"China is not here to help Sudan in a way that will prompt the Darfur conflict to continue. China is here to help Sudan with issues regarding economic developments. China is here to help build Sudan, and China is engaged in business not only in the oil sector, but also other sectors."

Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor

"The primary risk to China's economy is inflation and the government will stick to the tight monetary policy."

Yi Gang, Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China, China's central bank, at a seminar in Beijing on February 24

"When we received this very warm and enthusiastic reception, we felt that indeed, there may be a mission accomplished here. We may have been instrumental in opening a little door. If it does become seen in retrospect as a historical moment, we will all feel very proud to have been part of it."

Lorin Maazel, musical director of the New York Philharmonic, after his musicians performed the first concert by a U.S. symphony orchestra in North Korea on February 26

"We must move from the age of ideology into the age of pragmatism."

New South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, in his swearing-in speech on February 25 that put "economic revival" at the top of his agenda

"It is true that new and re-emerging health threats such as SARS, avian flu, HIV/AIDS, terrorism, bioterrorism and climate change are dramatic and emotive. However, it is preventable chronic disease that will send health systems and economies to the wall."

Stig Pramming, Executive Director of the Oxford Health Alliance, at the group's fifth annual conference on February 25 where legal and health experts from around the world warned that obesity and other "lifestyle diseases" are killing millions more people than global terrorism