Asia News Digest
LaRouche Book Exposing Neo-Cons Is Shaking Japan
The publication of Lyndon LaRouche's exposé of the "neo-con Beast-Men" in Japanese, is now making waves in that nation. The first 10,000 copies of Neo-Con Beast-Men: The Ignoble Liars Behind Bush's No-Exit War, came off the press April 26, and were immediately publicized in press conferences and seminars held at three major thinktanks in Tokyo April 26-28.
The 381-page hardbound book features photos of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Richard Perle on the cover. On the back cover is a large photo of LaRouche with his biography, highlighting his authorship of the Reagan SDI, the shocking political attacks and jailing of LaRouche and his associates starting in 1988-89, and the astonishing survival and growth of the LaRouche movement since then.
While two scheduled press conferences on the book were cancelled or boycotted, EIR representative Kathy Wolfe got a tremendous response to her slide-show presentations on the book's content at the seminars.
China Outlines 'Military-Security Dialogue Mechanism'
Speaking at the Boao Forum for Asia on April 24, China's President Hu Jintao outlined Beijing's new offer to set up a "military-security dialogue mechanism" for interacting with other Asian countries. President Hu pointed out on that occasion that "China hopes to establish a security relationship (with other Asian countries) featuring non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting at any third party."
The Hindu newspaper, which often reflects views of India's External Affairs Ministry, put this statement as a contrast to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's statements during his recent visit to China, Japan, and South Korea. During that visit, Cheney had emphasized that Washington would uphold America's very own Taiwan Relations Act. It was noted with some concern in Beijing, that Cheney harped on the Act at precisely the time when China was beginning to insist that the legislation went against China-U.S. bilateral ties. The Hindu points out that unlike Washington, which treats all its security partners as "security surrogates," Beijing wants to stabilize its relations with the other Asian countries, India and Japan in particular, and wants as well to be seen to be different from the United States.
Malaysia Rejects Proposal for U.S. Base in Thailand
Malaysia's Foreign Minister Datuk Syed Hamid Albar told a May 5 press conference, "If there are outside parties that interfere, it could complicate the atmosphere." Malaysia has consistently rejected a stronger U.S. military presence in Southeast Asia. Most recently, it disapproved an American offer to patrol the pirate-infested Straits of Malacca, where U.S. officials fear a terrorist strike could choke one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
The Malaysian government believes that security in the waterway should be left to countries alongside itMalaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.
Thailand and Malaysia are to set up joint checkpoints with 52 officers from both countries after May 7. In April 4 talks in Bangkok with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Malaysia's Foreign Minister and Defense Minister Seri Najib Tun Razak gave assurances that Malaysia would never become a sanctuary for insurgents. However, they did appeal to Thailand to address poverty and discrimination against southern Muslims as a long-term way to root out dissatisfaction that has led to violence. The Malaysians also offered assistance in poverty eradication.
Southern Thailand: Only Development Will End Conflict
The headman of a village in southern Thailand, whose village lost all the members of the village's football team in an April 28 confrontation with the authorities in the four predominantly Muslim provinces of southern Thailand, told a reporter for the New Straits Times that the priority must be to expedite development.
Ahmad Idris, 56, said rapid development could be a possible solution to the growing unrest in the impoverished provinces of Songkhla, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. His village is largely made up of farmers, rubber-tappers, and laborers.
The action of the local youth of the football team, who appeared armed with machetes, and then were slaughtered by the government, was a big surprise to the 4,000 villagers, said to be among the poorest in Songkhla, Idris said. So maybe they attacked out of frustration, he said. Perhaps they were tired of the conditions they were living in, but there was certainly no sign on April 28 that the 14-team members and five former players planned to attack a military outpost located 10 kilometers from the village.
Sadly, one of the most important "great projects" for Thailand, the Kra Canal, long championed by Lyndon LaRouche and EIRa project which would transform these southern areas into one of the world's most important waterwayshas never gotten off the drawing boards.
Car Bomb Kills Three Chinese Engineers in Pakistan
In the early morning hours of May 3, three Chinese engineers working for China Harbor Engineering Company and involved in the Gwadar Port development, were killed in a car bomb. Another 11 Chinese engineers were wounded. This is the first such terrorist attack on the Chinese engineers in Pakistan, and Beijing has sent investigators to Gwadar to help Pakistan track down the perpetrators.
Gwadar Port is situated in southwest Baluchistan close to the Iranian borders, and is now being developed as a free port on the lines of Jubal-e-Ali of Dubai. It is considered by Islamabad as one of the most important projects for Pakistan. At the same time, Gwadar Port is of great strategic importance to the Americans, and others. Situated almost at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the port is of strategic value to anyone who wants to maintain control over Gulf oil.
