Chinese president makes first Southeast Asia visit to strengthen ties with Indonesia

The leaders of China and Indonesia agreed Wednesday to improve cooperation in several areas, as Chinese President Xi Jinping began his first visit to Southeast Asia since taking office, striving to boost ties and economic partnerships with the region’s biggest country.

Xi met with his Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and is expected to meet with business leaders and become the first foreign leader to address the country’s Parliament during the two-day trip.

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The Associated Press via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/rpA_8jaSeG0/

Chinese dissident Chen to join conservative U.S. think tank

Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese dissident and legal rights activist who accused New York University of forcing him to leave this summer because of alleged pressure from the Chinese government, will be joining The Witherspoon Institute, a conservative think tank.

Chen will become a distinguished fellow in human rights at Witherspoon, which is based in Princeton, New Jersey, for the next three years. He will also be affiliated with The Catholic University of America and the more liberal-leaning Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice, Luis Tellez, Witherspoon’s president, said in a telephone interview.

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Jonathan Allen, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/qzHND101nNM/

China May Raise Price Bid for Kazakh Oil, Kazakhstan Says

China may offer a higher price for oil from Kazakhstan’s Kashagan project as it competes for the crude with other countries surrounding the Central Asian state.

“Right now at the Chinese border the prices aren’t exactly market — they are significantly lower,” Kairgeldy Kabyldin, head of Kazakh pipeline operator AO KazTransOil, said today in Almaty. “Our Chinese colleagues have announced that they will give a price” that’s competitive with oil traveling to Russia.

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Nariman Gizitdinov and Stephen Bierman, Bloomberg via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/azZ3fCzKQPg/

For China, Turkey missile deal a victory even if it doesn’t happen

Turkey’s $4 billion order for a Chinese missile defense system is a breakthrough for China in its bid to become a supplier of advanced weapons, even though opposition from Washington and NATO threatens to derail the deal.

The winning bid from the China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp (CPMIEC) to deliver its FD-2000 air defense missile system in a joint production agreement with Turkey is the first time a Chinese supplier has won a major order for state-of-the-art equipment from a NATO member. U.S., Russian and Western European manufacturers were also in the fray.

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David Lague, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/J_CTVNTVIhU/

Taiwan envoy to meet China’s Xi at summit

Taiwan’s special envoy to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum said Tuesday he plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the event to discuss economic issues.

The scheduled meeting between Vincent Siew, the island’s former vice-president, and the Chinese leader comes amid warming ties between the two former cross-strait rivals.

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AFP via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/sEc6PWqMuow/

Turkey says Chinese missile deal not final

Turkey said on Monday it could still reconsider its decision to co-produce a long-range air and missile defence system with a Chinese firm currently under U.S. sanctions, but said it felt no obligation to heed other countries’ blacklists.

Turkey’s Defence Ministry announced last week it had chosen the FD-2000 missile defence system from China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp, or CPMIEC, over rival systems from Russian, U.S. and European firms. Turkey is a member of the NATO transatlantic military alliance.

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Jonathon Burch, Reuters via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/I60c7pGxB2U/

Ukraine Close to $3 Billion China Loan for Irrigation Project

Ukraine is in talks with China to receive a $3 billion loan under government guarantees from the Export-Import Bank of China to resume irrigation of farmland in the south of the former communist Black Sea country.

The talks are “in the final stage,” Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said today in Kiev. The project will begin in the middle of 2014 and will help supply water to 1.2 million to 1.4 million hectares of farm land, he said.

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Kateryna Choursina, Bloomberg via CHINA US Focus http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChinaUsFocus/~3/QK2rDZaBRzU/