Tourism wharf for Xisha Islands under review
The Hainan provincial department of ocean and fisheries will review a wharf-building project in Jinqing Island of the Xisha Islands, according to a brief statement on the State Oceanic Administration's website on Thursday.
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| A bird's eye view of Xisha Islands [file photo] |
The statement said the project, occupying more than 333 hectares of marine area, is designed to provide services and materials for the future development of tourism and fishery industries in the South China Sea.
A private enterprise will invest in and build the project, the statement said, without giving the company's name.
It said the construction plan for another wharf project in the South China Sea is under discussion at the administration.
The statement came shortly after a Chinese cruise ship named Scent of Princess Coconut completed a trial voyage from Sanya, Hainan province, to the northern shoals of the Xisha Islands in early April.
Although there was no firm timetable for the launch of such cruises, Tan Li, deputy governor of Hainan province, said at a provincial tourism conference on Tuesday that tourist trips to the Xisha Islands will be open to the public within the year, according to Xinhua News Agency.
China's pace in developing tourism on the Xisha Islands is accelerating. According to a national plan on island protection issued by the State Oceanic Administration on April 19, tourist trips to Xisha will open when the right time comes.
China denies U.S. espionage accusation
Chinese officials have denied U.S. accusations that China's progress in space exploration is partly owed to espionage.
A report Wednesday by the U.S. Defense and State departments recommended loosening U.S. export controls on items used to build satellites and other relevant equipment but suggested maintaining or tightening controls on exports to particular countries such as China and Iran, and accused China of stealing space technology.
"China deeply regrets the relevant report from the U.S. administration, and is firmly against the groundless accusation made against China," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told China's state-run news agency Xinhua.
"The report mistakenly insisted on the two-decade-old satellite export restrictions against China, which was against the consensus reached between the two heads of state on enhancing space cooperation," Liu said.
China's achievements in space exploration are the result of hard pioneering work, innovation and diligence of the Chinese people, he said.
'Chinese' hackers deface Philippine website
Manila (AFP) April 20, 2012 - Hackers claiming to come from China defaced the website of the Philippines' top university on Friday to assert their country's claim over the hotly disputed South China Sea, the government said.
The foreign department, which has been leading the government's response over its increasingly tense rift with China, immediately called for an investigation into the attack on the University of the Philippines website.
A screenshot of the defaced website, www.up.edu.ph, showed a map with Chinese script that highlighted islands in the South China Sea that are claimed by the Philippines and China.
"We come from China! Huangyan Island is Ours," the map's caption read.
Huangyan is the Chinese name for the Scarborough Shoal, where the two countries have had vessels stationed for nearly two weeks in a standoff to assert their rival claims to the area.
Foreign department spokesman Raul Hernandez suggested the hacking could be linked to the standoff.
"These computer hacking(s) are sometimes... done by some people who are passionately affected and involved in the discussion," he told reporters.
"There has to be an investigation first to find out who exactly did this."
The university temporarily shut the site down after the attack was detected on Friday, Jason Chao, network engineer of the school's computer centre, told AFP.
"We're in the process of restoring the site, but first we have to make sure that this will not happen again," he said.
Hongkongers angry with China
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