China's President Hu Jintao (
Hu told some 800 business, political and Chinese-Canadian community leaders that the two were "important trading partners, however, given the size of our two economies, there is still potential for more bilateral trade and economic cooperation."
"Canada with its highly developed economy, diverse industrial sectors and rich natural resources and China with its rapid growth and huge market are highly complementary," Hu said.
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Hu agreed on Friday to work together on nuclear energy, to triple passenger and cargo flights between their countries, to share railway technology and to collaborate on health research, food safety and plant and animal health.
Hu said the move would "upgrade the China-Canada relationship into a strategic partnership."
China-Canada trade has progressed from "small, simple items, commodities trade into all-dimensional trade and cooperation, covering trade and commodities and services, capital flows and personnel exchanges."
He said that while China offered Canada consumer goods, "Canada's capital, technologies and managerial expertise have added fresh vitality to China's growing economy."
Hu challenged businesses "to tap the potential in all fields" and double bilateral trade by 2010. Canadian officials also pledged to work towards the goal.
China is Canada's second-biggest trading partner behind the US.
Last year, Canadian exports to China grew by 40 percent while goods moving in the opposite direction increased 30 percent, often displacing other Asian imports.
Hu said China's high-tech industries, agriculture, services, environmental protection and infrastructure were now ripe for investment.
"Both China and Canada stand to gain in a long-term and stable partnership in the field of energy and resources," Hu said.
"We must still work hard for several decades before we can turn China into a moderately developed country," and to meet the goal of quadrupling China's year 2000 GDP to about US$4 trillion or US$3,000 per capita by 2020, Hu said.
He singled out the need for economic development, democratic reforms and improved education.
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
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