Asia News Digest
China, India Explore New Ways To Solve Border Issue
India's National Security Advisor and Special Representative Brajesh Mishra, will be in Beijing on Jan. 12, to meet his counterpart Dai Bingguo, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan, to work out a framework to resolve the decades-long border dispute with China, it was announced on Jan. 7.
"The special representative of India will come to China this month. The two countries will, proceding on the basis of the consensus reached by the two leaders on the overall development of bilateral relations, seek to explore new ways to solve the border issue," Kong said. "This is not only the second meeting of the special representatives of the two countries, but a 'new meeting of the two special representatives in the new year.' As to the specific agenda of the meeting, the two sides are finalizing it."
Mishra was in Islamabad on Jan. 1 to carry out talks with the Pakistani authorities on the necessity to set up a framework, similar to the one set up between India and China, based on which the Kashmir dispute can be resolved.
Myanmar Leaders Promote 'Road Map'
Myanmar's military ruler Senior General Than Shwe on Jan.5 called for country's various ethnic groups to support the junta's "road map" to democracy as the country commemorated its 56th Independence Day.
In an anniversary speech, Than Shwe urged citizens to "strive for the emergence of an enduring state constitution," due to be completed this year. It is the first of seven points outlined in the political plan revealed by the rulers last August. Than Shwe also maintained that "peace and stability" were the paramount need of the hour, and he stressed that Myanmar was proceding along its development path.
Than Shwe's speech, which was read by Maj. Gen. Myint Swe, largely steered clear of sensitive political subjects, leaving his Prime Minister Khin Nyunt to offer a blunt warning against outside interference in Myanmar's political process.
Thailand Imposes Martial Law in South
Following arms heists and arson attacks in Narathiwat and Yala provinces, Thailand's Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Mata, the leading Muslim political figure from the south, has imposed martial law. The Interior Minister, concerned about the security situation in the Muslim-majority southern provinces, reported that more than 100 assault rifles were stolen in a pre-dawn raid on Jan. 4, carried out by dozens of assailants, who killed four soldiers and torched 18 schools.
Both Yala and Narthiwat provinces border Malaysia, and the recent incident is the worst act of violence in southern Thailand since July 2003.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra blamed the assault on "professionals with experience in this kind of violence," and maintained his line that bandits involved in arms smuggling were behind violence. The Prime Minister also warned that "outside influences" are at work, pointing at the conflicts in Indonesia's northern Aceh province, where separatists, who demand independence of Aceh from Indonesia, have been engaged in violent movements for decades.
Theft of Philippine Skilled Labor by the U.S.
According to one Filipino official, the Philippines, with a $53 billion in international debt, is incapable of paying it back. The only reason the nation has not been officially declared bankrupt is the annual $12 billion in remittances that are sent back to the country from overseas Filipino workers, based mostly in Canada and the United States.
"The United States has taken our doctors, our nurses, our teachers," the official told the EIR, "while our medical and education systems are in disarray." Even the military officers who come to the U.S for training, learn nursing on the side, so they can find work in the United States after they leave the military, he pointed out.
The official concurred with Lyndon LaRouche's often-stated view that the Marcos years, despite abundance of corruption, placed the Philippines at the forefront of Southeast Asian development. But since that time, total liberalization of the economy has left the nation destitute.
Gen. Beg: Afghan Constitution Must Be Followed by Elections
Former Pakistani Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Mohammad Aslam Beg, told EIR that the just-concluded Loya Jirga in Afghanistan, under immense pressure, especially from the United States, voted up a constitution for Afghanistan. General Beg said it could be a good development, if it is actually implemented, that is, if free and fair elections are actually held.
Earlier, in the days prior to the war against Afghanistan and Iraq, Beg had told EIR that any military intervention by the United States would unleash massive resistance, which would not only grow, but generate pools of "jihadis" willing to go anywhere to join the fight against the invaders. In the case of Afghanistan, he had said that "no one believed the U.S. could be defeated in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it is a fact of life. I said so," he recalled, referring to his forecast that, "a line of resistance from Jalalabad to Kandahar would be built up, and that is precisely what happened."
