IN BRIEF (Page 2)

Diplomacy

Xi urges US to respect China's core interests

Strengthening dialogue and cooperation is the "correct choice" for China and the United States, President Xi Jinping told visiting US Vice-President Joe Biden on Dec 4.

He also urged the US to respect China's core interests.

Xi made the remarks amid rising tension in East Asia, triggered by competing territorial claims by China and Japan.

Japan's reaction to China's newly announced air defense identification zone was reported to be high on Biden's agenda.

"Both sides should keep the bilateral relationship going in the right direction, respect each other's core interests and major concerns, actively expand practical cooperation, and properly handle sensitive issues and differences," Xi told Biden at the meeting.

He reiterated China's stance on the air zone.

Washington is willing to manage differences with Beijing in a constructive manner and avoid letting them affect bilateral ties, Biden was quoted in a Foreign Ministry news release as saying.

Biden said he believed Xi is a candid and constructive person.

"In developing this new relationship, both qualities are sorely needed," Biden said during the meeting.

Transport

New corridor to boost regional growth

China, Russia and Kazakhstan are counting on a new ground transport corridor stretching from eastern China's Jiangsu province to St. Petersburg in Russia to help stimulate regional trade and better connect their economies, industry experts say.

After nine years of negotiations, the three recently reached an agreement on a construction plan for the Asia-Europe link.

The length of the new corridor will be 8,445 kilometers, 2,233 km of it in Russia, 2,787 km in Kazakhstan and 3,425 km in China. The corridor is expected to be completed by 2017, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Transporting goods from China to Europe takes between 15 and 45 days, either through the Suez Canal or the Trans-Siberian Railway. Commodities are usually distributed in containers and first routed through international logistics centers such as Rotterdam, Hamburg or Frankfurt.

Currency

Yuan swiftly overtaking euro in trade

China's yuan has surpassed the euro to become the world's second-most widely used currency in global trade finance, according to data released by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication.

Analysts said the opening up of China's financial sector and the broader internationalization of the yuan has increased the use of the currency.

The yuan captured an 8.66 percent share of letters of credit and collections in October, while the euro's was 6.64 percent, Belgium-based financial-messaging platform SWIFT said in a statement.

The yuan's presence in global trade finance has grown significantly in the past two years.

In January 2012, the yuan's share of global trade finance was only 1.89 percent to the euro's 7.87 percent, according to SWIFT data.

Trade

Three countries discuss free trade

China, South Korea and Japan discussed modalities of the trilateral free trade agreement at the third round of talks, Seoul's trade ministry said.

The three talked about how the agreement would work, such as how to make a draft of liberalization for goods, at the third round of negotiations, which was held in Tokyo over four days until Nov 29, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.

Working group meetings were held to discuss a wide range of topics such as indications of origin, customs, trade remedies, sanitary and phytosanitary and technical barriers to trade along with services, investment, competition, general rules and intellectual property rights.

Health

AIDS and HIV striking younger people

The HIV/AIDS epidemic is hitting Chinese at a younger age, and the country's leaders have called for efforts to fight the disease to be stepped up.

The proportion of those living with HIV/AIDS who are young almost doubled between 2008 and 2012, and gay sex is considered a major reason for the increase, said Shang Hong, director of the HIV/AIDS key laboratory under the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

China has detected 434,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, the commission says, and more than 3,000 are between 15 and 18. From January to September, newly detected cases stood at about 70,000, and nearly 90 percent were transmitted sexually.

China Daily-Xinhua

(China Daily European Weekly 12/06/2013 page2)