Roundup - 12/12/2009

• 22,884 cases of officials holding public money for personal use have been uncovered since June. He Guoqiang, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, said that the sums of money involved totaled 10.16 billion RMB, or about $1.49 billion. He said that 270 officials had received administrative punishments and 81 had been prosecuted.
  
  Nationwide sweeps between 1998 and 2006 found 140.6 billion RMB however, this is thought to be a very small percentage of the total amount of public money lost to corruption.
  
  
  
• The Chinese stance at the Copenhagen summit is continuing its previous course. Liu Zhenmin, deputy permanent representative to the UN, emphasised the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, differentiated responsibility, and financial support and technology transfer from developed countries.
  
  Meanwhile, in Beijing, an influential think-tank, Chinese Economists 50 Forum, has published suggestions for an Inter-Country Joint Mitigation Plan to facilitate technology transfer from the developed to the developing world.
  
  
  
• Xinhua has announced that more than 3,470 people have been arrested this year in a crackdown on internet pornography. According to the Ministry for Public Security 1.25 million items of 'lewd content' and nearly 7,000 websites were shut down.
  
  Earlier this month authorities launched a crackdown on WAP sites with pornographic content. China maintains very strict control over the internet arguing that it must 'purify social environment and protect minors' mental health.'
  
  
  
• President Hu Jintao is currently in Kazakhstan. President Hu and President Nazarbayev will hold talks on strengthening their bilateral ties. Kazakhstan is also a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and a key ally and source of natural resources in the region. The 'Friendship Pipeline' is the longest oil pipeline in the world and is expected to begin operating fully next year.
  
  
  
• Chinese police arrested three people on Tuesday for selling milk contaminated with melamine. The three men worked for Shaanxi based Jinqiao Dairy Company. Only a few weeks ago two men were executed for their role in selling melamine-contaminated milk in a scandal which caused the deaths of six children and illness to some 300,000.
  
  
  
• Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade is looking into allegations that Taiwanese companies sold specialised equipment which could be used to make weapons grade uranium to Iran. A report in the Daily Telegraph suggested that Iranian defense officials acquired pressure transducers from Taiwanese companies after being denied by American and European companies.