Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday that "very good progress" had been made in negotiations on opening Australia's vast uranium reserves up to China and a deal could be signed when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) visits next week.
In remarks that sent shares in Australian-listed uranium producers and explorers soaring, Howard said there had been progress in lengthy talks on Canberra's insistence that its uranium is not used in Chinese nuclear weapons.
"We have made very good progress," Howard said during a joint press conference in Canberra with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"It's possible that the discussions could be satisfactorily concluded so that something could be said or signed when the Chinese premier visits Australia next week," he said.
Australia has some 40 percent of the world's known uranium reserves and has been keen to increase exports to fuel China's rapidly expanding nuclear power industry.
A senior Chinese official in Beijing said on Monday the two governments were poised to sign two deals, one on exports of Australian uranium to China and another on Chinese involvement in uranium exploration and mining in Australia.
Liu Jieyi (
Liu stressed the agreements would cover the "peaceful use of nuclear energy" and would be in line with safeguards laid down by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
During two days of meetings and speeches in Canberra, Blair and Howard have repeatedly stressed the strategic importance of helping the rapidly emerging economies of China and India achieve energy security.
Both Blair and Howard suggested nuclear power would offer the Asian giants a cleaner and more sustainable source of energy than the polluting coal and oil-fired stations on which they now rely.
Howard did not rule out lifting a ban on selling uranium to India due to New Delhi's refusal to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, although he said the government was "not contemplating" a change in policy.
He said Australia will send a delegation to India and the US next month to examine details of a new nuclear agreement between the two countries.
Under the deal, India gains access to US nuclear technology in exchange for it separating its civil and military atomic programs and placing a majority of its reactors under international inspection.
Howard's comments about a possible deal with Beijing raised the prospect of cashed-up Chinese resources companies looking for joint ventures in Australia, sending shares in uranium companies skyrocketing.
Encounter Resources, a company holding exploration rights in parts of Western Australia, was up A$S0.40 or 85 percent at A$S0.88.
Toro Energy, which holds uranium exploration ground in South Australia, was up A$0.8 cents or 6.6 percent at AS1.40 dollars.
Deep Yellow, a Northern Territory explorer, was up A$0.05 or 44 percent at A$0.16.
BHP Billiton, which owns one of the world's largest uranium mines at Olympic Dam in South Australia state, rose A$0.07 or 26 percent to A$0.26 to a record closing high.
The country's other major uranium producer, Energy Resources Australia (ERA) rose A$0.45 or 3.5 percent to A$13.75.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has lodged a protest with Pretoria after the name of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa was changed to the “Taipei Commercial Office” on the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (DIRCO) Web site. In October last year, the South African government asked Taiwan to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office, the nation’s de facto embassy, out of Pretoria. It later agreed to continue negotiating through official channels, but in January asked that the office be relocated by the end of this month. As of the middle of last month, DIRCO’s Web
RSS