By JASON LEOW
September 13, 2008; Page A8
BEIJING -- Chinese authorities have suspended local officials and detained executives of an illegal iron-ore mine where a drainage pond caused a deadly mudslide this week, as the country continues to struggle with the human cost of its rapid industrialization.
Reuters
The mother of Huang Fuxuan (center) was among the victim of a mudslide near an illegal mine.
The death toll in Monday's disaster rose Friday to 178, with possibly more people buried in the sea of mud, which covered 74 acres. Officials say initial findings indicate heavy rains, which broke a retaining wall at a waste dump operated by Tashan Mining Co., eventually caused the landslide.
According to state media, the sludge and liquid iron-ore waste buried an outdoor market and a village of 1,300 residents. Rescue work is continuing, but an official at the Xiangfen disaster relief center said Friday that the rainy season made rescue efforts more complicated.
This is the fourth mining-related disaster in less than two weeks, illustrating the deadly nature of China's mining industry. Despite years of safety campaigns and efforts to upgrade worker safety, many companies disregard safety standards, especially in the mining business.
Iron ore is in short supply in China, which imports about half its demand. That has spurred thousands of small-scale Chinese operators to open ore mines, which operate illegally but often are tolerated by local officials. Though iron-ore prices have come down recently, they hit a record high earlier this year.
State media said Thursday China has more than 9,000 mine waste dumps, and more than half operate without safety licenses. Tashan Mining itself didn't renew its production-safety license after it expired in 2006, and its mining license also had expired last year, state media reported.
Thirteen company officials, including the mine owner and senior managers, have been arrested, according to state media and Wang Quanmin, a spokesman from the Linfen municipal government that administers Xiangfen. Mr. Wang also said several local officials, including a party chief and the Xiangfen work safety bureau chief, have been suspended from their duties.
It isn't clear what will happen to those found guilty of mismanaging the mine or whether the culprits will be executed, as often happens when Chinese authorities want to warn others after a high profile case. A spokeswoman from the State Administration of Work Safety said an investigation is continuing and that those responsible will be "punished in line with the relevant laws."
-- Bai Lin in Shanghai contributed to this article.
Write to Jason Leow at jason.leow@wsj.com
Sunday, September 14, 2008
China Suspends Officials in Mine Disaster
Flaws appear in the Middle Kingdom’s economic miracle
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/china/article4744096.ece
September 13, 2008
Flaws appear in the Middle Kingdom’s economic miracle
The storm clouds are gathering as the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of double-digit Chinese growth starts to slow downLeo Lewis
If you picked up a cigarette lighter anywhere in the world, there is an 80 per cent chance that it was made in Wenzhou. And if your job was at a cigarette lighter factory in Wenzhou, there is an 80 per cent chance that you are now unemployed. Anywhere else, such a decline in a local industry would be considered catastrophic, but this sprawling industrial city has always taken a brutally capitalist view of life.
Seen from the gates of the 100 lighter factories in Wenzhou that are still running, the 600-odd that have fallen silent in the past 18 months were simply the unlucky ones. The people of Wenzhou realised that, beyond lighters, there are bigger, darker clouds gathering over the Middle Kingdom. The raging debate is: how big, how dark and how badly will they hit property prices?
Choosing the perfect proxy for Chinese growth has never been straightforward, but there are plenty of metrics to suggest that what was once a seemingly unstoppable generator of growth has begun to slow. Electricity production, for example, had risen at 12 per cent for the past two years, but it fell to single digits in July.
Evidence more recent and more striking came in the form of industrial production growth. It plunged to a six-year low in August. Of course, Glenn Maguire, Société Générale’s chief Asia economist, said, the Olympics and the forced closures of many factories and coal-fired power plants that were made while the Games were under way were behind that fall, but while industrial production is not collapsing, he said, it is tracking exports into softer territory.
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Other economists share the view that although the slowdown of the United States and Europe will do plenty of harm to China’s exports, its economy will not follow theirs into the abyss. Downturns in America and Europe will turn consumers towards cheaper, Chinese-made goods and even last year, when export growth was supercharged, net exports (exports minus imports) accounted for only 16 per cent of nominal GDP growth.
What will happen, though, is that last year’s 11.9 per cent GDP growth will probably be replaced by something around 9 per cent this year and 8 per cent next year. Although that would still leave the Chinese growth story looking impressive against most developed and developing economies, it will mark a psychological turning point. For both Chinese and many outside investors in China, double-digit growth has become something of an article of faith – “evidence” that the titanic Chinese numbers game is as good as it looks on paper.
The Beijing Olympics, and the organisers’ obsessive pursuit of records for size, expense and grandeur, was a key ritual of that faith. However, for both Chinese and international investors – and for the Communist Party policymakers 1,300 miles away in Beijing – Wenzhou’s lighter crisis encapsulates many of the doubts and worries now swirling around the country’s economic juggernaut. It also goes a long way, analysts say, to explaining the 65 per cent plunge in Shanghai-listed stocks since their peak last October and the marked absence of any rally before, during or after the Games.
It could also come to explain a vicious shakedown of property prices, which Nicole Wong, a CLSA analyst, believes may be in line for a 20 to 30 per cent correction. It is speculators from Wenzhou who have now begun to bale out of properties bought in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Having been among the first to feel the wealth effect of China’s growth, they are leading a flight from property because they cannot meet payments on what they bought at the top of the market.
Paul Cavey, Macquarie’s China economist, believes that any looming crisis in the property sector would trigger a response by the authorities in Beijing, given the central importance of construction to Chinese GDP.
There is much anecdotal evidence that China’s property market could turn very nasty, a misery that could rapidly transmit itself to the banking sector as a vast nonperforming loan build-up. Early buyers of apartments in Hangzhou trashed the offices of a developer because it had started to offer discounts to later buyers. In Hunan, 10,000 people rioted over an alleged property fraud scheme. There has already been a sharp rise in mortgage defaults in Shenzhen and Guangzhou provinces and other examples of people “walking away” from mortgages and forfeiting their deposits rather than watch their property fall into negative equity.
It all hinges, economists say, on how quickly unemployment emerges from any export-led downturn. Like so many facets of China’s export-emphasised, lower-tech industrial base, the Wenzhou lighter plants have been hit by rougher terms of trade and an unexpectedly fierce squeeze on margins. They also expose China’s still relatively low position on the so-called “value chain” of increasing technological prowess that Beijing is so desperate should propel industry along.
