This article titled “Chinese president Hu Jintao given frosty reception on Capitol Hill” was written by Ewen MacAskill in Washington and Tania Branigan in Beijing, for The Guardian on Thursday 20th January 2011 19.18 UTC

The Chinese president, Hu Jintao, was given a chilly reception in Congress today, where both Republicans and Democrats were outspoken on China’s human rights record and what they claim are Beijing’s unfair trading practices.

Members of the House said afterwards that there had not been enough time to air their complaints as Hu only took two questions before going on to hold a separate meeting with senior senators.

Hu met John Boehner, the house speaker, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, both of whom shunned invitations to the state dinner for the Chinese leader on last night.

The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, also turned down the invitation.

The only member of the congressional “big four” to attend the dinner was the Democratic house leader, Nancy Pelosi.

The hostile reception on Capitol Hill contrasts with Hu’s day with Barack Obama yesterday, when the US president pushed him over human rights but otherwise put the stress on common ground.

China’s state TV media lapped up the pomp of the visit but largely avoided mention of the part of the Obama-Hu press conference when the Chinese president was pressed on human rights.

Reid, the most powerful Democrat in Congress, called Hu a dictator in an interview on Tuesday night, but made a half-hearted retraction the next day: “Maybe I shouldn’t have said ‘dictator’, but they have a different type of government than we have – and that is an understatement.”

The two posed for pictures in the Senate today, but aides insisted they would not take questions. A reporter asked how Reid expected to get any business done with a man he had called a dictator, but neither man responded.

Afterwards Howard Berman, a Democrat, said it had been frustrating that there had been no time to discuss the strong yuan, which members of Congress repeatedly claim is being manipulated by Beijing to help China’s trade balance.

Boehner said it was a good meeting and that he had raised lack of religious freedom, China’s failure to respect intellectual property rights and Beijing’s need to exercise more influence over North Korea.

“Chinese leaders have a responsibility to do better and the United states has a responsibility to hold them to account,” Boehner said.

Pelosi asked about human rights, in particular the fate of the jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel laureate. Democrat Sandy Levin said Hu had given the same reply as he had at the White House: that China needed to do more on human rights.

Tonight in a speech to US business leaders before leaving for Chicago, Hu said the US-China relationship must be based on mutual respect. Ignoring Pelosi’s expression of concern only hours earlier about Tibet, Hu said the US must recognise that Tibet and Taiwan are “issues that concern China’s territorial integrity and China’s core interests.”

The house foreign affairs committee yesterday held a meeting to coincide with Hu’s visit to the White House. Among those at the meeting were the Republican Dana Rohrabacher, one of the most hostile members of Congress towards Beijing, who told CNN Hu is “a gangster regime that murders its own people”. In a separate interview, Rohrabacher described the Chinese government as Nazis.

Little of substance has so far emerged from the visit. Much of a bn (£28bn) in trade deals had been announced earlier. The only concrete announcement is China’s agreement to extend the stay of two pandas at Washington national zoo by five years.

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This article titled “Hu Jintao questioned by Barack Obama on China’s human rights record” was written by Ewen MacAskill in Washington, Tania Branigan in Beijing, for The Guardian on Wednesday 19th January 2011 22.51 UTC

China’s president Hu Jintao was forced on the defensive today on the opening day of his state visit to the US, admitting for the first time in public that his country had to improve its human rights record.

Hu’s visit, intended to improve relations between the two countries after a year of tensions over trade and diplomacy, was overshadowed by the human rights issue. It has been raised twice by Barack Obama in public, by US reporters at a press conference and by hundreds of demonstrators outside the White House.

It is the first state visit to the US by a Chinese leader in 13 years and, given China’s rise in the intervening period to superpower status, there is lot riding on the outcome for both countries.

But at the joint Obama-Hu press conference, there was embarrassment for the Chinese leader when he claimed not to have heard a question from a US reporter who asked him to justify China’s human rights record.

After listening to a translation of the question and of Obama’s response, Hu completely ignored it. Later in the press conference, another US reporter asked him why he had not answered. Hu, laughing, claimed: “I would like to clarify. Because of the technical translation and interpretation problems, I did not hear the question about human rights.”

The Chinese leader then went on to give a rare answer on human rights: “China is a developing country with a huge population, and also a developing country at a crucial stage of reform. In this context, China still faces many challenges in economic and social development. And a lot still needs to be done in China, in terms of human rights.”

But he went on to remind Americans that while China is prepared to discuss human rights with the US, it would be on the basis of “mutual respect and the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs”, basically it is a matter for China to decide.

It is unusual for a Chinese leader such as Hu to face a spontaneous press conference. Normally he restricts his remarks to scripted speeches.

China has an abysmal record on political dissent, as well as crackdowns on minorities such as Tibetans and Uighurs. Among high-profile prisoners is dissident Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Nobel peace prize-winner.

Pro-Tibet groups and other demonstrators plan to follow Hu throughout his visit to Washington and later in the week to Chicago. Outside the White House and out of the hearing of Hu, about 200 people shouted “Killer, killer Hu Jintao”.

They expected their numbers to double later for the carrying of a coffin round the White House to symbolise the death of the Chinese Communist party.

Although the US needs Chinese help in reviving its economy and with international issues such as North Korea and Iran, Obama did not shy away from the human rights issue. He raised it first at the welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn and again in a statement at the start of the press conference, at which he also called on China to engage with the Dalai Lama about Tibet.

Asked at the press conference about human rights, Obama said he had been very candid with Hu, telling him that although the countries are at different stages of development, “we have some core views as Americans about the universality of certain rights – freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly – that we think are very important and that transcend cultures.”

