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Note: The following text is a quote: Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release November 16, 2009 Remarks by President Barack Obama at Town Hall Meeting with Future Chinese Leaders Museum of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China 1:18 P.M. CST PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good afternoon. It is a great honor for me to be here in Shanghai, and to have this opportunity to speak with all of you. I'd like to thank Fudan University's President Yang for his hospitality and his gracious welcome. I'd also like to thank our...

China pointing about 1,500 missiles at Taiwan: Taipei official by Staff Writers Taipei (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 China now has about 1,500 missiles pointed at Taiwan, with no signs that the build-up is about to stop anytime soon, a spokesman for the island's government said Monday. The figure includes short-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, the defence ministry spokesman told AFP on condition of anonymity. "The number of missiles has been rising. We don't know when it will stop increasing," said the spokesman. He was speaking ahead of the release Tuesday of the ministry's annual report, which will include an...

BEIJING — Toothbrushes and nylon socks have become the latest projectiles in the continuing trade skirmish between the China and the United States. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued a preliminary ruling Monday that imposed a 36 percent tariff on American-made Nylon 6, a synthetic filament that ends up in a wide array of products, including toothbrushes, auto parts, socks and the handles of Glock handguns. Nylon 6 from Taiwan and Russia would also be taxed, but at much lower rates.

India raised the pitch of an increasingly testy row with China over disputed border areas Wednesday, warning Beijing about its involvement in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. "The Chinese side is fully aware of India's position and our concerns about Chinese activities," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in response to a Chinese statement that it would remain engaged in Pakistan. "We hope that the Chinese side will take a long-term view of the India-China relations and cease such activities in areas illegally occupied by Pakistan," Prakash said. The remarks came a day after India and China traded diplomatic jabs over a...

China said Saturday it was confident it could ensure the nation's safety after an Al-Qaeda leader called on members of the mainly Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang to launch a jihad against Beijing. "The Chinese government has the confidence and the ability to protect the safety of the nation, of people's lives and property," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement faxed to AFP. Ma was reacting to a call made this week by Abu Yahia al-Libi, one of Al-Qaeda's top leaders, in a video recording posted on an Islamist website, according to the SITE Intelligence group. "Let...

A souvenir shop in the popular Houhai tourist area of Beijing has recently become quite famous because it is selling products with the image of U.S. President Barack Obama's face imprinted over that of China's late leader Mao Zedong, CCTV.com reports. T-shirts and pouches with the "Oba Mao" design, a creative idea by shop owner Liu Mingjie, have attracted the attention of many foreign tourists. "We usually sell souvenirs printed with historical figures," Liu said. "Oba Mao is my new creation. The souvenirs with this logo are quite popular among visitors, foreign tourists in particular." The shop has sold thousands...

Two dead, 14 hurt in Beijing knife attacks Fri Sep 18, 2:12 am ET BEIJING (AFP) – A Chinese man stabbed two people to death and injured 14 others in Beijing, state media said Friday, in an attack likely to highlight security fears ahead of China's National Day celebrations. Beijing police said in a statement that Zhang Jianfei, a 46-year-old man from northeastern Jilin province, was arrested in connection with Thursday evening's assault near Tiananmen Square. The police statement said 14 people were hurt but made no mention of any deaths, and police declined further comment when contacted by AFP....

Two Chinese helicopters have reportedly violated the Indian airspace in recent months in Leh area of north Jammu and Kashmir during which they air-dropped some canned food in barren land at Chumar, northeast of this Himalayan town, along the border. ( Watch Video ) The MI series helicopters were reported to the nearby defence post by residents of this high altitude area living along the Pangong lake, located in the lap of majestic hills, prompting the Army Aviation Corps to rush its Cheetah and Chetak helicopters. However, they could only find tell-tale signs left by Chinese helicopters which hovered in...

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Serbian President Boris Tadic on Thursday agreed to establish a strategic partnership between the two countries. During their talks held Thursday afternoon, the two heads of state exchanged views on building and developing a strategic partnership and reached a broad consensus. Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) welcomes visiting Serbian President Boris Tadic in Beijing, capital of China, on Aug. 20, 2009.(Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)Hu highly valued Chinese relations with Serbia, saying the two peoples have traditional friendship and no matter what happened in the world, the relations between the two countries have developed healthily. He put forward...