The zinc alloy and copper used to make lighters have doubled and tripled respectively in price since 2005. The combination of huge – some economists believe dangerously “malin-vested” – factory production capacity and ferocious competition means that the costs cannot be passed to customers. Profits of some lighter manufacturers in Wenzhou have taken 70 per cent maulings since last year.
Jim Walker, the managing director of Asianomics, believes that China’s potential downfall may lie in the extent to which it has too long allowed capital to be mispriced. It has done this, he argues, by regulating retail lending rates, manipulating the renminbi exchange rate and overt interference in market pricing mechanisms for key factors such as energy and food. When that is shaken down, the global effects will be far-reaching.
Although global commodity and energy prices are tumbling fast, their nearly vertical ascent earlier this year unravelled the mathematics of perhaps tens of billions of dollars of capital expenditure and capacity expansion. Business models that reaped bundles of cash with zinc at 8,000 yuan (£655) per tonne stop being viable at 20,000 yuan per tonne. The same appears to be true of energy. The cost of sending a container of goods from China to the West Coast of the United States is now about $8,000 (£4,475), 160 per cent higher than it was eight years ago when American manufacturers were making their decisions to outsource production to China.
To make matters worse, the factories of Wenzhou have had to respond, along with industry across China, to robust consumer price inflation. For the Government, the 6.3 per cent level reached over the summer was a politically unacceptable figure demanding policy response; for factory bosses, even the August rate of 4.9 per cent means wage rises and yet more pressure on already shrinking margins.
Added to that pressure is the effect of the new Employment Contract Law, which went into effect this year and was designed to offer greater government protection to workers. Most analysts believe that the impact so far has been negligible, especially in the sweatshops feeding the clothing industry. However, the knock-on effect, said Andy Rothman, of CLSA, has been significant: workers now fight for their rights in a way that they did not before.
According to lawyers in Shanghai, labour disputes there in the past eight months are up by 115 per cent on the same period last year. Only a quarter of those cases ended in victory for plaintiffs, but smaller companies – particularly export processors – are running scared. Many, fearing litigation under the new law, have moved to grant minimum wages that previously they might have got away without paying.
A more unsettling question on labour may be the future of Chinese labour productivity. Recently published research suggests that across manufacturing – private and state-owned – annual productivity grew at a huge 20.4 per cent a year between 1995 and 2003.
According to Pieter Bottelier, a China economist at Johns Hopkins University, the significance of that may have been missed by most analysts. It was this unprecedented and still unique productivity growth profile that allowed China’s manufacturers to reduce export prices, gain market share, increase profits and pay rapidly rising real wages – all at the same time. What is still not known is where productivity has gone since 2003. Professor Bottelier assumes that it will have slowed, placing yet more squeeze on margins.
If, as many suspect, the margin squeeze is hurting corporate China – some estimate that 67,000 companies have failed so far this year – how Beijing attacks this will be perhaps the biggest test it has faced in two decades.
Mr Walker said: “The capital mispricing mistakes are about to be exposed. They will turn out to be more extensive than the housing market debacle that characterises the US.”
Japan's general election may be held late October:
report Fri Sep 12, 11:59 PM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's ruling coalition is considering bringing forward general elections to October 26, a newspaper said Saturday.
The coalition, led by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), had originally considered holding the next election on November 9 to allow sufficient time to prepare for the campaign, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.
The LDP is to hold its presidential election on September 22 to replace Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who announced his resignation earlier this month. A new LDP leader will secure the nation's premiership.
October 26 emerged as the favourite date because the coalition wants to use the momentum from the LDP election, the mass-circulation daily said, quoting coalition sources.
A final decision on a general election date will be made by the new LDP president. Taro Aso, a conservative former foreign minister, is the favourite.
Russia pulls troops out of Georgian port Poti
Moscow - Russia has withdrawn its last troops from the Georgian port of Poti, reports said Saturday. Russian television showed the troops dismantling checkpoints at the Black Sea port before leaving in trucks. Around 150 Russian soldiers and ten tanks had been stationed in Poti, locals said.
On Monday French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, brokered in Moscow a deal to end Russia's current military occupation of Georgia.
Under the deal, Russia was to pull its troops out of Poti by September 15 and retreat from undisputed parts of Georgia within 10 days. At least 200 EU observers are to be in position by October 1 at the latest.
Russia Stock Market Fall Is Said to Imperil Oil Boom
By ANDREW E. KRAMER
Published: September 12, 2008
MOSCOW — Rattled by falling oil prices and the war in Georgia, Russia’s stock market has slumped so severely that it now threatens the country’s oil-fueled boom of recent years, economists say.
The benchmark RTS index has lost 46 percent of its value since its peak in May, representing a paper loss of about $700 billion for Russian companies. Much of that decline has come since the war in Georgia and the subsequent war of words with the United States and Europe that unsettled foreign investors, who began withdrawing capital.
On Friday the RTS, which peaked in May at 2,487, rebounded slightly, rising 3.36 percent to close at 1,342. The country’s other main stock exchange, the MICEX, was rose 6 percent on Friday, after weeks of heavy losses.
While initially seen as a problem confined to the Russian stock market, which is volatile in the best of times, the drop in share prices is now spilling over to the real economy. Companies that had pledged shares as collateral for loans, for example, are now facing margin calls, bankers in Moscow say.
“It’s a classic squeeze,” said Roland Nash, chief strategist for Renaissance Capital in Moscow.
The underlying problem for the Russian stock market is that about 80 percent of the shares are in companies exporting commodities with a history of boom-bust cycles. Additionally, the risk premium for investing in Russia has risen with the war.
It is unclear which problem caused more damage. In one indication that Russian politics lubricated the market slide here, however, investors have pulled nearly $5 billion this year from emerging market funds with a heavy Russia weighting, according to EPFR Global, a company that tracks fund flows. By comparison, investments in Middle East and African funds, which are also seen as dependent on commodity prices, have risen this year.
The decline has elicited a response from officials here that economists described as panicky, including a number of plans that would have seemed inconceivable a few months ago.
For next year, Russian officials are projecting federal revenue growth of 1.8 percent, compared with an estimated 13.8 percent this year. Just in the last week, the value of Russia’s hard currency reserves has dropped $8.9 billion. The ruble is down 6 percent since the war in Georgia.
“The government and central bank need to do all they can to ensure inflow of additional financial resources into the financial market,” President Dmitri A. Medvedev said Thursday. “This is absolutely obvious, and this must be done for sure.”
The finance minister, Aleksei L. Kudrin, who had opposed investing any of Russia’s $573 billion in hard currency reserves in the domestic market during a milder correction a year ago, this week approved of the idea. Mr. Kudrin added Thursday that the government might also tap money in the state pension fund to invest in equities.