Obama’s raising of the issue twice in public may reflect a toughening of approach by the US towards China after what Washington sees as the failure of Beijing to respond to American overtures over the last two years.

“It is a slap in the face for Hu to raise human rights in the opening ceremony,” said Nicholas Bequelin, a senior researcher with the Asia division of Human Rights Watch. He added that the Chinese side had done everything it could to avoid such embarrassment.

Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia studies at the US-based Council on Foreign Relations, said that Obama’s remark would not necessarily be interpreted as a snub by Hu. “As both a winner of the Nobel peace prize and the president of the US, it was incumbent upon Obama to make such a statement, and I think he did it in a way that was clear and compelling without being insulting,” she said.

Hu may view the public discussion of human rights as awkward and an embarrassment or may regard it as an opportunity at last to tackle an issue that is hurting China’s global reputation. A clue will be provided by whether Chinese television and other official media report his remarks.

Hu may have liked to have got through the four-day visit without any reference to human rights and to have kept the focus instead on the pomp and ceremony associated with a state visit, the highlight of which was a state dinner scheduled at the White House for the evening.

But the visit was never going to go as smoothly as Hu would have liked. The Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, was provocative, describing Hu on as “a dictator”. Reid has refused to attend the state dinner.

The new Republican house speaker, John Boehner, also declined to attend. Asked by a reporter about their absences, Hu said it was a matter for Obama.

Hu, as a sweetener to the US, came bearing gifts in the shape of bn (£28bn) in trade deals, almost half of which came in a promise to buy Boeing aircraft.

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This article titled “US rejects talks with North Korea” was written by Tania Branigan in Beijing and agencies, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 30th November 2010 10.40 UTC

The US has snubbed Chinese proposals to ease the Korean confrontation through emergency multiparty talks including the North, with a White House spokesman dismissing the suggestion as a “PR activity”.

Beijing had called for the talks by the six parties involved in the stalled North Korean aid-for-denuclearisation discussions after a Northern artillery barrage killed four people, including two civilians, on a Southern island of Yeonpyeong. Tensions on the peninsula are at their highest for years, with joint military drills by the US and the South under way in the Yellow Sea today.

The White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, told reporters: “The United States and a host of others, I don’t think, are not interested in stabilising the region through a series of PR activities.”

According to the New York Times, he added that talks “without an understanding and agreement from the North Koreans to both end their behaviour as they exhibited last week, but also to come to the table with a seriousness of purpose on the denuclearisation issue – without that seriousness of purpose, they’re just a PR activity”.

Seoul has indicated its lack of interest, and Japan’s foreign minister, Seiji Maehara, said last night that such talks were “impossible” after the Yeonpyeong shelling.

South Korea said today its officials would meet counterparts from Japan and the US in Washington early next month to discuss the North’s expanded nuclear programme, the attack on Yeonpyeong and a Chinese proposal for emergency talks.

China repeated its call for dialogue, with the foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, telling a regular press briefing: “Bringing the issue back to dialogue and consultation at an early date is in the common interest of all parties and is the common aspiration of the international community. Ensuring the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula is the shared responsibility of all sides.”

Hong said China had made the proposal “to ease the situation” and to provide a platform for dialogue.

Beijing has come under intense pressure to rein in its neighbour and ally over the attack, near the disputed maritime border of the two Koreas. It has refrained from criticising Pyongyang – which says it acted in response to the South’s live-fire exercise – instead urging both sides to show restraint.

US diplomatic cables revealed today by the Guardian and other WikiLeaks partners show China’s frustration with the North. According to the documents, a south Korean official “claimed [high-level Chinese officials] believed Korea should be unified under ROK [South Korean] control”. Another told the US Pyongyang was acting like a “spoiled child” to get Washington’s attention.

China does not want instability and a flood of refugees, and analysts believe it would be deeply unhappy to see a US-dominated Korea on its doorstep.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that president Lee Myung-bak had rebuked his cabinet members for not having the “right sense of crisis”.

The government has been heavily criticised at home, with some commentators saying it mishandled the initial response to the artillery bombardment. The defence minister resigned last week.

According to a spokeswoman for his office, Lee told his colleagues: “We should recognise that (South Korea) is confronting the world’s most belligerent group.”

He added that there seemed to be a perception that dealing with a national crisis was a task only for the defence ministry, when it should be a matter for all of them.

The high stakes in the confrontation were underscored when North Korea detailed its increased nuclear programme for the first time today, saying it had thousands of centrifuges. It added that these were for peaceful purposes. It announced the expansion in an article in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, carried by state news agency KCNA.

Officials in Pyongyang had sought to send a message to the US by showing an American scientist a new uranium enrichment plant this month. He said the “stunning” facility had 2,000 centrifuges.

Enriching uranium gives the North a second source to make nuclear bombs. It has twice tested devices, to international anger.

A senior North Korean official arrived in Beijing this morning for a five-day visit. Choe Thae Bok is chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly.

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This article titled “North Korea highly likely to attack again, South Korea warns” was written by Tania Branigan and agencies, for The Guardian on Wednesday 1st December 2010 13.05 UTC

North Korea is highly likely to attack again, South Korea’s intelligence chief has told MPs, according to Seoul-based media.

His remarks come a week after an artillery bombardment killed two civilians and two soldiers on Yeonpyeong island – and hours after the South announced fresh military manoeuvres.

Won Sei-hoon, director of the National Intelligence Service, warned: “There is a high possibility that the North will make another attack.”

He said the shelling had come amid domestic pressure in Pyongyang, telling a closed session of a parliamentary committee that “internal complaints are growing about the North’s succession for a third generation, and its economic situation is worsening”.

