Asia News Digest
ASEM Report: Korea's 'Momentous Changes' Supported
EIR reporters on the scene this week in Copenhagen, Denmark, report that South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung stated on Sept. 23 that "truly momentous changes are taking place on the Korean Peninsula" in his address to the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)-4 summit. "We have opened a new chapter in inter-Korean relations," Kim said. "Agreements reached in the South-North Joint Declaration of June 15th are now being translated into concrete actions.
"In particular, the reconnection of the inter-Korean rail and road, which began last week, bears great significance in that it leads to the easing of military tensions. More specifically, the barbed-wire fences along the DMZ are being removed, even if only in limited sections. There will be considerable exchanges between the two Koreas in the social and cultural fields, and economic cooperation will flourish. This will herald a historic shift towards a united Korean Peninsula.
"The reconnection of the inter-Korea rail link holds even deeper meaning. It completes a land link between Korea and Europe, which we like to refer to as the 'Iron Silk Road.' This will provide an unprecedented opportunity to realize the lofty ideal of ASEM, a united community. Trains departing from Europe will be able to cross the Eurasian continent to arrive in Korean destinations such as Seoul and Pusan, the world's third largest container port and a gateway to the Pacific. Likewise, trains departing from Korea also will be able to reach Western Europe, thereby forming a connection to the Atlantic. This will result in a drastic reduction in both logistics costs and transportation time.... When the 'Iron Silk Road' is completed, Asia and Europe will come closer as one community in the spirit of cooperation."
He concluded: "As the Sunshine Policy bears fruit, peace and prosperity will thrive not only on the Korean Peninsula but also on the Eurasian continent and the world as a whole."
ASEM also issued, on Sept. 23, the "ASEM Copenhagen Political Declaration for Peace on the Korean Peninsula." It stated that the Asian and European leaders in Copenhagen, "recalling the 'Seoul Declaration for Peace on the Korean Peninsula' " of 2000, "renewed their commitment to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and reaffirmed their support for the process of inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation....
"They are encouraged by the recent positive developments towards the easing of tensions and promotion of dialogue between the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) after the naval clash in June...."
The ASEM leaders "welcomed the substantial progress recently made towards accomplishing a series of projects for inter-Korean cooperation, including the launching of the construction work on Sept. 18, 2002 for the reconnection of rail and road links across the inter-Korean border which have been severed for the last five decades."
EIR will cover the ASEM conference next week.
Australian LaRouche Movement Launches Campaign For National Bank
The names of almost 600 prominent Australians were published in a full-page advertisement this past week in The Australian, calling for the establishment of a new national bank. The ad was organized by Lyndon LaRouche's Australian associates, the Citizens Electoral Council (CEC), and follows an intense two-month mobilization to organize the signers to endorse a petition, and subscribe to literature and donate money for the ad. The signers included 16 current and former members of parliament, more than 300 local elected officials, more than 50 union leaders, and dozens more religious, ethnic, academic, political, military and cultural dignitaries. The Australian is the nation's major national newspaper, and the ad was very prominently placed page four.
The ad highlighted the global economic crisis and its ramifications in Australia, and launched a nationwide campaign to bring Australia prominently into the fight for the New Bretton Woods call, initiated by Lyndon LaRouche in 1997. The ad generated a wave of media coverage across the country, especially on national radio networks. CEC spokesmen were busy with the media all day, and were able to report on the Italian Parliament action and LaRouche's New Bretton Woods proposal in the interviews.
The statement in the ad read in part:
"We, the undersigned, are sick to death of the misery and destruction which economic rationalism has wreaked on this country since it was adopted beginning 1983 by the Hawke/Keating governments, and continued by the Howard governments. Except for a handful of the very wealthy, these policies have been a disaster for virtually all Australians, including local government lobbies, trade unions, Aborigines, ethnic groups, immigrants, students and teachers, healthcare providers, the rural sector, small business, the poor, the unemployed, the aged and disabled, and many other average, struggling Australians. Known as 'globalization,' these policies have also produced an international economic crisis, with potential dire consequences for Australia.
"Therefore, we urgently demand that the Parliament begin immediate moves toward the near-term establishment of a new national bank, with the kind of broad-ranging powers necessary to bring our callous private banks into line, and to initiate a recovery of our industries, our agriculture, our environment, and of our social and physical infrastructure, in order to provide the chance for a happy, optimistic future for all Australians, of whatever creed, colour, or country of origin. Such was the dream of the courageous founder of our original Commonwealth Bank, King O'Malley; it is now urgent that we make that dream a reality."
China Warns About Attack on Iraq
Speaking in Copenhagen on Sept. 24, on the final day of the ASEM summit, Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji said there would be "severe consequences" if the U.S. attacks Iraq unilaterally.
"We request that Iraq comply with UN resolutions without any preconditions and accept the UN weapons inspections," Zhu Rongji said. "We also ask that Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity be respected. Without authority or mandate from the United Nations or without firm evidence, any actions will lead to severe consequences."
Malaysia Goes for Expansion, Investment, Economic Growth
Malaysian President Dr. Mahathir Mohammed announced a dramatic shift in Malaysia's budget policy for the coming year, with investment tax credits, a huge increase in spending for education, and expanded agricultural and rural investment, reported the New Straits Times on Sept. 21. The widely expected across-the-board tax cut was not implemented, with Dr. Mahathir insisting that lower taxes would not draw more foreign investment anyway, in the current economic crisis.
Instead, using a policy made famous by John F. Kennedy, he said there would be "perks for reinvestment" through investment tax credits, while taxes of small and medium-sized industries would be cut from 28% to 20%. Civil servants will receive a one-month bonus as a stimulus, while incentives will go to businesses that invest in new foreign markets or expand exports. He looked to China and Korea as examples for industrial strategies.
