Cold Mountain
By
Han Shan (Cold Mountain)
Here
we languish, a bunch of poor scholars,
battered by extremes of hunger and cold.
Out of work, our only joy is poetry:
Scribble, scribble, we wear out our brains.
Who will read the works of such men?
On that point you can save your sighs.
We could inscribe our poems on biscuits
And the homeless dogs wouldn't deign to nibble Hermits hide from mankind
Most go to the mountains to sleep
Where green vines wind through woods
And jade gorges echo unbroken
Higher and higher enraptured
On and on simply free
Free of what stains the world
Minds pure like the white lotus
If you are
looking for a place to rest,
Cold Mountain is a good place to stay.
The breeze flowing through the dark pines
Sounds better the closer you come.
And under the trees a white-haired man
Mumbles over his Taoist texts.
Ten years now he hasn't gone home;
He has even forgotten the road he came by.
High on the
mountains peak
Infinity in all directions!
The solitary moon looks down
From its midnight loft
Admires its reflection in the icy pond.
Shivering, I serenade the moon.
I climb the road
to Cold Mountain,
The road to Cold Mountain that never ends.
The valleys are long and strewn with stones;
The streams broad and filled with thick grass.
Moss is slippery though no rain has fallen;
Pines sigh but it isn't the wind.
Who can break from the snares of the world
And sit with me among the white clouds?
Have I a body or
have I none?
Am I who I am or am I not?
Pondering these questions,
I sit leaning against the cliff as the years go
by,
Till the green grass grows between my feet
And the red dust settles on my head,
And the men of the world, thinking me dead,
Come with offerings of wine and fruit to lay by
my corpse.
The place where
I spend my days
Is farther away than I can tell.
Without a word the wild vines stir,
No fog, yet the bamboos are always dark.
Who do the valleys sob for?
Why do the mists huddle together?
At noon, sitting in my hut
I realize for the first time that the sun has
risen.
Today I sat
before the cliffs
Sat until the mist blew off
A rambling clear stream shore
A towering green ridge crest
Cloud's dawn shadows still
Moon's night light adrift
Body free of dust
Mind without a care.
People ask about
Cold Mountain Way;
There's no Cold Mountain Road that goes straight
through: By summer, lingering cold is not
dispersed,
By fog, the risen sun is screened from view;
So how did one like me get onto it?
In our hearts, I'm not the same as you -
If in your heart you should become like me,
Then you can reach the center of it too.
Among a thousand
clouds and ten thousand streams,
Here lives an idle man,
In the daytime wandering over green mountains
At night coming home to sleep by the cliff.
Swiftly the springs and autumns pass,
But my mind is at peace, free from dust or
delusion
How pleasant to know I need nothing to lean on
To be still as the waters of the autumn river!
Thirty
years ago I was born into the world.
A thousand, ten thousand miles I've roamed.
By rivers where the green grass grows thick,
Beyond the border where the red sands fly.
I brewed potions in a vain search for life
everlasting,
I read books, I sang songs of history,
And today I've come home to Cold Mountain
To pillow my head on the stream and wash my ears.
You have seen
the blossoms among the leaves;
tell me, how long will they stay?
Today they tremble before the hand that picks
them;
tomorrow they wait someone's garden broom.
Wonderful is the bright heart of youth,
but with the years it grows old.
Is the world not like these flowers?
Ruddy faces, how can they last?
I spur my horse
past the ruined city;
the ruined city, that wakes the traveler's
thoughts:
ancient battlements, high and low;
old grave mounds, great and small.
Where the shadow of a single tumbleweed trembles
and the voice of the great trees clings forever,
I sigh over all these common bones --
No roll of the immortals bears their names.
When I see a
fellow abusing others,
I think of a man with a basketful of water.
As fast as he can, he runs with it home,
but when he gets there, what's left in the
basket?
When I see a man being abused by others,
I think of the leek growing in the garden.
Day after day men pull off the leaves,
but the heart it was born with remains the same.
Cold Cliff's
remoteness
Is what I love
No one travels this way
Clouds lie around on the peaks
A lone gibbon howls on the ridge
What else do I cherish?
It's good to grow old content
Cold and heat change my
Appearance;the pearl
Of my mind stays safe
Cold Mountain is
a house
Without beams or walls.
