Tibet Nationalities Institute celebrated its 50th anniversary; United Nations and China will co-organize a high-level meeting on climate change; President Hu Jintao has appointed four new ambassadors;
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    • The Tibet Nationalities Institute (TNI) celebrated its 50th anniversary last week. TNI is the first institution of higher learning for ethnic Tibetans set up by the Central Government outside the Tibet Autonomous region. On this occasion, the Chinese President Hu Jintao had written a letter to TNI and hailed the institute for their “important contribution to the economic development and social progress”. The Chinese President also expressed the hope that the TNI should expand its activities with teaching, research and training1.

    Xinhua reports that the United Nations (UN) and China will co-organize a high-level meeting on climate change focusing on technological development and transfer. It was decided by a mutual decision between the UN Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang and China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Liu Zhenmin. It is reported that the conference will be opened by the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boar and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair2.

    Last week saw the establishment of the first investment company in the Southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. The name of the company is the Tibet Autonomous Region Investment Co. Ltd. which was funded by the regional finance department with a registered capital of 600 million yuan (87.6 million US dollars). It is reported that this company will be a platform for capital financing, attraction of expertise and industry investment. Among its business, it includes securities, funds, banking, real estate, transport, tourism and the high-tech sector3.

    Meanwhile, President Hu Jintao has appointed four new ambassadors in line with decisions adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC). Among these, Liu Jian was appointed as the Ambassador to Malaysia, Gao Deyi as the new Ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho, Gong Jianwei as the new Ambassador to Georgia and Cheng Guoping as the new Ambassador to Kazakhstan4.

    On the military side, the Chinese government has strongly objected to the US government’s decision to sell arms worth of about 6.5 billion US dollars to Taiwan. In a reaction, the Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson has said that the US decision to sell arms to Taiwan will hamper the Sino-US ties to a great extent. Last week, the Congress in US government had decided to sell arms to Taiwan, including Patriot-III anti-missile system, E-2T airborne early warning aircraft upgrade system, Apache helicopters, Javelin missiles, Harpoon Submarine-launched missiles, and some airplane accessory parts5.

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