Chronologies
China - Southeast Asia
Chronology from Jan 2002 to Mar 2002
: China announces that Shanghai Airlines will open direct flights between Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).
: Hanoi releases trade figures indicating that tariffs on Vietnamese exports to China have been reduced by an average of 27 percent. Vietnam earns close to $2 billion exporting agricultural and primary products and light manufactures to China, many of which have benefited from tariff reductions. Vietnam imports steel, automotive products, chemicals, and consumer commodities from China.
: Brunei’s Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah meets with President Jiang Zemin and Vice President Hu Jintao on his first visit to China.
: Taiwan announces that a mission from its Ministry of Economic Affairs won orders totaling $286 million during visits to Thailand and Vietnam.
: Indonesian police withdraw a permit for Falun Gong followers to stage a march through central Jakarta. Chinese embassy officials tell the press that they had requested the ban because Falun Gong is an “evil cult.”
: A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman says China is “very concerned” about the arrest of 95 Chinese fishermen by the Philippine Navy Jan. 31-Feb. 1 near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Philippine sources say the fishermen were caught blast-fishing. They were later released.
: Defense Minister Chi meets with Lao Defense Minister Duoangchay Pichit, who tells Chi that Laos hopes to learn from the PLA and promote cooperation between the two armed forces.
: Jane’s Defense Weekly reports that China will for the first time send observers to the annual Thai-Singapore-U.S. Cobra Gold exercise in Thailand in May. China, which had appeared ready to accept the invitation last year until the April EP-3 incident, will join 13 other Asia-Pacific nations in sending observers.
: The fourth official Chinese delegation visits Myanmar in a 10-day period, led by Luo Zhaohui, deputy director general of the Asia Affairs Department of the PRC Foreign Ministry.
: Indonesia’s Navy Chief of Staff Indroko meets with Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian in Beijing and tells him the Indonesian armed forces hope to further relations with the PLA, especially the navy.
: China announces it is renovating the house in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region where Vietnamese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh lived for a year, in 1943-44, after release by the Kuomintang. When complete it will be a cultural relic, open to tourists.
: Li Peng, chairman of China’s National People’s Congress, meets with Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Monineath, visiting China for medical check-ups.
: Wang Zhongyu, state councilor and secretary general of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, leads a goodwill delegation to Myanmar, where they meet with Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, first secretary of the State Peace and Development Council.
: The Vietnamese government awards its garrison on Truong Sa Lon (Big Truong Sa) Island in the Spratly archipelago the Order of Achievement, Second Class, and announces measures to improve life for the soldiers and officers stationed there.
: Singapore’s Trade Development Board announces the largest ever Singporean business mission to Beijing and Shandong, seeking business opportunities in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
: Cambodian Senate President Chea Sim and National Assembly President Norodom Ranariddh meet with Nie Ronggui, visiting chairman of the Sichuan provincial People’s Political Consultative Conference. Prince Ranariddh promises Cambodia will remain faithful to the “one China” policy.
: Thai media report that the Thai government asked Taiwan to cancel a planned visit to Bangkok by Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu Hsiu-lien.
: China announces the first annual meeting between provincial narcotics and law-enforcement officials of China and Vietnam in highland areas of the countries’ common border. They agree to crack down on narcotics trafficking and related crime.
: Vietnamese Communist Party Secretary General Nong Duc Manh tells visiting Chinese judicial officials that the two countries should increase exchanges on fighting crime, especially corruption.
: Vietnam and China inaugurate hydrofoil service between Hai Phong and China’s Guangxi Province.