In a stop-gap measure, the Central Bank has injected more than $11 billion into the Russian banking system and is intervening to halt the daily decline in the ruble’s exchange rate with the dollar. Investors, however, remained skeptical.
“Going forward, one of the big issues that people have with the Russian market is too much state ownership, too much manipulation,” Rory MacFarquhar, an economist for Goldman Sachs in Moscow, said in a telephone interview. “Nobody is going to believe that is not politicized.”
More Articles in Business
Russia' military riddles with weakness
A member of a Russian tank crew surveys the terrain last month during the Russian invasion of Georgia. The Soviet-designed T-72 tanks that rolled into Georgia were prone to breaking down and are considered several rungs below American battle tanks.
Russia's military is riddled with weakness. Its equipment is outdated. Its technology is decades behind the West. And its capacity for battlefield...
By Tom Lasseter
McClatchy Newspapers
BELA SZANDELSZKY / AP
Related
Russian economy isn't in great shape, either
MOSCOW — Russia's military is riddled with weakness. Its equipment is outdated. Its technology is decades behind the West. And its capacity for battlefield communications and intelligence gathering is terrible.
In short, Russia has a mid- to late-20th century military in a 21st-century world.
That and more were revealed during Russia's war with U.S.-backed Georgia last month, when its troops routed the small Georgian army but looked woefully short of the fighting power of nations like the United States.
And to top things off, Russia's economy has recently been slammed by the double whammy of a plummeting stock market and falling currency as the effects of the global economic crunch were compounded by worried Western investors withdrawing billions of dollars in the aftermath of the Georgian war.
Instead of pausing, the Kremlin has charged ahead, warning and threatening the United States and its allies at every turn. Brushing aside American predictions that Moscow would isolate itself from the world by invading Georgia, the Kremlin last week announced joint training exercises with Venezuela — where President Hugo Chávez is an avowed foe of U.S. policy abroad.
News on Wednesday that two nuclear-capable Russian bombers, reportedly without nuclear weapons, had landed in Venezuela punctuated both the uncertainty and the gravity of the situation: Was this just a posturing by Moscow leaders, or is the Kremlin signaling it is willing to risk a fight despite its obvious weaknesses?
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has publicly said he has no desire for conflict. Russian generals under his government's command, meanwhile, have said they might target U.S. missile defense shield sites in Europe with ballistic missiles.
Russia observers differ on the implications of the standoff.
Vladimir Dvorkin, a retired Russian major general who ran a premier military think tank from 1993 to 2001, said the maneuvers by the United States and Russia after the Georgian war have been political posturing, and the idea that Russia and the West would get into an armed confrontation is "absurd."
Some pro-Western analysts, however, say Russian leadership is testing how far it can go in reclaiming parts of the former Soviet Union, or at least weakening Western influence in the region, at a time when the United States is perceived as being weak and Europe divided.
During the fighting in Georgia, Russian officers in the field frequently relied on cellphones or old radios, and they were unable to establish tactical command centers close to the front. The air force and ground forces were badly out of sync, and some soldiers complained to reporters that they hadn't eaten in a few days.
Their American counterparts would have been able to quickly establish satellite uplinks, visual feeds from unmanned aerial drones — which the Russians weren't able to use at all — and real-time communications among all branches of the military.
The Soviet-designed T-72 tanks that rolled into Georgia were prone to breaking down and are considered several rungs below American battle tanks.
"Military equipment is very old, and at the same time it's absolutely clear that Russia has no resources to change it," said Alexander Goltz, a military analyst in Moscow. "For all of the '90s, we had no money to produce new military equipment ... the whole chain of subcontractors was destroyed."
But former military officers, and officials connected with the Kremlin, emphasize that Russia is in the same league as America when it comes to nuclear missile stockpiles.
Pavel Zolotarev, a retired Russian major general and deputy director of a government-funded institute that studies the United States and Canada, reminded a reporter of nuclear realities.
"An army is made up of different kinds of forces," Zolotarev said. "If we compare the nuclear forces of these two sides, then we have parity. We can destroy each other five or six times."
Amid the heated words, it's important to step back and see Russia for what it really is, said Robert Hunter, the U.S. ambassador to NATO under President Clinton and now a senior adviser at the RAND Corp.
"I don't believe that Russia is a great power again. ... Russia is Saudi Arabia with trees," Hunter said. "In reality, Russia is a second-rate military power and will be for some time."
Russian forces leave
Georgian port city
TBILISI, Georgia — Russian forces pulled out of the Black Sea port of Poti today and appeared to be preparing to withdraw from other positions in western Georgia weeks, eyewitnesses and officials said.
An Associated Press television crew saw Russian soldiers packing military trucks at a post by the Black Sea shore near the Abkhazia region before dawn.
Russian forces left the two posts they had maintained on the outskirts of Poti, one by a bridge on a main road leading into the city and one a few miles from Georgia's main port, Interior Ministry official Shota Utiashvili said.
"Russian forces have withdrawn completely from Poti," Utiashvili said.
The Associated Press
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Bush: Rescue teams ready to help after Ike
The Associated PressPublished: September 13, 2008
WASHINGTON: Rescue teams were poised to move in and help tens of thousands of people who decided not to evacuate before Hurricane Ike struck, President Bush said Saturday.
"The storm has yet to pass and I know there are people concerned about their lives," Bush said from the South Lawn of the White House after he participated in video conference with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and David Paulison, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"Some people didn't evacuate when asked," Bush said about the tens of thousands of people in Texas and Louisiana who may have to be rescued. "I've been briefed on the rescue teams there in the area. They're prepared to move as soon as weather conditions permit. Obviously, people on the ground there are sensitive to helping people and are fully prepared to do so."
Ike ravaged southeast Texas early Saturday, battering the coast with driving rain and high wind. Thousands of homes and government buildings are flooded, roads are washed out, nearly 3 million people lost power and several fires burned unabated.
"As this massive storm moves through the Gulf Coast, people in that area can rest assured that the American people will be praying for them and will be ready to help once this storm moves on," Bush said.
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Though roughly 1 million people fled coastal communities, authorities in four counties alone said roughly 140,000 ignored mandatory evacuation orders and stayed behind. Other counties were unable to provide numbers but officials said they were concerned that many decided to brave deadly conditions rather than flee.
