Asia News Digest
Philippines Lured into 'Empire's' Promise of Iraq Contracts
The entire Philippines government is being restructured with the intention of cashing in on the spoils of war. According to an April 17 story in the Philippines Inquirer, Roberto Romulo, who was Foreign Minister under Fidel Ramos and is known for his close ties to Washington, was named chair of the "Public-Private Sector Task Force" that will coordinate the Philippines' export of cheap labor to serve under Cheney's Halliburton et al. in the "reconstruction" of postwar Iraq. Romulo will have Cabinet rank, will have four other Cabinet secretaries (including Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople), three ambassadors, and one special envoy among the members of his task force.
In Executive Order No. 194 dated April 14, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also appointed as task force members the president of the Philippine Constructors Association and "other private-sector representatives" still to be named.
The government set up a second "humanitarian" task force, co-chaired by Ople and Rumsfeld's buddy, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, to send Filipino "peacekeepers and social workers" to Iraq. All for the glory of Empire....
Indonesian Infant Mortality Rate Skyrockets Amid Economic Crisis
The Indonesian government announced a huge rise in the infant mortality rate since the 1997 speculative assault by international financial traders on the Asian economies. Infant mortality rose from 47 babies per 1,000 births in 1997 to 51 babies in 2001. For Indonesia, the fourth largest population in the world, this means more than 140,000 babies aged less than one week dying per year, or 2,690 per week.
The government also said that the post-natal maternal mortality rate had increased from 325 mothers per 100,000 births in 1995 to 396 mothers in 2001that is, over 300 mothers die post-partum every week. Some experts even said the maternal mortality rate could be as high as 594 per 100,000 births.
The economic crisis has increased the number of people without access to health services, leading inevitably to increase in these mortality rates. Other studies have shown that the Indonesian population has taken a 35% collapse in real income since the 1997 attack.
The infant mortality figures are the second worst in Southeast Asia, after Myanmar.
Indonesia Calls for UN General Assembly Meeting; Megawati Goes to Russia
Indonesia has made a request through the Non-Aligned Movement to convene a UN General Assembly meeting as soon as possible to discuss postwar Iraq, reported Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda on April 13. Earlier, Jakarta had requested through the Non-Aligned Movement to convene an emergency Security Council meeting at the start of the war. Wirayuda said that any Indonesian role in the reconstruction in Iraq, now depends on UN participation. He also said UN weapons inspectors should be sent to verify the accusation that Iraq had WMDs.
For other important diplomatic initiatives by Indonesia, see this week's RUSSIA DIGEST for a report on President Megawati Sukarnoputri's forthcoming visit to Moscow.
'Trans-Regional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiatives' Planned
At a meeting in Laos week before last, ASEAN economic ministers and European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy agreed to establish a trade pact to boost trade between the two regions, reported the Jakarta Post on April 14. The Laos meeting accepted the EU's proposal to establish the Trans Regional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiatives (TREATI). Officials from the EU and ASEAN countries would meet again in August in Singapore to discuss the specifics, and the trade pact would be officially signed before the end of 2003.
In 2001, the EU was ASEAN's third largest export market, after the United States and Japan. The EU's exports to ASEAN in 2001 totalled 42.2 billion euros ($45.8 billion), while imports from ASEAN reached 65.7 billion euros ($71.3 billion). ASEAN is also looking to free-trade deals with China, India, and Japan.
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri takes over as chairwoman of ASEAN in October at a summit in Bali.
New regional agreements and arrangements of this sort are expected to be increasing, following the decision by the U.S. and Britain to unilaterally go to war against Iraq outside the consensus of the United Nations.
'Children of Satan' Pamphlet Reviewed in Manila Press
LaRouche ally in the Philippines, journalist Herman Tiu Laurel, used his daily column of April 16 in the Philippines Daily Tribune to outline the text of the latest LaRouche 2004 pamphlet, "Children of Satan, The 'Ignoble Liars' Behind Bush's No-Exit War," and to once again review the "Clean Break" Middle East policy, written by Satan's Chickenhawks. Laurel also highlighted the continuing large-scale anti-war demonstrations in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Laurel added a warning to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Foreign Secretary Blas Ople, who were quick to ally with the Iraq war, not to count too soon on their cut of any spoils from George W. Bush's imperial war, in the form of bagging 100,000 reconstruction jobs for Filipinos in Iraq.
China's Prime Minister: 'Rapid Response Mechanism' Top Priority for Public Health
On April 13, addressing the SARS epidemic, China's new Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said that the "overall situation remains grave." The next day, the Prime Minister announced, at a meeting of the State CouncilChina's cabinetin Beijing, that establishing a national "Rapid Response Mechanism" for public health emergencies is a top priority for China.
According to Xinhua news service, the State Council announced that these steps have to be taken immediately, and this is "vital to safeguarding public health and the lives of the people." It was also announced April 14 that the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health have launched a joint emergency research program on SARS. The program will spend 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million), to look into causes of SARS, and effective prevention and treatment measures. (The U.S. and Canada have both announced that their scientists have completed genetic mapping of the coronavirus responsible for SARS.)
In addition, a quarantine system has been established on China's national and international transport system including air and rail, the Ministry of Health announced on April 14. SARS has now spread to most areas of China, including Fujian, Shanxi, Sichuan, and Inner Mongolia provinces. China has reported 1,435 cases, of whom 1,094 have recovered and 64 have died.
Officials of the World Health Organization (WHO) also visited the military hospitals in Beijing, to expand their inspections in China.
See last week's EIW for the INDEPTH profile on the SARS epidemic. EIW's lead article "Infrastructure Is Front Line Against SARS" reports, "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is the most recent reminder of how new infectious diseases are a continuing threat globally, and demonstrates that economic infrastructure, medical and economic, is the frontline defense."
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