In this issue:

President Hu: China Must Reinforce Defense

Malaysia Looks to Trade with China, India for Growth

Powell Worried Over Coalition Troops

Neo-Con Bill vs. Korea Passes House

Greenpeace Faces Charges in Thailand

Myanmar Announces Major Drug Seizures

Malaysia To Proceed with Plan for Borneo Dam

Australia Blames Terrorist Threats on Philippines, Spain

Supreme Court Overturns Indonesian Terrorist Convictions

First-Ever India-Japan Defense Talks Held

From Volume 3, Issue Number 31 of Electronic Intelligence Weekly, Published Aug. 3, 2004
Asia News Digest

President Hu: China Must Reinforce Defense

China must reinforce its national defense, and prioritize the protection of its territorial integrity, President Hu Jintao said in Beijing. Hu told a meeting of Communist Party leaders on July 24 that China "must effectively reinforce the building of national defense, so that it is in harmony with economic development," the People's Daily reported. Hu said China must "continue to give priority to national sovereignty and security, firmly defending the interests of the state and protecting with determination the sovereignty and national integrity of the nation."

Hu's rare statement on military matters, largely the domain of former President Jiang Zemin, came as China continued annual exercises to demonstrate its strength near Taiwan. China has been training 18,000 troops in Dongshan island, 150 nautical miles west of Taiwan, and a large-scale joint sea, land, and air drill in the area seem imminent, the pro-Beijing Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po newspaper said on July 23.

Malaysia Looks to Trade with China, India for Growth

Malaysia's long-term growth hinges on ties with China and India, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia's 27th anniversary dinner.

Najib Razak said Malaysia was better placed than other countries to take full advantage of opportunities available with the two countries because of its cultural heritage, with Chinese and Indians forming a significant portion of the Malaysian population.

"China will be our single largest opportunity, to be worked out over decades rather than simply months and years. We have very strong cultural and historical ties with the Middle Kingdom, going back 600 years." Malaysia is, at present, China's largest trading partner in the ASEAN, with bilateral trade expected to exceed US $50 billion (RM 190 billion) by 2010. Trade with India has averaged about $2.3 billion per year.

Najib Razak suggested that Malaysia could be an interlocutor between East and West, and modernity and tradition, because of its diversity, he said, and should thus fully grasp the opportunities of its strategic position.

Powell Worried Over Coalition Troops

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who recently visited Hungary—one of the "Coalition of the Willing," who sent troops to Iraq, has expressed concern over pressures exerted on the allies by the kidnapping and murdering of foreign personnel there. Urging the allies to stay on course, Powell told the Hungarians: "Democracy is hard. Democracy is dangerous. And this is the time for us to be steadfast, not get weak in the knees... We must not allow insurgents, those who will use bombs and kidnappings, and beheadings, to triumph."

Powell's urging followed growing evidence from Pakistan, that in light of two Pakistanis kidnapped recently, and beheaded on July 29, that lawmakers are unwilling to commit troops to Iraq on behalf of the U.S. occupation. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmoud Kasuri assured the National Assembly on July 27 that his government will not take any decision on sending troops to Iraq before securing a formal approval of the parliamentarians. "The government believes foreign policy is bipartisan and all decisions [should] be made after taking the Parliament into confidence," he said.

Pakistan is a staunch ally of the United States in the latter's war on terrorism. Recently, Islamabad indicated to the visiting U.S. State Department Deputy Secretary, Richard Armitage, that Pakistan may send troops to Iraq to help the coalition force.

Neo-Con Bill vs. Korea Passes House

A bill just passed by the U.S. Congress on North Korean "human rights violations" is another neo-con gambit to scuttle the six-power talks, Korean legislators fear, by trying to restrict the South's aid to the North, the Korea Times reported on July 23, noting the neo-cons are not dead yet in Washington. The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the "North Korean Human Rights Act of 2000" on July 21. Rep. Jim Leach, who introduced the bill and chairs the House subcommittee on East Asia, says he is cautiously optimistic the bill would pass the Senate in September. It enables Washington to give up to $24 million a year to NGOs and individuals who agitate to improve the rights of the North Korean people.