The eye of the hurricane missed the center of Houston, as well as the largest concentrations of oil and gas refineries. Still, retail gasoline prices jumped Saturday based on Ike's collision with the region, which accounts for about one-fifth of the nation's petroleum refining capacity. Some refineries, even if they were not damaged, may remain shuttered for days.
Gas prices nationwide rose nearly 6 cents a gallon to $3.733, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Ike disrupted supply at the wholesale level in the Gulf Coast, where prices struck $4.85 a gallon Friday.
The price spike is expected to result in higher prices at gas pumps across broad swaths of the nation as the gasoline makes it way from the wholesale market to retailers.
The Environmental Protection Agency temporarily has waived certain gasoline requirements for nearly a dozen states that are dependent on supplies from the Gulf Coast. The action means that the states temporarily do not have to use less-polluting blends of gasoline, making it easier for them to use foreign imports on the U.S. market.
"In the meantime, the Department of Energy and state authorities will be monitoring a gasoline crisis so consumers are not being gouged," Bush said.
Implications of Suu Kyi’s refusal to meet Gambari…
http://aussgworldpolitics.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/implications-of-suu-kyis-refusal-to-meet-gambari/
Implications of Suu Kyi’s refusal to meet Gambari…
Posted by Charles on September 12, 2008
Any wonder why the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate has chosen not to meet up with UN envoy, Ibrahim Gambari?
According to Kyaw Zwa Moe, in Irrawaddy’s, ‘The UN’s Dangerous Detour‘, the UN has been bending itself over backwards in promoting the interests of the military junta and its ‘road map’ to democracy. He wrote, it ‘was more than a disappointment: it was a disgrace’. The writer also added that Gambari was pushing for a nation-wide 2010 elections, which was originally part of the junta’s ‘road map’. The envoy further assured that the UN would monitor this election to ensure that it is conducted in a ‘free and fair’ manner.
The problem with trying to conduct a future election is three-fold.
However, even before we consider that prospect, the envoy should be dutifully reminded that the National League for Democracy (NLD) had already won the polls fair and square back in 1991. They were prevented from forming a civilian government by the junta which has thus far, shown no remorse and has continued with its repressive rule.
This view is supported by an Irrawaddy editorial, ‘The UN Must Set the Agenda’, which noted that humanitarian aid being delivered to victims of Cyclone Nargis faced tremendous difficulties, which ‘can be traced directly to local bureaucratic hurdles or military interference by the regime’.
Therefore, given the junta’s dodgy previous and current track record, what makes the UN confident that the former would not resort to similar tricks if they are to lose again the next round?
Moreover, even if they are to win, the UN can never guarantee that the elections will be free and fair. This is because the country is currently under military rule which translates into the denial of freedom of expression. This will indirectly impact and obstruct opposition politicians from free and fair campaigning. Any results that are to materialise will likely be heavily prejudiced towards the status quo.
Lastly, the NLD was supposed to form the government back in 1991, which has yet to materialise. If the UN are to disregard the results of that election, then it is effectively delegitimising itself as a impartial world body by ignoring the democratic wishes of the Burmese.
Now that Suu Kyi has refused to meet Gambari, the secretary general, Ban Ki- Moon, is sticking to his guns. He claims that Gambari’s visit was not futile and that progress can be made despite the odds. The Secretary General is naive in making such a statement because he should know that any negotiations without Suu Kyi is basically meaningless.
Such a move by Suu Kyi has various implications not just for developments in Burma, but also the UN.
First, the UN is losing its hold as an impartial mediator. Worse, it is seen as powerless in its role as a negotiator because it can no longer get NLD and Suu Kyi onto the negotiating table.
While the current deadlock may appear to be at a disadvantage for NLD , it may not necessarily be so. By downplaying the UN’s role, the supporting function of ASEAN and neighbouring countries that are propping up the junta, is also henceforth, reduced. The ‘road map’ adovcated by the junta cannot proceed under a disguise of having the support of these actors.
Hopefully, the UN will be forced to consider taking a stronger stance against the junta. Not only should the UN demand for more human rights improvements, it should also adopt harsher language, not just against the junta, but also on corporations and countries that are supporting the latter.
This entry was posted on September 12, 2008 at 10:23 pm and is filed under Politics (Asia). Tagged: Burma, UN. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
SELF-STYLED INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN STRIKES IN NEW DELHI
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/
September 13, 2008
SELF-STYLED INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN STRIKES IN NEW DELHI
B.RAMAN
The so-called Indian Mujahideen (IM) has once again, through an E-mail sent to some media offices, claimed the responsibility for a series of five explosions in three crowded market places of New Delhi between 6-45 PM and 7 PM on September 13,2008. At least nine persons are reported to have been killed and many injured. The message is reported to have been sent five minutes before the explosions took place. It speaks of nine Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted in different places. Five of these have exploded. Three are reported to have been detected by the police before the explosion could take place. One remains unaccounted for.
2.One has to await details of evidence regarding the IEDs before one could comment on their similarity,if any, with the earlier blasts in three cities of Uttar Pradesh last November, in Jaipur in May and in Bangalore and Ahmedabad in July, but the means of communication used to claim responsibility for the blasts and to provide authenticity of the claim are the same.The use of E-mails signed by similar kuniyats (assumed names such as al-Hindi or al-Arabi) and similar-sounding E-mail addresses indicate the same organisation has been responsible.
3. It is already quite clear that a wide area pan-Indian network of terrorists has come up in our midst and has managed to train a number of Indian Muslims not only in assembling IEDs, but also in clandestine methods of operation and communication. From what one heard of the contents of the message from the IM about the New Delhi blasts, there is an element of bravado in it. It taunts the security experts for not being able to establish who are behind these messages. It shows a certain confidence that the police are not yet on the trail of those sending these messages.
4. The success of the UP Police in identifying some of those involved in the blasts of last November did not prevent the blasts that followed in other cities. Similarly, the success of the Ahmedabad and Jaipur Police in arresting many of those responsible for the blasts in their cities has not come in the way of the successful strike in New Delhi.
5. Normally, timely preventive intelligence comes either from intercepts of communications and/or penetration of the terrorist organisations. The IM has apparently been using the Internet for its internal communications and not telephones. If so, this highlights our inadequacies in intercepting Internet communications. Since we still do not know the identity and organisational structure of the IM, penetrating it would have been understandably difficult. We were presuming before the UP blasts of last November that all terrorist strikes must be the work of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) or the Pakistan/Bangladesh based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI). Since November last, we have been focussing on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). It is possible that elements from all these organisations are involved. It is equally possible that there are other Indian Muslim elements who had not come to the notice of the police earlier/. It is important to keep an open mind and establish the composition and structure of the IM. Only then penetration would be possible.
