Beijing  - Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung continued his first tour of China Tuesday, arriving in Beijing for several days of summits and signing ceremonies.

During his stay, Dung is scheduled to meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. The two are to sign documents about cooperative projects between the two countries, according to Nguyen Vinh Quang, Vietnam's minister to China.

Dung is also set to participate in the seventh summit of the Asia- Europe Meeting (ASEM), scheduled for October 24-25.

Beijing, Oct. 21: The global meltdown has affected China''s booming economy too.

A CBS report says that while the Chinese economy is still growing, it is doing so at its slowest pace since 2003.

It quoted the National Statistics Bureau as saying on Monday that the economy has expanded by just nine percent in the third quarter, the slowest rate since 2003. By comparison, the economy grew 10.6 percent in the first quarter and 10.1 percent in the second quarter of 2008.

The government is still drafting specifics of broad plans to help counter the chill on the world''s fastest growing major economy.

New Delhi - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday embarked on a trip to Japan and China, where he was scheduled to attend the seventh Asia-Europe summit.

During his official engagements in Japan, which begin Wednesday, Singh is to hold talks with the country's new prime minister, Taro Aso, to assess the global economic crisis and ways to deal with it.

The two leaders were also to discuss cooperation on political and security issues and hold talks to finalize a broad-based economic partnership.

Taipei - A senior Chinese official was assaulted Tuesday by a group of pro-independence activists during a visit in the southern Taiwan city of Tainan, threatening to undermine high-level China-Taiwan talks planned for this month in Taipei.

Zhang Mingqing, vice chairman of the Association of Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), was mobbed by a group of activists led by city councilor Wang Ting-yu of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party during a sightseeing trip in Tainan.

ARATS is a state-funded mainland agency charged with dealing with the island in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.

New Delhi, Oct. 20 : India''s "Look East Policy" came in for severe criticism from South East Asia experts while discussing Asian security architecture here today.

Initiating the discussion on "Regional Security Architecture in Asia: Role of CSCAP in ARF Track 2 Process" at Observer Research Foundation, Professor Tony Milner, a prominent member of Australia''s Foreign Affairs Council, said India could have done "much better" while "deep changes are on the way" in the region where the security architecture in a messy situation. He opined that India''s soft power could have been used for better results.

Hong Kong - Banks in Hong Kong, China and Macau have been asked to help finance construction of a 37-billion-Hong-Kong-dollar (4.74-billion-US-dollar) bridge across the Pearl River estuary, government officials said Monday.

The institutions, including some of the region's largest financial players including HSBC, Standard Chartered and the Bank of China, have been approached to see if they are willing to partially bankroll the 35-kilometre-long link.