Won also said a wire tap in August had indicated an attack in the West Sea, according to Yonhap news agency.

Pyongyang said last week’s bombardment was a response to the South’s live-fire drill.

Yonhap reported that South Korea planned to hold further artillery training exercises next week, including some in an area close to its disputed maritime border with the North. Analysts warned that could increase tensions.

China’s foreign minister called for restraint and said all parties should avoid any actions that could “inflame the situation”.

“Our general goal is for all sides to exercise calm and restraint and to make every effort to avoid such incidents recurring,” Yang Jiechi said.

He said that China, North Korea’s main ally, did not seek to “protect any side” and would not “pour oil on the flames”, according to the country’s official Xinhua news agency.

Yonhap said the military had issued an advisory notice to local vessels for a six-day period from next Monday. Daecheong island – just south of the disputed Yellow Sea border – is included, although Yeonpyeong is not, according to officials from the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration.

The news agency cited government sources as saying separate artillery drills would take place in waters off Yeonpyeong soon. Reuters said the defence ministry would not comment.

A South Korean joint chiefs of staff officer said Seoul and Washington were discussing whether to conduct more joint military drills this month or early next month.

Analysts believe the most likely outcome of the current standoff is further negotiations, and that North Korea’s actions are in part intended to push Seoul and Washington back towards talks based on giving the North aid in exchange for a pledge on scaling back its nuclear capabilities.

The US has described its participation in this week’s manoeuvres as a deterrent, while the South’s defence minister warned there was an “ample possibility” of a provocation by the North following the departure of US warships.

But some analysts warned that more military drills could escalate a delicate situation.

“The overall situation might be intensified and a new crisis might be brought by doing this,” said Professor Chu Shulong, an expert on international security at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.

He added: “Because of the Cheonan incident in March and the shelling in Yeonpyeong, [South Korean] people are angry and their anger has not been addressed yet. They are not happy with the reaction of the government.

“At the same time, South Korea cannot attack North Korea. They can only express their anger through military drills; it is their only way to show the determination to defend their country and to warn the North.”

Dr Leonid Petrov, an expert on the North at the University of Sydney, added: “Conservatives in Pyongyang and Seoul are driving the situation to a new extreme.”

He added that the “responsible” course for the US would be to talk to the North.

Beijing – under pressure to rein in its ally – threw the ball back into Washington’s court by calling for an emergency meeting of the six nations involved in the stalled aid-for-denuclearisation talks.

But the US, South Korea and Japan have snubbed that proposal, instead planning to hold trilateral talks next week.

Japan sent its envoy to the nuclear talks to China today. The senior North Korean leader Choe Thae Bok is currently in Beijing and China’s state councillor Dai Bingguo is expected to travel to Pyongyang shortly.

A Russian nuclear envoy, Grigory Logvinov, will meet officials in Seoul to discuss the attack, the six-party talks and other issues, said South Korea’s foreign ministry.

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This article titled “South Korea to hold artillery drills near border with North” was written by Tania Branigan in Beijing, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 1st December 2010 09.11 UTC

South Korea plans to hold major artillery training exercises next week – including some in an area close to its disputed maritime border with the North, media in Seoul reported today.

Analysts warned the move, which emerged as the South’s military completed joint drills with a US aircraft carrier group, could increase tensions already running high in the wake of last week’s attack by the North.

China’s foreign minister called for restraint, and said all parties should avoid any actions that could “inflame the situation”.

“Our general goal is for all sides to exercise calm and restraint and to make every effort to avoid such incidents recurring,” Yang Jiechi said.

Yang Jiechi said China, North Korea’s main ally, did not seek to “protect any side” and would not “pour oil on the flames”, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The shelling last week of Yeonpyeong island killed two civilians and two soldiers. Pyongyang said it was responding to the South’s live-fire drill.

The South Korean news agency Yonhap said the military had issued an advisory notice to local vessels for a six-day period from next Monday, covering 29 locations.

Although Yeonpyeong island is not on the list, Daecheong island – just south of the Northern limit line – is one of the Yellow Sea areas included, according to officials from the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration.

The plan was to “beef up its defence-readiness posture against any possible additional provocations by North Korea”, it said, quoting officials.

The news agency cited government sources as saying separate artillery drills would take place in waters off Yeonpyeong soon. The outgoing defence minister, Kim Tae-young, told a parliamentary committee yesterday the military was seeking “an appropriate time” for those exercises. Reuters said the defence ministry would not comment on the Yonhap report.

A South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said Seoul and Washington were discussing whether to conduct more joint military drills this month or early next month.

Analysts believe the most likely outcome of the current standoff is further negotiations, and that North Korea’s actions are in part intended to push Seoul and Washington back towards talks based on giving the North aid in exchange for a pledge on scaling back its nuclear capabilities.

The US has described its participation in this week’s manoeuvres as a deterrent while the South’s defence minister warned there was an “ample possibility” of a provocation by the North when the USS George Washington aircraft carrier leaves today.

But some analysts warned that more military drills could escalate a delicate situation by angering the North.

“The overall situation might be intensified and a new crisis might be brought by doing this,” said Professor Chu Shulong, an expert on international security at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.

He added: “Because of the Cheonan incident in March and the shelling in Yeonpyeong, [South Korean] people are angry and their anger has not been addressed yet. They are not happy with the reaction of the government.

“At the same time, South Korea cannot attack North Korea. They can only express their anger through military drills; it is their only way to show the determination to defend their country and to warn the North.”

Dr Leonid Petrov, an expert on the North at the University of Sydney, added: “Conservatives in Pyongyang and Seoul are driving the situation to a new extreme.”

He argued that Lee’s choice was effectively to “either go to war with North Korea or reverse his policy and return to the sunshine policy [of his predecessors] and renege on his electoral promises”.

