In this issue:

Chinese Space Official Discusses Inside View of China's Manned Space Program

China's Space Program Spending Money on the Ground, Building Infrastructure

Despite Western Hype of Crisis, North and South Korea Make Some Headway on Railroad

U.S. Effort To Push Korean Nuclear Issue in UN Security Council Not a Done Deal

Former Clinton Officials Admit U.S. Never Implemented 1994 Agreement with North Korea

U.S. Accused of Using Food Weapon Against North Korea

World Bank Water Privatization in Indonesia Is Challenged

Political Temperature Rising in Philippines, Indonesia

Record Cold in South Asia Claims Over 2,000 Lives

From Volume 2, Issue Number 4 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Jan. 27, 2003
Asia News Digest

Chinese Space Official Discusses Inside View of China's Manned Space Program

In a recent (Jan. 17) interview with China's People's Daily, Huang Chumping, program head of the Long March-11F rocket, which is used to launch the Shenzhou spacecraft, revealed some more of the details of China's manned space program.

He explained that, unlike the United States and Russia, which launched dozens of flights before sending men into space, China is launching only the four Shenzhou missions that have already taken place, leading him to feel "enormous pressure." He said that "considering that no more tests will be conducted, our principle is taking the four tests as the standard. We are resolved not to change the technological state, where it is possible." The fifth (manned) launch, he said, will be done in an even more "strict, meticulous, prudent, and practical" style of work.

Huang said that two of the current 14 astronauts in training are instructors who were trained in the former Soviet Union. They are teaching the others because "we cannot afford to pay very high fees [for] all of them [to be] sent abroad for training." He said that although the Shenzhou is designed to accommodate three astronauts, the number on the first flight will be determined in light of the specific circumstances. Other Chinese press have reported that the first Chinese manned space mission will take place in October.

China's Space Program Spending Money on the Ground, Building Infrastructure

In his interview with People's Daily, Huang reported that the manned space program includes seven major systems: the astronauts, space technology applications, the spacecraft, the rocket, the launch site, monitoring of the mission, and retrieval of the spacecraft. Over 3,000 factories are involved, and tens of thousands of scientific research, manufacturing, and planning personnel. The project involves huge investment, he said.

As NASA took pains to point out during the buildup for America's lunar landing, Huang explained that the majority of the funds is used in ground construction, for factories, the launch site, and equipment. These are fixed assets that can be used in many fields of the nation's economy. "The money which was really used in space was actually not much," he said.

Regarding the overall level of China's space technology, Huang stated that although the first Chinese manned space launch will take place 42 years after Yuri Gagarin's, that does not mean that China's space technology is 40 years behind the U.S. and Russia. The Shenzhou spacecraft, he said, is larger and more advanced in onboard equipment than the Russian Soyuz, which is its heritage, and this means China has reached the space technology level of the 1990s.

Despite Western Hype of Crisis, North and South Korea Make Some Headway on Railroad

With Cabinet-level talks in Seoul, and infrastructure talks in Pyongyang, the two Koreas managed to sidestep the U.S. utopians enough to make an agreement to complete the stalled rail link by February, while leaving unresolved the issue of the U.S.-influenced United Nations Command (UNC), which has used its control over the Demilitarized Zone to hamper completion of the railroad. According to Korea Times and Agence France Presse, The North's acceptance of South Korea's proposal to finish one of the two lines leaves the UNC, which insists on its jurisdiction over civilian border crossings, as the last hurdle. The South is reported to have asked the North to accept UNC jurisdiction for now.

The communiqué from the meeting in Seoul spelled out no agreements on the nuclear question, but stated that the two sides "sufficiently exchanged" positions (meant to satisfy the U.S. insistence that the South demand a concession), and "agreed to actively cooperate to resolve this issue peacefully." The North assured the South that there would be no war between Koreans ("no worst-case scenario") over this issue, according to Seoul's Hankyoreh.

The two sides agreed to hold ministerial meetings April 7-10 in Pyongyang, and economic talks in Seoul Feb. 11-14.

U.S. Effort To Push Korean Nuclear Issue in UN Security Council Not a Done Deal

According to reports in Agence France Presse Jan. 23, the U.S. effort to push the Korean nuclear crisis into the United Nations Security Council is not a foregone conclusion. Besides the scrambling in the State Department to answer how the U.S. can simultaneously denounce the UN as "impotent" and "irrelevant" regarding Iraq, while insisting on shoving North Korea before this impotent and irrelevant body, the effort by State's John Bolton to portray unanimity on going to the UN has fallen flat.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which must make the decision, has said there is no consensus, and the South Koreans say there is not even a consensus on when the IAEA will meet. The Russians, according to UN officials, want more time before considering UN involvement, while the South Koreans told the North in their conferences that they also oppose going to the UN.

