Arms Sale Anger

The Chinese Foreign Ministry renewed its condemnation on October 7 of the United States' proposed arms sale to Taiwan and said America should take full responsibility for any damage to ties between the two countries and their respective armed forces.

"The U.S. side's act has seriously blocked bilateral exchanges and contacts in various fields, including high-level visits between the two armed forces. The U.S. side should take full responsibility for the current situation of damaged military-to-military ties," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular press conference.

The relationship between the Chinese and U.S. militaries has on the whole enjoyed sound momentum. However, the U.S. Government, in spite of China's strong objection, notified the U.S. Congress about its plan to sell arms to Taiwan on October 3, including the 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 parts.

Stuart Upton, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman, on October 6 said Washington's arms sale program acted upon the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act.

Qin said China, at the very start, firmly opposed the so-called Taiwan Relations Act, which ran counter to the principles of the three Sino-U.S. joint communiqués and the fundamental norms governing international relations.

The United States had no right to place domestic law above international law or use it as an excuse to sell weapons to Taiwan, Qin said.

Oldest Chinese

A list of China's 10 oldest persons was announced for the first time by the China Gerontology Association on October 6.

The 121-year-old Sadiq Sawut from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region topped the list as the oldest man, while Maihefu Zihan, from the same region, was the oldest woman at 118.

Xinjiang has the highest proportion of centenarians in the country, with 1,413 people aged 100 years or older, or 73 in every 1 million people. The national average is around 23 in 1 million.

With an average age of 117, China's 10 most venerable citizens have lived through the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, making them the most telling witnesses of China's changes, the organizers of the ranking said.

The age-hailing event was held in Rugao, Jiangsu Province, a well-known home of longevity with more than 6,300 90-year-olds and 251 100-year-olds.

Information Boom

There are 10 times as many Chinese newspapers and magazines than there were 30 years ago when the country adopted the reform and opening-up policy.

Figures from the General Administration of Press and Publication show there were 186 newspapers and 930 magazines in China in 1978. Today, the country has 2,081 newspapers and 9,363 magazines.

In the meantime, official figures show China has some 600 publishing houses producing nearly 300,000 titles every year. That's a dramatic increase from the 105 publishers of the past that produced only 10,000 different titles.