"The principle of reciprocity does not necessarily lie in coverage and threshold, but more importantly, relates to the scale of China's economy and its growth rate."

Sun Zhenyu, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of China to the WTO, calling on member nations of the Government Procurement Agreement not to be "too demanding" on China's revised accession offer. China's procurement market, worth 700 billion yuan ($100 billion) in 2009, will open to foreign businesses if the country joins the agreement

"The independence of some U.S. rating firms needs to be questioned due to the close relationship between the shareholders and their clients."

Guan Jianzhong, Chairman of the Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., refuting criticism by its Western counterparts that the Chinese rating agency follows a "populist mood" and lacks transparency. Dagong is the first non-Western rating agency to assess the world's sovereign credit and risks

"In reducing poverty, China is the fastest in the world."

Ajay Chhibber, UN Assistant Secretary General and Director of the UN Development Program's Regional Bureau for Asia-Pacific, referring to UN data showing China has achieved the target of halving the number of poor people from the 1990 figure of 85 million

"We are now moving into the post-pandemic period. The new H1N1 virus has largely run its course."

WHO Director Margaret Chan, declaring on August 10 the official end to the H1N1 flu pandemic

"He is leaving Iraq to the wolves."

Tariq Aziz, formerly Saddam Hussein's Foreign Minister, accusing U.S. President Barack Obama of abandoning Iraq before making sure the country was back on its feet

"Life is short, but memory is long."

Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General, at a ceremony in Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park to mark the 65th anniversary of the world's first nuclear-bomb attack