updated 1-15-00

CHINA DISASTERS

China Quakes Kill 4, Injure 400

.c The Associated Press

BEIJING (Jan. 15, 00) - Two earthquakes collapsed thousands of buildings in southwest China on Saturday, killing at least four people and injuring 400, officials said.

Yao'an county in Yunnan province was hit by a 5.9-magnitude quake that sent people scurrying out of their homes. About 1 1/2 hours later, the county was hit by an even stronger aftershock with a magnitude of 6.5, said a county seismologist who gave just his surname, Su.

Four people were killed, 29 were seriously injured and 371 were slightly hurt, government seismologists and state-run television said. The State Seismology Bureau in Beijing said 4,000 buildings collapsed, but state-run television said up to 10,000 buildings collapsed or were seriously damaged.

The television broadcast footage of crumbled mud-built walls and a house with a caved-in wooden beam roof. Medical staff in white coats treated some of the injured on beds in the street. An old women and three children huddled under quilts on a layer of straw.

The main compound of Yao'an's government headquarters was seriously damaged, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. Power in the area also was cut, it added.

But there was no damage to a valuable historical site 30 miles from the epicenter where remains of China's oldest fossil man were found in 1965, Xinhua said. The site of Yuanmou Homo Erectus, who dated back 1.7 million years, is now a tourist destination.

The authorities and media did not specify which tremor caused which damages and injuries. Quakes in China often produce high figures for building damage, because officials may count smaller structures other than homes and because of fragile building materials. Outside of cities, one-story homes, sometimes made of mud bricks, are common.

In the town of Guantun, 18 miles from Yao'an, the early morning quakes woke tens of thousands of people and sent residents flocking into the streets, Xinhua said. Guantun started up 10 generators to produce electricity, it added.

Authorities moved in 10 tons of building material, 5,000 rolls of woolen felt and food into affected areas, Xinhua said.

A strong tremor also was felt in the provincial capital Kunming, some 125 miles to the east of Yao'an, it said.

Yao'an was also hit by a 6.5-magnitude quake in 1962 and a 5.6-magnitude quake on August 14, 1993, Xinhua said.

AP-NY-01-15-00 0723EST

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China Sends More Rescue Gear to Shipwreck Site - Reuters (11/27/99)
More China Ferry Survivors Unlikely - AP (11/26/99)
Search goes on despite dim hopes for China ferry passengers - CNN (11/26/99)
Rescue Hopes Fade in China Shipwreck - ABC (11/26/99)
China suspends ferry firm's operations after disaster - CNN (11/26/99)
China Shipwreck Death Toll May Rise - AP (11/26/99)
Hopes of More China Ferry Survivors Faint - Reuters (11/26/99)
Hopes Slim of More China Shipwreck Survivors - Reuters (11/25/99)
Scores missing in Chinese shipping disaster - CNN (11/25/99)
Deadly Shipwreck off Chinese Coast - ABC (11/25/99)
More China News  Related Web Sites

China Today - information on government, art and entertainment, trade, finance, education, and more.
China: Moving slowly onto centre stage - interactive map of China's history under communism, RealAudio interviews with Tiananmen dissidents, news, analysis, and more. From Out There News.
China Internet Information Center - get news and read Chinese government white papers, including ones on human rights, Tibet,
arms controls and disarmament.
China: 10 Years After Tiananmen - interviews on Tiananmen Square with Chinese democracy activists. From Human Rights Watch.
China: The Awkward Superpower - analysis and news from Time.com.
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China Shipwreck Death Toll May Rise

By JOHN LEICESTER

.c The Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) -(November 26, 1999) With temperatures hovering around freezing, hopes were fading today for more than 140 people missing in one of China's worst shipwrecks.

More than 150 people were already confirmed dead in the accident, and if no more survivors are found, the death toll could approach 300.

The 9,000-ton Dashun ferry, plying a heavily used route from Yantai city in eastern China to the northeastern port of Dalian, caught fire and capsized in fierce winds and waves Wednesday. Both the official Xinhua News Agency and the state-run China News Service said today that just 22 people had been found alive.

The ship was carrying at least 300 passengers and crew, although reports varied on the precise number, with some saying as many as 336 people were aboard.

Half of the passengers jumped into the sea, but many died of exposure in the icy waters, the official China Daily newspaper said. Many of those who made it into lifeboats were killed by freezing weather and high waves, it said.

Ten ships and two helicopters were searching for survivors, but there was little chance anyone could have survived the icy conditions, Xinhua quoted Shao Guangbao, a dispatcher from the Ministry of Communications, as saying.

Most passengers came from Shandong and China's northeast. The China News Service said a Korean woman was among the dead.