The six doors left and right are open
The hall is blue sky.
The rooms all vacant and vague
The east wall beats on the west wall
At the center nothing.
Borrowers don't bother me
In the cold I build a little fire
When I'm hungry I boil up some greens.
I've got no use for the kulak
With his big barn and pasture --
He just sets up a prison for himself.
Once in he can't get out.
Think it over --
You know it might happen to you.
|
China-driven commodities boom turning former debtor
countries into creditors
From: "Sino Economics" <sino.economics@verizon.net>
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:29:34 -0700
The baton passes to China
By Walter T Molano http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/ID25Dj01.html
China's ascent is occurring faster than anyone imagined.
The first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth
rate of 11.1% year on year was a surprise for many, but
not for all. China is on fire, marking the fourth
consecutive year of double-digit expansion.
The Chinese economy is inflating to a size that is
commensurate with its proportion of the global
population. Given that China has about 22% of the world's
population, the economy can easily double before reaching
equilibrium.
This expansion can manifest in one, some or all of the
following ways: growth, inflation, or currency
appreciation. Given that the government is allowing the
yuan to appreciate gradually and the inflation rate is
low, most of the expansion is going to occur on the
growth side. Therefore, we should not be too surprised by
the torrential pace of economic activity.
Fortunately, the global impact of the Chinese revival has
been positive. Global trade grew 15% year on year in
2006, reaching US$11.76 trillion. China led the way,
increasing exports 27% year on year. Imports jumped 25%
year on year, boosting the demand for commodities and
industrial products. Copper imports surged 60% year on
year at the beginning of 2007, after experiencing a slump
at the end of 2006.
Overall, China's copper demand is expected to rise 8%
year on year to 4.2 million tonnes. However, the Chinese
are importing more than raw materials. In fact, Chinese
exports fell to third place in 2006, after Germany retook
the second position. The growing needs for machinery,
industrial products, consumer goods and luxury items are
forcing the United States, Germany and Japan to increase
their embarkations toward China.
Indeed, China is now Japan's largest trading partner,
representing 17% of exports. China was the destination of
less than 4% of Japanese exports in 1990. Interestingly
enough, Japan is becoming less of an important trading
partner for the Chinese. In 1990, Japan represented 17%
of total exports. Today, the figure is only 11%.
China's inclusion into the World Trade Organization, its
move into higher-value-added sectors, and its integration
into the global marketplace have allowed it to diversify
its trade partners. This is the reason the Japanese are
adopting a more conciliatory approach with the Chinese.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently visited China, marking
the first Japanese state visit there in five years. It is
also the reason the Japanese are not allowing their
currency to appreciate against the US dollar. It is not
so much that they don't want to lose competitiveness
against the Americans. It's that they do not want it to
lose market share in China - where the currency happens
to be closely linked to the dollar.
The ascendancy of China is a good thing for many
emerging-market countries. Brazil is one of the main
beneficiaries. The burgeoning exports to China are
pushing up Brazil's international reserves. At the end of
last year, analysts speculated that Brazil's
international reserves could hit the $130 billion mark by
the end of 2007. International reserves were $113 billion
at the end of February, and they will probably crest
through the $130 billion mark by the end of the first
semester. Other commodity producers, such as Argentina,
Russia, Peru, Kazakhstan and Chile, are also thriving.
This is creating an emerging-market boom that is
unparalleled, but it is not a fad.
Some numbers are alarming. The Shanghai stock market was
up 235% over the past year and a half. The Shenzhen
market was up 289% during the same period. The Shenzhen
market trades at a multiple of 60, Shanghai 38 and the
Dow 17. Nevertheless, the Chinese market underwent a
great deal of deregulation over the past two years,
witnessed a tidal wave of new issues and ended a
five-year slump. Given the growth potential that lies
ahead, valuations may not be as lofty as some argue.
Unfortunately, a shakeout may be inevitable.
Nevertheless, the baton is passing to China. It is now
setting the tempo for the global economic orchestra. The
transformation is still in the early stages. China will
soon move into higher-value-added sectors, such as
automobiles, aerospace and pharmaceuticals. A larger
swatch of the population has to be incorporated into the
new economy. That means that sunny skies lie ahead for
most emerging-market countries as they help feed the
ravenous needs of the new rising superpower.
