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World Bank Finds China ’s   Economy 40 Percent Smaller Than Thought

.China has one of the world’s fastest growing
economies.  In two thousand seven, the Chinese economy grew by more than
eleven percent for most of the year.  But recently the World Bank
announced that the Chinese economy was smaller than had been thought.  The
World Bank released its International Comparison Program report on December
seventeenth.  It said that the size of the world economy had been
overestimated.  And it found that the total value of goods and services
produced by

China

had been overestimated by forty percent.  The World Bank used new tools to
compare the economies and buying power of people in one hundred forty-six
countries.  This year’s report marked the first time that

China

took part
in the World Bank’s International Comparison Program. The World Bank says

China

is the second largest economy after the

United States

by its new measurements.  But the revaluation has caused experts to
reconsider economic progress in

China

.
It also raises questions about the exchange rate of Chinese money.
Critics have long argued that

China

should let the value of its money rise freely against the value of the dollar
and other currencies.  It may be that Chinese money is not undervalued if
the Chinese economy is not as large as once thought.  However, some
experts point to other economic statistics to argue that

China

’s money
is undervalued.

China

faces other problems as well.  Inflation hit an eleven-year high in
November.  The country’s huge trade surplus reached a record two hundred
thirty-eight billion dollars in the first eleven months of this year.
This has raised tensions with trading partners, such as the

United States

and the European Union.  And

China

has been criticized for
permitting its manufacturers to produce unsafe products.   Two
thousand seven marks another event for

China

’s economy.  It is the
first year in which

China

invested more money in foreign countries than foreign countries invested in

China

.
The Wall Street Journal says Chinese companies and the government invested over
twenty-nine billion dollars in foreign companies.  Investors from the rest
of the world invested less than twenty-two billion dollars in Chinese companies
this year.

 

 

World Economic   Growth Expected to Slow in ‘08

World economic growth remained strong in two thousand
seven. The International Monetary Fund estimated growth at five and two-tenths
percent. But predictions for two thousand eight call for slower growth in the
world economy. In October the I.M.F. cut its estimate for global growth this
year by almost half a percentage point, to four and eight-tenths percent. There
are worries of an economic slowdown or possibly a recession in the

United States

.
The most important issue for two thousand eight may be the American housing
market. The market has been hit by a combination of falling home prices and the
subprime mortgage crisis involving high-interest loans. Losses on investments
tied to these risky home loans have affected not only American banks but banks
around the world. Worries over the credit situation have caused banks to limit
their lending, even to each other. Central banks have tried to ease credit
fears by lowering interest rates or lending billions of dollars, or
both.Another major issue for two thousand eight is what effect energy prices
will have on economic growth. The price of a barrel of oil doubled in two
thousand seven. And on the second day of two thousand eight, the price hit one
hundred dollars for the first time.Rising oil prices in recent years have been
good for oil producing countries, though, including those with sovereign wealth
funds. These are state-owned investment funds also held by

China

,

Singapore

and some other
countries.The growing activity of these government-controlled investment funds
makes them something else to watch in two thousand eight. Lately they have been
used in some cases to invest in Western companies hurt by the subprime mortgage
crisis.

Abu Dhabi

, in the

United Arab Emirates

,
has what experts believe is the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund. Some
estimates put the value at nine hundred billion dollars. But last month came
news of plans by

Saudi
  Arabia

for what could be an even wealthier
fund.The dollar continued its drop against most major currencies in two
thousand seven. This has made American exports less costly. Still, the

United States

is expected to report a trade
deficit with

China

of almost three hundred billion dollars last year. Some experts say the deficit
will continue to be a problem so long as

China

does not let its currency rise
more quickly against the dollar.

 

Attacks of

East Timor

’s
Leaders are Latest Upheaval in

Young Democracy

 

 

East Timor

declared independence six years ago after
centuries of harsh foreign domination and conflict, its people dreaming of a
life of a peaceful self-determination. When rebels launched attacks on the
country’s newly elected leaders on Monday, in find democracy was thrust back
into violent upheaval. It was a start reminder that it may be years before
stability takes hold in territory where militants enjoy significant support
from the public. The set back is part of a struggle to embrace democracy after
more than four centuries as a Portuguese colony and 24 years of Indonesian
occupation. It occurred despite intensive UN-late efforts to nurture the newly
independence nation. But transition to democracy is never smooth, said Charles
Scheinner of the non-profit East Timor Institute for Reconstruction, Monitoring
and Analysis. After generations of suffering, hope arrived as the United Nation
guided the tiny Southeast Asian nation out of an era of darkness and began
rebuilding from the ruins of a scorched-earth campaign by departing Indonesian
troops in 1999.

