ChinaDaily Headlines - 24th March 2007

China moves to clear up the Internet

Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday launched a campaign to rid the country’s sprawling Internet of “unhealthy” content, state television reported.

“Development and administration of Internet culture must stick to the direction of socialist advanced culture, adhere to correct propaganda guidance,” said a summary of the meeting read on the news broadcast.

“Internet cultural units must conscientiously take on the responsibility of encouraging development of a system of core socialist values.”

In January, President Hu made a similar call to “purify” it, and there have been many such calls before.

“Consolidate the guiding status of Marxism in the ideological sphere,” the party meeting urged, calling for more Marxist education on the Internet.

China warns US piracy case will harm trade ties

China has made great strides in protecting patents and copyrights and a US complaints over commercial piracy would “seriously harm” cooperation, Vice Premier Wu Yi said on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the United States launched two cases at the WTO claiming that Beijing was not doing enough to punish illegal copiers of films and music and that Chinese restrictions on entertainment imports violated trade rules.

China denounced Washington’s complaint and, Wu, who heads the country’s economic dialogue with Washington, bluntly warned that the complaints would bruise bilateral trade ties.

“The United States Trade Representative, the USTR, has totally ignored the massive strides China has made,” Wu told an intellectual property forum in Beijing.

The US action “flies in the face of the agreement between the two country’s leaders to propose dialogue as a way of settling disputes,” Wu said, adding that never before had a WTO member simultaneously mounted two cases against another country.

“This will have an utterly negative impact and will inevitably badly damage bilateral intellectual property cooperation,” she said, also warning it would “harm” cooperation over market access issues.

‘West wrong to criticize IPR record’

A senior official Monday fought back at Western countries that seek to condemn China for violations of intellectual property rights, while ignoring the huge strides the country has made in strengthening IPR protection. [Action Plan on IPR Protection]

“It is not right for them to observe China while wearing blinkers,” Tian Lipu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office said in an online interview with www.gov.cn in Beijing.

The government’s attitude toward intellectual property rights protection has always been resolute, and its achievements are obvious to all, he said.

Foreign smugglers eye underwater treasures

Foreign smugglers and antiques raiders are using sophisticated salvage equipment to steal China’s underwater treasures, an investigation by the Cultural Heritage Administration has found.

In China’s territorial sea, there are thousands of sunken ships carrying ancient treasures, mostly priceless porcelain.

Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, told China Daily that the illegal foreign salvage ships were often equipped with the most advanced technology, in contrast with rudimentary ships and equipment used by Chinese archaeologists and conservationists, who are trying to protect China’s underwater heritage.

Smuggler activities have been particularly heavy over the last two years.

The relics are traded on the international waters beyond China’s maritime boundaries before they are shipped to markets worldwide, many to the United States.

Besides underwater heritage artefacts, cultural items from ethnic minority groups, such as costumes and musical instruments, are also a favorite among international dealers and smugglers, Shan said.

The Chinese government has recovered a “great number” of cultural heritage items stolen from the country in the past few decades, he said without elaborating.

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A fairly typical day - China purifies the internet, China is a victim of US trade aggression, China is a victim of Western IPR agression, and foreigners are stealing Chinese cultural assets.

Yawn. Try a new record fellas, this one’s worn out.