中国军事与国际关系

'No ise' should not affect China-India ties

BEIJING - Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo said Monday that bilateral ties between China and India should not be affected by "noise," calling for further cooperation for common development.

Dai made the comments as he held talks with India's National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon in Beijing.

The two countries should have a clear idea about some parties' intentions of undermining bilateral ties. They should also remember that there is more consensus than differences, and more cooperation than competition, between China and India, said the state councilor.

As advocates of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, both China and India have sufficient wisdom and capabilities to handle bilateral ties, make more efforts for mutual benefit and prevent "noise" from diverting friendly cooperation and common development, he added.

Every step forward in the two countries' development as well as bilateral ties will contribute to the peace, security and cooperation in the world, Dai said.

Dai spoke highly of the two countries' "creative" practices in coping with disparities and contradictions, saying China and India do not allow problems to influence bilateral ties.

The experience of handling and controlling disparities between China and India has made an important contribution to enriching the theories and practices of international relations, Dai said.

In the process of developing the relationship, China and India are committed to pushing forward a solution to existing problems, he said.

He noted that 15 rounds of talks had been held between special representatives on China-India border issues, and the two sides had accumulated consensus in the framework for solving the issues.

China and India experienced a border conflict in 1962. The two countries launched the mechanism of meetings between special representatives on border issues in 2003.

China and India, Dai added, are committed to protecting peace and stability in border areas and promoting military mutual trust.

"China and India's independence and peaceful development, as well as making their two-fifths of the world's population live in abundance, will be huge contributions to world peace and development," Dai said.

Japan 'falls behind' in technology innovation

China and South Korea forge ahead, taking on staff as rivals lay employees off

While Chinese IT companies are taking talented people from their overseas rivals, their Japanese counterparts are laying off workers.

Because the Japanese consumer electronics industry is suffering from a declining economy, many Japanese technology companies are cutting head counts to try to save their businesses. Many well-known names including Panasonic Corp, Sharp Corp, NEC Corp and Olympus Corp are reported to have extensive layoff plans.

Customers examining notebooks at a Sony store in Tokyo. Many Japanese electronics companies have cut or are going to cut their payrolls because their businesses are in the red. [Provided to China Daily]

Japanese companies used to be famous for having "entire life" employment. Many Japanese people from older generations only worked for one company for their whole life. However, because of the squeezed economy, this tradition has fallen by the wayside.

Mass layoff plans

In the last few months, many Japanese companies announced their layoff plans. Three IT giants - Sony, Panasonic and Sharp - are expected to make a total of 50,000 employees redundant in the near future.

Panasonic, which was founded in 1918 and remains Japan's biggest employer with 330,000 employees, said it will reduce its workforce by about 10,000 employees by March 2013. In the last five years it has posted four consecutive annual net losses. Recently, the company explained that because of losses in its mobile,solar panel and lithium battery businesses, it will have losses of $10 billion for the full year 2012.

Reuters quoted the company's Chief Executive Officer Hideaki Kawai as saying that Panasonic may sell some business units in the future to aPanasonic came to China in 1987 and has more than 40 ventures in the country including rice cookers, plasma televisions and semiconductor product lines. However, because of the record high $9.47 billion loss in 2011, it was reported that it will shut down its Shanghai display factory and move the business back to Japan. The 100-year-old Japanese company Sharp will have a major restructuring to bring the company back to profitability by 2014, reported Japan's Kyodo News. According to the company, it needs to cut more than 10,000 jobs from its