Quotable

(Ensuring the) security of such materials and facilities is the responsibility of China because this is the responsibility of each country when you have such materials and such facilities. ... (The Nuclear Security Center of Excellence) would not only improve nuclear security, but also sustain nuclear security infrastructure in China and certainly contribute ... to improving nuclear security in the region."

Khammar Mrabit, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Nuclear Security Office, says China is an important partner of the IAEA.

"Rating agencies have overestimated the difficulties the economy faces and underestimated the ability of the Chinese government to press ahead with reforms and tackle risks. Their worries over the restructuring of the economy, the debt problem with the real economy, the reform of state-owned enterprises and financial risks is unnecessary."

Shi Yaobin, vice-minister of finance, in response to the decision by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services to cut the outlook for Chinese government credit from "stable" to "negative", making it the second global rating agency to do so after Moody's.

(China Daily European Weekly 04/08/2016 page2)