"China still has a large population. This has not changed. Many of our economic and social problems are rooted in this reality. We cannot risk letting the population grow out of control."

NPC deputy Jiang Fan urged caution last week during discussions on a bill that would ease the one-child policy.

"We have a lot of capabilities, but without the (Bilateral Security Agreement), we are very limited."

A US defense official commented anonymously last week on the potential for catastrophe should Afghan President Hamid Karzai fail to sign a pact allowing foreign forces to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014.

"China could share the vaccine strain with other countries through the World Health Organization to aid in H7N9 epidemic control."

Director of the Chinese National Influenza Center, Shu Yuelong, commenting on the first domestically produced influenza vaccine virus strain, which China could mass-produce to help halt the spread of bird flu.

"We have warned them and informed them every time before firing tear gas."

Thailand National Security Council head Paradorn Pattanathabutr says the police response to protests against the upcoming election in Bangkok last Thursday, in which one police officer was killed, did not mark a change of policy.

(China Daily 12/29/2013 page1)