LOS ANGELES—In two separate cases, three men have been sentenced to federal prison for attempting to transport sensitive and advanced U.S. technology to the People's Republic of China (PRC). Two men were sentenced yesterday, and another man linked to one of the schemes was sentenced last week to five years in prison. William Chi-Wai Tsu, 61, a Beijing resident, was sentenced yesterday to 40 months imprisonment for his role in exporting high-tech integrated circuits with military applications to the PRC. In a separate case, Tah Wei Chao, 53, of Beijing, was sentenced yesterday to 20 months imprisonment after pleading guilty...

When top US and Chinese officials meet on Monday for the first high-level talks of the Obama administration, the American complaints about China’s currency that long bedevilled relations will barely be on the table. For years, Washington alleged that Beijing unfairly manipulated its currency, the renminbi, to support exports, and demanded that China allow it to appreciate to force structural changes in its economy. Humbled by the financial crisis and heavily reliant on Beijing to climb out of it, Washington has shifted gear, relegating the currency to a subset of its push for broader economic reforms in China. “The US...

Rioters in China's far west Xinjiang region burned vehicles and blocked traffic in the regional capital Urumqi, and police rushed to the scene to impose order, the state news agency reported on Sunday. Restive Xinjiang is divided between the largely Muslim Uighur people and Han Chinese...

Joseph Zen, the former archbishop of Hong Kong, said the Vatican should harden its line towards Beijing and that a planned meeting of China's officially sanctioned priests and bishops would be a "slap in the face" to Benedict XVI. Catholics who were persecuted by the state in China should be prepared for martyrdom. "If the circumstance so requires, then we must be ready for martyrdom, there is no choice," he said.

China correspondent Stephen McDonell and ABC cameraman Rob Hill saw day turn into night as a freak storm swept across the capital Beijing today."It was pitch black outside and you could see people looking out from the office towers across the road from us," McDonell said."In a couple of the photos you can see a clock in the distance showing it was around 11:30 am local time."The storms were expected to affect western and northern Xinjiang, most part of Inner Mongolia, north-east China and north China.Today's extreme weather follows yesterday's hail storms across eastern China's Anhui province, which killed...

Twenty years ago, in the spring of 1989, millions of Chinese people peacefully demanded democracy from their Communist government. Centered in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the protestors were protected by the populace who set up barriers to keep them free from government intervention. But on the morning of June 4th, the Communist regime ordered tanks and soldiers to quell the protest. The violence and bloodshed that was the result has two opposing witnesses. The Chinese government insisted that 241 people died, whereas the Chinese Red Cross stated that over 2,600 had perished. Two decades later the innocent blood that was...

An exiled dissident detained for months in China has been slapped with charges of fraud as tensions in the country rise with weeks left to the day the pro-democracy movement in Beijing's Tiananmen Square was crushed by Chinese troops 20 years ago. Zhou Yongjun, a student leader during the spring 1989 protests, was arrested by police at the end of September last year while crossing into the southern city Shenzhen from Hong Kong, a network monitoring human rights abuses in China said. "Tensions rise every year leading up to the anniversary, but there has been more tension specifically this year,"...

WASHINGTON - Republican US Senator John McCain leaves Washington on Friday on a week-long trip to Asia that will take him to Hong Kong, Hanoi, Beijing and Tokyo, his office said on Monday. . . . . . Details of the trip were not immediately available, but the Arizona senator, planned to hold several public events. On his online Twitter feed, Mr McCain revealed Monday that he had met with China's ambassador to the United States in preparation for the trip.

BEIJING — X-ray bone analysis of 15,000 young Chinese athletes shows about 20 percent have lied about their ages, provincial sports authorities say. The analysis was conducted by sports officials in southern Guangdong province and reported on the Web site of the Southern Metropolis Daily. The confirmation of age-faking again puts pressure on Chinese sports officials. Several of China's gold-medal winning female gymnasts at last year's Olympics were widely suspected of being underage, although they were later cleared by officials of the sport's world governing body. NBA player Yi Jianlian is also widely reported to have falsified his age on...

