Asia News Digest
India and Pakistan Refute Washington's Claims
Both the Wall Street Journal and the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, have claimed a key role for U.S mediation in the decision by New Delhi and Islamabad, to begin a "composite dialogue" on all bilateral disputes. Powell told U.S. News and World Report that "the work we have been doing with the Indians and the Pakistanis" has produced a breakthrough, "but there is more work to be done."
On Jan. 13, an Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman told the press that "India discusses major foreign-policy issues with friendly countries as part of normal diplomatic interaction. The U.S. has repeatedly offered to promote the India-Pakistan dialogue. However, on India-Pakistan bilateral issues, there has been no scope for any third-party role in the past, and it is not likely to be there in future, either." The spokesman was responding to a question on Powell's statements.
On Jan. 12, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan emphasized that the entire credit for the breakthrough goes to the "wisdom and statesmanship" of the leaders of Pakistan and India. "The two countries are moving toward a stage where they can engage each other productively and substantially," he said. Pakistan had always welcomed support and facilitation; however, Khan acknowledged, and the United States, European Union, China, and other countries have been engaged with India and Pakistan.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization Enters 'New Phase'
The official Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will soon be opened in Beijing, with China's former Vice Foreign Minister and Ambassador to Russia, Zhinag Deguang, as its first Secretary-General. The SCO, comprised of China, Russia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, was formally established in 2001, out of the Shanghai Five nations, which have been meeting regularly since 1996 on security, border, and economic issues.
The creation of the Secretariat shows that the SCO "has entered a new phase, marked by political partnership," Zhang Deguang said in an interview with the China Daily published on Jan. 14. The Secretariat will strive "to ensure that all activities of the organization could be conducted in a more efficient way in the future," Zhang said.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who was to discuss the situation around North Korea in bilateral meetings with his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing, said that the current level of the Russian-Chinese relations, "without exaggeration, can be called the best in history.... The Chinese-Russian partnership is now a major factor both of regional and global security and stability."
Plan To Link Indonesian Islands with Bridges
The Indonesian government is currently considering a plan to build bridges to link the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Bali, New Straits Times reported Jan. 14. Settlement and Regional Infrastructure Minister Soenarno said the construction is targetted to begin in the next two years. Soenarno was quoted by Tempo Online as saying that there already is an investor from the United States who is prepared to invest in the project to span the 25-kilometer Sunda Strait to link Sumatra to Java. He added that a Chinese company has also offered to partially fund a bridge linking Java and Bali, but he did not name the potential investors.
Philippines Insurgents Agree To Resume Peace Talks
The National Democratic Front (NDF), the umbrella organization of the Filipino Communist movement, has signed a agreement with the Philippines government for the resumption of formal peace negotiations to begin in February, the Arroyo government's chief negotiator Silvestre Bello said on Jan. 14, in a phone interview with radio station INQ7.
The NDF blames the Arroyo government "for paralyzing the talks since June 2001." Bello said NDF chief negotiator Luis Jalandoni signed the agreement, which calls on both parties to formulate confidence-building measures that would accelerate talks. The NDF is also demanding that the "terror" label placed on their leaders by the Bush Administration be lifted, and Bello assured the rebels that victims of human rights abuses under the Marcos dictatorship would be given "proper indemnification."
Norway Resumes Talks with Tamil Tigers in London
Norwegian envoys have begun fresh talks with rebel Tamil Tigers amid fears that the existing ceasefire between the Tigers and the Sri Lankan government could break down, in light of the continuing political struggle between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Norway's Ambassador to Sri Lanka was recently in the Tiger-held northern town of Killinochchi for talks. Another Norwegian envoy, Erik Solheim, is scheduled soon to meet the Tiger ideologue Anton Balasingham in London.
At the same time, German State Minister for Foreign Affairs Kerstin Mueller is currently in Sri Lanka, ostensibly to encourage the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers to extend the current peaceful environment. Germany is providing Sri Lanka with qualified training and help in poverty reduction programs, conflict transformation by reconstruction, and the reintegration of refugees.