East Timor

declared
independence in 2002, after three years of intense foreign humanitarian and
military assistance, with a fanfare of fire works and traditional dancing, in
what was hailed as a textbook example of nation building. But the euphoria was
shattered in 2006, just as the UN was leaving, when the police and army
disintegrated into warring fraction and the government collapsed amid
widespread looting, arson, and gang warfare. The unrest left 37 died and drove
155.000 from their homes. Thousands of foreign police and soldiers had to be
rushed back to restore, fueling criticism that the international community had
packet up its bags before seeing the job through.

Three Killed by Indonesian Quake

 

At least three people have been killed and 25
seriously injured by a 7.5-magnitude quake near

Indonesia

’s western Aceh province,
officials say. The tremor, whose epicenter was near the

island

of

Simeulue

, 319km (198 miles) off the
coast of

Sumatra

, also damaged many buildings,
they added. The epicentre was close to that of the earthquake which triggered
the 2004 Asian tsunami, killing 200,000 people. Tsunami warning centres
initially issued alerts, but later lifted them.

Indonesia

lies on the so-called
Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the most seismically active regions of the world.
Local residents said Wednesday’s earthquake, which hit Simeulue at 1508 (0808
GMT) according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), lasted for almost
a minute. It was felt strongly more than 300km (185 miles) away in the
provincial capital, Banda Aceh, where people left their offices after buildings
started shaking. An official from the Indonesian ministry of health, Rustam
Pakaya, said the authorities on Simeulue had reported three deaths and 25
serious injuries caused by the earthquake. After the earthquake, the
Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and

Thailand

’s
National Disaster Warning Centre briefly issued precautionary tsunami alerts
for

Indonesia

and nearby coastal areas. A nine-magnitude earthquake close to Simeulue on 26
December 2004 triggered the Asian tsunami which spread thousands of kilometres
across the

Indian Ocean

. Three months later,
an 8.7-magnitude earthquake killed 1,000 people on Simeulue and the
neighbouring

island

of

Nias

.

 

 

WHO Sees Tobacco Risk to a Billion Lives This   Century

 

.The World Health Organization is urging countries to
follow six policies to prevent millions of tobacco-related deaths. The six
policies are known as MPOWER, spelled M-P-O-W-E-R. The M is for monitoring
tobacco use and prevention policies. The P is for protecting people by
establishing smoke-free areas. O stands for offering services to help people
stop smoking. W is for warning people about the dangers of tobacco. E is for
enforcing bans on tobacco advertising and other forms of marketing. And R is
for raising taxes on tobacco. The W.H.O. says in a major new report that
raising taxes is the single most effective way to reduce tobacco use. A study
found that governments now collect an average of five hundred times more money
in tobacco taxes each year than they spend on control efforts.The W.H.O. says
tobacco now causes more than five million deaths a year. It predicts this
number will rise to more than eight million by the year two thousand thirty. By
the end of the century, it says, tobacco could kill one billion people — ten
times as many as in the twentieth century. The large majority of these deaths
will take place in developing countries. More than twenty-five percent of all
smokers in the world are Chinese.

India

,

Indonesia

,

Russia

and the

United
States

, in that order, follow

China

in tobacco use.The W.H.O.
found that only five percent of all people live in countries with protections
like national legislation on smoke-free areas or bans on tobacco advertising.
Forty percent of countries still permit smoking in hospitals and schools. An
international treaty on tobacco control came into force in two thousand five.
Tobacco companies face increasingly restrictive marketplaces in many wealthier
countries. The industry is now aiming at the developing world, especially young
women. The report says large numbers of people do not yet know the dangers of
smoking.  W.H.O. Director General Margaret Chan points out that tobacco
hurts economies in two ways. One is through reduced productivity among workers
who get lung cancer or other tobacco-related diseases. The other way is through
high health care costs for treating those diseases. The W.H.O. study was
announced in

New York City

.

New York

’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has
worked hard to restrict smoking in

America

’s largest city. And his
charitable group, Bloomberg Philanthropies, helped pay for the study.

