Asia News Digest
Central Economic Reality for China: 1.3 Billion People
The central issue for China is stability for its 1.3 billion people, a commentary in the China Daily emphasized on Nov. 23. With all the international focus on China's economic boom, "economic growth alone cannot clearly show the real picture of a country's development," the commentary states. "China has a population of 1.3 billion. Any small difficulty in its economic and social development, multiplied by this figure, could become a huge problem. Any considerable amount of financial and material resources, divided by the 1.3 billion also makes only a tiny handful in per capita terms."
Despite its great economic growth, China's economy per capita "is still a low-income developing country, ranking 100th in the world. Its impact on the world economy is still limited.
China Seeks 'More Rational and Fair' World Economy
Chinese Foreign Minister Jin Renqing called for a "more rational and fair" world economic order, in a speech to the G20 summit in Berlin on Nov. 21. This included a call for "reform" of the Bretton Woods system. China will assume presidency of the G20 next year.
So far, there is no indication that this call goes in any way beyond the general discussion of "IMF reform," etc. which has been (uselessly) circulating for some years. "Discussions will focus on reform of the Bretton Woods system, the reform of trade and development, and discussions of new international financing development mechanisms," Jin said of China's G20 presidency. He said the group would seek "ways to achieve the orderly development of the world economy," and discussion would focus on the "inherent laws" that govern the global economy.
Chinese Official Urges U.S. To Stop Dollar Collapse
A senior Chinese Foreign Ministry official, Wang Xiaolong, urged the U.S. Nov. 20 to take action to stop the collapse of the dollar. Wang said this before Chinese President Hu Jintao met George Bush at the APEC summit that day.
China maintains its policy of keeping its currency, the yuan, pegged to the dollar, despite U.S. pressure that China should up-value the currency. The real issue, of course, is that the collapse of the dollar has affected the yuan's value against other currencies; it has been held steady against the dollar by Chinese financial interventions.
Beijing has said it will "gradually loosen the peg in the short term," but not abandon it.
People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said at the G20 meeting in Berlin, that China is still in the "preparation stage" for its financial institutions to take on foreign-exchange reform. While China is under pressure to up-value the yuan to "correct global imbalances," Zhou said that China will take both the global economic balance and its own economic needs into account in its foreign exchange policy.
India To Restore Rail Link with Pakistan
Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh announced Nov. 25 that India will restore the Sindh-Rajasthan rail link between India and Pakistan as of Oct. 2, 2005. The link has been suspended since 1965. Singh said that the rail link restoration would not be deflected by "transient" developments in bilateral ties.
Singh said at a press conference that India's "reactive policy" with Pakistan has been put in the past. "We are engaged in a sustained and comprehensive dialogue process from which we will not be deflected by transient developments and often contradictory pronouncements," Singh said.
Myanmar's 'Road to Democracy' Convention Delayed
Myanmar's State Peace and Development Council announced Nov. 24 that a national convention to initiate the first of seven steps in its "Road Map to Democracy" would restart later than its expected February date.
A senior junta member, Lt-Gen. Thein Sein, told state media that ethnic armed groups which had signed ceasefire agreements with the regime would attend the convention, which is to draft a new constitution.
The timing of the restart was thrown into doubt by the ouster of the road map's chief architect, Gen. Khin Nyunt, who was sacked as Premier in October, and placed under house arrest for alleged corruption.
The convention was expected to resume in October, but Gen. Thein Sein, who is also chairman of the National Convention Convening Commission, said after the upheaval last month, that it would restart next year.
The reform plan, which is supposed to conclude with multi-party elections, has been dismissed as a sham by critics including the United States and Europe.
India-China Summit at Vientiane
Brisk preparations are underway for the first meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who are to meet at Vientiane, where the ASEAN conference will be held on Nov. 29-30.
The objective of the meeting is to foster friendship, says Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarma, but analysts in India claim that one of the objectives of the meeting will be to make efforts to put the ongoing border negotiations between India's National Security Advisor J.N. Dixit and China's Foreign Affairs Vice Minister Dai Bingguo on the fast track. The two held talks in mid-November in Beijing. The first reports on the talks said simply: It was good.
Analysts quoted in the Khaleej Times Nov. 24 point out that the Manmohan Singh government is more security conscious than the one that preceded it. One Indian diplomat is quoted as saying Manmohan Singh is "ready to walk the extra mile for peace but without compromising India's strategic or economic interests."