(Copyright 2007 Walter T Molano, The Emerging Market
Adviser.) US
current-account deficit drives liquidity boom - Henry C.
K. Liu
Chinese Firm Wins Bid
For Building Largest Hydropower Station In Nigeria http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=254841
From: "Sino Economics" <sino.economics@verizon.net>
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2007 21:24:41 -0700
YICHANG, April 3 (Bernama) -- China Gezhouba Group
Corporation (CGGC), the main constructor of the Three
Gorges project, has won a contract to build the 2600
Megawatt (Mw) Mambilla plateau hydropower station in
Nigeria, the group announced on Monday.
The US$1.46 billion project is the largest hydroelectric
power station Chinese companies have ever built in
Africa, according to the group, which is based in Yichang
city of central China's Hubei Province.
"The group has the world's advanced dam building and
river closure technology. Despite environmental
challenges in Africa and a complex geological structure,
we are confident we can build a Nigerian 'Three Gorges'
that will benefit the African people," Xinhua quoted
CGGC President Yang Jixue as saying.
Yang met visiting Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in
2005 and introduced his company. Obasanjo wrote on his
business card: Welcome to Nigeria, the Mambilla Station
is waiting for you, Yang said.
The dam is being designed and construction is expected to
last six years and nine months, according to the Nigerian
federal government.
The Mambilla station is part of Nigeria's National
Integrated Power Plants (NIPP). The Nigerian government
has pumped US$2.5 billion into the NIPP project to
strengthen power transmission infrastructure and the
distribution network.
The Chinese government agreed to build the hydroelectric
power station after China and Nigeria signed big deals at
the Beijing Summit of the second China-Africa Forum in
2006.
PetroChina Shares
Jump After Bohai Bay Oil Discovery
From: "Sino Economics" <sino.economics@verizon.net>
Date: Mon, 7 May 2007 18:15:04 -0700
By Michele Batchelor http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aYlx89J8O8qg&refer=asia
May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of PetroChina Co., the
nation's top oil producer, surged after the company
announced China's biggest discovery in half a century.
The stock climbed 14 percent, pushing the market value to
HK$1.82 trillion ($233 billion) and overtaking OAO
Gazprom and BP Plc to become the world's No. 3 oil
company after Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell
Plc. The deposit in Bohai Bay has about 7.5 billion
barrels of oil equivalent, according to Beijing-based
PetroChina's statement yesterday.
China has stepped up oil exploration to meet increased
demand in the world's fastest-growing major economy and
reduce reliance on imports. PetroChina, Asia's most
valuable company, expects to outspend Exxon and Shell
this year as it drills deeper and further offshore to
make up for declining output at Daqing, China's biggest
and oldest field.
``The potential net asset value boost from the Jidong
discovery is too big to ignore,'' said Gordon Kwan,
research director of China oil and gas at CLSA Ltd. in
Hong Kong. Subject to ``stringent U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission reserves classification, the
discovery size could exceed sibling rival Cnooc's entire
reserve base.'' Kwan advised clients to buy the stock
``aggressively.'' ...
Additional exploration may yield proven oil reserves of
3.3 billion barrels of oil, boosting PetroChina's net
asset value by 15 percent, Kwan said. Cnooc Ltd., China's
biggest offshore oil producer, has total reserves of 2.5
billion of oil, he said
``Certainly in Bohai Bay, nothing like that has been
found there for 30 years or so,'' said David Johnson, a
Hong Kong- based analyst at Macquarie Securities Ltd.
``In world terms, it is very large and one of the biggest
oil finds for the last 20 or 30 years.'' He has a neutral
rating on PetroChina shares. ...
China's new freighter
economics
Published: May 1, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/01/business/sxships.php
From: "Sino Economics" <sino.economics@verizon.net>
Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 12:50:49 -0700
LONDON: The cost of shipping coal and iron ore is about
to decline as the supply of cargo vessels overwhelms
demand.
Japan, China and South Korea will produce so many vessels
that shipping costs, now at an all-time high, will fall
40 percent by 2010, according to futures contracts traded
privately between banks, transportation companies and
hedge funds. The decline would hurt Compagnie Maritime
Belge, the world's largest commodities-shipping line, and
Golden Ocean Group, run by John Fredriksen, the Norwegian
billionaire.