While the investigation on the bombing is still at an early stage, it is nonetheless recognized that a number of anti-Beijing Uighur Muslim insurgents have joined hands with the al-Qaeda and Taliban militia. In addition, the latent Free Baluchistan secessionist movement targeted against Islamabad has also begun to rear its ugly head recently.
Vietnam Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Dien Bien Phu
Vietnam won a historic military victory over the French at Dien Bien Phu, the epic battle that finally collapsed French colonial rule in Vietnam. The battle began on March 13, 1954, and ended 56 days later, on May 7, when shell-shocked survivors of the French garrison hoisted the white flag signalling the end to one of the greatest battles of the 20th century.
General Vo Nguyen Giap, now aged 92, told the dignitaries assembled in Hanoi on May 2 that Vietnam had refused to "submit to slavery," but had "defeated all invaders and gloriously fulfilled the national liberation cause."
"The Dien Bien Phu victory has proved the truth of our era, that oppressed and invaded nations will surely be victorious if they possess a strong will, a correct and creative policy, and the knowledge to unite and fight for independence and freedom, and for the right to live and pursue happiness," said Gen. Giap.
In fact, Ho Chi Minh, with the help of American OSS advisors, had modelled the Vietnamese Declaration on the American Declaration of Independence, which, in essence, was drawn from Gottfried Leibniz.
Chinese Ministry of Commerce Identifies Five Problems
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce, in a recent report, pointed out that the Chinese economy is facing five major problems. These are: slower growth of consumption than of investment; a widening gap between consumption in urban and rural areas; a shortage of power supply and transportation services; the unsatisfactory quality of some commodities; and inflationary pressure.
In the first three months of this year, the total retail volume for social consumption grew 10.7% year on year, while the fixed assets investment rose 43%. During the same period, the retail volume for rural consumers stood at 430.54 billion yuan ($51.9 billion), accounting for 22.6% of total retailing, while that of urban consumers reached 852.52 billion yuan, accounting for 76.4%.
In addition, the Ministry of Commerce report said the shortage of power and transportation services, as well as of raw materials, has not been fundamentally resolved.
London Analyst Describes Chinese Measures
The Chinese government is taking "energetic" measures to keep its economy under control, a leading City of London financial analyst told EIR May 5. "The Chinese have a good track record in regulating their economy," as was evident during 1994, he said. Earlier measures, taken late last year to rein in too much growth in certain sectors, did not work, so now they "are making redoubled efforts," the analyst added. Beijing "has sent out sterner instructions to the localities to cut back, and raised the amounts local authorities have to invest in certain projects, such as in steel or real estates. They have even suspended construction of a new steel works outside Shanghai."
The problem with rising commodity prices, which China has to pay for its imports, is that world commodity producers just have not planned for the scope of Chinese economic demand, the analyst said. The global economy in its current state cannot cope with the rate of Chinese economic growth, and this is a big cause of rapid price rises.
The most worrisome situation in China, is what the bankswhich have a lot of bad loans on the booksmight do, the analyst said. This was not a problem in 1994, because the Chinese financial sector was so much smaller then. If there were a chain of banks foreclosing on loans, this would have a "snowball effect," the analyst warned. However, were the banks to start doing anything that would cause problems, "I am sure the authorities would take measures to exert tighter control."
Sun Yat-sen's Grandson Urges Hong Kong To Learn History
Sun Tse-ping, 91-year-old grandson of Dr Sun Yat-sen, on May 4 called on the youth of Hong Kong to learn modern Chinese history and the revolutionary role of his grandfather. Sun Tse-ping was speaking at a news conference about the founding of the Sun Yat-sen museum at Kom Tong Hall in central Hong Kong. The public is being asked to donate artifacts related to Dr. Sun or the 1911 Revolution.
Sun Tse-ping said that Hong Kong's "youth generation lacks knowledge of modern Chinese history. They don't fully understand the background of why my grandfather (Dr. Sun) organized the 1911 Revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty in the early 20th century. This can be related to our education system, which does not emphasize the teaching of modern Chinese history among young people. Our education has not given students enough knowledge about my grandfather's ideology in the revolution," Sun said.
The museum, which should open in November 2006, to commemorate Dr Sun's 140th anniversary, should help change the situation, Sun Tse-ping said.
"As the bridge between the Chinese and Western cultures, Hong Kong nurtured the revolutionary ideas of Dr Suna fact he once remarked on at the University of Hong Kong in the 1920s," Hong Kong Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping said at the event.
During his stay in Hong Kong, Dr. Sun developed his revolutionary concepts by reading widely on the political and military theories of the West. He also used Hong Kong as a base for monitoring revolutionary work in Guangzhou, then under British rule.
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