DALIAN, China (Reuters) – Iron ore prices should follow steel prices, not the other way round, a spokesman for China’s steel industry said on Tuesday, reopening a war of words over who sets the price of China’s biggest import commodity.

China is by far the world’s top steel producer, with almost half of global production in 2009, so using steel prices to guide iron ore prices would give it a large measure of control over the cost of the ingredient globally.

DALIAN, China, Sept 28 (Reuters) – China reopened its war of
words with global iron ore miners on Tuesday as the spokesman for
the country’s big steel mills vowed they would not be bullied
into accepting unfavourable pricing systems.

Shan Shanghua, secretary general of the China Iron & Steel
Association (CISA), said iron ore prices should be based on steel
prices, a reversal of the current market in which China, the
world’s biggest steelmaker, is the top iron ore buyer.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China cited increased government transparency via the Internet and reforms in the police and judicial sector as its main areas of progress in human rights in the past year, in a white paper released on Sunday.

China has long countered what it calls Western concepts of individual rights by saying it offers its vast population improving access to basics like food, housing and education.

BEIJING, Sept 26 (Reuters) – China’s Ministry of Commerce
has upheld heavy duties on imports of chicken parts from the
United States, standing tough on a long-running dispute over
mutual market access.

The Ministry raised the minimum level of anti-dumping duties
it first announced in February this year. It will charge duties
of between 50.3 percent and 105.4 percent on imports beginning
Sept. 27, it said in a statement on its website on Sunday.

BEIJING/TOKYO, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister
Naoto Kan waded into an acrimonious dispute over Japan’s
detention of a Chinese fisherman on Sunday, dismissing China’s
demands for an apology and compensation as out of the question.

The row has bounced back and forth between the two sides
with demands for an apology and rejections, illustrating the
fragility of ties between Asia’s two biggest economies troubled
by Chinese memories of wartime occupation and maritime
territorial disputes.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China marked the 30th anniversary of its controversial one-child policy with talk of relaxing rules, at least in some provinces, that have reined in population growth but caused heartache for millions of couples.

With a population expected to peak at 1.65 billion in 2033, China has been cautious about dropping an unpopular policy that was originally supposed to last one generation.

BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) – China pushed its demand for an apology from Japan for detaining a Chinese fishing trawler captain, showing no sign of an end to the row after Japan released the captain and said no apology was necessary.

The dispute illustrates the fragility of ties between Asia’s two biggest economies troubled by Chinese memories of Japanese wartime occupation and territorial disputes over parts of the East China Sea that could hold rich reserves of gas.

BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) – China is investigating four Japanese suspected of entering a military zone and illegally videotaping military targets, Xinhua news agency said, the latest row to threaten ties between Asia’s biggest economies.

The two sides are already locked in an increasingly heated dispute triggered by Japan’s detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain whose trawler collided earlier this month with a Japanese patrol boat in waters near islands both sides claim.

BEIJING, Sept 3 (Reuters) – European software giant SAP AG
(SAPG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Friday that a new round of growth has begun in
the global economy, led by emerging countries such as China,
Brazil, Russia and India.

Following rapid growth in the so-called BRIC countries, China
could become SAP’s top market globally in the next five to 10
years, Chief Executive Bill McDermott told Reuters in an
interview.

URUMQI, China (Reuters) – Seven Chinese military police were killed on Thursday when a member of the Uighur minority rammed them with an explosives-laden vehicle in the Xinjiang border region, long the scene of ethnic tension and violence.

Police arrested a Uighur suspect who drove the motorized three-wheel vehicle into a group of police and paramilitary guards at a highway intersection in Yiganqi township near the city of Aksu, according to a report from a local news conference carried on the People’s Daily website.