"We're going to see the largest deliveries to the
fleet that's ever been recorded," said Philip
Rogers, 58, the head of research at Galbraith's, the
London-based ship broker, who has been assessing the
freight markets for 30 years.
Chinese shipyards are building enough carriers to haul 48
million tons in the next five years, equal to 15 percent
of the country's annual iron ore imports, according to
Galbraith's. The new ships are 26 percent bigger than the
merchant fleet produced by the United States after the
bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Lower costs may benefit China's Baoshan Iron & Steel,
Arcelor Mittal of Luxembourg, the world's biggest steel
producer, and other companies that hire ships to carry
grain, coal, ore and similar goods.
Commodities-shipping rates have soared 41 percent this
year and ended last week at a record 6,230 on the Baltic
Exchange, a 263-year-old institution that traces its
roots to a London coffeehouse. Clarkson, the world's
largest ship broker, and the hedge funds M2M Management,
headed by a former chartering executive at BHP Billiton,
and Castalia Fund Management are already anticipating a
drop in costs.
"It has to fall," said Steve Rodley, the joint
managing director at M2M Management in London. "It's
hard to see rates sustaining where they are today beyond
the summer."
Rates may begin to decline next month, when cargo vessels
become available as port officials in Newcastle,
Australia, clear one of the worst-ever traffic jams. A
revival in iron ore trade between India and China that
has reduced the length of voyages will free more
freighters.
The cost of renting the biggest ships, known as capesize
carriers, climbed 73 percent in six months to a record
$106,289 a day on April 27, enabling owners to pay for a
$78 million ship in a little more than two years.
Diana Shipping, which paid a record $110 million for a
capesize carrier in March, agreed to daily rental rates
for the ship of $52,000 every day for more than four
years with BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining
company. Diana will earn revenue of at least $75 million.
BHP Billiton has an option to extend the contract for 13
more months.
Futures contracts, called forward freight agreements, are
traded privately and cleared by Imarex NOS ASA in Oslo
and LCH.Clearnet in London. They signal that rates will
decline to $42,200 by 2009, the biggest drop since 2001.
A record 74 vessels are stuck off Newcastle, the world's
largest coal port, waiting for congestion at the terminal
to clear and a chance to load. The delays began last year
after the terminal scrapped a quota system that
restricted when shippers could take on cargoes. The quota
was reinstated this month, and delays will start to ease
around mid-May, said Vivek Srivastava, an analyst at
Maritime Strategies International in London.
India may add to the supply of vessels. The country is
considering revising a plan to impose a tax on iron ore
imports, Hindu Business Line reported April 26. The
original proposal prompted Chinese steel makers to
boycott iron ore from India last month in favor of
countries as far away as Brazil, tying up vessels on
longer trips. Iron ore makes up about 25 percent of the
world's bulk freight.
"When fleet utilization reaches 92 to 93 percent,
you see rates going up exponentially," said Torstein
Bomann-Larsen, a freight-derivatives broker at Imarex NOS
ASA in Oslo. "And fleet utilization is 97 to 98
percent, so it's extreme. If congestion eases by 20
percent, rates could come down fast."
Chinese shipbuilders had more customers for commodity
carriers than those in Japan in the first quarter,
according to Clarkson. Shipyards in China attracted
orders for 98 vessels with a combined carrying capacity
of 8.7 million tons.
"The Chinese have added the equivalent steel making
capacity of Japan and Korea in five years, and that can't
continue," said Martin Stopford, the head of
research at Clarkson. "It leaves you with a problem
if and when steel slows down."
Steel demand is being buoyed by the Chinese economy and
may not slacken anytime soon, said Andreas Vergottis, a
fund manager at Tufton Oceanic, the world's biggest
shipping hedge fund. Tufton may spend $200 million to buy
vessels for the first time.
Attack on
Ethiopian Oil Field Highlights Political Perils of
Pursuing Resources Abroad
By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, April 26, 2007; A24
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042500736.html
BEIJING, April 25 -- An attack that killed nine Chinese
oil workers in Ethiopia's desolate Ogaden Desert has
provided a bloody reminder that <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/china.html?nav=el>
China's worldwide pursuit of raw materials has taken it
into some rough neighborhoods -- and that goodwill
proclamations may not be enough to avoid getting caught
up in local conflicts.