Petrov added that the “responsible” course for the US would be to talk to the North.

Beijing – under pressure to rein in its ally – threw the ball back into Washington’s court by calling for an emergency meeting of the six nations involved in the stalled aid-for-denuclearisation talks.

But the US, South Korea and Japan have snubbed that proposal, instead planning to hold trilateral talks next week.

“I think there has to be a seriousness on the part of the North Koreans to get back to these [six-party] talks,” said the White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs.

Japan sent its envoy to the nuclear talks to China today. The senior North Korean leader Choe Thae Bok is currently in Beijing and China’s state councillor Dai Bingguo is expected to travel to Pyongyang shortly.

A Russian nuclear envoy, Grigory Logvinov, will meet officials in Seoul today to discuss the attack, the six-party talks and other issues, said South Korea’s foreign ministry.

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This article titled “China and US blamed as climate talks stall” was written by Jonathan Watts in Tianjin, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 8th October 2010 11.16 UTC

China and the US were today accused of holding back progress on a climate deal as talks in Tianjin crashed into a series of procedural roadblocks.

On the penultimate day, negotiators said they have moved forward on technical issues, including a finance package and the subject of technology transfer, but the goal of a deal to replace or extend the Kyoto protocol remained a distant prospect.

The world’s two biggest polluters, which together account for more than 40% of global emissions, have clashed this week over the form an agreement should take, the timing of next steps and how to enshrine and verify emissions targets.

The United States wants to move forward from the Copenhagen accord agreement made last December by coordinating national commitments to reduce emissions and instituting a rigorous regime to ensure compliance.

China is keen to protect a two-track approach in which richer countries make the first and biggest moves to reflect their greater responsibility for climate change.

It wants the US and signatories to the existing Kyoto protocol to lock in their commitments to reduce emissions and resists demands that China’s own actions are simultaneously incorporated in the framework of an international treaty.

These tough stances have exasperated many participants, though which of the powers they blamed depended on their political alignments.

“I’m disappointed at the attitude of China. It’s stepping back more and more from what we achieved at Copenhagen [the climate summit last December],” said Akira Yamada, a climate negotiator for Japan. “It’s as if they are trying to trash the Copenhagen accord.”

“I don’t see progress towards a substantial result in Cancún, but we are still trying,” said Branca Americano, the Brazilian state secretary for the environment. “Europe is willing to push the process. I’d like to see the United States move, but I don’t see it.”

Europe, the least developed nations, island states and some of the big emerging economies – including Brazil and South Africa – have expressed a willingness to compromise over the legal form of the agreement and the means of verification for emissions cuts.

The disagreements increase the likelihood of a gap in the global climate regime after 2012, when the Kyoto protocol needs to be renewed.

Japan says it will not sign a second commitment period because it will be ineffective without simultaneous actions by non-signatories.

“The Kyoto protocol parties emit only 28% of global emissions now and will be less and less in the future. It cannot be effective unless the world’s first and second biggest emitter are involved,” Yamada said.

Europe said it will sign up to Kyoto if nations outside that treaty work in tandem to legalise their commitments by the time of a climate meeting in South Africa next year. Eventually, it wants the two tracks to merge.

This week’s discussions have brought that no nearer to realisation.

China accused its counterparts of trying to kill the Kyoto protocol. “We are losing confidence and trust,” Huang Huikang, China’s recently appointed special representative for climate change negotiations, told a plenary stock-taking session. “I want to emphasise on our side no compromise on the two track process and no compromise on the interests of developing countries.”

Poorer nations and small island states, which are feeling the brunt of the impact of climate change, expressed dismay at the negative actions of the big emitters.

“We call on major powers to come to the table in a more urgent and efficient manner,” said Dessima Williams, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States.

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This article titled “Freedom is not found online” was written by Aditya Chakrabortty, for The Guardian on Tuesday 30th March 2010 06.00 UTC

There’s something about the internet that can move even the most monosyllabic politician to flights of visionary rhetoric. “Imagine if the internet took hold in China,” said George W Bush in 1999, sounding like a knock-off John Lennon. “Imagine how freedom would spread.”

It turns out he was wrong on that one, too. After four years of running a search engine in China, Google last week relocated it to Hong Kong. On the Chinese mainland, Google had been self-censoring search results to keep on the right side of the Communist party; now that it has moved offshore the entire service will face interruptions from the Great Firewall – a massive, sophisticated system that monitors Chinese surfing of any websites outside the domestic internet. What you’re seeing here is not just the humbling of the Don’t-Be-Evil brigade; it’s yet another defeat of the idea that to bring democracy to foreign dictatorships, you simply add the internet.

Bush isn’t the only world leader who believed this. There was Bill Clinton, who famously argued that “trying to control the internet is like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall”. And Gordon Brown, who told this paper last summer that Twitter, blogging and all the rest meant “you cannot have Rwanda again”, because word would spread so quickly. And behind the prime ministers and presidents were enough new-media visionaries to fill a dozen wi-fi enabled Starbucks, all preaching the gospel of a borderless internet and free expression for all.

Cyber-utopians, Evgeny Morozov calls them – and the internet scholar admits he used to be one. A few years ago, he worked for a non-profit organisation that promoted web-based journalism in his home of Belarus and other authoritarian parts of the former Soviet bloc. “We wanted more young people in politics,” he says. “They ended up going to prison instead.” A cheap way of building a new civic society was no match for the old repressive structures of the state.