U.S. Supplies Philippines Navy with Anti-Terror Materiel
The U.S. is funding the Philippines Navy to the tune of $2.7 million, the Manila Times reported Nov. 24. The materiel supplied includes weapons, patrol boats, radios, ammunition, and medical equipment, which were turned over on Nov. 23, as part of a counterterrorism package that includes training for elite units. The equipment and supplies were delivered at a naval air base near Manila.
The package includes an 11-month naval special operations training module, which aims to enhance the capability of the Philippine Navy's Special Warfare Group. Training started already on Nov. 21 at different Marine bases.
Navy chief Vice Adm. Ernesto de Leon, said the U.S. equipment and supplies were vital for fighting local insurgencies-communist rebels, Muslim separatists, and al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf extremists.
Philippines Mission in Iraq Is Pulling Out
On orders of the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippine embassy officials and staff in Iraq have packed up their bags and closed down the embassy, and are headed to Jordan, due to deteriorating wartime conditions in Baghdad, which, the Department said Nov. 23, had reached the highest-level alert, "code red."
Only four embassy officials have opted to stay at the Filipino embassy in Iraq. They are making preparations to evacuate some 6,000 Filipino workers still in Iraq to Jordan.
Myanmar Opposition Party Greets Release of Detainees
The leading opposition party in Myanmar, the National League for Democracy, has acknowledged and welcomed the military government's release of detainees, which began in November. Although cautious, the NLD statement, the first of its kind, acknowledged the need "to realize in appropriate and correct manner as an honor for the country and, therefore, we welcome the move. It is a sign of positive engagement." The statement added, "We believe that the government would release all prisoners without any discrimination among them, including prisoners of conscience."
Thai Leader Charges Foreign Militants Foment Unrest
Thailand Supreme Commander Chaisit Shinawatra charged that militants from neighboring countries had a hand in fomenting unrest in the South, but declined to say where they were based, according to the Bangkok Post Nov. 22. Chaisit, a relative of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said there had been reports of infiltration but solid evidence was still lacking.
In her recent public statement on the violence in the South, Queen Sirikit expressed the view that the instigators were not Thai Muslims.
General Sirichai Tunyasiri, director of the Southern Border Provinces Peace-building Command, confirmed that core instigators of southern violence included elements from outside the country, especially "religious outcasts" who twisted Islamic teachings to enlist a coalition of insurgents.
There are reports that covert links existed between local separatists and regional Islamic militants, especially the Kampulan Mujahideen Malaysia (KMM), said to be active across the southern border, but which has been largely suppressed by Malaysia. Other suspects include remnants of the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO), and there are indications of Pulo links to the Free Aceh Movement in Indonesia. General Sirichai said some foreign militants had been known to provide arms training including sending Thai youth to Aceh, but also admitted, "We won't pay attention to hearsay which only generates confusion."
A source in Fourth Army headquarters said many people in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat had fraternal ties with those in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Aceh.
Bush Blusters to North Korea: 'Get Rid of Nukes'
President Bush "issued a direct challenge to North Korea that echoed President Reagan's demand in 1987 for dismantling the Berlin Wall," as the New York Times put it, in his closing speech to APEC Nov. 21. In back-to-back meetings with the leaders of China, Japan, and South Korea there Nov. 20, Bush urged each to demand that North Korea return, without any reason, to the Six-Power Talks, where the U.S. side has refused to offer any guarantee that the North will not be given the "Iraq treatment." After the meetings, Bush told the group, "I can report to you today that, having visited with the other nations involved in this collaborative effort, that the will is strong, that the effort is united, and the message is clear to Mr. Kim Jong Il: 'Get rid of your nuclear weapons programs.'"
The usual anonymous senior American official told reporters that any security guarantee could only be given after North Korea returned to the negotiating table. "The North Korean strategy of running out the clock didn't work," this official said, referring to the speculation that the North thought Bush would be defeated on Election Day. Pressure was especially harsh on the South Koreans, he added.
Philippines General To Chair APEC Counterterror Task Force
Former Philippines Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Benjamin Defensor will chair the counterterrorism task force (CTTF) of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), whose purpose is to ensure coordinated action in removing terrorism as a threat to regional trade, the Inquirer reported Nov. 21. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye made the announcement on Nov. 21 at a press briefing following a bilateral meeting between Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar. Defensor will succeed Dr. Makarim Wibisono, the first chairman of the task force, and the director general for Asia-Pacific and Africa of Indonesia's Department of Foreign Affairs.
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