Exposure to the military and political struggles that
convulse Africa is one of the prices this fast-developing
country is paying for its growing power and profile on
the world stage. It is a new sensation for most Chinese,
who are used to considering their country an economic
actor that, unlike traditional powers, avoids
interference in the domestic affairs of other nations.
The nine Chinese were among 74 people reported killed
shortly after dawn Tuesday in the desert of eastern
Ethiopia. In addition, Chinese authorities said, seven
Chinese oil technicians were kidnapped by the ethnic
Somali rebels who launched the raid. The captives joined
a growing list. Already this year, 16 Chinese oil workers
have been kidnapped in Nigeria and a Chinese engineer was
killed and another injured in Kenya.
The questions facing President Hu Jintao's government
Wednesday were twofold: how to better protect the 4
million Chinese working abroad, and how to preserve the
growing value of Chinese investments in places such as
Ethiopia, where governments face instability.
"China now faces the dilemma of any country that
undertakes an active foreign policy, particularly one
with a foreign policy in no small part based on the
acquisition of resources," said an analysis by
Stratfor, a security consulting firm based in Austin.
"It must now decide how much to get involved in
other countries' internal security issues."
He Wenping, head of Africa studies at the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences, said safety issues were becoming
increasingly important as the number of Chinese working
abroad multiplies. He suggested to Beijing's Global Times
newspaper Wednesday that Chinese companies evaluate the
security situation before starting a project abroad.
This is a sensitive political issue here. The Chinese
public seems increasingly to demand that compatriots
abroad be taken care of, even as the government expresses
a determination to avoid involvement in local conflicts.
Moreover, the urge to prop up endangered governments to
preserve Chinese investments would go against its long
tradition of noninterference. ...
Pirates and trade are
behind China's defence build-up
Michael Backman
From: "Sino Economics" <sino.economics@verizon.net>
May 9, 2007
http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/pirates-and-trade-are-behind-chinas-d
Defence-buildup/2007/05/08/1178390303470.html
US NAVAL commander Rear-Admiral James Kelly said in
Canberra last week that China was building up its
submarine and warship capacity to help protect its sea
lanes, including those with Australia.
At last we hear some comments on China from a senior
American military figure that make sense. China is not
out to threaten US military dominance. It doesn't
routinely compare itself with the US in the way that the
US compares itself with China militarily. China has its
own reasons for its militarisation, and as Kelly
observed, they relate to trade.
China announced a 17.8 per cent increase in its military
spending for this year. That was after a 14.7 per cent
increase last year, a 12.6 per cent increase in 2005, an
11.6 per cent increase in 2004, a 9.6 per cent increase
in 2003 and a 17.6 per cent increase in 2002. On the face
of it, these increases seem enormous. But because of its
rapid economic growth, China needs to spend massively on
defence just to keep its defence budget at a constant
proportion of gross domestic product. These increases are
in excess of GDP growth, but not wildly so.
Even with these increases, China's declared spending on
its military is relatively low compared with the US.
China says it spent $US30 billion in 2005, but the US
spent $US400 billion, and Japan spent about $US47
billion. Currently, China does not even have an aircraft
carrier in service, unlike the US, Britain, Russia,
Italy, Brazil and even Thailand.
At the same time as spending more on defence, China has
been cutting military personnel. It claims to have
demobilised 200,000 personnel from 2003 to 2006. But it
still has the world's largest military, with 2.3 million
active personnel. The cuts don't reflect a desire to be
less militarised; they reflect China's greater use of
sophisticated defence technology.
Between 2001 and 2004, China is known to have spent
$US10.4 billion importing weapons systems. Clearly, China
is moving from a defensive capability to an attack
capability. But is this unusual?
Throughout history, the foreign and military policies of
the major powers have been determined by the need to
protect commodities supplies. As Chicago-based economist
David Hale argues in a paper on China's naval build-up,
British foreign policy in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries was shaped by the desire for commodities
security.
He says Britain nearly took the side of the Confederates
during the American Civil War, because of the size of its
cotton imports from the American south. Britain went to
war in South Africa against the Boers largely to control
that country's gold. And after oil replaced coal as the
fuel for the Royal Navy, Britain greatly expanded its
role in the Middle East.
