China and Pakistan sign six deals; China urges India to treat Chinese companies fairly: China raises serious concerns about a proposed naval drill between US and ROK;
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  • Reports noted that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent China visit had witnessed six deals being signed between China and Pakistan, which covered areas such as agriculture, healthcare, justice, media, economy and technology.1 Another report noted Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming as saying that China had urged India to treat Chinese companies fairly. Chen made these remarks with regard to India’s alleged ban on purchases of telecom equipment from Chinese vendors. Referring to a list of telecom equipment providers from whom Indian telecom operators were supposedly forbidden to buy anything on the grounds of national security concerns, Chen said that the Chinese government had noticed the list and it is being investigated.2

    China has expressed concerns about a scheduled joint naval drill between the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the Yellow Sea. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang commented on July 6 at a regular press conference that China had conveyed its concerns to “the relevant parties”. He further added that nothing should be done that may escalate tensions, and jeopardize the security of the regional countries.3

    Meanwhile, in a response to recent Japanese media reports that China's military spending would, in fact, total 788 billion yuan this year, about 1.5 times higher than the budget unveiled earlier this year, the Chinese Defense Ministry responded that these reports were totally “groundless” and categorically stated that the China's military budget and spending was strictly monitored and there was no hidden expenditure.4

    Last week, British Chief of Defense Staff Jock Stirrup was on an official visit to China. During the visit, he met with the Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission Guo Boxiong. Both the officials reiterated that the military relationship was an important component of China-Britain relations.5

    In other developments, in a recently released data by the China's Ministry of National Defense figured out that China had sent 15,603 soldiers to participate in 18 United Nations peacekeeping missions since 1990. It notes that as of the end of June 2010, there were still 1,960 soldiers deployed in nine UN peacekeeping missions or working in the UN peacekeeping department. So far, China has bore nine casualties in these operations.6

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