6.Preventive intelligence also comes fom the thorough interrogation of those arrested in connection with the previous blasts. All the arrests made so far, whether in UP or Jaipur or Ahmedabad , were mainly of those involved in those blasts. They apparently did not enable us to identify and arrest those trained with a capability for assembling IEDS, but who had not yet participated in any terrorist strike.
7. It should be apparent by now firstly, that we have only identified the tip of the jihadi iceberg in our midst. The iceberg itself remains unexposed. Secondly, we have not yet been able to identify the command and control of the IM. Thirdly, like Al Qaeda, the IM is divided into a number of autonomous cells each capable of operating independently without being affected by the identification and neutralisation of the cells involved in previous blasts.
8. All these years, our focus was on the training camps for jihadi terrorists in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Interrogation of those arrested since the beginning of this year has brought out that many training camps had been held in different parts of India by the SIMI. We were apparently oblivious of the details of these camps and the identities of those trained. It is important to have a common investigation cell for the whole of India to identify the various elements involved in this wide area network and neutralise them. Piecemeal investigation in different States ruled by different political parties each with its own partisan perception and agenda will result in our continuing to bleed at the hands of this network (13-9-08)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Posted by Naxal Watch at 8:48 AM 0 comments Links to this post
China’s naval ambitions
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2008/09/chinas-naval-ambitions.html
Second chance at command of the oceans
Le Monde diplomatique.
Five hundred years ago the obvious contender for dominance of the world’s oceans was the Chinese imperial exploration fleet, which was technologically centuries ahead of all its rivals. But the emperor decided to turn the nation’s back on the sea. The Chinese will not make the same mistake twice
By Olivier Zajec
In 2006 China Central Television showed a documentary series, Daguo Jueqi (The rise of great powers) (1), which was immediately successful. It included interviews with historians and international leaders and was considered accurate enough to be bought by the History Channel and broadcast in the United States. The 12 50-minute episodes explained how the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, British, German, Japanese, Russian and American empires rose, prospered and fell. The man behind the idea, Beijing university professor Qian Chengdan, understands its popular appeal in his own country: “It’s because China, the Chinese people, the Chinese race, has been revitalised and is once again on the world stage” (2).
Daguo Jueqi looks at the maritime achievements of the major powers in their rise to global dominance. Whatever the population, size or territory of the originating country, its strategy was always to open to the outside world, control the principal sea lanes and deep-water bases, and master technology, naval action and influence. Those are the Chinese government’s new priorities, laid down in the 2000 Maritime High Technology Plan and the parallel rise of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
Pragmatism and diplomacy
The documentary broke with decades of Chinese Communist Party historical ideology and revealed China’s current pragmatism as that of a rising power intent on avoiding the arrogant blindness that left it in a long period of weakness in the 19th century. To influence the world in a “harmonious and peaceful” manner (two key words used in current policy), to open China to the world – and the world to China – appears to be Hu Jintao’s present creed. In an unprecedented effort of naval diplomacy in 2007, Chinese warships visited French, Australian, Japanese, Singaporean, Spanish and US ports and took part in joint manoeuvres against the threat of piracy.
China’s soft-power ambitions should be put in perspective against the regional backdrop. There are also two major issues. One concerns China’s territorial claims on Taiwan and the extent of Chinese territorial waters in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). If China were to satisfy these ambitions it would gain free access to vast areas of the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asian sea lanes beyond the Indochinese peninsula. The second issue, now that China has become the world’s second oil importer, is the protection of its energy corridors. The territorial issue will be a determining factor for the present. Beijing has succeeded in settling land border disputes with 13 of its neighbours in a friendly manner (3). Only two neighbours oppose China openly: Bhutan and India. But, according to Loïc Frouart, of the French defence ministry’s strategic affairs delegation, “those 14,500 km of maritime borders represent many possibilities for potential crisis or friction. There are many unresolved conflicts” (4). China is claiming full sovereignty over 4m sq km of water.
The Chinese authorities would like to regain their hold on Taiwan “by force if necessary”. That remains the official stance, although the election in Taiwan of Ma Ying-jeou’s Kuomintang party has reduced tensions on both sides of the straits. Along with the rapid rise of the Chinese navy and the decline, however relative, in the tonnage difference with the US navy, China is using psychological as well as military means to accompany the developments that will lead to the peaceful return of Taiwan. That involves both dissuasion and enticement. The missiles aimed at the island, and the US attitude to them, prevent Taiwan from declaring independence, while the growing economic interdependence between Taiwan and the mainland is preparing citizens for a possible Hong Kong transfer.
However, Taiwan is not the only stone in China’s vast game of maritime Go. China is also in conflict with Japan over the Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku in Japanese) near Okinawa, which house a US military base. Tokyo insists that its EEZ extends 450 km to the west of the archipelago, which Beijing contests by claiming the entire continental plateau that extends its own territory into the East China Sea. It is no coincidence that this area contains a potential 200bn cubic metres of natural gas. China is also in conflict with Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia over the Spratly Islands (Nansha in Chinese) and the Pratas archipelago (Dongsha), and with Vietnam and Taiwan over the Paracel Islands (Xisha). China is contesting maritime borders in Japan and Vietnam and disputing fishing quotas with South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Longstanding naval ambitions
We tend to forget that China has always been active in the region. In the 1950s the Chinese navy took back most of the small coastal islands controlled by Chiang Kai Shek’s nationalists. In 1974 it took advantage of South Vietnam’s defeat to occupy the Paracel Islands, and in 1988 seized the Fiery Cross reef close to the Spratly archipelago from the Vietnamese. All the countries in the region, once vassals and tributaries of the Middle Kingdom, fear Beijing’s naval ambitions.
In the 1980s the important feature of Admiral Liu Huaqing’s maritime strategy (5), before oil or fishing in the South China Seas, was to secure access to the high seas for the Chinese fleet. China needed to impose its presence to the west of a “green sea line” from Japan to Malaysia via Taiwan and the Philippines. The main contender is the Japanese navy, which China has already tested by repeated submarine incursions (including an incident with a Chinese nuclear submarine in 2004).
Now Beijing is attempting to break through this line and pass through the shallow waters of the East and South China Seas into the “blue water line” of a second basin from Japan to Indonesia via Guam, the US military air and navy hub in the West Pacific. The main obstacle to the projection of Chinese naval power as far as the deep blue line (patrolled by the US Seventh Fleet) is Taiwan. In January 2008 the Taiwanese minister of defence, Ko Chen-heng, denounced the Chinese navy’s activities in the Bashi Channel, a communications bottleneck between Taiwan and the Philippines.