As nationalistic passions burn over the fate of looted Chinese artworks auctioned in Paris this week, Beijing is attempting to keep the focus on past humiliations by Western powers and away from delicate issues like human rights and China's handling of Tibet. The twisted tale of two animal heads, cast in bronze, that once adorned the Qing Dynasty pleasure gardens in Beijing and disappeared, allegedly in pillaging by the British and French armies in 1860, took another turn last week when their current owner suggested he would return them if Beijing agreed to free Tibet. "I would be very happy...

BANGALORE: India will test its most ambitious strategic missile next year, in what will be its first step towards having potent ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) capabilities, largely the preserve of the Big-5 countries till now. With the design work on the 5,000-km-range Agni-V virtually over now, DRDO chief M Natarajan on Friday said the missile would certainly be tested before December 2010. "I am very confident we will be able to do it,'' he said, speaking on the sidelines of the Aero India-2009 show here. The work on the nuclear-capable Agni-V basically revolves around incorporating a third composite stage in...

BEIJING — A fierce fire engulfed one of the Chinese capital’s most architecturally celebrated modern buildings on Monday, the last day of festivities for the lunar new year when the city was ablaze with fireworks. By late evening the blaze was still raging and the cause remained unknown, but it seemed clear that the 34-story structure, not yet completed, had been rendered unusable. The building, a luxury hotel and cultural complex designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, is part of China Central Television’s new headquarters, an angular two-legged behemoth built to coincide with the Beijing Olympics last year. Firefighters,...

Three months after the end of the games, new figures show the "Olympic Effect" has been short-lived and hotels are empty, industrial output has fallen and the streets are quiet. Much of the pain is due to the worldwide financial crisis – and in some cases due to brave decisions by the government to keep polluting industries shut to spare the environment. But even the biggest single symbol of the modern rise of China, the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, stands forlorn, largely unused except for a shrinking number of tourists. Attempts to attract the city's main football team to move...

Okay, I'll start: 1) Blagojevich walks scott free 2) My salary continues to remain stagnate 3) The bailout results in a massive debt to taxpayers with zero benefit to them 4) Iran aquires nuclear weapons and we (including Bush) failed to do anything about it 5) Jamie Gertz continue's to become even more attractive as she ages

Are there any Freepers living in China? If so, PM me! I'm looking for penpals!

I have a dark blue card from Beijing Subway that I have been using. It says 一�通 on the front. I use it on all the "regular" lines, 5, 13, 2, 1, 10 etc. and of course the system takes RMB2 from the card each time. I was hoping to be able to put RMB25 on the card, then use that same card on Airport Express 机场快轨, but the person at one of the stations said I couldn't. Is he right? MUST I buy a separate card for 机场快轨, even if I have enough money on my 一�通? Thanks. It's...

BEIJING (AFP) – China's top envoy to high-level economic talks with the United States urged Washington Thursday to make sure Chinese investments in the US economy were safe. "We hope the US side will adopt every necessary measure to stabilise its economy and financial markets and ensure the safety of China's assets and investment in the United States," Vice Premier Wang Qishan said. He made the remark in prepared comments at the start of two days of Sino-US economy talks in Beijing that he is co-chairing with US Treasury chief Henry Paulson. At the end of September, China officially became...

A Chinese-born physicist Monday pleaded guilty before a US court to illegally exporting American military space know-how to China, US officials said. Naturalized US citizen Shu Quan-Sheng, admitted handing over to Beijing information on the design and development of a fueling system for space launch vehicles between 2003 and 2007, the Justice Department said. Shu, 68, pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act by helping Chinese officials based at the space facility on southern Hainan island to develop manned space flight and future missions to the Moon. He also acknowledged he had sent them in December 2003 a...

Has anyone been to this church, in Beijing? Do they have a statement of faith? Thanks.

Fidel Castro says corrupt judges are to blame for Cuba's sub-par showing at the Beijing Olympics. Castro alleges that judges blatantly stole semifinal fights from two Cuban boxers, and that a judge must have been bribed in the case of Angel Matos, who kicked a referee in the face after he was disqualified in a bronze-medal taekwondo match.

Athletes sacrificed dearly -- one was separated from her toddler, one was banned from eating dinner, one missed a parent's funeral. While Americans spoke of fun, the Chinese were on a 'sacred mission.' If anybody feels a pang of jealousy over China's haul of Olympic gold medals, they need only pause to consider what the athletes went through to get them. The only mother on China's team, Xian Dongmei, told reporters after she won her gold medal in judo that she had not seen her 18-month-old daughter in one year, monitoring the girl's growth only by webcam. Another gold medalist,...

