Society

Organizers of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai said Sunday they were confident the United States would overcome funding problems to take part and appealed to President Barack Obama for his support.

U.S. organizers have been struggling to raise the $61 million needed for a pavilion at the event — a problem compounded because American law prohibits government funding of such events, which must instead be privately financed.

"We are confident that this problem will be resolved sooner or later," Wan Jifei, the deputy director of the organizing committee, told a news conferenceChina's annual legislative session. on the sidelines of China's annual legislative session.

"We are following the situation closely and hope that the Obama administration will also pay attention and attach importance to this World Expo and help to resolve these problems," Wan said.

The strength of last year's massive earthquake in southwestern China was the main reason so many schools collapsed, an official said Sunday, adding the number of schoolchildren who died was still being calculated.

The statements by Wei Hong, executive vice governor of Sichuan, came after an investigation and appeared to dismiss parents' claims that shoddy construction was to blame for some 7,000 classrooms collapsing — when other nearby buildings stood.

The 7.9-magnitude temblor in May left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing, but the government has never said how many of the casualties were students.

The students' deaths have become a sensitive political issue for the government, with victims' parents staging protests demanding investigations. Many parents have also been subjected to intimidation and financial inducements to silence them.

"The scale of the earthquake was very great and the intensity was very strong, so that was the most important cause of the damage of the school buildings and other facilities," Wei said at a news conference on the sidelines of China's annual legislative session.

Wei said the conclusion was made after an investigation by engineering experts from Tsinghua University and official experts from Sichuan province.

Wei said the quake's destructive force was "one or two degrees" stronger than that which the schoolhouses had been designed to withstand.

It was unclear if the investigation Wei was speaking of was the same as the government's promised probe into possible graft in the construction of schools.

China wants the G20 summit to make progress against global financial turmoil, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said, stressing the economic imperatives of China's foreign policy and the desire for solid U.S. ties.

The April 2 summit of big developed and developing countries in London aims to put the world economy on a path to recovery. Yang said on Saturday that Beijing wanted a major say there and in longer-term talks about reworking the global financial order.

The overarching goal of Chinese foreign policy was to "spare no effort to ensure the stable and relatively fast growth of the domestic economy," he told a news conference held to coincide with the country's annual parliament session.

"The pressing task now is that all countries must work together to make the upcoming financial summit in London a success," Yang added.

"We believe the summit should play a role in boosting confidence, strengthening coordination on macroeconomic policies, stabilizing financial markets, (and) undertaking necessary reforms in the global financial system and regulatory regime."

Yang's 90-minute news conference highlighted the extent to which the world's third-biggest economy now views its diplomacy through an economic lens.

He brushed aside a question about whether his government blamed economic laxity in Washington for the world's woes. He said the two had to work together and added that Beijing was off to a good start with President Barack Obama's administration.

"In the current international environment, China and the U.S. share broad common interests. We hope that each side can accommodate the other's core interests and enhance exchanges and cooperation," he said.

Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao will meet for the first time in London. How the two sides handle their sometimes fractious economic ties will be crucial to the course of the global economy.

The United States buys more Chinese exports than any other nation and China holds more U.S. government bonds than any other foreign country.

With Washington likely to issue new debt to help pay for Obama's stimulus package, China's holdings could grow. But Obama has also pressed Beijing to continue appreciating the yuan, which he sees as undervalued, making Chinese exports unfairly cheap.

The London summit will follow last November's G20 crisis meeting in Washington and aims to agree on coordinated actions to revive the global economy, reform of financial systems and principles for reforming international financial institutions.

In a position paper prepared for the April 2 meeting, China has called for more power for developing countries in the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Yang did not give details about his government demands and expectations from the gathering. But he broadly stressed that the global financial crisis should create more of a say for his and other poorer countries.

Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday reaffirmed China's goal of 8 percent growth for 2009 after years of double-digit expansion figures.

Echoing comments from many senior Chinese officials, Yang said his country's "biggest contribution to dealing with the financial crisis is continuing to maintain stable and relatively fast growth."

China is looking to next month's meeting of world leaders in London to boost confidence and global coordination in dealing with the world financial crisis, its foreign minister said Saturday.

The G-20 meeting, scheduled for April 2, will bring together Chinese President Hu Jintao and leaders of the world's major economies in a quest for ways to stabilize financial markets, lessen fears of a lengthy recession, and begin overhauling the global financial system.

The summit should "play a role in boosting the public's confidence," Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said at a news conference held on the sidelines of the annual legislative session.

"In this regard we are willing to work with the United States and other countries in the world to weather the storm and make joint efforts to tackle the difficulties brought by the financial crisis," Yang said.

China has so far appeared reluctant to offer major cash injections to the International Monetary Fund and other global financial bodies, and Yang offered no specifics on what proposals Beijing would bring to London.

Instead, he reiterated Beijing's contention that the biggest help China can offer the global economy was to keep its own financial house in running order.

"To maintain the steady and relatively fast development in China is in itself the biggest contribution China can make to international cooperation in meeting the financial crisis," Yang said.

China was also helping by aiding developing nations, especially those in Africa, and reminding countries of their similar commitments, Yang said. He also said the recent visit to Europe by a Chinese trade delegation led by Commerce Minister Chen Deming that resulted in the signing of deals potentially worth $15 billion was beneficial.

"It is imperative for all countries to put the needs of people first and to take a down-to-earth approach in pursuing economic development, social progress and international equity and justice," Yang said.

In the wide-ranging news conference Yang said China would continue to invest its nearly $2 trillion in foreign exchange holdings on the basis of ensuring security, liquidity and increasing value. Hundreds of billions of those holdings have been invested in U.S. Treasury and U.S. policy-makers have sought assurances that Beijing will keep buying American government debt.

Yang, who will visit Washington in preparation for the London summit, said relations with the new U.S. administration of President Barack Obama had gotten off to a "good start" and the two countries' leaders had found ample common ground in their phone conversations.