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《纯C论坛·电子杂志》2004.11.SP1（总第2期）SP1

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New king has first China visit
CAMBODIA'S new king Norodom Sihamoni made his first royal appearance with a
smile and traditional Cambodian greeting in talks with China's President Hu
Jintao on Monday in Beijing.
Sihamoni was chosen by a council to replace his father, Norodom Sihanouk, last
Thursday, after Sihanouk surprisingly gave up the throne for health reasons. He
returns home on Wednesday and will be crowned on October 29.
Norodom Sihamoni
Sihamoni was born in 1953 and is unmarried. He has been a ballet dancer and an
ambassador of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) since 1993. He has a good command of French, English and
Russian.
The fact that Sihamoni chose to make his first official appearance in China is
symbolic of the strong bond his country has with China, Asia-based analysts
said.
Cambodia's monarchy is largely symbolic with no real power, but it carries
weight because of the respect most Cambodians have for the royal family. It is
also seen as being key to stability in the politically unstable Southeast Asian
nation.
Sihanouk himself long had close ties with China, where he received treatment for
heart and liver illnesses in the past.
Royal duty
Sihanouk once said that Sihamoni "would probably decline that royal job which he
finds frightening." But after giving up the throne, the king made clear that it
was his son's royal duty to accept the crown if offered.
Sihamoni went to school in Prague, Czechoslovakia, at the age of nine. He
graduated in 1975 from the Academy of Musical Arts in Czechoslovakia and later
studied filmmaking in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, according to
his official biography.
From 1976 to 1978, he was a prisoner of Cambodian rebel forces. After a
Vietnamese invasion drove the rebels from power in early 1979, Sihamoni spent
the next two years as secretary to his father in Beijing.
From there he went to Paris to teach and perform in ballet and classical Khmer
dance.
In 1992, he briefly served as Cambodia's envoy to the UN. From 1993 until this
year, Sihamoni served as ambassador to UNESCO, promoting Cambodian culture while
working on the stolen artifact issue.
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A CHINESE youth organization has started a "turtle search" campaign to build a
"sea turtle" information bank on "overseas returnees".
On October 15, The Chinese Youth Association together with Shanghai's Elite
Reference newspaper posted survey questions on a website, www.haiguiss.org ,
made specially for the survey. The questionnaire had nine parts and was meant to
cover every aspect of "turtle life".
They included: purpose for overseas study, life abroad, love life and career
perspectives.
According to the government statistics, since the opening-up policy of the late
1970s, more than 700,000 Chinese students have gone abroad for further
education. Starting in the late 1990s, more of these people began returning home
to work.
By the end of last year, a little over 172,000 had returned. Last year, a record
number of 20,000 came back to China. That was a 12 per cent increase over the
2002 figure.
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Sensible vehicles
GROWING demand is turning China into the world's fastest growing car market, but
it's also causing it to consider vehicles that run on alternative fuels.
So, Shanghai held a three-day exhibition of eco-friendly cars last week. There
were about 150 advanced-technology cars on display.
"Conventional internal combustion engine technology will put a lot of pressure
on China in terms of energy security and environmental protection," said Wan
Gang, president of Shanghai's Tongji University, which has an automotive
engineering institute.
The push to develop cleaner vehicles has accelerated now that China has to
consider the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, Wan
said.
And, the recent surge in world crude oil prices has driven home the lesson of
relying on oil.
China started importing oil only in the last decade, but industrialization has
changed that: it now buys 40 per cent of its supplies abroad.
The vehicles on display use electric motors, petrol-electric hybrid engines,
fuel cells and other technology to cut pollution and boost fuel efficiency.
One of the experimental cars was the hydrogen-peroxide-fuelled Habo No 1.
"This car emits only water vapour and oxygen," said He Limei, project director
for the Shanghai Habo Chemical Technology Co, which maded the car.
The hydrogen peroxide reacts with silver to produce oxygen and heat. This can be
used to propel a rocket.
But He admitted that his car needed a bit more work: The power plant takes up
the entire back seat and the trunk.
China announced its intentions to build a world-class automobile industry more
than a decade ago. It has taken major steps to develop its own manufacturers and
a market for private cars.
Sales jumped 75 per cent last year, prompting global carmakers, most of whom
already had a sizable stake in China, to announce plans for billions of dollars
in new investments.
Many in the industry say China's status as a newcomer, without ageing technology
could be an advantage. That could let it jump straight into a new generation.
General Motors and its main Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp,
plan to test a hybrid bus in Shanghai. The two companies have also developed a
fuel cell prototype.
DaimlerChrysler AG says it plans to test three hydrogen fuel-cell buses in
Beijing next year.
Toyota intends to assemble and sell its petrol-electric Prius hybrid in China.
Fuel cells fuse hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat and water. They
are considered the ultimate power source because of their efficiency and lack of
pollution.
But developing a network of fuel stations is a goal likely to be decades away,
executives admit.
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Uncorrupted youngsters
CHINA is worried that its youth are being corrupted by foreign online games. So,
it has plans to spend up to US$240 million to develop healthy local games, the
Xinhua News Agency said on Monday.
The idea is to get young Chinese interested in more refined products instead of
imported games with a lot of sex and violence.