BEIJING – Across the Chinese media, the story has hit saturation coverage. China, once mocked as “the weaklings of Asia,” is going to win what it calls the total medal count for the Beijing Games.

"The big news from China is that the adorable little girl who sang the National Anthem for the opening ceremony was lip-syncing. This is outrageous. If you can't trust an oppressive, totalitarian dictatorship..." --Craig Ferguson "China is getting ready for the Olympics. The official motto for the Olympics is 'One World, One Dream.' Restrictions Apply. Tibet Not Included." --Jay Leno "There's excitement in the air over the Olympics...also lead, arsenic, benzene." --David Letterman "Beijing skies are so polluted that Chinese authorities are planning emergency measures for the Olympics. For example, protesters will now only be run over with hybrid...

Knickers in knot over undies Beijing - The Olympic dress code applies to places never seen, it seems, with the New Zealand hockey manager banished from the field at a crucial men's match because officials objected to his players' underwear. Kevin Marr was ordered to watch the must-win match against Germany from the grandstand as punishment for three players wearing black underwear beneath white shorts in an earlier match. Initially, the officials wanted to suspend the players involved - Bradley Shaw, Simon Child and Blair Hopping - but Marr successfully argued it was unfair because he was in charge of...

BEIJING - USA softball almost lost Wednesday. And this is what passes for exciting in this sport at the Olympics.Japan nearly scored an upset. How fun for them."That was softball at its best," U.S. coach Mike Candrea said. If that is truly the case, if a 4-1 victory in extra innings to extend Team USA's Olympic winning streak to 22 games is really the pinnacle, it is time for wrap-it-up sign. It has been fun, even entertaining at times, but it's time for softball to use this possibly permanent hiatus from The Game to fix what is obviously broken.A pitching...

BEIJING, China (August 16, 2008) - The U.S. Shooting Team added to its medal count at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing today when 19-year-old Pfc. Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.) captured the gold medal in Men's Skeet. Hancock of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, a world champion and world record holder in Men's Skeet was in first place going into the final after hitting 121 out of a possible 125 targets in the qualification round, which is a new Olympic record. Hancock shot 24 targets in the final to finish tied with Norway's Tore Brovold, who shot a perfect 25,...

Repression with a Capital R by: Rachel Paulk, August 13, 2008 While millions of people gathered in Beijing to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics, protestors met outside of Chinese embassies in Washington D.C., London, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm, Rome, Berlin, Lausanne, and Ottawa to call attention to China’s gross violations of basic human rights. Despite the international pressure facing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to improve their human rights record, the CCP’s efforts to clean up Beijing before the Olympics has arguably resulted in only worsening the environment for perceived dissidents. Joel Chipkar, a Falun Gong practitioner, asserted that...

PARIS (AFP) – The Dalai Lama accused China on Wednesday of pursuing a crackdown in Tibet in spite of the Olympic Games, French lawmakers said following talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. Asked during a private meeting at the Paris Senate whether China was respecting the "Olympic truce", the Dalai Lama's "answer was very clear: no," said former French justice minister Robert Badinter. "While the Games are taking place, the oppression of the Tibetan people and repression continue," said the opposition lawmaker, who oversaw the abolition of the death penalty in France. The 73-year-old Buddhist leader, who arrived on...

Beijing, China — While praise for the splendid opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Beijing on Aug. 8 has reverberated around the world, Chinese citizens writing on the Internet have cast a more critical eye upon the event. Still, an online poll shows that more than 60 percent of the Chinese people graded the opening ceremony over 90 out of 100. According to netizens, the two top issues on the Chinese mind at present are the Games’ opening ceremony and concern over whether or not best-known Chinese athlete Liu Xiang will win a gold medal in the 110-meter hurdle...

While lip synching is certainly not a new phenenenom in musical performances, the fact that the girl who sang the hymn was passed up because she was not cute enough is a little disturbing. First, if you take a look at the picture of Yang Peiyi, you will quickly discover that she is actually very cute. I hardly would have noticed her ‘buck teeth’ had not someone pointed them out to me. I am sure that a performance by her would have had the same charming effect on the world. Second, if Beijing was willing to deceive the world in...

