Voice from New Delhi

The Hindu: China on track to meet energy target 11/03

China is on track to meet its target of lowering energy intensity by 20 per cent before the end of the year despite severe setbacks caused by the financial crisis, said its top climate official on Wednesday.

China's energy intensity, or energy consumption per unit of GDP, fell by 14.38 per cent between 2006 and 2010, said Xie Zhenhua, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

But Mr. Xie said the government's $586-billion stimulus spending on infrastructure projects, many of which involve high energy consumption, had severely set back its energy conservation drive.

"There is still a considerable gap between what we want to achieve and what we have achieved," he said.

The fact that China still managed to cut its energy intensity by 14.38 per cent suggested it was on track to meet its 20 per cent target by the end of the year, said Yang Ailun, head of climate and energy at Greenpeace China.

But the government still needed to do more to move away from coal, the biggest cause of pollution here, said Ms. Yang. China still derives about 70 per cent of its energy from coal.

Times of India: China welcomes Indian pharmaceutical firms after years of resistance 08/03

Chinese health minister Chen Zhu said on Monday that Indian pharmaceutical companies were "more than welcome" to sell their products in China. The Indian companies have been complaining for a long time that China did not grant enough market access.

Chen said pharmaceutical companies from developing countries like India are "more than welcome" to participate in China's drug sector. He said Indian firms producing "non-generic and creative medicine" were leading in the developing world.

"We believe competent enterprises from India will have a role to play in China's health sector," he said. The country has implemented an online tendering system and a unified distribution network to ensure equal opportunities to all suppliers, Chen said.

The statement comes less than two months after Indian commerce minister Anand Sharma raised the issue of market access for pharmaceutical companies during his visit to Beijing last January.

ANI: US urged to respect China's core interests 07/03

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has urged the United States to take China's position seriously and respect its core interests and major concerns through credible steps.

Yang said the China-US relationship had a good start after U.S. President Barack Obama took office last year.

However, he added that the US arms sales to Taiwan and US leaders' meeting with the Dalai Lama "caused a serious disturbance to the China-US ties and posed difficulty to the cooperation between the two countries."