In Iraq, the same is true, he believes. He said that the United States and others fear that, in the event of a real election, the Shi'ite majority would emerge and establish an Iranian-type regime, were unfounded. "What Mr. LaRouche says about the 1958 Constitution is right," he said, adding that the only means to rebuild the institutions which the war has destroyed, is through participation of the Iraqi population, on the basis of a constitution.
Sri Lankan President Proposes Defense Pact with India
Sri Lankan President Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga, attending the SAARC summit in Islamabad, told reporters on Jan. 7 that "defense co-operation between India and Sri Lanka is on the increase," The President added, "India is training our army personnel. A defense cooperation agreement will be discussed shortly."
Describing a definite change in India's policies vis-a-vis Sri Lanka in recent years, President Kumaratunga said: "There is a gradual change in policy in Delhi. It is coming up slowly after India very justifiably approached its relations with Colombo with caution, after the IPKF experience. Now, in the last 10 years, they were moving towards pro-active position. India always supported our peace processes, our efforts towards negotiated settlement. They are still holding the same position, perhaps more pro-actively," Mrs. Kumaratunga said.
The IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) that the Sri Lankan President mentioned, refers to the Indian troops stationed in the mid-1980s to disarm the Tamil secessionists for the purpose of bringing about an end to ethnic violence. The troops were stationed as part of an agreement reached between former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and former Sri Lankan President Julius Jayewardene. The Indian troops failed in their mission for a number of reasons, including open betrayal by Sri Lankan President R. Premadasa, creating an anti-India backlash among the Sinhalas, as well as among the Tamils of Sri Lanka.
"Our peace process," mentioned by President Kumaratunga, refers to the peace process between Colombo and the Tamil Tigers, ostensibly representing the Tamils of Sri Lanka, initiated by Norway in 2002. That peace process has been stalled due to the intervention by President Kumaratunga late last year, in light of a series of absurd demands made by the Tamil Tigers as a part of settling the dispute.
India Projects 9% Growth in Second Half of Fiscal Year
According to Indian Planning Commission Chairman K.C. Pant, India is poised to achieve 9% growth in the second half of fiscal year 2003-2004, outdoing the 7.4% it had achieved in the first half. Pant believes that the overall growth for this fiscal year will reach 8%.
Addressing an international conference in Hyderabad, Pant said India is expected to achieve 8%t annual growth rate throughout the five-year period of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-2006), aided by a revival of India's manufacturing industries.
Pant presided over the Tenth Five-Year Plan under directions from Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The Indian Premier had told the Planning Commission to calculate the growth rate that would be necessary to absorb the 10 million youth who would be joining the workforce every year of the Tenth Five-Year Plan. The Planning Commission anticipated it would need an 8% growth rate to provide those additional jobs.
Kofi Annan Expresses Concerns Over Violence in Afghanistan
In a report to the UN Security Council on Jan. 6, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said continued violence in Afghanistan could jeopardize the national elections scheduled for June 2004. He pointed out that more than 400 people have been killed in the last six months.
Expressing concerns over continuing violence, Kofi Annan said in his report: "The peace process in Afghanistan has reached a critical juncture. Critical challenges now face the process, and Afghanistan and the international community will need to take further steps, expeditiously, if the process is to be successfully concluded." The Secretary General made public the report one day after two bombs had exploded near a military base and two schools in southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Jan. 5, killing 15 people and wounding 60 others.
On Jan. 7, UN spokesman Manuel Almeida e Silva told the press that the rising violence in southern and eastern Afghanistan has slowed voter registration signficantly, and it is highly unlikely that Presidential elections could be held in June. "The current rate of registration is far below the rate necessary to complete registration for election this year," Almeida e Silva said.
So far, about 274,000 of the 10 million eligible Afghan voters have been registered. In order to hold Presidential elections in June, as demanded by Washington, the number of registered voters would have to be close to 2 million by mid-January.
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