HONG KONG (AFP) - US swim legend Mark Spitz won't be on hand in Beijing if Michael Phelps breaks his record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics—because, he says, no one bothered to invite him. Spitz said the International Olympic Committee, a US television network or FINA—the international body that governs world swimming—should have brought him to the Games this year, with Phelps making a go at his record.

Becky Adlington made it a golden day for British swimming when she swam her way to becoming an Olympic champion in the 400m freestyle and Jo Jackson made it even better, putting the icing on the cake by finishing third.

Lost-boy Lomong to carry U.S. flag

Muslim terrorists and their apologists insist that violent jihad is a justifiable reaction to their targets’ support of Israel. Since China is most definitely not an ally of the “Zionist entity,” how will Islamist apologists spin the jihadist attacks that have marred the Beijing Olympics? Uighur Islamic separatists killed eight people during a rash of suicide bombings on August 9, in the latest in a series of brazen terrorist attacks inside the communist police state. Terrorists targeted a dozen government offices with home-made explosives, just one day after the Turkistan Islamic Party released a video threatening to attack public transportation...

If Michael Phelps goes on to win eight gold medals in the Olympic swimming competition at the Water Cube, he will owe a huge debt of gratitude to teammate Jason Lezak. No, make that HUGE. In one of the greatest anchor legs in swimming history, Lezak reeled in boastful Frenchman Alain Bernard in the final 50 meters to bring the United States home to a breathtaking victory in world-record time in the 4x100 freestyle relay to provide a riveting finish to this morning's program. "It was a crazy thing to watch," said Garrett Weber-Gale, who swam the second leg for...

I was curious on how NBC portrays Bush during his visit to the Olympics, and especially on how he was portrayed among the athletes (which surely are not all Republicans). Quite surprise that they actually have a section dedicated to W.

President and Mrs. Bush attended church at the Beijing Kuanjie Protestant Christian Church. See Quote of the Day for his remarks. He and his family spent time at the Swimming Venue cheering on the USA swim team. President Bush met with President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China TRANSCRIPT President Bush also met with Vice President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China and Premier Wen Jiabao of the People's Republic of China . . President George W. Bush and his father, former president George H.W. Bush, attended a men’s basketball game between China and the...

Today President Bush attended and practiced with the USA Women’s Volleyball Team. He attended a practice of the USA Women’s Softball Team. He attended a basketball game and cheered on the USA Women’s team during their Group B women's basketball match against the Czech Republic. Mrs. Bush, Barbara Bush and Marvin Bush also attended the game. He then addressed the media about a serious issue, that of the escalation of violence in the province of Georgia and the Russia-Georgia conflict. REMARKS Mrs. Bush and Barbara Bush visited the Forbidden City. President GHW Bush (#41) watched the gold medal match...

Georgia may pull its 35-strong Olympic team out of the Beijing Games because of Russian military attacks on its territory, the country's National Olympic Committee told Reuters on Saturday. "We're talking about it now. It will be the decision of the president of the country (Mikheil Saakashvili)," spokesman Giorgi Tchanishvili said in the Chinese capital. The Georgia conflict has knocked the Olympics down page, dimming some of China's glory. The vast Asian nation's hopes for a trouble-free games were dashed on Saturday by the daylight murder of the U.S. volleyball coach's father-in-law. Chinese hopes of quick wins were partly met...

Relative of U.S. volleyball coach killed By Deborah Charles Reuters August 9, 2008 BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese man killed a relative of a U.S. men's volleyball coach and injured another family member in a stabbing at a popular tourist spot in Beijing on Saturday. The dead man was a U.S. citizen and the injured victim was an American woman, police said, adding the attacker jumped to his death after the killing. The murder cast a shadow over the first day of sporting action at the Olympic Games. "While at the Drum Tower in central Beijing, the two family members...

The night was certainly not without its touching moments. From a beautiful little girl in a red dress sweetly singing a classic Chinese song to a young earthquake survivor leading the Chinese athletes with Yao Ming, the ceremony certainly had the potential to pull on the heartstrings. It was a ceremony that at least for one night allowed the "One World One Dream" motto to be realized. The night was also not without some intrigue. Hu JinTao’s half hearted applause for Chinese Tapei’s entrance followed later by his enthusiastic clapping for Hong Kong probably left some eyebrows raised. Iraq and...