Asia News Digest
Three Leading Taiwan Officials Resign
The Taiwan intelligence chief, Tsai Chao-ming, resigned March 31, claiming that he was taking the blame for the pre-election assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian. That attempt is still raising questions, however, along with other events surrounding the minuscule victory margin for Chen in the March 20 election.
Then, Interior Minister Yu Chung-hsien resigned on April 4, followed by the Chief of the Police, Chang Si-liang, both for the same ostensible reason, even as mass demonstrations against the election outcome continue across the country.
Official U.S. Representative to Taiwan Is Fired
Therese Shaheen, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), abruptly resigned on April 7, effective immediately. U.S. State Department sources reported that she had been told to resign or be fired. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli denied reports in the Washington Times that China had demanded her dismissal.
Shaheen has promoted a policy of unstated support for Taiwan independence, by saying that independence is "one option"contrary to the official U.S. policy of support for one-China. The head of the Taipei office of the AIT, Douglas Paal, encouraged the Bush Administration to oppose the provocative referendum policy adopted by Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian. President Bush did, in fact, publicly attack the referendum as destabilizing to the region.
U.S. Considers Deployment in Malacca Straits
The United States is considering deploying Marines and special operations forces on high-speed vessels along the Straits of Malacca, allegedly to flush out terrorists along one of the busiest international waterways, U.S. Pacific Commander Adm. Thomas Fargo told Congress April 5. Fargo told Congressional budget hearings that the potential deployment along the narrow straits straddling Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia would be part of Washington's new counterterrorism initiative to help Southeast Asia. He said that a "Regional Maritime Security Initiative" is being devised by the U.S. military to combat transnational threats like proliferation, terrorism, trafficking in humans and drugs, and piracy. In the hearings Fargo claimed, based on just-concluded meetings with Singapore: "There is very large, widespread support for this initiative." However, his announcement was rejected out of hand by both Malaysia and Indonesia.
Fargo declared that Southeast Asia is a "crucial front" in the U.S. war on terrorism. "Destabilization of the governments of this region, moderate, secular, and legitimately elected, and with large Muslim populations, would result in decades of danger and chaos," he said.
Malaysia: 'U.S. Cannot Deploy Forces in Straits'
Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Najib Razak challenged U.S. Pacific Commander Adm. Thomas Fargo's testimony to Congress calling for the U.S. to patrol the Malacca Straits under the rubric of the U.S.-proposed Regional Maritime Security Initiative. "The U.S. will not be allowed to deploy its Marines and special operations forces in the Straits of Malacca," Najib said on April 5, insisting that security in the waterway is the joint responsibility of Malaysia and Indonesia.
Najib said that U.S. battleships could traverse the straits, but their operations would require the approval of Malaysia and Indonesia, adding that such an initiative posed a threat to Malaysia's sovereignty. "We have good relations with their armed forces in terms of cooperation in training and engineering, but their intention raises the issue of our sovereignty," he said.
Indonesia's Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa made a similar statement, arguing that Indonesia has suffered two of the most devastating terror bombings, in Bali and Jakarta, and that Jakarta rejects the U.S. initiative to deploy its Marines in the Malacca Straits, calling it an infringement of the country's sovereignty. "States, even the most powerful ones, cannot willy-nilly send their forces to where they want, under the guise of combatting terrorism," Natalegawa told Malaysia's New Straits Times April 5. "What is paramount here is that efforts to combat terrorism must be done as a cooperative endeavour, and an effort which is consistent with respect for sovereignty," he said.
Natalegawa particularly criticized the way the announcement was made. "We are all one in combatting terror. There is no question about it. Our common wish is to tackle this threat, including possible acts of terror in international waters or national waters," he said, but added: "Hearing from the international media does not quite seem to be very conducive to having good communication on this sort of thing."
U.S. Undermining Reconciliation in Myanmar
The Washington Post published another attack on peaceful reconciliation in Myanmar on April 5. Editorial Page editor Fred Hiatt, quoting Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) and similar Congressional yahoos, argued for slapping tougher sanctions on Myanmar, just at the point that Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, along with UN envoy Razali Ismail and former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, two of Southeast Asia's most distinguished diplomats, are engaged in creating the context in which National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her associates, multiple ethnic groups, and the ruling military-led State Peace and Development Council, can agree on the framework for convening a national convention. As of now, these talks are moving toward Aung San Suu Kyi's direct participation in talks, perhaps by mid-April.
Hiatt flaunts his ignorance of Myanmar's history with a gratuitous comparison to South Africa, calling for sanctions, saying, "If it worked in South Africa, it will work in Myanmar." Hiatt relies on this bogus assertion to slam prominent scholars, such as Georgetown Prof. David Steinberg, who has contributed to bringing the situation to this hopeful phase.
New Sri Lankan Government Formed by President's Party
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga called elections because of her objections to the broad concessions offered to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was negotiating for the government in the peace talks with the Tigers. The Freedom Alliance (FA), the President's party, won 46% of the seats in parliamentary elections on April 2, over the 38% of former Prime Minister Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP), forcing Wickremesinghe to step down. Kumaratunga, rather than finding allies from the small parties to form a majority government, on April 5, appointed a member of her Cabinet, Mahindra Rajapakse, to head a minority government.
The Tamil Tigers, considering the victory of the President's party as inimical to their interests, threatened to return to war if not granted self-rule in the Tamil-majority areas. However, the new Prime Minister Rajapakse, interestingly, openly supported the former Prime Minister's efforts to make concessions, opposing President Kumaratunga on that issue, and yet still won the appointment as the new Prime Minister from the President. New talks with the Tigers will be scheduled soon, according to the President's office.
Maoist Rebels Continue Deadly Attacks in Nepal
Maoist rebels continued deadly attacks in Nepal, while political demonstrations erupted in the capital Kathmandu.
Nine soldiers were killed on April 5 in two separate raids on villages in Nepal, after a week of raids by hundreds of rebels left dozens on each side dead. The rebels have called for a three-day strike across Nepal.
In Kathmandu, the political parties have been demonstrating across the city for five days as of April 5, confronting police, demanding that King Gyanendra fire the royalist cabinet and appoint an all-party government, which they insist is necessary to fight the rebellion.
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