning. If China is sincere about watching the rights of the Taiwanese people, then it should face reality and enter a rational negotiation to come up with a win-win solution to benefit Taiwan, itself and the international community,” said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrew Hsia. Washington voiced its support through American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesman Thomas Hodges, who said: “Taiwan’s participation would enable the international community to better address pressing global challenges. We continue to work with like-minded countries to help achieve this goal. We are sorry to see our proposal not listed on the agenda. We will not give up, no matter whether the effort is made through bilateral or multilateral means.”
September 25:
More than 110 military representatives from 36 countries have observed the People’s Liberation Army’s war games code-named "Warrior 2008" at Zhurihe tactical training base in China's Inner Mongolia. The official Xinhua News Agency reports that 5,211 officers and soldiers from Beijing and Jinan Military Commands as well as the PLA Air Force participated in the drill, which showcased how China's mechanized troops would cope with simulated conditions of information warfare. John Seward, Brigadier General of the U.S. Army, John Schurtz, a military attache at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Baljit Jaswal, Lieutenant General in the Indian Army, Peter Goebel, Brigadier General in the German Army, and Suren Baasankhuu, Vice Defense Minister of Mongolia, were among the foreign observers, the official China Daily reported.
[Editor’s Note: In recent years, the PLA has conducted exchanges and cooperation with foreign military forces. It held the "Peace Mission 2007" joint military exercise with Russia last year - the first time China conducted war games on Russian soil - and recently reached an agreement with the U.S. on a joint military exercise involving simulated natural disasters scheduled for next year.]
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