ECONOMIC EXCHANGES AND SECTORAL AND INTER CITY COOPERATION IN NORTHEAST ASIA

Northeast Asia with China, Japan and South Korea as the main components has drawn more and more attention worldwide. Many scholars have researched on the prospect of some alternatives of regional economic integration in Northeast Asia and/or Yellow Sea Rim as its core area. In this paper the authors start with an introduction of the major arguments embracing Yellow Sea Rim regionalism, and attempt to identify the dynamics challenging the proposed approaches of sub regionalism of Northeast Asia. The paper firstly gives a brief review on the update development of bilateral economic exchanges, mainly Sino Japanese and Sino South Korean trades and direct investments with related contemporary issues. When the changing pattern of economic interactions is analyzed, special concerns are given to the possibility to realize the supposed potential of regional economic cooperation mainly based on economic complementarity among the related regions of China, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan. The authors then made their major efforts on putting forward possible approaches of multilateral cooperation of three countries in the near future, that is, deepened cooperation in selected sectors of industry and transportation and coordinated development among major cities. The authors stress that the development of sub regional sectoral cooperation and the formation of interactive network of city regions via social and economic interactions at local level are significant to the future regional integrated development in Northeast Asia.

Mapping Daily Temperature and Precipitation in the Qilian Mountains of Northwest China

Daily meteorological data are the critical inputs for distributed hydrological and ecological models. This study modified mountain microclimate simulation model （MTCLIM） with the data from 19 weather stations, and compared and validated two methods （the MTCLIM and the modified MTCLIM） in the Qilian Mountains of Northwest China to estimate daily temperature （i.e., maximum temperature, minimum temperature） and precipitation at six weather stations from i January 2000 to 31December 2009. The algorithm of temperature in modified MTCLIM was improved by constructing the daily linear regression relationship between temperature and elevation, aspect and location information. There are two steps to modify the MTCLIM to predict daily precipitation： firstly, the linear regression relationship was built between annual average precipitation and elevation, location, and vegetation index; secondly, the distance weight for measuring the contribution of each weather station on target point was improved by average wind direction during the rainy season. Several regression analysis and goodness-of-fit indices （i.e., Pearson＇s correlation coefficient, coefficient of determination, mean absolute error, root-mean-square error and modelingefficiency） were used to validate these estimated values. The result showed that the modified MTCLIM had a better performance than the MTCLIM. Therefore, the modified MTCLIM was used to map daily meteorological data in the study area from 2000 to 2009. These results were validated using weather stations with short time data and the predicted accuracy was acceptable. The meteorological data mapped could become inputs for distributed hydrological and ecological models applied in the Qilian Mountains.

The Territorial Status of the Diaoyu Islands in 1895： A Crucial Issue for the Dispute over These Islands

The territorial status of the Diaoyu Islands in January 1895 when Japan officially made claims to them is one of the most crucial issues for the dispute over these islands between China and Japan. Given the fact that these islets are tiny, uninhabited and remote, as well as that no rival claims to them had existed for a fairly long period of time, the actual sovereign functions exercised by China regarding these islands before 1895 established the original title of China to the Diaoyu Islands. Thus Japan could not acquire the title to these islets by occupation.

The Strategic Implications of China-Nigeria Economic Relations

The paper argues that the rise of China may well be the most significant trend today redefining the geopolitics of Asia and the world beyond. However, economic, political, and security cooperation between China and Nigeria has grown exponentially in the last decades, presenting new opportunities and challenges for Nigeria and Africa as whole. Essentially, this significant development about China has been linked to its ＂opening-up policy,＂ which has taken effect since the 1980s. The contemporary waves of diplomatic relations between China and Nigeria appear to be mutually beneficial to a reasonable extent. China views Nigeria as a gateway to the West African region, which has become a key focus of China＇s trade and economic strategy in Africa. More interestingly, the past four decades have been a critical period for Chinese people to seek harmonious, scientific, and sustainable development at home and strengthen cooperation and embrace globalization with the outside world. Nigeria, like many other African countries, has gratitude in counting China as one of its friends in the global village. The year 2013 marks the 42na anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People＇s Republic of China and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. These bilateral ties have witnessed sustained, rapid and unprecedented development. Based on the principles of equality and mutual benefit, respect and trust, especially under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation known as FOCAC, China and Nigeria have enjoyed fruitful cooperation in economy, trade, investment, human resources development, and cultural exchanges and coordination in international affairs. This study looks into this great relationship and tries to outline the path that leads into the future.