China hails bilateral ties with Iran

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhai Jun says he believes political cooperation between his country and the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to grow.

Zhai Jun said on Monday that the leaders of the two nations have been actively involved in a constant trust-building process, IRNA reported. 

Meeting with Iran's Ambassador to China Mehdi Safari in Beijing, the Chinese official praised Iran's remarkable achievements over the past three decades since the victory of the Islamic revolution. 

The Iranian ambassador also confirmed that the trade volume between the two sides exceeded $30 billion in 2010 and expressed optimism that the figure would reach $50 billion by the end of the current year. 

Earlier in February, Chairman of the Sino-Iranian Chamber of Commerce Asadollah Asgaroladi said the volume of Iran's trade with China has reached $38 billion, up from $7 billion 10 years ago. 

He said the direct trade between the two countries currently stands at $29 billion, a figure that would reach $38 billion taking into account indirect Iran-China trade through the UAE, Afghanistan and Pakistan.


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FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Egypt protests: America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising

The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning “regime change” for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.

On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.

He has already been arrested by Egyptian security in connection with the demonstrations and his identity is being protected by The Daily Telegraph.

The crisis in Egypt follows the toppling of Tunisian president Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, who fled the country after widespread protests forced him from office.

The disclosures, contained in previously secret US diplomatic dispatches released by the WikiLeaks website, show American officials pressed the Egyptian government to release other dissidents who had been detained by the police.

Mr Mubarak, facing the biggest challenge to his authority in his 31 years in power, ordered the army on to the streets of Cairo yesterday as rioting erupted across Egypt.

Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets in open defiance of a curfew. An explosion rocked the centre of Cairo as thousands defied orders to return to their homes. As the violence escalated, flames could be seen near the headquarters of the governing National Democratic Party.

Police fired rubber bullets and used tear gas and water cannon in an attempt to disperse the crowds.

At least five people were killed in Cairo alone yesterday and 870 injured, several with bullet wounds. Mohamed ElBaradei, the pro-reform leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was placed under house arrest after returning to Egypt to join the dissidents. Riots also took place in Suez, Alexandria and other major cities across the country.


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FROM TELEGRAPH BLOGS

It is generally estimated that there are some 80,000 – 100,000 public protests a year in China, many of them violent and most never reported. I don’t know how useful a measure of true discontent this figure is – after covering India for four years, I expect they have many more – but one recent protest reported in a Chinese newspaper, Guizhou Metropolis Daily, catches my eye.
The paper reports that a group of Chinese middle school children (aged 15-18) trashed their school cafeteria, smashing windows, breaking tables and (as the pictures show) generally laying waste to the place. The students – the school has 4,000, of whom two-thirds live in school during the week – were persuaded to back to their dormitories only after the police rushed to the café 20 minutes after the rampage began.

I’ve heard of student grumbles in China – about everything from lack of jobs to being forced to give up their summer holidays to attend the parade for the 60th Anniversary of Communist Party rule – but nothing like this. The official cause of the riot, if that’s not too strong a word, was put down to rising prices in the school cafeteria which was sub-contracted to a private company. The price of a litre of hot water had risen by 3p, the price of all dishes, by 5p.

Guizhou, a centre for coal mining and agriculture, is one of China’s poorest provinces which might partly explain the extreme reaction (China is in the grip of food price inflation) but I find it hard to believe that was the sole cause. An administrator at the Liupanshui city No.2 School, whom we spoke to today, said the revolt was also partly due to the “strict management of the students”, since the school is run on almost military lines.


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