 

 

TEKS NEWS READING SMA

 

Science
Journals Examine Poverty and Development

 

Last Monday, science journals around the world
published what was called a "Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human
Development." Organizers at the Council of Science Editors said the
project involved two hundred thirty-five journals from thirty-seven countries.
The council said the goal was to increase interest and research in the subject
and to spread the results as widely as possible. It said the journals were
publishing more than seven hundred fifty articles involving eighty-seven
countries in all parts of the world. A partial list of the articles is on the
Council of Science Editors’ Web site. The group has urged all journals that
published articles to make them available free to the public. This is the third
time a global theme issue has been published. The first issue in nineteen
ninety-six dealt with worldwide threats from diseases. Thirty-six journals
published articles. The second issue in nineteen ninety-seven was on aging.
Articles appeared in ninety-seven journals. The editors of the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA,
organized the two earlier issues. JAMA published several articles for the
newest one. The research examined how knowledge about effective health
interventions can be put to use locally to help the poor. The project also
included journals on medicine and biology from the Public Library of Science.
That nonprofit organization publishes its journals free of charge on the
Internet. The United States National Institutes of Health held an event to
launch the Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development. A group of
experts from N.I.H. and the Council of Science Editors chose seven articles for
recognition. The subjects included childbirth safety, H.I.V./AIDS, malaria
treatment and the effects of influenza on children. The United Nations recognized the link
between health and development in the Millennium Development Goals approved in
September of two thousand. But many experts believe the targets for health
improvements will not be reached at current rates of progress.

 

 

World Bank
Urges More Farm Aid; Is Criticized on Own

Africa

Record

 

The fall meetings of the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund just took place in

Washington

.
Earlier, the bank used its latest World Development Report to call for more
investment in agriculture in developing countries. World Bank Group Chief
Economist Francois Bourguignon and Kathy Sierra, vice president of sustainable
development, release the World Development Report. The World Bank says
agriculture must be at the center of development issues if international goals
are to be met. These goals are to cut extreme poverty and hunger in half by two
thousand fifteen. The report says agricultural and rural areas have suffered
from underinvestment over the past twenty years. Seventy-five percent of the
world’s poor live in rural areas. But the bank says only four percent of
official development assistance goes to agriculture in developing countries.
Africa south of the

Sahara

depends on
agriculture for economic growth. The World Bank says public spending there for
farming is also just four percent of total government spending and taxes are
high. Recently the World Bank has faced criticism of its assistance to
agriculture in sub-Saharan

Africa

. That
criticism comes in a new report from the bank’s own Independent Evaluation
Group. In the nineteen eighties and nineties
African governments faced severe financial problems. As a result, the bank
urged them to reduce their support for agriculture. The idea was that market
forces would push agricultural growth. But the report says private business
failed to replace government support for agriculture. As a result, high
fertilizer prices, reduced credit and lack of improved seeds. The report
compares agricultural performance between nineteen eighty-seven and two
thousand one with levels in South Asia and

Latin America

.
In many sub-Saharan nations, more than sixty percent of the people work in
agriculture. Yet slow agricultural growth combined with fast population growth
means that most countries are still trying to get enough food. World Bank
officials differed with some of the observations in the report. But they say
the bank is already investing more in agriculture in sub-Saharan

Africa

.

 

Deal
Reached in

Washington

to Aid Economy

 

Last Friday, President Bush called for an economic
growth package — a plan to give a quick shot of energy to the slowing American
economy. Now, the administration has an agreement with Democratic and
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
of

California

talks about the proposal. She is with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, right,
and House Minority Leader John Boehner of

Ohio

. President Bush called the one hundred
fifty billion dollar deal, reached Thursday, the right set of policies and the
right size. He urged Congress to pass it as soon as possible, saying the
economy urgently needs action. He said the plan would lead to higher consumer
spending and increased business investment this year. The measures must be
approved by the House and the Senate and signed into law by the president. There
are three parts to the plan. The plan would give money in the form of tax
rebates to middle-class Americans in hopes they will spend it. Individuals
could receive up to six hundred dollars. Married couples could get up to twice
that. Families with children would get extra money. Money would also go to
millions who do not earn enough to pay taxes. The plan aims to create jobs
through tax breaks for business investment. The plan seeks to strengthen the
housing market. The plan would raise limits on the size of home loans that can
be purchased by mortgage financers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This would lower
interest rates on those loans. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the measures are
"timely, targeted and temporary" — the three goals for an economic
stimulus package. She was not very pleased with the compromise deal but said it
will help the economy. If it does not, she added, there would be more to come. Speaker
Pelosi said House leaders would bring the bill for a vote at the earliest date.
The Senate, though, may try to expand the package. Many economists worry that
the world’s largest economy will enter or has already entered a recession. On
Tuesday, the Federal Reserve moved to help calm financial markets in the

United States

,
and around the world. The Federal Open Market Committee cut the federal funds
rate by seventy-five basis points — a week before it planned to meet. The move
brought the rate that banks charge each other to borrow money overnight to
three and one-half percent. This was the first time the committee has cut rates
between meetings since after the September eleventh terrorist attacks in two
thousand one.