Strait Times Blasts Greenspan Speech as 'Suspect'
U.S. Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan's claims that there was no inflationary pressure in the United States, no stress in funding the deficit, and that the market will deal with the current account problems, are "suspect," says a Singapore Strait Times editorial Jan. 14. Pointing to the European Central Bank warning, the editorial said Greenspan's policy is "exporting deflationary pressures, from the U.S. to Europe and Japan," while Greenspan claims everything is fine, because the U.S. is fine. But even that is false, writes the Times, since Greenspan's claim that the current account deficit will not overwhelm financial markets ignores the fact that the "market forces" he is counting on would have to force the euro to about $1.60, and Europe and Japan would have to "resign themselves to deflation," or stop funding the U.S. deficit.
In the past, funding the U.S. deficit occurred largely in the form of buying high-yield corporate debt, but now it is government debt, financed with low-yield U.S. Treasury bonds, sold mostly to the Asians. Without threatening explicitly to stop buying that paper, the influential Straits Times concludes: "Sooner or later, measures have to be taken ... by the U.S itself."
Thai PM: Fight Terrorism with Economic Development
The Jan. 4 coordinated attack in the three southern provinces of Thailand, in which 20 government schools were burned down, an army outpost was raided, 100 guns were stolen, and four soldiers were killed, has provoked a crisis in the nation of Thailand. There have been Muslim-based terrorist separatists in the region for several decades, and occasional flare-ups of terrorism, but the source of this well-coordinated attack is still not clear. While some leap to declare it al-Qaeda/Jemaah Islamiah, it may well be the old separatist groups, or the interrelated gun-smuggling networks in the region, which have long provided a market for rebels in Sri Lanka, Aceh, and elsewhere, for weapons left over from the Indo-China wars.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra identified the only sane approach for the Thai government. He vowed to speed up development in the Muslim-majority region, to extend the relative prosperity of the rest of the country to Narathiwat, Pattani, and Yala Provinces. "Over the next five years, I will aggressively develop these three provinces," he said. "Our next generation must not face poverty. They must be given an education and good jobs. This is an urgent task," the Premier said.
Arrest of Security Man for Attempt on Musharaff
Pakistani police arrested Mohammad Naeem on Jan. 11 for his involvement in the assassination attempt on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Christmas Day, on the road between the army town of Rawalapindi and the Pakistani capital Islamabad, The Telegraph reported Jan. 12. The police said Mohammad Naeem had revealed the timing of the departure of the Presidential convoy to the suicide bombers over his cell phone. Naeem was deployed on Musharraf's security at the convention center where the President had addressed a meeting on science and technology earlier in the day. Naeem was identified through the recovery of the chip of the mobile phone used by one of the bombers.
According to The News, an Islamabad-based daily, "There is evidence which proves the link between the first attempt on the President's life on Dec. 14 at the Chaklala bridge near Ammar Chowk, and the second attempt at Jhanda Chichi Chowk on Dec. 25." Investigators claim that detention of Naeem, and the 109 calls identified from the bomber's cell phone chip, may lead to clues about those who masterminded and executed the suicide attacks.
China, India Conclude Two Days of Border Talks
China and India wrapped up two days of amicable talks on longstanding border disputes, The Pioneer reported Jan. 13. "The two sides agreed to hold the next round of talks at a mutually acceptable date in New Delhi," a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said, according to Xinhua News Agency.
The Indian embassy in Beijing put out a statement saying that "India's special representative for the India-China boundary question and National Security Advisor, Brajesh Mishra, held the second round of talks with the Chinese special representative and Vice-Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, on Jan. 12 and 13 in a friendly and constructive atmosphere."
The talks followed a round of dialogue in October in New Delhi. Moves to resolve the border dispute gained momentum after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited Beijing in June.
During Vajpayee's talks in Beijing, the two sides agreed to open the Nathu Pass between China's Tibet Province and India's Sikkim Province. Sikkim, a former protectorate which joined the Republic of India in 1975, was not officially recognized by China. By signing the agreement to trade through Nathu Pass, China has extended tacit recognition of Sikkim as part of India.
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