Once Chinese has solved its deep-water access, the navy will be able to devote more time to securing Southeast Asia’s four energy corridors. The first carries oil tankers of under 100,000 tonnes from Africa and the Middle East to the South China Sea via the Straits of Malacca. The second takes giant oil tankers from the same production areas through the Sundra and Gaspar Straits (6), while the third leads from South America through Filipino waters.
The fourth is an alternative route from the Middle East and Africa between the Straits of Lombok and Macassar, the Philippines and the West Pacific before reaching Chinese ports. Malacca is the main stranglehold, with 80% of Chinese oil imports passing through the straits, making China vulnerable in conflict. It is diversifying its access by developing the rail networks connecting Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) nations, finalising the direct Chinese-Burmese pipeline between Sittwe and Kunming (7), assisting in the development of offshore natural gas production capacity in Southeast Asia (especially in Burma and Thailand), and even considering the construction of a canal across the Kra isthmus in southern Thailand, in a region threatened by separatist insurgencies.
Pearl necklace strategy
These projects are difficult and will only partly reduce China’s dependence on the corridors. The need to secure them against piracy and the ambitions (real or imaginary) of the US, Japan and India, has led China to reinforce its deep-water naval strategy. Beijing is building a “pearl necklace” of permanent Chinese bases along the shores of the Indian Ocean and the maritime routes to Malacca: Marao in the Maldives, Coco island in Burma, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Gwadar in Pakistan, while waiting to create coastal bases in Africa, now open to Chinese investment. China has no shortage of workers or funds to organise and maintain operational bases in allied countries. It even offers ships to those countries to protect their offshore oil (8).
Apart from the US, which believes the Pacific will be a major strategic area for the next 50 years, China has two serious rivals: India and Japan. India and China, the two largest countries in demographic terms, have long been wary of each other – not least, in India’s view, because China supports Pakistan over Kashmir and continues to supply Islamabad with weapons. India aspires to the same status as China (a regional power with a global vocation) and has maritime ambitions to match. Its fleet is growing and its stated strategic goal is to make the Indian Ocean its own sea. Beijing’s pearl necklace strategy is an intrusion.
To stake its claim, India is building two aircraft carriers, the first of which should be operational in 2010, while a third, second-hand from Russia, is being overhauled. India’s submarine fleet uses French technology (Scorpène submarines) of a superior quality to the Chinese equivalent. The two countries are in a mutual observation phase and studiously avoid any conflict. There has been recent progress in relations between the two navies and joint manoeuvres since the countries signed a strategic partnership in April 2005.
Sino-Japanese relations have been through a tense period. The Japanese fleet is powerful and more modern than the Chinese, and has taken part in joint manoeuvres with the US navy for years. But the conflict over the Senkaku Islands revealed a nervous country, encumbered by its post-second world war pacifist constitution, now criticised by a nationalist faction. Japan is undecided as to how to handle China. Nor are Japan and India alone in their concerns about Chinese pressure. Smaller countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore are rapidly strengthening and modernising their own fleets. They are afraid that, with the US bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Chinese will hold sway in the region, and a passing situation may become permanent.
Shipyards work overtime
Chinese shipyards are seizing the opportunity and working flat out from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea. The naval bases, river ports, sea walls, protected submarine bases (including the new Sanya nuclear base on Hainan Island) are growing and modernising as befits a nation in economic boom, whose foreign trade depends 90% on sea routes. In 2006 China’s sea-related industries accounted for 10% of GDP and seven of the world’s 20 leading ports were Chinese. Chinese efforts have civilian as well as military goals. Along with the naval construction, the maritime high technology plan is financing parallel projects to consolidate the fleet’s autonomy, such as a satellite-based geopositioning system called Beidou, maritime surveillance systems and more shipyards.
In 1995 China became the world’s third civilian shipbuilder after Japan and Korea and is catching up fast. With its two gigantic enterprises, China State Shipbuilding Corporation and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, China stands every chance of becoming the world’s largest shipbuilder by 2020. The Chinese national plan does not distinguish between civilian and military vessels and both are built in the same shipyards.
World tonnage ranking
The world’s eight leading naval fleets Tonnes
United States 2,900,000
Russia 1,100,000
China 850,000
United Kingdom 470,000
Japan 432,000
France 307,000
India 240,000
Italy 143,000
(Source: Annuaire des Flottes de Combat, 2008)
China’s fifth national defence white paper in 2006 (9) provided a framework for the maritime awareness that emerged in the early 1990s. It transferred priority from the army, which traditionally held pride of place, to the navy and air force. The CCP’s Central Committee and its powerful Central Military Commission, now have many more naval and air force officers (10). In 2007 these were nearly 25% of the military elite, compared with 14% in 1992.
No expense has been spared. China’s three fleets (the East Sea Fleet headquartered in Shanghai, the South Sea Fleet based in Zhanjiang and the North Sea Fleet in Qingdao), each have their own naval airbase with bombers and fighter planes. More modern systems have been delivered, such as the Luyang anti-aircraft destroyers, or the locally built Ma’anshan frigate, successor to the Jiangwei of the 1990s. China had more than 500 coastal patrol boats at the end of the 1970s; half remain in use today but the deep-water fleet has increased to 60 vessels (11).
A considerable effort has also been made in amphibious vessels with some hundred ships under construction to make Chinese ambitions in the Spratly Islands or Taiwan a reality. Minesweepers, ballistic missile patrol ships and new oil tankers are also on order. There is no shortage of foreign help, from Australian wave-piercing catamarans, to Russian Sovremenny destroyers and Kilo submarines, Italian and French combat systems and Dutch naval guns. China imports, copies, adapts and often, to the surprise of its suppliers, improves, the equipment it wants. In some areas such as electronic warfare, or the most efficient engines and onboard combat systems, China depends on foreign, especially Russian, supplies.
Key role of submarines
Submarines play a key part in China’s global maritime programme. Despite persistent rumours concerning the refurbishing of the Varyag, bought from the Russians and in a shipyard for years, China does not have a single aircraft carrier, and only modern submarines could hope to dissuade the US Seventh Fleet which still guards Taiwan from its bases in Guam, Japan and South Korea. The Chinese fleet is reputed to have five fast-attack nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) and one ballistic missile submarine (SLBN) reputed to carry between 12 and 16 nuclear missiles with a range of 3,500km. It has 30 diesel-electric submarines and more than 20 other submersibles are under construction.
