diplomacy

BEIJING, Jan. 5 (AFP) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao used one of his last official conversations with US counterpart George W. Bush to voice confidence that bilateral ties would remain strong, the foreign ministry here said.

Hu made the remark while talking to Bush by telephone late Sunday local time, a little more than a fortnight before president-elect Barack Obama moves into the White House.

"In a new historical period, China and the United States will definitely be able to stick firmly to the overall direction of a relationship characterised by constructive cooperation," said Hu.
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WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (Reuters) -– Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has canceled a trip to China this week because of the crisis in Gaza where Israel has launched a ground offensive, the State Department said on Sunday.

Rice had been set to leave for China on Sunday, with stops in other Asian destinations. But in an indication of deepening concern over Gaza, the State Department said her deputy, John Negroponte, would now go in her place.
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The Tuluotuo Blog published a linguistic analysis of the “Go China 2009″ (or zhongguo jia you, “2009, 中国加油!”) recital on December 30. While an encounter with the video can be scary, it is also a good piece of work in terms of rhythms and probably better than many so-called “new poems”, says the blogger - and while [...]

KUWAIT CITY, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- China vowed here on Sunday to further its pragmatic cooperation with Kuwait in the various fields in a bid to step up the bilateral relations to a higher level.

In his meeting with Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, visiting Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang called on the two sides to promote high-level exchange based on equality and mutual benefit, political mutual trust as well as cooperation on trade.
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In a minor skirmish in the history wars, or what might be called “ashes diplomacy,” Chinese authorities finally allowed the ashes of America’s last ambassador to China before 1949, John Leighton Stuart (1876-1964), to be interred next to the graves of his parents in Hangzhou, the southern Chinese city where he was born.
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Ten days before Chinese President Hu Jintao left Beijing to attend the G20 Summit hosted by President George W. Bush in Washington on November 15 (China Brief, November 7), Zhongnanhai released its first policy white paper on Latin America and the Caribbean. The release of the white paper, preceding President Hu's third trip to Latin America, has been heralded in the Chinese state media as marking a "new chapter" in Sino-Latin American and Caribbean relations (People's Daily Online, November 17).
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“Although my faith in the Chinese leadership with regard to Tibet is becoming thinner and thinner, my faith in the Chinese people remains unshaken. I have therefore been advising the Tibetan people to make concerted efforts to reach out to the Chinese people.”
Dalai Lama address to the European Parliament, December 4

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Taiwan’s president Ma Ying-jeou in a meeting with Italian members of parliament today:
“We in Taiwan have very friendly feelings for the Dalai Lama. He has also been to Taiwan twice. However, right now isn’t the best time for him to visit Taiwan. When the time is right, he will be most welcome to come to [...]

home run or not ?

I’d say that Taiwan has a problem now:
foreign media briefing, December 3, Taipei »
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Related: No State-to-State Relations?
      

In much of the world, President Nicolas Sarkozy enjoys a reputation for being something of a diplomatic dynamo. In China, the energetic French leader has a strikingly different standing: he is Beijing's favorite international whipping boy.
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