 

Green’
Schools Grow Around US

 

In

Alexandria

,

Virginia

, the two thousand students at

T.C.

Williams

High School

started
classes last month in a new building. It was built as a "green"
school based on requirements from the United States Green Building Council. The
council is a nonprofit organization made up of building industry leaders. It
has a rating system for buildings called Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design, or LEED. In two thousand one, there were four schools asking for LEED
certification. Now there are four hundred, including T.C. Williams. So far,
fifty-eight schools have been recognized for meeting the requirements. These
include protecting natural areas and limiting the amount of chemicals in
building materials. They are also include better lighting and improved indoor
air quality. Buildings are also rated on how well they use energy and water,
and on things like the use of recycling programs. At T.C. Williams, one example
of green design can be seen in the many windows that let in natural light.
Students say the sunny rooms help them stay awake during class. A rooftop
garden is designed to provide storm water control and help keep the building
cool in the sun. And an underground tank can store one million seven hundred
thousand liters of rainwater for air conditioning and other systems. The new
building cost about ninety million dollars to build. It stands next to the old
T.C. Williams building, which officials say will slowly be taken apart and
recycled.

T.C.

Williams

High School

is still waiting for the final part of the LEED certification process. Schools
receive points for the number of requirements they meet. Buildings are rated
silver, gold or platinum. Around the country, concerns about limited budgets
for public schools sometimes lead to objections to investing in green schools.
But the Green Building Council points to a report by Capital E, a

Washington

,

D.C.

,
and company that serves the clean energy industry. Capital E examined the cost
of thirty green schools in the

United
  States

. It says the average cost was only
two percent higher compared to a traditional school. And it says this extra
cost is small compared to the savings over time from lower energy and water
costs and healthier students.

 

 

 

Malaria
jab hope over chimp virus

 

Scientists believe a chimp virus may hold the clue in
the long-running battle to develop a malaria vaccine. Experts have been trying
for the last 20 years to find a jab for the disease, which kills more than 1m
people a year.

Oxford

University

teams are using the chimp virus to provoke an immune response in cells
where the parasites responsible for malaria gather. Trials are just getting
under way and, if they prove successful, a vaccine may be available within five
years. The team is using a genetically-modified chimp adenovirus combined with
a malaria gene in a bid to kill the parasites once they enter the body.
Previous research had shown that adenoviruses, which cause common problems such
as colds and gastroenteritis, are particularly effective at triggering such an
immune response. But as many people will have been exposed to the human
adenovirus, the team, funded by the Wellcome Trust, turned to the chimp
version. Lead researcher Dr Sarah Gilbert said: "Chimpanzees have their
own set of adenoviruses which rarely infect humans, so we have not built up
immunity to them.

Oxford

University

is just one of
several groups reaching the trial stage with potential vaccines. The disease
has proved a particularly tricky challenge as it is so complex. Malaria
pathogens have thousands of genes compared to the scores in many of the
diseases which vaccines have already been developed for. And the lack of
progress has left doctors relying on drug treatments and bed nets to keep away
mosquitoes which carry the malaria parasite. It means promises made in 2000 to
halve the burden of the disease within 10 years are almost certainly going to
be missed. However, experts believe significant steps are now being made. Colin
Sutherland, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the

Oxford

University

research showed "promise". He added that they were getting closer with
a vaccine and there is more confidence now than there has been for 10 years.
The problem is that it is so complex and if we do get there, it will be one of
the biggest vaccine achievements.

