News & Reports 2011-05-28

 Hello and Welcome to News and Reports on China Radio International.

 
In This Edition
 
Nominee 1 for the next U.S. ambassador to China Gary Locke vows 2 to boost US-China ties and expand bilateral 3 trade.
 
While countries applaud the arrest of Bosnian Serb wartime General Ratko Mladic, residents in some Bosnian towns reject the move.
 
The Group of Eight leaders concludes a two-day summit in the French resort of Deauville by issuing a joint 4 call for Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to step down.
 
And countries along the coast of the South China Sea hope to complete a joint tsunami 5 warning system by the end of 2015.
 
 
Hot Issue Reports
 
Nominated US Ambassador Vows to Boost China-US Ties
Nominated US Ambassador Vows to Boost China-US Ties
 
Nominee for the next U.S. ambassador to China Gary Locke has vowed 6 to boost China-US ties and expand the bilateral trade.
 
"As an ambassador, I will also work to expand bilateral cooperation on the host of critical international issues, from stopping nuclear proliferation to balancing a global economy to combating climate change. I also pledge to reach out to the people of China."
 
Locke, currently the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, was nominated by US President Barack Obama in early March. He says he fees quite proud to take the position.
 
"I also know that if my father Jimmy were still alive, he passed away this past January, he will be proud to see his son become the first Chinese-American US ambassador to the country of his and my mother's birth. China is a nation they would hardly recognize from their childhoods. It is a country filled with ultra-modern cities with hundreds of millions having been lifted out of poverty."
 
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has held a hearing into Locke's appointment as US ambassador to China. The Committee Chairman John Kerry hails Locke as a qualified 7 nominee, but also points out that being an ambassador is a greater challenge than his current position as Commerce Secretary.
 
"The President's latest assignment for Secretary Locke may well be his most challenging. The relationship between the United States and China is vital to get right. We must avoid falling into the trap of zero-sum competition. We need to forge a mutually beneficial relationship based on common interests."
 
If confirmed by the Senate, Locke would become the first Chinese-American to serve in the post of U.S. ambassador to China.
 
He would replace Jon Huntsman, a former governor of Utah who may run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination 8 to face President Barack Obama.
 
Different Voices on Bosnian Serb Wartime General Mladic's Arrest
Two opposite voices can be heard on the arrest of Bosnian Serb wartime General Ratko Mladic who is now facing genocide charges and ready to be transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for trials.
 
Serbian government and some western countries have welcomed and applauded the arrest.
 
Serbian President Boris Tadic says Mladic's arrest has opened the doors to his country's European Union membership.
 
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling the arrest a historic moment for international justice.
 
"This arrest marks an important step in our collective fight to end impunity 9 as well as for the work of the ICTY. I commend the efforts of President Tadic and the Serbian government, thank you very much."
 
Many EU member countries say the arrest is going to do a lot for Serbia's integration 10 into the EU. Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton.
 
"What I know is that we will approach that with renewed energy because of today and I look at the messages coming out of Brussels and European capitals to Serbia, and hope that we will be able to move forward swiftly."
 
However, residents in some Bosnian towns have reacted negatively to the arrest. In Pale and Banja Luka, former Bosnian Serb strongholds, where Mladic once issued orders, hundreds of people spoke 11 out against Mladic's arrest.
 
"Long live Ratko Mladic!　We will not give up on him. We are all Ratko Mladic."　
 
"We think he was a great Serb. He did a lot for the Serbian people. This injustice 12 hurts because the tradition that only Serbs are arrested continues."
 
"What can I say? They arrested the only Serb hero who fought for our Republic. All I can say is that it is sad."
 
Mladic is facing genocide charges in connection with the killing 13 of some 75-hundred Bosnian Muslim men and boys in 1995, on top of charges connected to the 43-month siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian war, which claimed around 100-thousand lives.
 
The killing in Srebrenica is widely viewed as the worst single atrocity 14 in Europe since World War II.
 
G8 Summit Concludes, Calling Gaddafi to Go
The Group of Eight leaders has concluded a two-day summit in the French resort of Deauville by issuing a joint call for Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to step down.
 
Host French President Nicolas Sarkozy says "all options are open," as long as Gaddafi leaves.
 
"We are not saying that Gaddafi needs to be exiled. He must leave power and the quicker he does it, the greater his choice."
France has been taking a leading role in the NATO air strike campaign in Libya.
 
Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also increases pressure on Moammar Gadhafi as France and Britain seek to intensify 15 their bombing campaign.
 
"The international community no longer sees him as the leader of Libya and this is not only the position of the G8, but of all the African countries whose leaders were present at today's session."
 
Medvedev says he is sending envoy 16 Mikhail Margelov to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in Libya immediately to start negotiating.
 
He adds that Russia will use its contacts with both Gadhafi's government and the rebels to try to negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict.
 
Russian officials have been critical of Gadhafi, but also complain about what they call an excessive use of force by NATO and have urged a quick end to hostilities 17.
 
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently held talks in Moscow with representatives of both Gadhafi's government and the rebels.
 
Thai Political Parties Intensify Upcoming Election Campaign
Around 47 million people are eligible 18 to vote for the Thailand's election in early July. A total of thirty parties have confirmed to take part in the election campaign.
 
The race will run between the ruling Democrat 19 Party and the opposition 20 Puea Thai. But analysts 22 say neither party is expected to win a majority and will probably need to form a coalition 23.
 
Kan Yuenyong, an analyst 21 from Bangkok, predicts that it will be almost impossible for Puea Thai to form the government unless they win a landslide 24 election.
 
"If it's a normal election, I think Puea Thai will possibly win the election and can form the government by asking their former coalition parties to join them. But this is the transition period of Thailand, so we can't just analyst like that we have to look at the power behind each parties or each side so what I see is, the opposition side of Puea Thai party, they don't want Thaksin to be back."
 
Kan says Puea Thai has powerful enemies, especially among the military and conservative elite 25, and might have difficulty forming a coalition.
 
However, Puea Thai has shown its confidence to win in the election. The party has chosen former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's youngest sister Yingluck for its candidate. If the party won, she will become the first woman prime minister in Thailand.
 
Multinational 26 Tsunami Warning System to Be Built in South China Sea
Nine countries along the coast of the South China Sea are jointly 27 building a tsunami warning system, which is expected to be completed in 2015 at the earliest. When built, it will take only 10 minutes to warn the countries about a tsunami approaching from the deep ocean.
 
Xiang Wei has the details.
 
This proposal has been put forward this week in Beijing by China's State Oceanic Administration, and has been approved Friday.
 
Zhang Zhanhai, head of the Department of International Cooperation at the Administration, says it's been a principle for the international community to fight tsunamis 28 in joint effort.
 
"The force of a tsunami is not limited within one country, but across borders. That's why a tsunami is always an international issue."
 
A tsunami is caused by earthquakes underneath 29 the sea. By observing the tremors 30 of the ocean ground, marine 31 centers of each country can forecast a tsunami before it gets to the shore.
 
Yu Fujiang, Deputy Director of the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center, says to build an international cooperative system can make the process shorter.
 
"It'll be primarily based on information sharing. Each country has it own ability to monitor tsunamis and earthquakes over a certain area. If we can exchange this information, it will help us forecast disasters more precisely 32 and quickly."
 
The international community has attached importance to the disaster-forecast effort in the South China Sea region since 2004, when a tsunami hit Indonesia and claimed over 200,000 lives. The deadly Japan Tsunami this year led to further calls for an effective warning system to be established in the area.
 
Yu Fujiang says China hopes the system can be established in five years. But he also warns against obstacles in bringing the proposal into force.
 
"To persuade countries involved to provide monitoring information requires a long-term effort. After all, the monitoring activities mainly take place in offshore 33 areas, which are very sensitive in military and safety terms."
 
The system will be able to warn countries concerned within 10 minutes after a tsunami forms offshore. With enough departure time, it will reduce the damage by the disaster in South China Sea countries. They include China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore.
 
For CRI, this is Xiangwei.
 
Tech Bubble
Technology certainly seems to be hot right now. With smartphones, tablets, and social networking getting so much attention, one has to wonder if it's not too much.
 
And it's not just us. Looking at the recent initial public offerings of LinkedIn and Ren Ren, as well as the high valuations of companies like Facebook and Zygna, it certainly does seem that the technology sector 34 is in a boom period.
 
But, can we accurately 35 call it a bubble?
 
John Artman finds out.
 
In 1999 and 2000, many of China's biggest internet companies, including Sina, Sohu, and Netease chose the wrong time to go public on American stock exchanges. Through no real doing of their own, they started strong only see the price of each share fall to low as 60 US cents as in the case of Sohu.
 
Why was it a bad time? As these companies were going public, Nasdaq, the main tech exchange, had already started to decline.
 
