China, India To Take Relations to a 'New Dimension'

Dec. 28 (EIRNS)—China and India will take the breakthrough in their mutual relations, achieved by their joint leadership of the fight against the climate fascists at Copenhagen, to a new level in the coming months. Just days after the Copenhagen summit ended, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi telephoned Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, to say that the two nations should carry forward the new "momentum" in their relations. The two ministers discussed a post-Copenhagen strategy, and Krishna expressed New Delhi's satisfaction with the two nations' cooperation during the conference, the Hindustan Times reported Dec. 23. Yang invited Krishna to visit Beijing in April 2010, and that trip should be followed by a visit by President Pratibha Patil to China in May.

Both Yang and Krishna agreed to give the relationship a "new dimension," and in New Delhi at a Chinese art exhibit the next day, Krishna told the press, "Talking about our overall bilateral relationship, I am very happy to see the tremendous progress being made," Indo-Asia News Service reported. The two nations will mark the 60th anniversary of their relations in 2010.

India Is Looking at Proposal for First Bullet Train

Dec. 31 (EIRNS)—India is looking at a proposal presented jointly by three companies—Systra of France, Italferr of Italy, and RITES of India—to build its first bullet train, using Japanese technology, on the 533-km Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad route in western India. The proposal will be evaluated for approval in January.

During his recent visit to India, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama offered his country's expertise in such modern technology, and said he would "like to see bullet train technology in India," pointing out "that Japanese bullet trains have never been involved in any accident."

For a bullet train, a dedicated corridor would have to be built. The feasibility study is examining the possible alignment, fare structure, and volume of passengers in the proposed high-speed corridor. Besides the elevated route, the study will look at the possibility of an underground route.

The train, traveling at 350 km per hour (220 miles per hour), would reduce the travel time between the western Indian cities of Pune and Mumbai to just 25 minutes (currently 93 minutes), and the travel time from Mumbai to the city of Ahmedabad to less than two hours (currently seven hours).

South Korea: U.S. Should Lift Limits on Full Nuclear Cycle

Jan. 1 (EIRNS)—South Korea's Minister of Knowledge Economy, Choi Kyung-hwan, suggested on Dec. 30 that Korea must emancipate itself from tight U.S. limits on what it can and cannot do in the nuclear field.

"Korea's current know-how of nuclear processes is incomplete, and that should improve in the future," Choi said. He said that provisions on the control of raw materials and reprocessing in the Korea-U.S. Atomic Energy Agreement are "excessive." The country could assert its sovereignty by reclaiming the right to reprocess spent fuel rods, which is restricted by the agreement. The other two areas are mining and enrichment of uranium, and the making and use of nuclear fuel. The agreement is up for revision in 2014, but President Lee Myung-bak has called for the date by which South Korea will have the "full cycle" to be moved up by several years, to facilitate its new status as a nuclear power exporter.

Emboldened by Copenhagen Victory, Malaysia Attacks 'Green Agenda'

Jan. 1 (EIRNS)—The New Straits Times newspaper, generally regarded as speaking for the Malaysian government, starts the new year off with a blazing editorial attack on Green environmentalism. The editors wish to defend the production and use of palm oil, an inexpensive edible oil, used for cooking and as the basis for many other products the world over. Malaysia and Indonesia account for most of the world's supply.

With the examples of the exposed East Anglia "Climategate" fraud and the destruction of the Copenhagen environmentalist dictatorship agenda, the editors locate the question squarely in the science: "One point of that debate should be about the question of the data that the environmental ideologues have been using to accuse the palm oil industry of killing orangutans, destroying forests and selling a product high in cholesterol."

"It is because environmentalism has become so authoritative and persuasive in global forums," the editor writes, "and modern mainstream science has become so sacrosanct and so dismissive of evidence that does not fit its own prejudices. Doomsayers who dare challenge the doomsday vision of global warming and the 'certainties' of the models have been subjected to intellectual hate campaigns and accused of 'treason against the planet,' and countries and companies that are unwilling to accept this 'consensus' do so at their own peril.... The point of the debate has to move beyond palm oil, because it is not just about the crop but ultimately about a green agenda that is not content with merely practical measures to protect the forests and save wildlife, a political ideology that is fundamentally flawed, and a movement that ignores evidence that contradicts its dogma."

Korea 'Full Steam Ahead' on Nuclear Power, After Big U.A.E. Win

Dec. 29 (EIRNS)—South Korea appears to be energized and optimistic after a consortium of Korean firms won a contract for four 1,400-megawatt nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates. The contract, said to be worth $20 billion in direct construction and initial operation, with perhaps another $20 billion in follow-up and associated work, is Korea's first nuclear export contract.

The country is determined that it not be last. Construction contracts for similar projects in Turkey and elsewhere are being pursued, even before much of the world understands that a "nuclear Renaissance" has begun.

When construction began on Korea's first nuclear power plant in Gori, South Gyeongsang Province, in 1971, the only thing the country's own builders could do was build apartments for plant workers and haul gravel and other construction materials. When Westinghouse of the U.S. was building and testing Korea's first and second nuclear plants, Korean technicians were not even allowed access to key areas, and had to learn the ropes over the shoulders of American engineers.

"Now it has mastered almost the entire technology and exports it.... Behind the feat are the efforts and sacrifices of many scientists, researchers and technicians.... A lot of blood, sweat and sheer determination went into Korea mastering the technology," the daily Chosun Ilbo reported with pride.

Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Kyung-hwan, who was in the U.A.E. for the signing of the construction deal, said in a news conference that Seoul will outline a master plan to build atomic power generation into one of the country's leading export industries, along with autos, ships, and information technology.

In oriental martial arts, one uses the weight and force of an opponent to throw him. Choi illustrates the same technique in regard to the vast Green propaganda machine. Yonhap news agency reported that he told a news conference: "It is physically impossible to separate nuclear power from eco-friendly growth until technological developments make renewable resources such as wind and solar power more economically viable [i.e., never—ed.]. He claimed that lack of an alternative energy source, and a pressing need to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions cited for causing global warming, have triggered a global 'nuclear renaissance.' "