 

 

TEKS NEWS READING PERGURUAN TINGGI

 

 

 

A ‘Rogue Trader’   Costs French Bank $7 Billion

Last week,

France

’s second largest bank,
Societe Generale, announced that a single, middle-level trader had caused the
bank to lose over seven billion dollars.  It was the largest trading loss
by an individual in banking history.  Jerome Kerviel reportedly made
trades in European stock index derivatives.  These complex investments are
bets that stock indexes will rise or fall.  Mister Kerviel’s job was to
place bets that indexes would both rise and fall.  Doing this limits the
risk of losing a lot.  But it also limits gains.  Mister Kerviel
worked in a part of the bank that was supposed to take on little risk.
The bank said Mister Kerviel took measures to avoid its risk
controls.   Reports say Mister Kerviel found a way to hide the fact
that he bet only on stock prices rising.  He also hid the huge amounts of
his bets from bank supervisors.  When stock prices dropped, his financial
positions, worth an estimated seventy-three billion dollars, had to be closed
at a huge loss.  French government lawyers brought charges against the
thirty-one-year-old trader on Monday. Mister Kerviel was charged with breach of
trust and illegal computer activity.  However, he was not charged with
financial wrongdoing or false signing of documents.  Mister Kerviel has
denied that he tried to profit from his activities.  His lawyer says he is
being unfairly charged.   The bank said it only discovered Mister
Kerviel’s activities on January twentieth.  But a government lawyer said
exchange officials had warned the bank about the trader’s deals late last year.
The lawyer said Mister Kerviel told him he had started his activities at the
end of two thousand five. Many in the French government are pressuring the
bank’s chairman and chief executive Daniel Bouton to resign. Mister Bouton has
offered to resign twice but both times the bank’s board did not accept his
resignation. Some experts believe efforts by Societe Generale to close out
Mister Kerviel’s financial positions played a part in driving down European
stock prices early last week.In the

United States

, the Federal Reserve
cut the federal funds rate for the second time in eight days. On Wednesday, the
central bank cut the important interest rate by half a percentage point to
three percent. The Fed said it is now more concerned about the slowing economy
than about inflation. 

 

Bird
flu spreads in Bangladesh

 

The bird flu epidemic has spread to over half of

Bangladesh

’s 64
districts, in what officials say is a major blow to the country’s poultry
industry. They say that thousands of birds have had to be slaughtered in recent
days, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people and driving up food
prices. Experts say the problem has been worsened by official neglect. The H5N1
strain of bird flu is regarded as highly pathogenic and can officials in the
Indian state of West Bengal - which neighbours

Bangladesh

- said that the virus
has been detected in 13 of the state’s 19 districts and those more than 2.5
million birds would be culled. But so far, no cases of human infection have
been reported either in

India

or

Bangladesh

.
Bird flu has also been reported recently in

Pakistan

. Correspondents
say that chicken prices in markets in

Dhaka

have dropped by 25% over the past two weeks, while the price of eggs has fallen
by 20% or more. Officials on Monday said that the virus has spread to three
more districts in the country - in the south and west - taking the number
affected to 37. The government has promised to raise compensation that is paid
to farmers whose poultry has been culled, and that it is doing all it can to
prevent the spread of bird flu. But last month the UN’s Food and Agriculture
Organisation said that the virus "appeared to be endemic" in the
country, and that the government’s surveillance and control campaigns had not
succeeded in stopping it from spreading between districts. Farmers currently
receive between 60 and 80 taka ($0.87 to $1.17) for each culled chicken, which
they say is inadequate. They get 60 taka for each duck. Correspondents say that
in the country’s second biggest city,

Chittagong

,
officials have stepped up surveillance after the virus was detected in dead
crows. A newspaper in the city on Monday published a photograph of a man,
wearing no mask and holding a stick in his bare hands, sifting through dead
crows. Correspondents say that the photo highlights the fact that many poor and
rural people remain poorly informed about the dangers of the disease, and that
despite the government’s efforts to burn or bury dead birds, many farmers and
backyard poultry breeders continue to ignore warnings. Touching or eating
infected poultry is the most likely way to contract bird flu, which has killed
more than 220 people globally since late 2003. West Bengal has sealed a stretch
of its border with

Bangladesh

,
which has been fighting to contain the spread of bird flu since March last
year.

 

Japan

Urges

China

to Reduce Pollution

Japan urged

China

to do
more to fight global warming and
pledged to help the country reduce runaway pollution during high-level talks in
the Chinese capital on Friday. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda of

Japan

made energy and environmental issues the
centerpiece of his four-day visit to

China

, hoping to build on a recent
improvement in relations. The countries have disputes over territory, energy
resources, wartime history and military spending. Mr. Fukuda’s visit, his first
as prime minister, promised no major breakthroughs.

China

, which has long demanded that
Japanese prime ministers halt such visits, has responded warmly to Mr. Fukuda’s
promise. Mr. Fukuda said the two countries should put more effort into jointly
fighting climate change, and promised to step up aid and technology transfer to
help

China

improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions.