And now, with impossibly high valuations and stunning 36 initial public offerings, the question of whether we are again in a tech bubble is being asked. While, the last bubble involved mostly American companies, China now find itself right in the middle of it.
 
Most recently Ren Ren, a social networking site in China, debuted 37 and saw amazing gains only to then see their share prices fall dramatically in the days following.
 
Frank Nazikian is founder 38 and president of one of China's longest running tech conferences, CHINICT. According to him, some companies might have been overblown, but the Chinese market as a whole still has lots of room to grow.
 
"The Chinese tech scene isn't getting the respect it deserves. If you agree that the market is always right, the market is basically starting to give the Chinese tech scene the attention it deserves.."
 
Bill Bishop 39, an internet analyst based in Beijing, says that many of the recent China IPOs were priced too aggressively, thus explaining the quick drops in price. However, he also says that while short term prospects 40 for these kinds of stocks might not be stellar, many of these companies will continue to have great returns and growth over the long term.
 
Valuations, or what a company is worth, are usually based upon how much money they can make in the future. The problem in the current boom, perhaps, is not with empty business models, but with overvalued share prices.
 
Ruby 41 Lu is a general partner at DCM, a venture capital firm based in Beijing, Silicon 42 Valley and Tokyo. She says that this so-called bubble is different and when it does pop, the effect for the tech market will actually be positive.
 
"I think currently we are in the midst of a bubble, however this is the bubble that's going to separate high quality companies from mediocre 43 quality companies. So this will create flight to quality for institutional investors 44.."
 
The consensus 45 in the tech and financial communities seems to hold that what we are currently seeing in China and around the world has very little in common with what we saw in the late 90s and early 2000s. However, if there is a downturn, we can expect even established and profitable internet businesses to be affected 46. As to how and when this will happen is a different question.
 
For CRI, I'm John Artman.
 
Manchester United and Barcelona Prepare to Square Off in European Finale
Saturday night sees the climax 47 of the European football season as The UEFA Champions League final is played out in London.
 
Manchester United will take on Barcelona in what is shaping up to be a thriller 48.
 
Paul Ryding has more.
 
On Saturday night at Wembley in England, the champions of the two biggest leagues in the world will go head-to-head each in search of a fourth UEFA Champions League title.
 
The game is considered by many to be a meeting of the two finest club sides in the world and is a replay of the 2009 final in Rome when a sumptuous 49 Barcelona attacking performance proved too much for the Premier 50 League champions and the Spaniards ran out two-nil winners.
 
Lionel Messi, a goal scorer two years ago in Rome and the reigning 51 FIFA World Player of the Year, has been in scintillating 52 form for Barcelona this season. And after an incredible performance in the semi-finals against Real Madrid, many have suggested he could be the difference between the two teams on Saturday evening.
 
Manchester United defender 53 Rio Ferdinand is the man tasked with stopping the Argentinean.
 
Earlier this week he was asked how he intended to deal with the forward.
 
Manchester United will be looking to their own striking superstar Wayne Rooney for goals. After a difficult first half of the season, the England forward has enjoyed a fine end to the campaign and was instrumental in Manchester United securing the Premier League title this year, their 19th in total, an English record.
 
Much has been made of the fact that the final is similar to a home tie for Manchester United given that it is in London.
Guardiola himself was part of the Barcelona side of 1992 which won the club's first European Cup trophy 54 at Wembley stadium, and at a press conference earlier this week, Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola moved to suggest that the venue 55 selection will pose no problems for his team.
 
Both sides are looking to make it a domestic and European double for the season and a Champions League final between the two continental 56 superpowers appears a fitting end to the European season.
 
With an estimated worldwide audience of around 400-million, many will be hoping for a classic Champions League finale.
 
For CRI Sports, I'm Paul Ryding.
 
Newspaper Picks
 
Global Times: A group of law students from the Law School of Peking University are requesting full disclosure from the Forbidden City regarding its 2008-10 gate income and spending. Gate receipts are currently worth about 500 million yuan (77 million US dollars).
 
The students applied 57 to the Ministry 58 of Finance this week and sent a fax of the same application to the Palace Museum.
 
They say recent scandals involving the museum including the stolen curios and the private club at the Jianfu Palace hall have reminded them of problems with the management of the museum.
 
The students say as a public-funded institution with cultural relics 59 that belong to all Chinese, the museum should inform the public of its budget and expenditure 60.