One crewman, Ma Shuchi, survived by swimming more than six miles to shore, the paper said.

Another survivor, 29-year-old farmer Zhang Shiyuan, told the China News Service he was awakened in his cabin by a crew member shouting: ``Quickly put on your life jackets and go up on deck!''

Up on the violently shaking deck, passengers were ``leaping one after another into the icy-cold sea,'' the report said. Zhang jumped and found a floating life preserver that he and three others gripped until a naval vessel rescued them.

The China News Service said more than 150 bodies have been found, though Xinhua was only reporting 118. Figures on the number of people missing varied between 140 and 162. State-run television said the death toll was expected ``to rise continuously.''

More than 10,000 soldiers and civilians were taking part in rescue operations, Xinhua said. The thousands of civilians from coastal villages combed a 28-mile stretch of coastline for survivors, it said. But gales, heavy snow and freezing temperatures made work difficult.

The ship capsized in deep waters about six miles off a coastal island. Officials said there was little hope of finding people alive.

The fire started in the ferry's lower vehicle deck when the vessel was about 20 miles from port, the China News Service said. The ship began heading back and sending out distress signals.

But fierce waves and winds prevented naval vessels, tugs and fishing boats dispatched to help from getting close to the troubled ferry. The fire spread and the ship lost power before eventually capsizing, Xinhua said.

A crew member told state TV that the fire may have started when oil tanks bumped together in the storm and ruptured. China's Cabinet, the State Council, set up an investigation team, Xinhua said.

The Yanda Ferry Co., which operated the vessel, was ordered shut down today by the Ministry of Communications and told to remedy safety problems, Xinhua reported. The company lost another ferry in a fire on Oct. 17 that killed one person and left another missing.

It was the second accident in five weeks of a vessel operated by Yanda, the Dalian Evening News said. On Oct. 17, a ship caught fire and sank near Dalian. Rescuers managed to save 158 of its 161 passengers and crew.

Yantai is 100 miles from Dalian, just across the Bohai Strait leading into the Bohai Sea, and the waters there can be dangerous.

The Yantai-to-Dalian shipping route is a major link between east and northeast China, with 3.5 million people and 200,000 vehicles making the crossing each year, the China News Service said.

AP-NY-11-26-99 0734EDT

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Shipwreck Off China Coast Kills 150

By JOHN LEICESTER

.c The Associated Press

BEIJING (Nov. 25, 99) - Thousands of rescue workers scoured wind-whipped seas and shores Thursday for survivors from a ferry that caught fire and foundered off eastern China, killing more than 150 people and leaving more than 100 others missing.

The 9,000-ton Dashun, carrying 312 passengers and crew, was wrecked amid gale-force winds and towering waves late Wednesday on a heavily used shipping route that connects Yantai city, in eastern China's Shandong province, with the northeastern port of Dalian.

On Thursday, more than 24 hours after the ship's first distress call, just 36 people had been rescued from cold seas, state media said. More than 150 people were killed, and at least 100 others were missing, the state-run China News Service said.

With temperatures hovering around freezing, a Yantai city spokesman said there was little hope of finding people alive. Storm-force winds also were hampering rescue work, the spokesman said, giving just his surname, Meng.

Bodies were found washed up on beaches and in the sea, he said.

``It was very tragic. The sea was covered with bodies,'' said a Yantai city fire brigade officer, who refused to give his name.

Asked if rescuers found survivors, he replied: ``Yes, too few.''

First word of the disaster came from a passenger with a cell phone on board the ship who called Dalian police, an official at the city's Sea Inspection Bureau said.

The fire started in the ferry's lower vehicle deck when the vessel was about 20 miles out from the port, the China News Service said. The ship began heading back to port and sending out distress signals.

But fierce waves and winds prevented the more than 30 naval vessels, tugs and fishing boats that were dispatched from getting close to the troubled ferry, the report said.

The fire spread to upper decks and the ship lost power and steering, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Contact with the ship, operated by the Yanda Ferry Company, was lost about 3 1/2 hours later, it said.

Xinhua said the wreckage eventually ran aground, but the China News Service said the ship was destroyed by the fire and sank.

More than 5,000 people from coastal villages searched a 28-mile stretch of coastline for survivors, Xinhua said. A helicopter searched the sea for bodies and debris Thursday morning, but waves up to 16 feet high obscured visibility.

State television showed a beach littered with thousands of oranges, apples and other apparent wreckage, including what appeared to be at least three life rafts.

Yantai is 100 miles from Dalian, just across the Bohai Strait leading into the Bohai Sea, and the waters there can be tempestuous.