China

has displaced

Japan

as

Asia

’s largest manufacturing country. But it is grappling
with severe environmental problems, as its air, water, land and human health
have suffered from poor enforcement of environmental rules, reliance on dirty
coal and low energy efficiency. This year,

China

also became the largest producer of global warming gases, surpassing the

United States

.

Japan

, in contrast,
uses less energy per dollar of economic output than any other developed
country. It has cut its carbon emissions sharply, partly by outsourcing
manufacturing to

China

and other Asian countries.

Japan

has also expressed concerns about

China

’s military buildup.

Beijing

says it will
increase military spending by 18 percent, to $45 billion this year. The
Pentagon estimates

China

’s
actual spending on its armed forces to be at least double that figure.

China

has
sought to build a modern navy. It has more than 20 new assault ships and
nuclear-powered attack submarines. Chinese analysts say they worry about

Japan

, which they say has pushed the limits of
its pacifist Constitution as it tries to become a full military partner of the

US

.

Storm-hit

China

calls for ‘faith’

 

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has urged people to
"have faith" that some of the worst snow storms in 50 years can be
overcome, state media says. Mr Wen called the extreme weather a "severe
natural disaster" as he traveled to

Hunan

province, one of the worst-affected. The weather has
caused travel chaos and left thousands of people stranded. One woman has been
trampled to death in the southern city of

Guangzhou

,
in a stampede to board a train. Another southern city, Chenzhou, has reportedly
had no power for a week, and many of its 4m residents have been without a
stable water supply for days. Elsewhere in

Hunan

province, heavy fog further paralyzed
the transport network, delaying flights and road traffic. Elsewhere, travelers
clashed with police and soldiers after being stranded on Sunday at an airport
in

Guangzhou

, the capital of southern

Guangdong

province. The
BBC’s Daniel Griffiths witnessed furious scuffles, as passengers demanded
airline officials put them on another flight after a cancellation. Our
correspondent says the authorities took several hours to resolve the stand-off,
and there were similar scenes here throughout the day. At

Guangzhou

train station on Saturday, a woman died after falling during a stampede to
board a train home to

Hubei

province in
central

China

,
state media reported. Hundreds of thousands of stranded people have been forced
to spend the night in the open in sub-zero temperatures at the station.
Travelers are trying to get home for this week’s Lunar New Year holiday. For
many workers it is their only chance to see their families all year. The
government has set up a command centre to coordinate its response to the
crisis, deploying more than 300,000 soldiers and almost 1.1m reservists. The
provincial weather bureau has forecast more snow for Monday and Tuesday. The
extreme weather, now in its fourth week, has affected an estimated 100m people,
and caused 54bn yuan (£3.8bn) of damage. Officials say emergency medical teams
have treated over 200,000 sick and injured people, and that 60 people have
died. Officials have warned of future food shortages because of damaged winter
crops.

 

Taiwan

set to hold UN referendums

 

Taiwan

will hold two referendums next month on joining the
United Nations, the island’s election commission says. The commission’s
secretary-general, Teng Tien-yu, said the votes would be held on 22 March, the
same day as the forthcoming presidential election. The
two referendums have been proposed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party
and the opposition Kuomintang.

Taiwan

has no seat at the UN, having lost it to

China

in 1971. Its attempts to
regain membership have been blocked.

Beijing

has
claimed sovereignty over

Taiwan

since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, when the defeated Nationalist
government fled to the island as the Communist Party swept to power. The
island’s latest attempt to rejoin the UN, for the first time under the name

Taiwan

, was
blocked in September. Mr Teng said the DPP-proposed referendum next month would
ask whether voters agree that the government should seek to join the UN in the
name of

Taiwan

to express
Taiwanese people’s will and enhance

Taiwan

’s international status. The
referendum proposed by opposition KMT, which wants closer ties with

China

, would
meanwhile ask whether the island should seek to "return to the UN with a
pragmatic and flexible approach". The KMT referendum proposes joining the
UN using either the official name, Republic of China,

Taiwan

or any
other suitable designation. The

US

has already said it strongly opposes both parties’ proposals. Last month, US
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said that the conduct of such a
referendum was a mistake from the perspective of the

United States

. They thought it is a
provocative policy on the part of the Taiwanese authorities and it certainly
would have been preferable had not such a referendum been scheduled.

Taiwan

’s
President, Chen Shui-bian, has defended the DPP’s referendum, saying it is not
provocative but "only a policy that respects public opinion".

 

 

 

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