Asia News Digest
Republican Congressman Curt Weldon Issues Proposal for Peace in the Koreas
Congressman Curt Weldon (R-Pa) issued a press release this week suggesting a peace plan for North and South Korea, following his visit there as leader of a delegation of six Congressmen who visited North Korea between May 30 and June 2. The visit was the first in five years to North Korea, and Weldon reported "goodwill" from the senior leaders they met there. However, Weldon said that the sticking point to reaching a peaceful solution was the Bush Administration's "trying to have regime change, one by one," around the world.
Weldon's two-step plan for peace begins with a one-year non-aggression pact between the U.S.and the DPRK (The Democratic People's Republic of Koreathe North); a renunciation by the DPRK of their nuclear weapons program, with full inspections; and North Korea rejoining the Non Proliferation Treaty. Step one also has the six nations of the Korean Peace Coalition (the Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China, and Russia) negotiate a comprehensive security and economic program, at $3-5 billion per year in assistance to the North for 10 years, mostly from Japan and South Korea; and U.S. recognition of the DPRK.
The second stage makes these arrangements permanent, and adds issues such as the release of the Japanese kidnap victims, solving human rights issues, and broad cooperation between the U.S. and the DPRK economically and scientifically.
Weldon's release quotes the DPRK leaders extensively and respectfully on their fears of U.S. intentions, including the U.S. nuclear threat, requiring in their view a nuclear deterrence. Weldon warns that the current U.S. policy of confrontation could bring near-term disaster. The criticism of the Bush Administration's "regime change" policy is all the more interesting since Weldon is a senior member of Bush's political party, from the populous state of Pennsylvania.
Neo-Con John Bolton Called for Piracy Against North Korea
Neo-conservative Chickenhawk John Bolton, the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control, again issued a provocation against North Korea, while he was in Australia attending the second meeting of the "Proliferation Security Initiative," an organization which launched its first meeting last month in Spain. The stated purpose of the PSI, a grouping that is independent of the United Nations, is to discuss means of stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destructionwith North Korea the primary target.
But Bolton, one of Dick Cheney's raving Chickenhawks who pushes the policy of U.S. unilateral, preemptive military action on many fronts, used the occasion to advocated "preemptive piracy" against North Korea. In an interview with The Australian on July 8, Bolton said that there already existed cases in which the 11 members of the PSI group may ignore international laws against acts of piracy, which prohibit the stopping of ships in international waters. Bolton told the newspaper that countries can intercept ships in international waters if they have no flag (i.e., are sailing as pirates themselves); if they are flying a "flag of convenience" from a third country which gives their permission to stop the ship; or under a "general right to self-defense" if there were a "serious belief" that the North Korean vessel was carrying weapons of mass destructioni.e., a neo-con justification for "preemptive piracy"!
Despite Australian Prime Minister John Howard's usual dedication to serving as the U.S."deputy sheriff" in Asia, the Australian government rejected Bolton's line. But both the U.S.and Australia are trying to get the UN to change international law, to allow such piracy.
South Korean President Roh Visits China
The leaders of China and South Korea on July 7 pledged new efforts to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear program. Chinese President Hu Jintao and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun spoke to reporters after closed-door talks in Beijing. "We must open up channels between all concerned parties as soon as possible," Roh said. "And in order to reach a consensus, all sides need to make relentless efforts."
"We want to avoid the situation getting out of hand, so we need to deepen our efforts to make a breakthrough," Hu said, also underlining China's support for North Korea's repeated calls for a guarantee from the United States that it will not be attacked. "At the same time we think we must earnestly consider the security concerns of North Korea," Hu said. "This is our principal position."
Bush Discussed Six-Power Plan for North Korea With Putin
In a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin July 3, President George W. Bush requested Putin's views on the Six Power framework for resolving North Korea's nuclear problems, which Moscow has been promoting, so that talks would also include Russia. Bush sought Russia's support and understanding in resolving the North's nuclear standoff, reiterating that the dispute must be settled diplomatically under a multilateral framework, according to South Korean radio.
Joint Development Between North and South Korea Proceeds
Working-level officials from South and North Korea agreed July 4 to conduct two separate field surveys in the North Korean sectors of two cross-border railways, to design their signal, communications, and power systems. Work will begin on the western Kyongui Line July 15-17 and the eastern Donghae line July 22-24. The agreement was reached at the end of talks July 2-4 at the South Korean town of Munsan, just south of the truce village of Panmunjom. Ministerial meetings will begin July 9.
Former UNSCOM Chief Butler Wants Australian PM, Others To Resign Over Iraq War
Former Ambassador Richard Butler, the Australian diplomat who was heading the United Nations' first Iraq weapons inspection team, UNSCOM, when it was called back from inspections in December 1998, has called for the resignations of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Defense Minister Robert Hill, and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. According to the July 13 edition of The Age, Butler made the statement at conference called the Festival of Ideas, in Adelaide, Australia, this week, and lambasted the government sending "young Australians overseas to kill and be killed," and then admitting "they made the decisions on information [about Iraqi WMD] that was false." Butler said that the explanation of the Ministers that "they did not know" the information is false is "unacceptable."