Investment in transportation and other infrastructure will increase, and Dr. Mahathir rejected the foreign attacks on "mega-projects." According to the New Straits Times, he also said that "some may have forgotten that we are still contending with the yet-to-be-reformed international finance capital [system], an agenda likely to be forgotten under the rubric of the war on terrorism."
Education will take up a full 27% of the total budget. An Education Savings Fund will be set up to provide people from lower-income families a "ringgit for ringgit" matching grant. Special funds will go to train teachers to meet the new requirement that science and math be taught in the English language.
Philippines President Says Enough to Globalization
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced that "the time for unbridled globalization is over." Speaking to the Unfair Trade Alliance, which has been highly critical of her blanket support for free-trade policies, she expanded on her recent calls for tariffs and "fair trade" in the face of the collapsing Western import markets. Reversing her previous position, she said this is one area where she now agrees with her former Vice President, Teofisto Guingona, Jr., who broke away from Mrs. Arroyo in July over U.S. military policies in the country, and who has been critical of the government's economic liberalization policies, once even leading a rally at the Department of Trade and Industry, where protesters accused the government of abandoning local industries.
The Philippines Star reported Sept. 23 that President Arroyo had ordered a review of a mid-1990s tariff-reduction program, which is hurting local industries. Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye quoted the President as having told a business association, "We cannot continue with unbridled globalization. In other words, we don't necessarily have to follow the time schedules of the tariff-reduction schemes. We don't feel really fixated on schedules or agreements on tariff reductions."
U.S. Out To 'Reorder West Asia,' Says Indian Strategist
The real issue behind the U.S. design to attack Iraq is to reorder West Asia, "not the terms of coercive inspection of Baghdad's strategic program," nor "regime change in Iraq," according to Raja Mohan, former Deputy Director of the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, and now editor of the op-ed page of The Hindu.
Raja Mohan identifies Vice President Dick Cheney as "the point-man for American strategy in the Gulf." Raja Mohan, who is well-connected to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, says "the Bush Administration appears to have come to their conclusion that further political tinkering to maintain status quo in the region will no longer serve its interests. And that a drastic surgery of the region should begin in Iraq.... In the short term, Washington hopes that a pro-U.S. Iraq could become the mainstay of American military presence in the region, reduce American energy and security dependence on Saudi Arabia, which is looking increasingly vulnerable. It will step up the pressure for internal change in the Arab world, encourage the reformers in Iran and persuade the Palestinians to fall in line."
Raja Mohan says that Washington has already decided to wage war against Iraq, and that France and Russia are just haggling "about the political price the U.S. is willing to pay for support ... and about the terms of the post-Saddam arrangements in Iraq." Raja Mohan says the arguments in the UN Security Council between the U.S., and France and Russia (three of the five permanent members) is not about the "principle of multilateralism," but the latter are preparing to bargain hard for protecting their oil and other interests in Iraq.
Warmongers Add Malaysia to List of 'Terrorist Risks'
Last week, Malaysia was added to a list of 15 countries named as "terrorist risks," in a Justice Department memorandum issued by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The move imposes restrictions on passport holders seeking entry to the U.S. or Canada, and is seen in Malaysia as highly insulting, not least because the listing was posted only days after Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was at the UN and in Washington, where he met with Vice President Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Tom Ridge.
Abdullah, who is to succeed Mahathir as Prime Minister in 2003, told Cheney, "[W]e don't like this kind of profiling. This is not good for the existing bilateral relations." Separately, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar protested the listing to Canada, warning that it could hurt relations with Canada's largest trading partner in Southeast Asia.
The other countries included on the list are: Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, Somalia, Indonesia, and Pakistan. The fact that most are Muslim countries indicates the "Clash of Civilizations" bias in Ashcroft's Justice Department. See this week's INDEPTH for U.S. moves targettting Indonesia as well.
Temple Killings Raises Fear in Gujarat
The siege of the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar, India, close to the state capital of Ahmedabad, ended with 32 dead and more than 60 injured. Reports indicate that the three terrorists killed were carrying a letter in Urdu stating that the siege was a revenge action against earlier anti-Muslim riots in the Indian state of Gujarat. The terrorists have been identified as Kashmiris. Whoever these people are, it is obvious that they were on a suicide mission.
Gandhinagar is the parliamentary constituency of India's Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister L.K. Advani. Advani, who is considered a hardline conservative Hindu, is now in Ahmedabad and has announced that the terrorists belong to a rather obscure group, Tehrik-e-Kasas, from Kashmir, with links to Pakistan. Pakistani Interior Minister Moenuddin Haider has denied any links and said that this is the outcome of the religious tension in Gujarat. Advani also said that in recent days, Pakistani President Musharraf had made a number of references to the Gujarat riots, which indicates that Pakistan had been planning for some time to carry out this operation.
Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee, who was on a state visit in the Maldives, flew directly into Ahmedabad. He has already ordered troops to be deployed in the riot-prone areas in Gujarat. He has also tried to downplay the religious element in the killing, by stating that the terrorists failed to prevent the Jammu and Kashmir elections. Hence, they chose a soft target. Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi was also in Ahmedabad and has condemned the attack.
The Akshardham Temple is the temple of the Swaminarain sect, whose leader, now dead, was a saint-like figure. The sect established their version of the Hindu religion around this saintly person and has built about 450 temples around the world. The temple, however, is visited by all.
Bush Administration To Hold Talks with North Korea
The Bush Administration announced it would begin talks with North Korea, reported the New York Times Sept. 26. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly will travel to North Korea early next month, though the Bush Administration has previously refused to continue the Clinton policy of increasing engagement, and snubbed South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung's appeal to support his "Sunshine Policy" opening to the North. A move to open talks in June was scrapped after a naval clash between the two Korean states.
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