It was the second accident in five weeks of a vessel operated by the Yanda Ferry Co., the Dalian Evening News said. On Oct 17., the ``Shenglu'' caught fire and sank near Dalian, leaving three people missing. Rescuers managed to save 158 of the ship's 161 passengers and crew.

The Yantai to Dalian shipping route is a major link between east and northeast China, with 3.5 million people and 200,000 vehicles making the crossing each year, the China News Service said.

AP-NY-11-25-99 1348EST

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104 Killed in China Shipwreck

.c The Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) -(November 25, 1999)  A ferry caught fire and broke apart during a violent storm off the coast of eastern China, leaving 104 people dead and many others missing, official media and local officials said today.

The ship, the Dashun, wrecked amid gale-force winds and towering waves late Wednesday near Yantai, in eastern China's Shandong province, as it headed for the northeastern port of Dalian carrying 312 passengers and crew, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Temperatures around freezing hampered rescue operations. Xinhua cited rescue workers who said 20 people had been rescued.

``It was very tragic. The sea was covered with bodies,'' said a Yantai city fire brigade officer, who refused to give his name.

Asked if rescuers had found any survivors, he replied: `Yes, too few.''

He added that waves were pushing bodies toward the shore.

First word of the disaster came from a passenger with a cell phone who called Dalian police, said an official at the city's Sea Inspection Bureau.

The ship sent out distress signals when flames were found on its second deck, but ships in the area were unable to approach the vessel due to the weather conditions, Xinhua said.

The fire spread to the third deck, and the main helm of the ship broke apart four hours later. The ship later stopped sending distress signals and drifted until it was found stranded late Wednesday, the report said.

The vessel, operated by the Yanda Ferry Company, was also carrying 60 vehicles, the Dalian Evening News reported. Most of those aboard the boat were from Dalian, it said.

A Shanghai newspaper, the official Xinmin Evening News, said the fire spread from the ship's lower vehicle deck and may have been caused by a car.

The Yantai fire officer said his brigade sent 40 to 50 people, as well as rescue vehicles. Police also joined the rescue operation, he added.

Yantai is 100 miles from Dalian, just across the Bohai Strait leading into the Bohai Sea, but the waters there can be tempestuous. Forecasts for the region had warned of extremely strong winds Wednesday.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

The accident was the second sinking in five weeks of a vessel operated by the Yanda Ferry Co., the Dalian Evening News said. In the earlier wreck, a ship caught fire and sank near Dalian on Oct. 17, leaving three people missing. Rescuers managed to save 158 of the ship's 161 passengers and crew.

AP-NY-11-25-99 0503EST

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Taiwan Accuses China of Threat

By ANNIE HUANG

.c The Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -(November 25, 1999)  Taiwan's outspoken leader today accused China of threatening the island with missiles in one of his most extensive speeches in months against his nation's longtime rival.

President Lee Teng-hui also said Taiwan would be willing to negotiate removing more trade barriers with China after the two sides join the World Trade Organization, which could happen within the next year.

The speech to business leaders came as some political observers expect Lee to try to make China a bigger issue ahead of Taiwan's presidential election in March.

Lee's Nationalist Party, which has ruled the island for more than five decades, is considered by many voters to be the most experienced in dealing with China.

A new focus on relations with Beijing might give the party's candidate, Vice President Lien Chan, a desperately needed boost in the polls. Most surveys show him lagging far behind in second or third place.

Referring to recent reports that China plans to deploy 100 new ballistic missiles across from Taiwan, Lee said that such military buildups encourage some Taiwanese to support formal independence.

A spokesman at China's Ministry of Defense, who gave his name only as Mr. Wang, refused to comment today on the missile reports.

China says that it would only use its military against Taiwan if the island appeared ready to scrap all possibility of reunifying peacefully with the mainland. But Taiwanese Defense Minister Tang Fei said today that the Communist regime in Beijing might invade the island to divert attention from a domestic crisis.

China and Taiwan separated amid civil war in 1949, and Beijing has repeatedly threatened to use force to reunify the two sides.

Taiwan's policy is to return to the mainland once it becomes more democratic and economically developed. But many Taiwanese favor breaking away and becoming an independent nation.

``We understand that raising tensions between the sides would create disorder in China and bring no advantage to either side or to any country in the region,'' Lee said.

Taiwan has come under pressure to end its ban on shipping and air links with the mainland if both sides join the WTO, which sets world trade rules.

``If there was sufficient goodwill from communist China, and if they made a concrete response, then we would be willing within the framework of the World Trade Organization to revise our mainland policies,'' he said.

Lee said that as WTO members, China and Taiwan should deal with each other as equals. This has been a key demand for Lee, who has insisted the two sides have ``special state-to-state relations.''