On July 8, The Age also reported that serious doubts about whether Iraq was developing nuclear weapons were communicated to Australia months before Prime Minister John Howard repeated the claim in Parliament, according to a former United States official. Greg Theilmann, who headed the strategic proliferation section at the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research in 2000-02, said the U.S. State Department and Energy Department had both challenged CIA advice suggesting Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear weapons program.
"(The) dissenting views would not have been a secret to the Australian Government," said Theilmann to The Age. "If the Prime Minister was reaching the conclusion that Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear weapons program, which in our office was one of the biggest issues of all, well, we saw no evidence," he said. Addressing Parliament on Feb. 4 this year, Howard cited a CIA intelligence analysis saying that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. He also cited British intelligence on the Niger "yellow cake" story.
Theilmann said that intelligence material used to support these claims had been rejected by his office, including claims about Iraq purchasing aluminum tubes. "We did not buy the CIA interpretation," said Theilmann. "We agreed with the Department of Energy, who were the U.S. experts on centrifuge technology, who said that this was not for the nuclear weapons program."
Dr. Mahathir Hits False Teachings in Islam
Malaysia's Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir addressed an 800-person international conference of Islamic scholars July 9, telling his audience that their prayers to Allah to save Iraqi Muslims, their country, and other Muslims went unanswered, not because Allah had abandoned them, but because they had allowed themselves to heed false teachings, which kept them behind the developed world.
As an example, Dr. Mahathir pointed out that Palestinian suicide bombers were regarded by many Muslims as martyrs, but "no merit is accorded to the people who study science, mathematics, engineering, etc., which are essential for building the defense capabilities of Muslim countries."
While criticizing the West's linking of Islam and terrorism, Mahathir said: "Our salvation will not be achieved by blindly killing innocent people. Rather we should plan and execute a long-term development plan to excel in all fields." He said today's Muslims are "very confused and divided" and unable to cope with changes in the world. "Some apparently believe that only by recreating the way of life 1,400 years ago (the time of the Prophet) can they become true Muslims." Instead, the great progress in the sciences of earlier eras in Muslim history has been lost.
White-Collar Terrorism
The Straits Times published July 10 an analysis of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) recruits, showing a pattern of recruitment of professionals from prestigious universities, including medical doctors, engineers, lecturers and other middle-class, white-collar professionals, as well members of the armed forces.
Among the three members arrested in Singapore on June 10 for a supposed JI plot to bomb embassies and tourist spots in Thailand was a medical doctor, Waemahad Wae-dao. Near the top of the list of the most-wanted terrorists in the region is Prof. Azahari Husin, a bomb-making expert who earned a doctorate from Reading University in England, and was part of the geoinformation science and engineering faculty at Universiti Tecknologi Malaysia, in Johor, until his links to militancy became known last year. He has been at large ever since. Investigations into the Bali bombings have shown that he trained some of those suspected of that attack.
Earlier this year a retired Malaysian lieutenant-colonel, who was suspected of being a member of a sleeper cell of al-Qaeda, Abdul Manaf Kamsuri, had won three merit awards from Britain's acclaimed Sandhurst Military Academy! Then he took a nine-month stint in Bosnia-Hercegovina, as a member of the United Nations Protection Force. Kamsuri was soon in touch with militant groups in Bosnia. He was arrested in February this year, the Associated Press reported.
CSIS/Asia Society Expert Counters Administration's Rosy Picture of Iraq War
Lyall Breckon of the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA) in Washington, responding to an off-the-record presentation by an Administration official, said "Contrary to the government position, the war in Iraq is not overas can be seen in the occupationand the impact on Southeast Asia is not over either." Breckon said that the radical and terrorist organizations in Southeast Asia are motivated not by ideology, but by ethnic, religious, and cultural differences in their countries, although there has been some interaction with international terrorist organizations.
The Iraq war has made it extremely difficult for the moderate Islamic forces to contain the radicals, and it has become a liability to be seen as working with the United States. The Indonesian police, promoted by the U.S. to counter the influence of the military, are being seen as suspect precisely because of their U.S. ties (the police just published a book on the investigation into the Bali bombing with a picture on the cover of the Police Chief shaking hands with the U.S. Ambassador), Breckon said, while leading scholars are turning down Fulbright scholarships to the U.S. because of the view that the U.S. is waging a war on Islam.
Japan Offers Support to Indonesian Infrastructure
The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Keidanren) offered Japanese support in improving the poor state of Indonesian infrastructure, reported the Jakarta Post on July 10. This highlighted the 17th Indonesia-Japan Joint Economic Committee Meeting on July 9, in which some 40 Japanese business leaders and members of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) participated.
Chairman of Indonesia-Japan Economic Committee (IJEC) Tadashi Okamura, who is also president of electronics giant Toshiba Corp., and the president of PT Sumitomo Indonesia (and chairman of the Jakarta Japan Club), Takafumi Sone, said that upgrading infrastructure facilities such as roads, ports, and the electricity and communications systems were crucial. They pointed to Tanjung Priok (Indonesia's main international port), and said the Japanese government is ready to finance the needed improvements. Japan is the largest foreign investor in Indonesia.
Indonesian Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, who opened the meeting, acknowledged that improving the infrastructure facilities was now high on the government agenda, after long neglect due to the 1997-98 crisis. President Megawati Sukarnoputri is scheduled to relaunch on July 10 a number of huge infrastructure projects stalled during the crisis, including toll road and power projects.
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