United Nations

China paid off her 2011 dues to the UN in the amount of $84.46m, or 3.189% of the total UN dues, making China the 8th largest contributor to the UN.

Taiwan

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said Taiwan aims to sign a peace agreement with the mainland within 10 years, provided there is a high level of consensus on the island and sufficient trust on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Ma said the agreement will be "under the premises of a high level of support from the people, based on the needs of the country, and supervision from the legislature".Later, he said a referendum would have to be held before any peace treaty was signed with the mainland.

Law of the Sea - South China Sea

In the wake of the Sino-Vietnamese agreement on the South China Sea, India tried to get involved through its state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp which will work with its Vietnamese counterpart PetroVietnam to develop oil and gas in parts of the South China Sea, Japanese FM Koichiro Gemba proposed a multilateral framework to settle maritime disputes in the South China Sea, while the Philippines opposed the China-Vietnam accord and called for a multilateral approach to resolve disputes concerning the South China Sea. A Chinese FM spokesman responded that "the fact that China and Vietnam have agreed to settle maritime disputes through negotiations has nothing to do with a third party" and that multinational talks will not help and may make the issue even more complicated.

Territory - South China Sea

Law of the Sea - South China Sea

Following reports by WikiLeaks of Chinese protests against international oil firms signing exploration deals with Vietnam in the disputed South China Sea that went back to 2006, President Hu Jintao urged visiting Vietnamese leader Nguyen Phu Trong to avoid complicating territorial disputes by seeking foreign assistance in resolving rival claims. Later, China's Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and his Vietnamese counterpart, Ho Xuan Son, signed a six-point agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of maritime issues existing between the two countries. The parties pledged to seek a basic and long-term solution "based on a legal regime and principles defined by international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea". The parties agreed to fully respect legal principles, take history and other relevant issues into consideration and accommodate each other's concerns in a constructive manner. In relation to other claimant states, the agreement said that Beijing and Hanoi should solve maritime disputes through

negotiations, but will "consult with other countries if they were also involved in the disputes". A practically significant point, the two sides agreed to hold discussions twice a year to resolve their differences, and to set up a hot line between the countries to address any disagreements more promptly.

Diplomatic Relations

Hong Kong

Responding to China's criticism that the US consulate in Hong Kong contravened the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by interfering in the city's constitutional development by holding meetings with various people, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs said the US consulate will continue its "deep engagement in all aspects of life" in the city, and its role is "understood and appreciated" by Beijing.

United Nations

In a clear retort to the abuse of UN authorisation by the Western countries in Libya, China joined Russia in a rare double veto of a draft Security Council resolution threatening action against Syria's deadly crackdown on civilian protests. The resolution would "blindly impose pressure" on Syria which "would not help to ease the situation," a Chinese FM spokesman said. But later China called on the Syrian government to "respond to people's reasonable expectations and appeals, and resolve the issues through dialogue and consultations."

International Investment

Given the controverted impact on the local environment and community of the Myitsome Dam on the Irrawady River in northern Myanmar, it was probably unwise to dub it China's overseas Three Gorges Dam, as Myanmar's government suspended the construction of the $3.6bn hydroelectric dam being built by China Power Investment Corporation, saying the project "is against the will of the people”. A Chinese FM spokesman called on Myanmar to protect the rights of Chinese companies, saying the project, that has a capacity of up to 6,000 MW, 90% of which is supposed to go to China, "has undergone scientific evaluation and strict examination by both sides." The Chinese builder had reportedly spent $25m resettling people on the upper reaches of the river, and China is also concerned over the prospect of building oil and gas pipelines that will run from the Bay of Bengal into southern China, the most strategically important project in Myanmar.

Jurisdiction

Extradition

The Supreme Court of Queensland in Australia sentenced Li Kai Cheung, a fugitive Chinese official who is an Australian permanent resident, to 14 years in jail for money laundering. Li is wanted in China on embezzlement charges.

Territory - Land Boundary

China and Tajikistan completed the demarcation of the land boundary between them. 1158 square kilometres of territory that used to be under the control of Tajikistan were reportedly handed over to China.

Recognition

Succession

China accorded recognition to the rebel National Transitional Council as Libya's "ruling authorities and representative of the Libyan people".""We hope that the various treaties and agreements previously signed between China and Libya will continue to remain effective and be conscientiously implemented," a FM spokesman said. The NTC of Libya reportedly agreed to fulfil treaties and agreements previously signed with China.

Hong Kong

Human Rights - Torture

Extradition

The overthrow of the Gaddafi regime in Libya seems to be causing some unexpected troubles for Hong Kong, as CIA documents discovered in the abandoned office of Gaddafi's intelligence chief showed that, in March 2004, Sami al-Saadi, a member of an anti-Gaddafi group with links to al-Qaeda, was said to be tricked by the British MI6 agents to travel to Hong Kong from Guangzhou and arrested on passport charges at Chek Lap Kok Airport. He and his family were later put on an Egyptian plane to be sent to Tripoli where he was allegedly tortured and detained for 6 years. The Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that "Hong Kong has the full authority and discretion to grant permission to people to enter or leave the city", but, while the Hong Kong Government reportedly had asked for assurances that Saadi would be humanely treated once back in Libya, the rendition did not appear to follow the normal deportation or extradition procedure and might have violated Hong Kong's obligations under human rights treaties. Later, Saadi sued the British Government, saying that the Hong Kong authorities "were made to know about the dirty business that was going on and went along with it,"