That has become the theme of Morozov’s work. Now an academic in the US, he has plenty of examples of how Beijing, Tehran and Moscow are adapting the internet for their own purposes. He quotes the example of the “Fifty-cent” bloggers in China, so called not because of their fondness for over-muscled American rappers but because of the money they earn for each pro-government blog they post on internet forums. He describes how the clerics of Qom in Iran are now recruiting and training religious bloggers; while the secret police in Tehran find Twitter and Facebook very useful tools for keeping tabs on dissidents.

New means of communication usually excite heady talk about how they will bring about big social changes. As Tom Standage observes in his book The Victorian Internet, the fact that the telegraph allowed people in different continents to communicate almost instantaneously gave rise to predictions that there would never be another international conflict. There then followed two world wars.

Developed in California, the web is often seen as the repository of similarly sunny liberal values. This paper’s coverage last week of the Google case ran under the logo “CHINA V THE WEB” – as if the internet were a sovereign state or a moral philosophy rather than a technology that people use to download porn, or watch videos of a cat playing the piano.

Like all mass technologies, the web is a force for change – primarily because it makes it cheaper and easier than ever before for people to communicate with each other. But there’s nothing that says the change has to be good or bad, or how far it needs to go. The answers to those questions won’t be found on Google.

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This article titled “Tension grows as G7 ministers set to meet over ‘international currency war’” was written by David Teather, for The Guardian on Tuesday 5th October 2010 17.14 UTC

Finance ministers from the G7 will hold an informal meeting in Washington this week to discuss growing concerns that the world is in the grip of an “international currency war” as government’s manipulate their currencies to bolster exports.

The meeting on Friday, on the sidelines of the annual International Monetary Fund gathering, comes amid rising tensions between the western industrialised nations and China, whose prime minister, Wen Jiabao, is on a charm offensive in Europe this week.

In separate moves designed to weaken currencies, the Bank of Japan reinstated its zero interest rate policy and pledged to buy ¥5tn (bn) of assets, while Brazil doubled a tax on foreign investors buying local bonds to put a lid on a recent rally in its currency, the real. It was Brazil’s finance minister, Guido Mantega, who coined the “international currency war” phrase last week, following a series of interventions by central banks in Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan to make their currencies cheaper.

The concerns about currency manipulation have been heightened by the global recession, with many countries, including Britain, seeing a growth in exports as the means to recovery. A weaker currency means a country’s exports become more competitive.

The Bank of Japan set its interest rate target to a range of zero to 0.1%, returning to zero rates for the first time in more than four years and underlining worries about the Japanese economy, which is beset by falling prices. Japanese officials intervened in the currency markets last month to weaken the yen, but the impact was only short-lived. “The pace of recovery is slowing down partly due to the slowdown in overseas economies and the effects of the yen’s appreciation,” the bank said.

Before the IMF meeting, the Institute of International Finance, an industry group representing some of the world’s largest banks, urged action. In a letter to the IMF, Charles Dallara, the banking lobby’s managing director, called today for greater co-operation. “Urgent action is needed to arrest the disturbing trend towards unilateral moves on macroeconomic, trade and currency issues,” he said.

Much of the focus remains on China, which has built its economy on exports and keeps its currency artificially low. Manufacturing figures at the end of last week told a clear story of the divergent economies in the developed world and emerging markets. Factory output in Britain, the US, Spain, Ireland and Greece all fell back sharply during September, while in China, manufacturing output rebounded more quickly than economists had been expecting.

The 16 nations in the eurozone again urged China to allow its currency to appreciate , complaining that Beijing’s insistence on keeping the yuan weak was hampering global growth by creating trade deficits in the US and Europe. At a meeting in Brussels, Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the eurozone; the EU monetary affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, and the European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet, told Wen that the yuan remained “undervalued”. Juncker said: “Given China’s important role, we do think that a significant and broad-based appreciation [of the yuan would] promote a more balanced growth to the benefit of both China and the global economy.”

Following the Europe-Asia summit, Juncker said the discussions had been “open, frank, but nevertheless friendly” and added that both sides agreed a currency war would be “destructive”. But he said the plea for movement on the yuan had been rebuffed by China, which argues that it needs rapid growth in its economy to pull hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Wen, in return, said the rapidly growing economies of Asia should be granted more power within global institutions and that Europe should give up some of its seats at the IMF.

In Athens at the weekend, Wen attempted to smooth over relations between China and the west by offering support for the euro and suggesting that China would participate in auctions of indebted nations’ government bonds, including Greece, as they seek to refinance their struggling economies.

Tensions between Beijing and Washington have been mounting on the currency issue, and Congress has approved legislation enabling the US to impose trade sanctions on China and other nations that manipulate currencies to win competitive advantage. China is also under pressure to stimulate its domestic economy in order to build a market for exports from other nations.

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This article titled “China calls on rich nations to improve emission targets” was written by Jonathan Watts in Tianjin, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 5th October 2010 10.20 UTC

China today called on wealthy nations to dramatically increase the rate at which they plan to cut their carbon emissions at international climate negotiations in Tianjin.

The more forthright rhetoric from the hosts broaches a crucial topic that has been notable mainly by its absence at the talks, which began yesterday.

“The emissions reductions goals of developed countries should be dramatically increased,” said China’s chief negotiator, Su Wei. “We can’t discuss other elements and not discuss emissions reductions. It’s unavoidable.”

Many delegates at this week’s working-level negotiations would prefer to leave to a later date this divisive – but fundamental – issue.

Following the disappointment of the Copenhagen climate talks last December, the UN’s climate chief, Christiana Figueres, has called on participants this week to focus on achievable goals.

The most likely progress is in the least contentious areas – forestry, finance and technology. If countries can narrow their differences on these issues, they may be able to sign a limited agreement at higher-level talks in Cancún later in the year.

