Asia News Digest
A New Outbreak of Violence in Afghanistan
One Canadian peacekeeper was killed and three injured on Jan. 27 in Kabul when a suicide bomber attacked a vehicle from the NATO-led, 5,700-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on a routine patrol. The bomb also killed an Afghan civilian and injured eight others.
A day later, a bomb went off near a British military base near Kabul. The attack was launched on a vehicle carrying British troops and caused injury to four soldiers. The British soldiers were leaving the memorial service held for the dead Canadian trooper.
Although no group has been named as the culprit, there were tell-tale signs which suggest involvement of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former mujahideen and Prime Minister of Afghanistan. Hekmatyar's group, Hezbe Islami, has entered the Greater Kabul area and has virtually joined hands with the Taliban militia to drive out the Americans from Afghanistan. Hizbe Islami is particularly strong in the eastern Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan.
Three-Day India-Pakistan Talks To Begin
Taking forward the joint statement issued in Islamabad in early January, during the South Asian Association of Regional Countries (SAARC) summit, the Pakistani and Indian foreign offices simultaneously issued a statement on Jan. 27, saying the first round of talks, a three-day affair, would begin in Islamabad, on Feb. 16.
The talks will be held first at the level of the Joint Secretaries (one step below the Secretary level, which is the highest level in both the Indian and Pakistani bureaucratic set up) on Feb 16-17. The two-days' talks will be followed by a one-day discussion between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries on Feb. 18. The Secretary reports directly to the Minister, who is an elected parliamentarian.
In announcing the dates, both the Indian and Pakistani foreign offices said the talks will "commence the process" for a "composite dialogue" suggested by the two heads of states in Islamabad. The "composite dialogue" suggests discussions on all thorny subjects, including the thorniest of them allthe issue of the disputed territory of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, that has affected normalization of relations between these two major South Asian countries.
Malaysia Rejects New York Times Charge
Malaysia has rejected a charge made by the New York Times that it supplied nuclear-related material to Libya. Times correspondent David Sangar had alleged, in the Jan. 25 issue, that nuclear investigators in Libya had found "a remarkably sophisticated network of nuclear suppliers, spanning from Malaysia to Dubai." Malaysia's recently appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, on Jan. 27, refuted the charge as a "lie," while warning that David Kay's report on the hunt for WMD in Iraq confirmed that the U.S. already went to war against Iraq based on such faulty intelligence once before.
Najib noted that the U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton had just visited Malaysia and did not bring up the accusation. Najib pointed out that Bolton, in fact, even sought Malaysian assistance to "discourage nuclear proliferation in other countries."
On Iraq, Najib said: "We have said from day one that there must be irrefutable evidence of WMD. It has been speculative allegation, and after such a long time, they still cannot show evidence that Iraq has developed and stockpiled WMD. So, our stand is right."
Chinese, French Presidents Support 'Dialogue of Civilizations'
At a joint press conference of the Chinese and French Presidents Jan. 27, Chinese President Hu Jintao said that they had agreed on the great potential and broad prospects of cooperation. Hu said that the two leaders had agreed that in "such a complicated international situation," China and France should intensify coordination and cooperation.
The two sides also confirmed that they support the diversity of world cultures and promotion of a dialogue among civilizations. They also expressed their "delight" about China's first successful attendance of meetings of the G-8 summit in Evian, France in June 2003, and want to increase the dialogue begun there. Leading Asian and African nations attended meetings of the G-8 at the invitation of France.
French-Chinese Business Deals Signed
Chinese President Hu Jintao signed nine business cooperation deals with France Jan. 28, the final day of his visit to France. The deals included electronics, nuclear power, automobile and other industries: a US$758 million investment accord between car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen and its Chinese partner Dongfeng to double production at their plant in Wuhan, as well as glass and electronics accords for joint ventures.
French Junior Minister for Trade Francois Loos said that Hu Jintao called for bringing smaller enterprises with them to China, stressing agriculture, food, environmental protection, and all industries linked to infrastructure, with energy, transportation, and telecoms being priorities."