Former Clinton Officials Admit U.S. Never Implemented 1994 Agreement with North Korea

In a Jan. 19 article reporting on a Washington Post discussion with Clinton Korea negotiator Robert Gallucci, the Post wrote: "The North regarded the pledges to end hostile relations and the normalization of diplomatic and economic ties to be the heart of the agreement," but "The Clinton Administration never seriously pursued normalization of relations, fearing criticism from the right, especially after North Korea test-fired a long-range missile over Japan in 1998." Of the three phases in the 1994 agreement, only phase one was implemented. The article argues that the Bush Administration is returning to the 1994 framework.

U.S. Accused of Using Food Weapon Against North Korea

Following the visit to North Korea of Maurice Strong—who represented the UN and who insists that the food problem in the North is serious and immediate—the Jan. 19 Washington Post reported that "analysts in Asia" say that the U.S. denial that it is using food as a weapon is "political cover."

They say that the U.S., which provided 250,000 of the 400,000 tons of food aid to North Korea in 2002, cut off supplies in December, claiming the cutoff had to do with transparency of delivery to the people who need the food, not the confrontation over nuclear development. President Bush, they report, said on Jan. 14 that his plan would involve "energy and food," which he later qualified to mean agricultural aid. The Post also reports that USAID chief Andrew Natsios has promised Congress that the food aid would require North Korea to permit monitors in parts of the country where they are now forbidden by the Pyongyang government.

World Bank Water Privatization in Indonesia Is Challenged

An editorial in the Jan. 21 Jakarta Post responded to a World Bank "conditionality" placed on the Bank's $300-million loan offer for water development, demanding privatization. The Post writes: "What the proponents of water privatization do not put forward is the fact that a similar approach applied in many developing countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Panama, South Africa, and other countries has created a chain of disastrous results, especially among the poor, both in urban and rural areas. In those countries, most of the investments were actually made with government money, or at best with a government guarantee.... Meanwhile corporations owning or operating water systems across the globe are bringing in about US$200 billion a year and growing by about 6% a year."

The Post is worried that the Parliament will pass the bill without deliberation, given the limited options of "accommodating the World Bank's wishes or losing access to sources of development funds." If this happens, the paper concludes, "The House will be held responsible for passing a catastrophic time bomb which will adversely affect the whole population for decades to come. To avoid that, the House should oppose privatizing water and turning it into an economic commodity. A water resources management should enshrine fresh water as an essential good to which all people have a right."

Political Temperature Rising in Philippines, Indonesia

According to reports in the Philippines Inquirer and Jakarta Post of Jan. 20, the political situation is heating up in both the Philippines and Indonesia.

*Manila: Police turned water cannons on thousands of leftist militants at the EDSA shrine, which has served as the rallying point for mass action since the 1986 ouster of President Ferdinand Marcos. Today's action marks the second anniversary of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's assumption of the Presidency on shaky legal grounds. Today's protest accused Macapagal-Arroyo of being subservient to the United States, and also charged her administration with graft and corruption.

*Jakarta: Police in the Indonesian capital fired warning shorts and beat hundreds of protesters with batons, as they staged protests against the meeting of Indonesia's leading financial donors group, the Consultative Group on Indonesia, at the Yogyakarta state palace.

Three groups, the People's Coalition for Anti-Globalization, the People's Front for Anti-Imperialism, and students from nearby Gadjah Mada University, demanded that foreign lenders erase (i.e., write off) Indonesia's debts, calling on the government to reject taking on new debts, to stop privatization of state-owned firms, and to nationalize foreign assets.

Record Cold in South Asia Claims Over 2,000 Lives

Temperatures in the Indian state of Bihar plummeted 2.4 degrees Celsius Jan. 20. Already, as of mid-December, an estimated 718 people had died of the cold in the state. Farmers are increasingly worried about crops, including mango and litchi crops, which were hit by frost and freezing before the trees had flowered. The state of Uttar Pradesh has reported 476 cold-related deaths; 21 are reported from north Punjab and Haryana states. Some 721 people have died of like causes in Bangladesh.

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