This “balanced package” – as it is vaguely referred to – would include the commitments that countries made last year to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but critics warn that such a deal can only serve as a band-aid.

“One of the main things here is management of expectations. They are dangerously low,” said Li Yan of Greenpeace. “If countries settle for low ambitions, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy in Cancún.”

Scientists and environmental groups warn that existing pledges are far from sufficient to reach the Copenhagen accord goal of keeping global warming within 2C by 2050.

Small island states, which are most at risk from rising sea levels, want to push quickly for a higher target, but in the interests of compromise, they announced in Tianjin that they would be willing to wait until Cancún – or even next year’s meeting in South Africa – to secure an agreement.

But patience is limited. China – keen to show leadership among developing nations – said rich countries had to make deeper cuts. “We believe it is a positive thing that they have put forward these targets, but they are certainly still far from the expectations of developing countries and the requirements of science,” said Su.

Europe, in turn, wants China to make a bolder long-term commitment about when its own emissions will peak. Jiang Kejun, director of China’s leading climate thinktank, the Energy Research Institute, said it would have to come in 2025 if China is to do its share of work in keeping the global temperature rise within two degrees. “That will be technically very difficult for China,” he said. “We may have to buy carbon credits.” The government has yet to set a peak date.

Jiang, who is relatively optimistic among Chinese advisers, estimates that China’s coal production may peak in 2015 at 3.4bn tonnes. But carbon may continue to rise due to gas and oil use. His institute is working on a new study looking at how China might reach the 2025 goal.

“The ball is now in the US court because China is already moving forward with aggressive measures to implement the targets they announced earlier as well as studying more aggressive scenarious,” said Barbara Finamore, head of the China programme of the US-based Natural Resources Defense Council. “While China acts, the US is still debating. It’s time to move forward.”

China’s emphasis on carbon reduction targets may be strategic. Any emphasis on emission reductions puts the onus on the United States, which has the world’s greatest historic responsibility for greenhouse gases and one of the lowest targets for abating them. US delegates, by contrast, tend to press the issue of transparency, which puts China on the defensive.

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This article titled “Viktor Bout extradition to US a step closer” was written by Ben Doherty in Bangkok, for The Guardian on Tuesday 5th October 2010 11.06 UTC

The man alleged to be the biggest illegal arms dealer in history faces trial in America, and could be in the US by the weekend after a Thai court ruling cleared the last legal hurdle to extradite him.

Russian Viktor Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death” for his alleged arms smuggling network which spanned three continents and a decade, has been fighting US efforts to extradite him since he was arrested in a sting operation in a Bangkok hotel in 2008.

But a Thai court today dismissed secondary charges of money laundering and fraud against the 43-year-old, clearing the way for extradition. He faces charges in the US of conspiring to kill American citizens.

The court said Bout could be extradited after 72 hours, meaning he could be moved as soon as Friday if the Thai government gives its – expected – approval.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has already said he would make the final decision on Bout’s extradition.

Shackled in leg-irons, Bout was led from court by armed soldiers in flak jackets and balaclavas. He said he would fight the allegations but he could not get a fair trial in the US. “American lawyers are expensive. I have no money now.”

Bout’s wife, Alla, said his US case would be a show trial designed to discredit the Russian government, with whom he is said to have close links.

“I don’t have any idea when the extradition will happen,” she said. “But I believe it will happen very quickly, maybe even within the next few hours.”

She said the charges against her husband were a fantasy and that American interests “had created an image of Viktor Bout as the Merchant of Death. It is not true.”

The US alleges Bout, a former Soviet air force officer, used a fleet of cargo planes throughout the 1990s to traffick weapons to Africa, Central America and the Middle East.

He is alleged to have brokered weapons deals in Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan, and to have armed the militaries of the former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor and the Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.

Bout was arrested in 2008 after reportedly telling US agents posing as Colombian guerrillas that he could supply them with hundreds of surface-to-air missiles, more than 5000 AK-47s, millions of rounds of ammunition, as well as C4 explosive, landmines and unmanned aerial drones.

He has maintained he never traded in weapons, but ran a legitimate air cargo business.

The issue of his extradition is sensitive for Thailand. Whichever decision it arrives at, it will displease a major trading partner and key ally.

An official from government house at the hearing told the Guardian: “This is not a good decision for Thailand. These countries are big countries, they are important to Thailand, and whatever decision we make we will make one of them angry with Thailand. We cannot win.”

The Bout camp has argued the prosecution has been politically motivated from the outset.

Unsubtle pressure has been exerted from both sides, with US and Russian politicians publicly leaning on Thailand to make a decision in their favour. Experts say Bout has knowledge of Russia’s military and intelligence operations and Moscow does not want him to go on trial in the US.

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This article titled “Earthquake strikes Christchurch in New Zealand” was written by Jo Adetunji and agencies, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 3rd September 2010 23.21 UTC

A powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck New Zealand’s South Island last night, causing widespread damage to buildings, although there were few injuries.

Christchurch mayor Bob Parker declared a state of emergency four hours after tremors rocked the region, warning that continuing aftershocks could cause masonry to fall from damaged buildings.

The quake hit 19 miles west of the city, on the east coast of the island, at 4.35am local time. Residents reported collapsed buildings and bridges, as well as power cuts. Christchurch, which has a population of around 400,000 people, was then rocked with a series of sharp aftershocks.

No deaths have been reported so far but doctors at Christchurch Hospital said they had treated two men with serious injuries. One was hit by a falling chimney and was in intensive care, while a second was seriously hurt after being cut by glass, a hospital spokeswoman said. Other minor injuries have also been reported.

“There is considerable damage in the central city,” police inspector Mike Coleman told New Zealand’s National Radio.

