There will not be a significant jump in food imports in China despite the snowstorms that devastated large swathes of farmland, and an increasing dependence on soybean imports, a top agriculture official said.

After securing grain output at around 500 million tons for four consecutive years, the country is striving for production above that level this year, Vice Minister of Agriculture Wei Chao'an told a press conference held on the sidelines of the annual session of the 11th NPC in Beijing.

The official said that soybean imports had increased by 2 million tons annually over the past few years to exceed 30 million tons in 2007, when imports of edible oil surged 25 percent year on year to 8.4 million tons.

But overall, China has sufficient supply of a vast range of agricultural products that can well satisfy market demand, Wei said.

Railway Boost

China will build a railway linking Beijing to the southeast province of Fujian to boost the economic development of the coastal region close to Taiwan.

The two-track railway will be able to accommodate trains running at more than 300 km per hour. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2010, under a memo signed by the Ministry of Railways and the Fujian Provincial Government in Beijing during the annual session of the 11th NPC.

The railway line is part of a 4,800-km rail network that China plans to build along the west coast of the Taiwan Straits over the next five to 10 years.

Fujian, just across the straits from Taiwan, has begun to build a new economic zone that is intended to accelerate cross-straits economic ties.

Joy of Sound

The world's leading sound equipment developer Bose Corp. has unveiled another flagship store in Beijing's central business district to bring the company's latest technological innovation to more Chinese high-end customers.

Located at the China World Shopping Mall, the new store features a mini Bose Theater where customers can enjoy the expressive listening experience brought by high technology.

The new store also presented for the first time the latest Bose product: the Bose Lifestyle 48 DVD Home Theater System, which will intelligently adapt sound to different room conditions to create the best effect.

Bose opened its first flagship store at the end of 2007 in the Lane Crawford Shopping Center in Financial Street, Beijing.

Polish Air Link

Polish Airlines will launch its first direct flight from Warsaw to Beijing on March 30, 2008, linking the two nations by direct flight for the first time.

Initially, there are to be four non-stop flights every week from Warsaw to Beijing. A one-way flight will take about nine hours.

The airline will use Boeing 767 aircraft on the route until the new Boeing 787 is delivered, said Jacek Tomaszewski, General Manager of Polish Airlines China.

Based in Warsaw, Polish Airlines has direct flights to 52 destinations in 31 countries. It is a member of the Association of European Airlines and joined the Star Alliance in 2003.