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Giving Fidel Castro a bronze bust of the Cuban leader as a young man, President Xi Jinping wished the revolutionary Cuban leader a happy birthday and said he felt glad to see him in good health.

Calling Castro an old friend and respected leader, Xi spoke highly of his contribution to China-Cuba ties as the two met on July 22 in Havana, Cuba, the last stop on Xi's four-nation Latin American trip.

"You are the founder of the Cuban revolution and also of the China-Cuba relationship," Xi said.

Castro, who turns 88 on Aug 13 and seldom makes public appearances anymore, gave Xi a tour of his farm.

Castro pointed out the moringa and mulberries - past gifts from China. Castro said growing them can help produce animal feed in Cuba.

Xi said he brought more seeds of both as presents for Castro to honor the friendship the two countries have formed.

It was Xi's first visit to Cuba as president. He visited the country and met with Castro in 2011 when he was vice-president.

47 killed as plane crashes in Taiwan

A TransAsia Airways plane crash-landed on an island off the west coast of typhoon-hit Taiwan on July 23, killing 47 people, Taiwan's civil aviation authority said.

The mainland's Taiwan affairs chief Zhang Zhijun conveyed his condolences to his Taiwan counterpart Wang Yu-chi.

The plane, a 70-seat turboprop ATR 72, crashed near the runway and caught fire while making a second landing attempt with 54 passengers and four crew on board.

"It's chaotic on the scene," civil aviation chief Jean Shen said.

Eleven injured people had been taken to hospital.

The accident happened on Penghu Island, a thinly populated place that averages about two flights a day from Taipei.

China, Venezuela sign $5b in financial deals

Beijing and Caracas signed more than $5 billion in financial agreements on July 21 to support the South American country's economic development as President Xi Jinping concluded his first visit to the country.

The agreements included $4 billion in credit to Venezuela and a $690 million development loan for the exploration of gold and copper.

Gao Jian, researcher at Sublime China Information Co Ltd, a commodity market information service, said Venezuela is China's major crude oil supplier in South America and that the agreement is part of China's strategy of diversifying its crude oil imports.

President Xi Jinping gave Argentina three Chinese movies and TV series, which show a glimpse into modern Chinese life, as gifts.

"Even I didn't expect that President Xi would sign the copies and give them as national gifts to Argentina's vice-president," said Chi Yufeng, chairman of Perfect Pictures, which produced the three.

The TV series Beijing Youth and To Elderly with Love, and the film Love Is Not Blind, all set in modern China, are among the country's most popular recent screen productions. They were praised not only for being well-written but showing social realities such as aging problems and young people's disputed views of success and relationships.

Zhao Baogang, who directed the two TV series, said the gift is a sign of the government's efforts to promote China's contemporary cultural industries worldwide.

US should adopt open stance, says Li

Top business representatives and former senior officials from China and the US held talks on July 22-23 to consolidate economic collaboration after the top two economies reached a consensus this month.

"A good Sino-US relationship benefits both sides and influences the world while providing scope for us to expand the benefits of globalization," Premier Li Keqiang said in a meeting in Beijing with US representatives at the Sixth Annual China-US CEO and Former Senior Officials' Dialogue.

"China is willing to be a participant and contributor to the new international economic and trade system, and expects the US to create more favorable conditions for deepening Sino-US cooperation with a more open stance."

The annual dialogue, jointly held by the US Chamber of Commerce and China Center for International Economic Exchanges in Beijing and Washington rotationally, serves as a second exchange track outside of government.

Operation to snare fugitives launched

Police are launching an operation to track down corrupt officials and others who have fled abroad with illegally obtained financial assets, the Ministry of Public Security said.

The effort will continue until December, said Liu Jinguo, the vice-minister of the ministry.

"The pursuit is closely related to social fairness. Some corrupt officials are at large abroad and have taken a lot of illegal assets, and we will step up our efforts to nail them."

The ministry said at least 500 such fugitives, including corrupt officials, were living overseas last year. Most are in hiding in the US, Canada, Europe and Southeast Asian.

Anti-corruption drive resonates with public

Nearly 96 percent of respondents to a survey supported the central government's decision to send inspectors across the country to uncover acts of corruption.

Slightly more than 211,000 netizens took part in the survey initiated by China Youth Daily and Tencent.com, the operator of WeChat, a popular instant messaging and voicemail service in China.

Most of the respondents said they expected the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, the country's top anti-graft watchdog, to improve its work.

(China Daily European Weekly 07/25/2014 page2)