The plan is to develop 100 high-quality games over the next four years,
according to the Press and Publication Administration.
By the end of this year, 30 online games are expected to hit the market. Some of
the new games will be based on classical Chinese literature. These include,
"Journey to the West" (Xi You Ji), "Canonization of the Gods" (Feng Shen Bang),
and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (San Guo Zhi).
The country's 200 million youngsters make China the world's most promising
online game market. Revenues could amount to 9.3 billion yuan by 2006, up from
the current 1.3 billion yuan.
Chen Tianqiao, president of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd, China's
largest online game company, said, "honouring software intellectual property
rights is crucial for the gaming market."
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Obesity posing threat to Chinese
CHINA'S Ministry of Health says that 200 million Chinese are overweight or
obese. And, today's rising incomes are being blamed for those growing
waistlines.
The number of obese Chinese went from 30 million in 1992 to 60 million in 2002,
according to the first national survey on eating patterns.
The study indicated that about 140 million Chinese were considered overweight.
The survey also revealed other important health information about China's
population. More than 20 million people are being treated for diabetes, and some
160 million suffer from high blood pressure.
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Race for polar region
DENMARK has launched an extraordinary bid for ownership of the North Pole, one
of the world's last untapped sources of oil and natural gas. It is sending an
expedition to try to prove that the seabed there is a natural continuation of
Danish territory, Denmark's Science Ministry said on Monday.
The key to Denmark's claim is Greenland, the world's largest island and a Danish
territory. Greenland's northern tip lies 720 kilometres south of the North Pole.
The expedition will attempt to show that the ocean floor from northern Greenland
is geologically linked to an underwater mountain range called the Lomonosov
Ridge. They could then argue that the polar region is a natural extension of
Greenland.
Claiming territory
According to the United Nations Convention of the Sea, countries can claim
economic rights to waters up to 370 kilometres from their shores. Countries that
approve it have 10 years to prove they have a fair claim to the offshore
territory and its resources.
If the expedition proves the extension and makes the extended area within the
370 kilometres designated by the convention, Denmark will be given legitimate
rights to the North Pole's abundant natural resources.
For a long time now, the North Pole has been considered international territory.
Denmark's claim has pushed other countries with Arctic Ocean coasts, which have
claimed ownership over the North Pole area, into action. These countries include
Russia, Canada and Norway. Even the US may make a claim, according to a Reuters
report.
"We're seeing a growing focus on and fight for the resources in the Arctic,
especially as global warming makes the region more accessible," said Samantha
Smith, director of the World Wildlife Fund environmental group's Arctic
Programme.
Canada first claimed the North Pole in the late 1950s and an international
committee later ruled that if no disputing claim was made within 100 years, it
would become Canadian territory. But while most maps place the region within
Canadian borders, legal sovereignty has never been granted.
Three years ago, Russia claimed almost half of the Arctic Ocean, including part
of the area around the pole. Russia based its claim in part on its contention
that the very same Lomonosov Ridge, was an extension of its eastern territory,
Siberia.
Since the spring of 2004, teams of Danish geologists have used high-tech
instruments and global positioning satellite data and have drilled in the seabed
of the area to take samples.
Last year, Denmark set aside more than US$22 million for the project. Russia and
Canada have also been making similar investigations around the pole.
What these countries are interested in is the hundreds of miles of seabed two
miles down ? territory that may contain oil and natural gas reserves. The
important other resource is open water. The Northeast Passage over the shoulders
of Russia is the one that if clear of ice, could cut shipping distances between
Europe and Asia nearly in half. The sea route is already nearly free of summer
ice.
"The North Pole is one of the only untouched territories left on the globe,"
said Torquil Meedon, a senior official at Denmark's Ministry of Science and
Technology.
"Climate changes show that ice in the polar sea may disappear within 50 to 100
years. That will open up the Northwest Passage as a new and valuable shipping
route.
"It will also be opened up to fishing and possible oil and gas reserves may well
prove significant. Who knows how valuable the rights to the North Pole could be
100 years from now?"
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Chinese killed in South Africa robbery
TWO Chinese men working in South Africa were shot dead in an armed robbery at a
factory canteen Sunday noon near the central city Bloemfontein, according to the
Chinese consulate general in Johannesburg. Police have arrested three suspects.
At least 14 Chinese have been killed in robberies and another eight injured
across South Africa since January of this year as a result of a nationwide
deterioration of public security, said the Chinese official.
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Hostage's body returns to Shandong
THE body of Chinese engineer Wang Peng, who was held hostage in Pakistan, was
flown back to Jinan, Shandong Province, on Saturday. Wang was killed in a
military operation by Pakistani forces on October 14 to free two Chinese
hostages being held by terrorists in the South Asian country. The other man,
Wang Ende, returned to Beijing last Friday. The Chinese Government has condemned
the kidnapping.
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Earthquake shakes Taipei at lunchtime
TAIWAN'S strongest earthquake in five years shook Taipei, the capital of the
island, on Friday, causing tall buildings to sway and shutting down the subway
system during the lunchtime rush hour. Two people were wounded, but no serious
damage resulted. The epicenter of the magnitude seven quake was in the Pacific