The US similarly went to war in the Gulf after Iraq
invaded Kuwait in 1990 and then invaded Iraq in 2003, in
part to reduce its reliance on Saudi oil.
China's booming economy means that it has a voracious
appetite for raw materials, much of which needs to be
imported. And this means that it has plenty of incentive
to have the capability to keep its sea lanes open.
Most of China's trade goes through the Malacca Straits,
the slither of ocean between Indonesia's Sumatra and the
Malaysian peninsula, and also the Bay of Bengal. Both
have more pirate activity than anywhere else. There were
118 incidences of recorded pirate attacks in the area
last year, compared with 50 for the rest of the world.
China is upgrading its submarines. The Romeo and Ming
class conventionally powered submarines are being
augmented or replaced by the more capable Song class
submarines that are produced in China, and Kilo class
submarines China has acquired from Russia. Its small
force of nuclear-powered submarines is being upgraded.
The old Han class submarines are being replaced by the
indigenously produced Type 093-class SSN.
Three new classes of Chinese-made destroyers are being
brought into commission; the Luyang I, the Luyang II and
the Luhau will enable a single ship to provide
anti-aircraft defence not just for itself but for a
formation of ships. China is also considering building
its own aircraft carrier.
China is also emerging as the world's most important
builder of merchant shipping. It will overtake South
Korea by 2015 to become the world's biggest producer of
all classes of ships, by which time it will have no less
than 21 dry docks. As it is, the shipping arms of South
Korea's Daewoo and Samsung have set up shipbuilding
facilities in China to save costs.
India is beefing up its naval capabilities too. But it's
doing so largely because China is. It is developing its
own aircraft carrier that will be capable of operating a
fleet of 30 aircraft, including naval light combat
aircraft and Sea Harrier aircraft. India is also working
on its own nuclear submarine.
It announced last year that a naval base would be
established on its east coast, near Visakhapatnam. The
base is expected to berth two aircraft carriers, support
ships and submarines. Part of the rationale for the new
base is to counter China's emerging naval power in the
Bay of Bengal. And like China, India is very dependent on
the Malacca Straits. About half its international goods
trade passes through the straits.
In many respects it is more advanced than China,
particularly when it comes to sea power. But it's China
that attracts all the attention.
email: michaelbackman@yahoo.com
China's uranium demand to rise 4-6 times by 2020
From: "Sino Economics" <sino.economics@verizon.net>
Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 20:46:07 -0700
China's uranium
demand for nuclear power to rise 4-6 times by 2020
05.17.07, 7:34 AM ET
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2007/05/17/afx3730966.html
BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China's uranium demand is expected
to grow 4-6 times by 2020, as the country increases its
annual installed nuclear power capacity to 40 mln
kilowatts from 9 mln at present, a government official
said.
Cao Shudong, nuclear power department director at the
Commission of Science Technology and Industry for
National Defence, told reporters on the sidelines of an
industry conference that China now has nine operating one
mln KW nuclear power generators, each consuming more than
30 tons of uranium every year.
The government plans to set up a joint stock company to
manage uranium imports, said Cao.
State-owned China National Nuclear Corp is currently the
sole provider of the nuclear raw material, he said.
'China would build three one million capacity nuclear
power generators each year over the next 15 years in a
bid to achieve the 40 mln kw target,'Cao said.
'Nuclear fuel supply can be secured to feed the expanding
nuclear generators,' he noted.
Earlier last month, the Commission of Science Technology
and Industry for National Defense announced that China
will build strategic reserves of uranium and set up a
commercial reserve system as part of its bid to develop
the nuclear industry.
China will also seek uranium resources overseas, it said.
In February, China National Nuclear Corp signed a
strategic cooperation agreement with Sinosteel Corp to
jointly invest in and explore overseas for uranium
resources. The deal follows a similar agreement signed
with conglomerate CITIC Group.
China aims to boost its nuclear power sector to avoid
power shortages. In 2006 it generated just 1.92 pct of
its total energy needs from nuclear plants but is hoping
to boost that to 4 pct by 2020.
kelly.zang@xfn.com Russian
scientists develop high-energy pulse generators
From Peter Myers 381 Goodwood Rd, Childers 4660,
Australia ph +61 7 41262296
http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers
|