However, China has rejected Lee's demand for equality. It considers Taiwan to be a province that should obey the central government in Beijing.

The president said that, as one of the biggest investors in China, Taiwanese hope that the Chinese economy will prosper and play a bigger role in the world's economy.

Opponents have long criticized Lee for being anti-China and creating obstacles for stronger political and economic ties between the two sides. Recently, presidential candidates have complained that Lee's government has been too slow to increase economic links with China.

But Lee credited himself for opening China to 30,000 Taiwanese companies since the late 1980s, when he lifted many restrictions on investment in China.

AP-NY-11-25-99 0419EST

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ASEAN Seeks China's Conduct Approval

By JIM GOMEZ

.c The Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - (November 25, 1999) Southeast Asian officials today sought China's crucial approval of a newly forged draft ``code of conduct'' aimed at controlling conflicts over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The draft was finalized late Wednesday by senior officials from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which will hold its annual leaders' summit later this week. The ``code of conduct'' and efforts to foster economic recovery are heading the agenda.

Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Lauro Baja said the draft code would be presented today to China, which is among several countries with claims to the disputed Spratly Islands. China, along with Japan and South Korea, will meet with ASEAN on Sunday.

When asked if ASEAN would adopt the proposal if China rejects it or makes no decision by Sunday, Baja told reporters: ``We have not decided on that.''

China backed the concept today without endorsing the specific ASEAN proposal.

``The Chinese side would like to express its agreement in principle to the formulation of such a code of conduct and is willing to have consultations with ASEAN countries,'' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi in Beijing. ``But such consultations should be conducted between China and ASEAN countries only.''

Differences over the geographic scope of the code have prevented its adoption for months.

Vietnam earlier insisted that it apply to the entire South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands, which Vietnam and China claim. Malaysia, which recently negotiated a separate security arrangement with China, has objected, saying some parts of the South China Sea overlap its territorial waters.

Baja said China also opposes the inclusion of the Paracels, arguing that it is a bilateral matter with Vietnam.

The Spratlys, believed to be rich in oil and gas, are claimed by four ASEAN members - Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam - as well as China and Taiwan.

The Philippines, which drafted much of the proposed code, has tried to align ASEAN members in a common stance against what it sees as Chinese expansionism in the Spratlys.

An earlier draft of the code said rival claimants will refrain from ``taking action that would establish presence'' in new areas. China, Malaysia and Vietnam have recently built or enlarged structures on the islands to reinforce their territorial claims.

Efforts to establish the code come as ASEAN was talking about increasing its cooperation with China, South Korea and Japan in political, security, social, economic and monetary issues. South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has predicted the rise of a wider East Asian grouping.

The Asian Development Bank met today with ASEAN finance officials. The bank's president, Tadao Chino, said they discussed ``how to make this recovery in the Asian region more sustainable.''

A report drawn up by ASEAN finance officials says the rebound from the 2-year-old Asian financial crisis has been stronger than expected, with all ASEAN economies showing growth.

Japan has pledged $82 billion for the region and is likely to come under pressure for even more assistance. Tokyo said Wednesday it will announce a ``substantial'' support package during the summit that will stress the dispatch of experts to train specialists, particularly in the financial sector.

Philippine officials have deployed 7,000 police and troops for summit security. Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said no major threats were expected and police were likely to focus on keeping protests from becoming unruly.

Several left-wing groups have announced plans to protest the eviction last week of hundreds of squatters living near the meeting site.

Early today, a city bulldozer began clearing out another squalid squatter's camp just a few hundred yards from the summit site. Families, many with children in diapers, were loaded onto dump trucks and taken to other parts of the city.

Meanwhile, ASEAN finance ministers issued a statement that said regional economic performance has improved since their last meeting in March in Hanoi. The region is expected as a whole to grow by 2 percent to 3 percent this year, compared with a 7 percent contraction in 1998.

All ASEAN countries are expected to post positive growth rates of up to 6 percent in 1999, the statement said, fueling a rebound in stock markets and new inflows of foreign investment.

``We expect ASEAN to begin the next millennium poised for higher and sustainable growth,'' the statement said.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

AP-NY-11-25-99 0541EST

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CHINA UFO SIGHTINGS

alt.ufo.reports Subject: "Train flying through the air" in China

Date: 23 Feb 95 11:17:50

Read in the newspaper last night about an incident in China a short while ago where about 3km of trees were chopped down to a height of 1.5-4 meters by what eyewitnesses discribed as "a train flying through the air". However, their vision was obscured by two very bright lights.  Is this a hoax? If not, any idea what it might have been?

Matt

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