Police Inspector Alf Stewart told the station that some people had been arrested for looting. “We have some reports of people smashing [shop] windows and trying to grab some property that is not theirs … we’ve got police on the streets and we’re dealing with that,” he said.

Colleen Simpson, a Christchurch resident, said panicked neighbours ran into the streets in their pyjamas. She said some buildings had collapsed, there was no power and the mobile telephone network had failed. “There is a row of shops completely demolished right in front of me,” she told the Stuff news website.

Another person from Christchurch, Kevin O’Hanlon, said the jolt was extremely powerful. “I was awake to go to work and then just heard this massive noise and ‘boom’,” he said. “It was like the house got hit. It just started shaking. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Bruce Russell, 50, said that although he lives in Lyttelton, a port town to the south of Christchurch, which is on firmer volcanic ground, the earthquake had been “very alarming”.

“We were woken up at 4.30am and it swayed like a ship at sea,” he said. “It was very alarming. We have no power, which is a problem across [Christchurch]. We’re listening to reports on a wind-up radio. It’s still very frightening.”

Russell said he had not experienced an earthquake on this scale before. There have been local reports that some people many have been trapped in damaged houses.

Video footage showed some cars crushed by heaps of fallen bricks. Authorities were advising residents to stay inside until given the all-clear.

Residents have been asked not to flush toilets because of potential damage to the city’s sewerage system which could lead to contamination. Christchurch airport was also closed as a precaution while runways were safety checked.

Despite tsunami fears by residents, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said “no destructive widespread tsunami threat existed, based on historical earthqake and tsunami data”.

New Zealand lies above an area of the Earth’s crust where two tectonic plates collide and the country records more than 14,000 earthquakes a year – but only about 150 are usually felt. Schoolchildren in the country regularly undertake earthquake drills.

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This article titled “Customs officers in Thailand find tiger cub hidden in bag of cuddly toys” was written by Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent, for The Guardian on Thursday 26th August 2010 22.31 UTC

Customs officers at Bangkok airport in Thailand have discovered a drugged tiger cub in a check-in bag filled with stuffed animal toys.

An X-ray revealed the animal’s beating heart and other functioning organs inside the oversized luggage of a 31-year-old Thai woman who was due to board a plane to Iran.

Experts were called to inspect what was at first believed to be a sedated cat, but was later identified as an endangered tiger cub. In a botched attempt to conceal the animal, all the other cuddly toys in the bag were artificial stuffed tigers.

DNA checks are under way to determine if the cub was caught in the wild or captive-bred, and its origin. Traffic, the anti-smuggling organisation that has been working with the Thai authorities to stop the wildlife trade, applauded the work of the customs officials, but warned that the case showed the need for constant monitoring and tougher sentencing.

“If people are trying to smuggle live tigers in their check-in luggage, they obviously think wildlife smuggling is something easy to get away with and do not fear reprimand,” said Chris R Shepherd, Traffic south-east Asia’s deputy regional director. “Only sustained pressure on wildlife traffickers and serious penalties can change that.”

The cub is being cared for at the rescue centre of the department of national parks, wildlife and plant conservation.

The woman, whose name has not been released, is being interrogated by police about the cub’s final destination.

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This article titled “Fake monks besiege Chinese police station” was written by Tania Branigan in Beijing, for The Guardian on Wednesday 11th August 2010 12.37 UTC

Police in northern China faced an unexpected and unholy menace last week when more than 100 fake monks besieged their police station, a Chinese newspaper reported today.

Police from Baotou city, in inner Mongolia, told the North News that the incident began last Wednesday when what appeared to be a group of monks attacked a toll booth and escaped by bus.

Officers stopped the vehicle at a roadblock after a lengthy car chase and arrested 31 of the men – but the suspects fought back with steel bars and knives, allowing the rest to make their getaway on a double-decker bus.

The following day, more than 100 men, apparently monks, besieged the city’s Guyang police station to demand the release of those arrested.

The central public security bureau had to dispatch 500 officers, including 200 members of the armed police, to protect the building.

They arrested 178 fake monks, confiscating the sticks, knives, fake medicines and fake gold necklaces they were carrying.

Police said the group was an organised gang made up mostly of farmers from Hunan, who paid the leaders 20 yuan (£2) a day for the privilege of membership.

The men pretended to be monks so they could make money performing martial arts, claim to be able to cure people of illnesses and sell medications. Some also extorted money.

The public security bureaus in Guyang county and Baotou declined to comment on the case when contacted by the Guardian.

Earlier this year, media in eastern Shandong province reported that police had caught eight fake monks from a gang of 58 who were peddling a herbal paste they claimed could cure all known diseases.

In other cases, impostors have claimed to be from the famous Shaolin temple, only to be exposed by the poor quality of their martial arts performances.

Genuine monks have repeatedly complained about people masquerading as lamas, often in or near the grounds of temples.

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This article titled “Beijing workers shape up for return of compulsory exercises” was written by Tania Branigan in Beijing, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 10th August 2010 14.56 UTC

Radios in workplaces across the Chinese capital are once more blasting out exercise music this week, as Beijing resumes mandatory calisthenics after a three-year break.

Officials hope as many as 4 million workers will perform the routines at 10am and 3pm each day, although others question how many employers will allow their staff to break from their labours, and how enthusiastic young workers will be about the scheme.

Radio broadcast exercises were first launched in 1951, according to state media. They were suspended in 2007, reportedly so Beijing Sports Radio could devote more time to covering preparations for the 2008 Olympics.

But as China develops, its population is growing increasingly sedentary and in many cases adopting a less nutritious diet, leading to concerns about public health.