The US Seventh Fleet is concerned by this arsenal and admirals are petitioning Congress and the White House, claiming that the Chinese submarine fleet will exceed the number of US ships in the Pacific by 2020. Influential people, such as US Congressman Duncan Hunter (12), have recently raised the issue. Chinese SSNs carried out more patrols in 2007 than in the preceding five years. These concerns are reflected in the Pentagon’s annual report on the strength of the Chinese military (13) but they need to be placed in perspective. No one really knows what the performance of the best Chinese submarines may be, and it is possibly poor.
The US navy has 53 modern SSNs, twice the number of any other nation, as well as 12 of the world’s 15 aircraft carriers, and an unrivalled anti-submarine air fleet. The last issue of the US publication Quadrennial Defence Review (14) is more subdued in tone and discusses cooperation rather than confrontation. The situation in the South China Sea is not a declared arms race but a variable geometry opposition between the Indian, US, Australian and Japanese fleets, and the Chinese and Pakistani fleets.
China’s maritime ambitions are the result of the frustration of a nation that should have gained world dominance during its first globalisation 500 years ago, but was usurped by western barbarians. China had mastered astronomic observation-based navigation and the compass, had invented the anchor, the printing of marine navigation charts, the capstan, the adjustable centre-board, and was probably building giant multi-mast ships with pivotable rigging (15). Their junks had watertight compartments and stern-mounted rudders. All these were innovations that would be perfected by the West and used to humiliate China.
During the Ming dynasty (1358-1644), China turned away from the high seas and its great 15th century expeditions, in the most amazing of which the eunuch-admiral Zhang He had led the emperor’s 300-strong fleet to explore the world’s oceans (16). Building ocean-going vessels became punishable by death. That mistake has been taken on board and the glories of the maritime past are now cherished. The official website for promoting China’s presence in Africa tells the story of Mwamaka Shariff Lali, a young woman from Lamu Island, Kenya – where Ming dynasty porcelain shards are built in to local constructions – who is, by oral tradition and appearance, a descendent of Chinese sailors shipwrecked on the island before China withdrew from the oceans. She was offered a free place at a Chinese university and invited to celebrate “Zheng He navigation day” in Jiangsu province, the departure point for the imperial fleet (17).
The US has increased initiatives for exchange and cooperation with the Indian and Japanese navies as well as the Chinese, in an attempt to control its massive expansion as best it can. The most recent US gambit was the 2007 Global Maritime Partnership Initiative, under which each ally, including China, was invited to contribute to a thousand-ship fleet to combat piracy. Yang Yi, the director of the National Defence University’s institute for strategic studies, was not convinced that China would accept such a proposition before identifying ulterior motives and longterm implications (18).
China wants to prevent anything from stealing its second chance in history to emerge as a global and sovereign maritime power. China has not forgotten the Opium War, nor the sack of the Summer Palace (19), and will no longer tolerate threats or constraints. It is taking precautions. Even though it is still a long way from surpassing the dominant US navy, it is guided by history and each new naval accomplishment acquires a symbolic value. In 1989 the first PLAN ship to visit the US was a training vessel. It was called the Zhang He.
Translated by Krystyna Horko
Olivier Zajec is a researcher at the Compagnie européenne d’intelligence stratégique (CEIS) in Paris
(1) See the home page for the series (in Chinese) on http://finance.cctv.com/special/C16 ...
(2) Joseph Kahn, “China, shy giant, shows signs of shedding its false modesty”, The New York Times, 9 December 2006.
(3) Afghanistan, Burma, Bhutan, North Korea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Vietnam.
(4) La Revue de défense nationale et de sécurité collective, Paris, May 2007.
(5) Liu Huaqing was also the first chief naval commander to make an official visit to the US in 1985.
(6) The Sundra Strait is between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra, while the Gaspar Strait separates Bangka and Belitung islands, also in Indonesia.
(7) Sittwe is on the west coast of Burma and Kunming is a river port in Yunnan province, south China.
(8) In October 2007 China supplied Cambodia with nine patrol boats to protect its oil installations in the Gulf of Thailand. See Defense News, International Edition, Springfield (Virginia), 18 February 2008.
(9) The first Chinese white paper was published in 1998.
(10) See Li Cheng and Scott W Harold, “China’s new military elite”, China Security, vol 3, no 4,Washington, Autumn 2007.
(11) A ship is considered ocean-going from 2,000 tonnes.
(12) Duncan Hunter is a Republican Congressman (California) who regularly defends US industry and defence budgets.
(13) See www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/ 07052.... Many American and European analysts have condemned the alarmist tone of the report, without however, denying Chinese advances.
(14) The Quadrennial Defence Review (QDR) published by US Department of Defence, describes US defence strategy over a 20-year period and is updated every four years.
(15) UCLA Centre for Chinese Studies, www.international.ucla.edu/chi na
(16) Admiral Zheng He made seven sea voyages between 1405 and 1433. See Attilio Jesus, “China’s empire of exploration ”, Le Monde diplomatique, English edition, September 2005.
(17) The Chinafrique website, in English, French and Chinese, provides other edifying articles, such as “The Chinese Prime Minister shakes the hands of African AIDS patients”, “The happy life of a Congolese in Beijing”, “China has made me rich”, “Friendship first, trade second”, “China could never be labelled neo-colonial”, etc.
(18) China Security, op cit.
(19) The two Opium Wars, for the purpose of imposing the drug on China, were first led by the British alone (1839-1842) and then by a Franco-British alliance (1858-1860), which resulted in the sack of the emperor’s Summer Palace in October 1860. See Victor Hugo’s letter to Captain Butler reproduced in the Unesco Courier, November 1985.
Posted by Naxal Watch at 6:59 AM
Nuclear India must end its China-bashing
http://www.defence.pk/forums/strategic-geopolitical-issues/14118-nuclear-india-must-end-its-china-bashing.html
By Joe Leahy
Published: September 10 2008 19:17 | Last updated: September 10 2008 19:17
India’s success last week at the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting in Vienna unleashed a wave of nationalist chest-beating greater even than a few weeks earlier when Abhinav Bindra, a shooter, became the nation’s first individual to win an Olympic gold medal.
The nation’s cable news channels dropped their usual fare of gory crime stories and political corruption scandals to provide blanket coverage of the intricate negotiations with the NSG, which eventually agreed to lift a global ban on nuclear trade with India, ending the country’s decades of nuclear pariah status.