The bill also hobbles South Korea's ability to provide aid to the North because it would demand a guarantee of transparency of its distribution and the production of human rights. "The requirement is certain to restrict the South's generous aid to the North," one Korean legislator complained, due to U.S.-ROK treaty provisions. Another measure allows the U.S. to deny recognition of North Korean defectors as South Koreans, to prevent "spies" entering the United States.

Lawmakers of Seoul's ruling Uri Party say they are preparing a statement expressing their opposition to the North Korea Human Rights Act. They also said they will travel to Washington in August to dissuade the U.S. Senate from approving the bill.

Greenpeace Faces Charges in Thailand

The Thai Agriculture Department filed charges against Greenpeace Southeast Asia on July 28, accusing members of trespassing at a Khoon Kael research station, destroying several genetically-modified (GM) papaya trees. "This outrage has severely disrupted our research, which has been going on for almost 10 years. Our scientists were close to reaching a conclusion, but now we have to go right back to the start," said a researcher.

The joint project with Cornell University in the United States aims to develop a papaya resistant to the ringspot virus, common in papaya-growing countries.

Myanmar Announces Major Drug Seizures

The ruling military junta in Myanmar, the State Peace and Development Council, announced two successful drug seizures on July 25, including 600 kilograms of heroin and 5.6 million methamphetamine pills. Myanmar has been rated the world's second-largest producer of illegal opiates after Afghanistan. The production of opiates in Myanmar is carried out by certain ethnic groups, but the country, as acknowledged by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), has reduced opium-poppy cultivation by two-thirds since 1996.

The government statement said: "As the Asian countries work together in the fight against narcotic drugs, we urge those nations with the largest markets for heroin in the world to join in the efforts in making the world, or at least citizens, safe from the danger of drugs."

Malaysia To Proceed with Plan for Borneo Dam

Malaysia will proceed with its plan to build the US$1.2 billion Bakun Dam in Borneo, but the existing project will restructured first, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak told an economic conference, adding that the government would take 100% control of the project without the participation of an outside partner. Previously an aluminum smelter had been considered as a possible partner. The dam, which was initiated under the then-Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir bin Mohammad, was taken over by the government and revived in 2001 after it was shelved during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, when the main operator fell into debt. The dam, which involves flooding an area the size of Singapore, and requires relocating 10,000 people, has attracted the predictable anti-scientific criticism from environmentalists.

Australia Blames Terrorist Threats on Philippines, Spain

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer charged that the threat to Australia by a group calling itself Islamic Tawhid Group, which claims to be an al-Qaeda branch in Europe, was a direct result of Manila's and Madrid's withdrawal of their troops from Iraq. Downer told Channel 9 in Australia: "You have to stand up to these people because if you don't, you empower them.... Unfortunately, these actions [the Philippines' and Spanish troop pull out from Iraq] have encouraged terrorists to continue these threats and now we are subjected to them, the Italians are, the Poles, the Bulgarians, by this particular group," he said.

Channel 9 quoted the group as saying that if Australian troops are not withdrawn from Iraq, "we will shake the ground beneath your feet as we did in Indonesia, and columns of rigged cars will not stop."

Supreme Court Overturns Indonesian Terrorist Convictions

Indonesia passed an anti-terrorism law in 2003, under intense pressure from the United States and others, and tried and convicted the October 2002 Bali bombers and their associates under this law, despite the clear ban in the Indonesian Constitution against applying any laws retroactively. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled the trials unconstitutional. Although the 32 already convicted will most likely be re-tried under the criminal code (barring a successful double jeopardy claim), some of the secondary cases may be difficult to prosecute under the criminal code.

Perhaps most importantly, Indonesia will probably have to release Abu Bakar Baasyir, the so-called spiritual leader of Jemah Islamiyah. Baasyir was acquitted of terrorism charges, but, after serving 18 months on an immigration charge, was re-arrested and is now being held without charge under the anti-terrorism law.

First-Ever India-Japan Defense Talks Held

Indian Air Force Chief Air Marshal S. Krishnaswamy held the country's first-ever defense dialogue with his Japanese counterpart Yoshimitsu Tsumagiri. He told the Indian news daily The Hindu July 25 that the Japanese defense officials expressed "very keen interest to understand our posture ... the way we do things." Characterizing this as a "great professional interest" on the part of Tokyo, Krishnaswamy said there was no specific objective behind the dialogue, such as the current Iraq situation or any other particular issue.

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