Zhang Yujing, a spokesman for the Beijing Federation of Trade Unions, told the Global Times newspaper: “The short-term goal is to involve 60% of the workforces in Beijing by 2011, and 70% of the workforces of the government. We want all state-owned enterprise workers to have restarted this routine by next year.”

The newspaper reported that many workplaces declined to take part in the twice-daily, eight-minute sessions yesterday, claiming they lacked the space or time. Even the Beijing Bureau of Sports did not participate, with a spokesman saying most staff were too busy preparing for a martial arts contest later this month.

But many Beijing residents said the move would be good for young people. “They are not lazy, they are just too busy. They have a lot of pressure at work and don’t have time to exercise otherwise,” said retired engineer Yang Jinrong, 55, as she took a break from playing badminton with her husband in a city centre park.

“Of course, the radio exercises will do young people good. Like they say on TV, ‘Life lies in movement’,” said Li Zhigang, 50, dropping to the ground to demonstrate the lotus yoga position.

Mr Sun, a 30-year-old who works in marketing, said he hoped private sector firms would adopt the drills. “I think this [resumption] is really necessary, because people’s living habits are very bad now. They sit in the office the whole day,” he said.

“I have my own exercise plan, but I never put it into practice because I am too busy.”

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This article titled “Salvador Dalí’s home town to be recreated in China” was written by Giles Tremlett in Madrid, for The Guardian on Tuesday 10th August 2010 20.53 UTC

The following correction was printed in the Guardian’s Corrections and clarifications column, Friday 13 August 2010

The headline to this story described Cadaqués – the town in Catalonia, Spain, of which a replica may be built on a bit of Chinese coast – as the home town of Salvador Dalí. That was Figueras.

As home to the painter Salvador Dalí and inspiration for some of his greatest and strangest artistic endeavours, the Costa Brava fishing port of Cadaqués is used to the surreal.

But the latest project involving the north-eastern Spanish town has astonished even the cosmopolitan inhabitants of a place that boasts more art galleries per square kilometre than anywhere else in the country.

A Chinese developer has decided to build a replica of the town half-way across the globe in Xiamen Bay, where mainland China looks out towards Taiwan.

Architects from developers China Merchants Zhangzhou visited Cadaqués in June, taking measurements, photographing buildings and worrying about whether Chinese fire engines would fit down its tiny streets.

Sources at the company said they had found a spot that was geographically similar to Cadaqués, with its gently sloping hills and protected bay. “Building work will start in September or October,” a spokesman said.

More than 100 acres of land will be used to build a near replica with a capacity to house some 15,000 Chinese holidaymakers who want to enjoy the Costa Brava experience without having to travel 6,500 miles.

The Chinese version will not have the sparkling Mediterranean, the madness-inducing Tramontana wind or as many jellyfish as Cadaqués, but the promoters say they will try to get as close to possible to the real thing.

“We will recreate the essence of the fishing town and will reproduce the most characteristic elements of the architecture in a space which has a similar coastline,” one of the architects, Hu Zheng, told the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia .

That will mean copying the narrow streets and the white-painted buildings that look out across the perfect, open-mouthed bay where small, brightly painted fishing craft bob up and down.

The promoters of the Chinese resort have decided they can improve a bit on the original, however, and will be adding an artificial island.

Among other buildings the architects were keen to see were the warren-like collection of fishermen’s cottages in neighbouring Portlligat, where Dalí lived. Topped with a giant egg sculpture, this is where the Spanish surrealist painted many of his most famous works – including a portrait of his Russian wife Gala looking out to sea. It is also where he indulged his fondness for voyeurism, encouraging selected guests to perform sex acts in front of him.

Visitors to the house today are greeted by the same stuffed, wild bear with which Dalí tried to frighten away unwanted guests.

The Chinese developers told officials in Cadaqués that they also wanted to make art a central part of the new town, with space for galleries and offers to some local Spanish artists to show their work there.

“We like the idea and the way they are treating us,” said Joan Borrell, mayor of Cadaqués. “We are small but well-known. If they want to imitate you then it means you must have got something right.”

Borrell said he hoped the Xiamen version would eventually attract Chinese tourists to the real thing. “As with a work of art, seeing the copy often makes you want to see the original,” he said. “That would be wonderful for Cadaqués and for the whole of the Costa Brava.”

This is the second attempt to build a replica of the fishing town somewhere else in the world. A previous attempt was made at a Caribbean beach in the Dominican Republic, but Cadaqués says it was not consulted and does not recognise it as a genuine imitation.

China Merchants Zhangzhou declined to comment officially on the project, though sources at the company confirmed that the project was still on track.

Dalí would undoubtedly have approved of the endeavour. One of his favourite money-making habits was to sign, and sell-off, blank sheets of paper for prints and lithographs. As a result, he is one of the most frequently copied and forged artists in the world.

Made in China

Shanghai has built a version of Paris on its doorstep, complete with a scaled-down replica of the Eiffel Tower. The development has full-sized houses and boulevards and was designed to house up to 100,000 people.

Thomas Hardy’s vision of Dorchester inspired Chinese town planners to build a replica of the English village for wealthy Chinese families in Chengdu, central China. Eager buyers flocked to the development, which is called “British Town”.

A Himalayan town was used by the Chinese to create a tourist version of Shangri-la. The project was inspired by English writer James Hilton’s 1933 novel Lost Horizon where he describes Shangri-la as an imaginary Himalayan utopia. The “new” Shangri-la was declared a tourist paradise by order of the Chinese government.

A Chinese businessman drew up plans for a lasting tribute to singer Michael Jackson by building his own Neverland ranch on an island near Shanghai. The cost was expected to be about m and the site would include a man-made lake, cinema and a zoo.

Jason Rodrigues

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