China and France also signed important research deals. The Chinese Foreign Ministry today announced it will support France as the site for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, the world's largest-yet nuclear fusion power plant, which should be completed in 2050 to become the world's first commercially viable fusion reactor. Accords were also signed for research with French jet engine maker Snecma and for joint work on epidemic diseases with the Paris Pasteur Institute.
Japan Prepares Deployment to Iraq Despite Mass Protests
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has secured the backing from its junior coalition partner, the New Komei Party, to proceed with Japan's first combat zone military deployment since World War II. The deployment, consisting of a 600-strong contingent, to be sent to the town of Samawa in Iraq, will principally be deployed on providing water and medical supplies. However, their rules of engagement will allow them to defend themselves if attacked.
Despite the caveats stated for their deployment, some 6,000 Japanese staged a rally against the deployment in Tokyo on Jan. 25. An advance team of 80 non-combat troops are expected to leave for Iraq around Feb. 3, to set up camp, while a 104-person unit of Japanese Air Force personnel has already flown to Kuwait to support humanitarian-aid missions in southern Iraq. The entire 600-person contingent should be in place by the end of March.
Pakistani Nuclear Scientists' Bank Accounts Raise Questions
Foreign bank accounts of two senior Pakistani nuclear scientists have been traced to a Dubai-based account, says The News of Islamabad. Iranian authorities have already confirmed that the foreign bank accounts were being controlled by Pakistani nuclear scientists, adding that the IAEA and the U.S. government had full details of the financial transactions that took place between the Pakistani scientists and the Iranians.
It has also been said that one of the Dubai-based undercover companies used by Pakistan's premier nuclear installation, the Khan Research Laboratories, to procure equipment worth hundreds of millions of U.S dollars was being operated by a close relative of a top Pakistani nuclear scientist. The two nuclear scientists named are: Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan and Dr. M. Farooqi.
The news about the nuclear scientists' accounts broke while Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was in Davos, Switzerland. Musharraf, who returned to Islamabad on Jan. 25, is now faced with a very dicey situation. The pressure to unearth the proliferation channel and to punish the proliferators is mounting, and it is evident that the United States and the IAEA are leading the charge. The problem is that the issue involves those who are not only considered the "pride of Pakistan," but also those who are close to the Pakistani military, which has always been in charge of Pakistan's nuclear program.
Philippines High Court Nixes Automatic Voting Machines
The Philippines Supreme Court nullified an election commission contract for automated voting machines, on grounds of national interest, the Star reported Jan. 23. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) contracted last year with Mega Pacific Consortium (a group which includes the Britain-based elections.com, Ltd.) for nearly 2,000 automated vote-counting machines, paying about $17 million for them. However, the Court ruled on Jan. 13 that the testing conducted on the machines had proven that the machines were unreliable, contrary to contract requirementsand that the danger to the republic of a fraudulent election was too great. The Court's decision addressed the fundamental issue at stake in the computerized voting question internationally: "What will happen to our country in case of failure of the automation?" No measures for backup in case of failure were provided by Comelec, said the Court. "Considering that the nation's future is at stake, it should have done no less."
The Court wrote that "We are thus confronted with the grim prospect of election fraud on a massive scale by means of just a few keystrokes: the marvels and the woes of the electronic age." The Court ordered that the May elections proceed with manual voting and counting methods, used historically in the Philippines. There are calls for the resignation of the entire Comelec Board.
Is America watching?
Chirac Warns Taiwan on Referendum
At the state dinner honoring the visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao Jan. 26, France's President Jacques Chirac issued a strong warning to Taiwan on President Chen Shui-Bian's plan for a referendum against Beijing. Chirac said: "Breaking the status quo with a unilateral destabilizing initiative, whatever it is, including a referendum, would favor division over unity. It would be a grave error. It would carry a heavy responsibility."
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