Ministers of China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, the four countries adjacent to the notorious "Golden Triangle," the biggest drug production base in the world, Tuesday held a meeting on drug control cooperation and reached an agreement, titled "Beijing Declaration." This ministerial-level meeting on drug control is the first of its kind for the four nations.

The Eighth Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (APEC SME) Ministerial Meeting was held in Shanghai on August 29-30. A joint statement was issued, stressing technological innovation, financing and human capacity building. At a forum prior to the meeting, business leaders stressed that innovation is the key to an enterprise’s fast growth.

David M. Lampton, director of China Studies at Johns Hopkins-SAIS and The Nixon Center, commented in his article published by The Christian Science Monitor on Wednesday that President George W. Bush is neither slow on the uptake nor putty in the hands of hard-right advisers when it comes to China policy, rather he appears ahead of his predecessors in bringing ties with Beijing back to track after initial fluctuations.

Though thinking Beijing will face many challenges to organize an Olympiad, Jacques Rogge, newly-elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), expressed his full confidence that the Chinese capital will put on a successful Games in 2008.