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To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (42371)	4/12/2004 12:16:29 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 89467

Seven Chinese Kidnapped in Iraq, China Urges Rescue Mon Apr 12, 5:48 AM ET Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo! By John Ruwitch BEIJING (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped seven Chinese citizens in Iraq (news - web sites), the latest in a spate of hostage-taking, and Beijing appealed to Baghdad on Monday to rescue them. Sunday's abductions threatened to overshadow a visit to China by Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites), a key force behind the American-led invasion of Iraq, which Beijing opposed. Cheney arrives in Beijing on Tuesday. The seven Chinese men -- Xue Yougui, Lin Jinping, Li Guiwu, Li Guiping, Wei Weilong, Chen Xiaojin, and Lin Kongming -- entered Iraq from Jordan on Sunday morning and were abducted in Falluja, west of Baghdad, the official Xinhua news agency said. It did not identify them further or say what they were doing in Iraq. Falluja lies on the main highway from Amman, the capital of Jordan, to Baghdad. Fighting erupted in Falluja overnight in the first major breach of an informal truce in the town where more than 600 Iraqis had been reported killed in a week of battles between U.S. Marines and Sunni Muslim rebels. China's leaders said they were "very concerned" about the kidnappings and the Foreign Ministry said it had called on Iraq's new interior minister to identify the kidnappers, locate the hostages and rescue them safely. U.S. governor of Iraq Paul Bremer named Samir Sumaidy interior minister on Friday. The seven men were from the coastal province of Fujian, the oldest 49 and the youngest 18, Xinhua said. The Foreign Ministry had put together a team of diplomats, led by ambassador to Iraq Sun Bigan, to coordinate rescue efforts, the ministry said on its Web site, www.fmprc.gov.cn. "Party and state leaders are very concerned about this and have already ordered the Foreign Ministry and relevant embassies overseas to take up rescue work urgently so as to secure early freedom for our hostages," it said. The ministry also issued a strong advisory telling Chinese citizens not to travel to Iraq. LESSON Cheney, currently in Japan, was due in Beijing on Tuesday afternoon for a three-day visit during which analysts said discussion of Iraq would have figured prominently anyway. U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, Washington's comments on democracy in Hong Kong and election-year trade spats are also expected to be on the agenda on the trip, which includes one night in Beijing and one in Shanghai. "It is a kind of a lesson," said Ren Haiting, an international strategy expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of World Economics and Politics. "They (the United States) think their strength is stronger and stronger. In the end, to be blunt, the U.S. may shoot itself in the foot." Still, Ren said the kidnappings may ultimately bring China and the United States into closer cooperation. The People's Daily newspaper said on Monday that many Chinese companies which returned to Iraq after the war had stepped up security amid the wave of hostage-taking. Newspapers showed pictures of armed Iraqi security guards on duty at a branch of the China Luzhou Petroleum Company in Iraq. China was regarded as a friend by Iraq's former Baathist government under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), and it opposed the U.S.-led military invasion. Beijing pledged $24 million for rebuilding the country at a donor conference in Madrid last year. China's exports to Iraq more than tripled in January from a year earlier, hitting $15.9 million. Exports to Iraq in all of 2003 were $56.4 million, down 87 percent from the year-earlier month. On Sunday, a British contractor and eight others held by Iraqi kidnappers were freed, but the fate of three Japanese and an American captive remains unclear. Japan has about 550 ground troops in Iraq involved in reconstruction and humanitarian work. China has none. Xinhua said Al Arabiya TV's correspondent in Falluja reported that he had interviewed foreigners released on Sunday who said they had met seven Chinese passport holders in captivity. They were in good health and were not handcuffed, Xinhua said. It gave no further details, but reiterated China's opposition to the invasion and its refusal to send troops "to join the U.S.-led coalition that occupies" the country. story.news.yahoo.com