Flood Fears Force Huge Evacuation
More than 150,000 people who face the threat of flooding in the event that a quake lake near Beichuan should burst its banks were evacuated last night (May 27), even as engineers were digging a diversion channel in order to prevent flooding. According to contingency plans, up to 1.3 million people from 33 townships of Mianyang city could be relocated if the lake's barrier collapses entirely. Premier Wen Jiabao told a meeting of the State Council at quake relief headquarters Tuesday that handling the quake lakes is the "most pressing" task at present.

An aerial view of Tangjiashan lake (in red box) near Beichuan county May 27, 2008. Troops were digging a diversion channel to prevent the lake from bursting its banks and threatening more misery to millions of people downstream. [China Daily]

Nansha Project Stresses Environmental Protection
Guangdong government leaders stressed that the refinery and chemicals project located in Guangzhou's Nansha should meet the world's highest environmental protection level. The remark was made during a meeting between top officials headed by Secretary of Guangdong CPC Committee Wangyang and the CEO of Kuwait Petroleum yesterday (May 27) in Guangzhou. The project is a key energy cooperation between China and Kuwait and also the biggest joint investment in China.

Strategic Partnership with ROK Announced
Beijing and Seoul will upgrade their relationship from a "comprehensive cooperative partnership" to a "strategic cooperative partnership" while intensifying cooperation in security, trade and people-to-people exchanges. The announcement was made Tuesday (May 27) by President Hu Jintao and his Republic of Korea (ROK) counterpart Lee Myung-bak after 80 minutes of talks. The two also agreed to establish a strategic dialogue mechanism between the two foreign ministries to coordinate on key issues of common concern.

(photo from Chinadaily)