But the media celebrations had an ugly side – China-bashing. Perceptions that Beijing had tried to block the deal from behind the scenes sparked outrage among commentators, who suspected China was championing the interests of its ally and India’s nuclear-armed rival, Pakistan.
“It is in times of adversity that one learns who one’s friends are,” the Indian Express wrote in a piece lambasting China. The main business daily, The Economic Times, went further. “Slimy dragon wants deal for mother of proliferators,” it said, referring to perceptions that China might call for an NSG waiver for Pakistan as well.
Rather than crowing about getting one up on the Chinese “dragon” and Islamabad, this should be a time of introspection for India. When the celebrations had died down, Mr Bindra’s medal prompted soul-searching on why the world’s second most populous nation had only just won its first individual Olympic gold. So, too, the nuclear deal should set Indians thinking about why their government has taken this long to tackle energy security, probably the country’s most critical long-term strategic challenge.
From the beginning, India’s civilian nuclear deal with the US has been as much about India’s arrival on the geopolitical grand stage as it has been about atomic energy. Not only does the NSG waiver allow India to emerge from the diplomatic nuclear winter stemming from its refusal to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty; it also gives it a seat at the elite club of nations that governs the use of the world’s most powerful technology.
The road to nuclear acceptance has been a long one for India since the deal was first proposed by the US and India in 2005. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to brave a parliamentary vote of confidence to get the deal past domestic sceptics who believed it would compromise the nation’s sovereignty.
Next followed negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency on safeguards to ensure India’s intentions were peaceful. Then the US applied on India’s behalf to the 45-nation NSG to lift the ban on nuclear trade with New Delhi even though it has not signed the NPT and an agreement banning nuclear tests. Even now, the deal is not fully done. The Bush administration in its dying days must still win congressional approval for the pact.
The deal has been perceived in many quarters as good for India because it has got away without signing the NPT. But critics argue that it is a complex beast that brings India under the sphere of influence of the US in ways that New Delhi could find uncomfortable in the future.
Marie-Carine Lall, a south Asia specialist at the Institute of Education, University of London, argues that there is a dangerous gap between New Delhi and Washington in their views of what the deal means. The US sees it as bringing a maverick India into the non-proliferation framework. It also wants to use India as a counterweight to China and win Indian support for US objectives in the Middle East. India believes the deal will give it access not only to nuclear material and knowhow but also to sensitive technologies beyond the atomic arena. India also wants US support against the Pakistan-China axis, while maintaining independence in foreign policy. Professor Lall says tension may arise if the US tries to use its new nuclear partnership with India to put pressure on New Delhi on issues to do with Iran, for instance.
Despite the deal’s weaknesses, it is not as though India had much choice. India does not produce enough uranium to feed its existing reactors, let alone future capacity, and it imports about three-quarters of its crude oil, mostly from the Middle East. “We are 70 per cent dependent on Gulf oil and we don’t even have strategic reserves,” complained ambassador V.K. Grover, a member of the National Security Advisory Board.
India has been a laggard in securing alternative energy resources overseas. In the past four years, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the state oil giant, has gone on a shopping spree. But, in countries from Burma to Angola, the Chinese have mostly got there first. The civilian nuclear deal will not solve this problem overnight. Nuclear energy accounts for barely 3 per cent of India’s power capacity now and it will take a generation to increase this to anything meaningful. But it does send a signal that India is finally getting more serious about solving its looming energy security crisis. If the US Congress approves the nuclear deal, India will be able to claim it now has a powerful friend to lend a hand in this quest.
As for China, Yang Jiechi, the foreign minister, declared his surprise at the accusations in the Indian media, saying Beijing played merely a “constructive” role in negotiations at the NSG. After all, why should Beijing be overly concerned about competition over energy from India when at this point, as at the Olympics, it is winning all the gold medals?
joseph.leahy@ftbombay.com
FT.com / Comment & analysis / Comment - Nuclear India must end its China-bashing
UN envoy defies call to scrap Burma mission
FT.COM
By Harvey Morris at the United Nations
Published: September 13 2008 03:43 | Last updated: September 13 2008 03:43
Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations special envoy to Burma, said on Friday he would continue his role of mediator despite opposition accusations that he has failed to dent the ruling junta’s resistance to restoring democracy.
Ban Ki-Moon, UN secretary-general, has faced pressure to scrap the Gambari mission since the Nigerian diplomat returned from his latest visit to Burma last month without securing meetings with either Than Shwe, head of the military regime, or Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained opposition leader. It was the first time she had declined to meet the envoy.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
In depth: Burma - Nov-15Burma’s junta ‘gave best help in cyclone’ - Sep-03Laura Bush urges China to act on Burma - Aug-07Beijing holds key to change in Burma - Aug-07Activists accuse insurers on Burma - Jul-29Burma aid lost to regime - Jul-25
Burmese government in exile supports challenge to junta's seat at UN
http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/1034-burmese-government-in-exile-supports-challenge-to-juntas-seat-at-un.html
Burmese government in exile supports challenge to junta's seat at UN
Solomon
Friday, 12 September 2008 22:10
New Delhi - Although the Burmese government in exile – the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma – has not signed the credential challenge campaign against the junta's membership in the United Nations launched by other Burmese groups, it said it endorses the idea.
Dr. Tint Swe, Information and Public Relations Committee Chairman of NCGUB and Minister at the Prime Minister's Office (west), told Mizzima that though his government has not signed the challenge campaign, it supports the idea and welcomes any move that challenges the legitimacy of the ruling junta.
"The UN should not accept the Burmese military regime as a legitimate government of Burma," Dr. Tint Swe said.
He pointed out that his government, in keeping with diplomatic relations, is unable to sign the credential challenge campaign letter, but in principle, the NCGUB agrees with any movement that challenges the junta's illegitimate rule.
Burmese opposition groups in exile led by a coalition of political organisations – the National Council of the Union of Burma – and supported by various other groups including Burmese Members of Parliament Union (MPU), and International Burmese Monks Organisation or Sasana Moli, had submitted a petition letter to the United Nations urging it to disqualify the junta's membership in the world body.
The Burmese groups said the junta has been illegally ruling the country using force and has denied handing over power to the people's elected government. The groups urged the UN to instead recognise its representative as the permanent representative of Burma at the UN.
"This movement is necessary because the junta is not the representative of the people of Burma," Tint Swe said.
Michele Montas, spokesperson for the UN general secretary during a press conference on Wednesday acknowledged that the UN Secretary General has received the credential challenge letter sent by Burmese opposition groups but said it will reviewed and discussed by the credential committee of the UN at the 63rd UN general assembly meeting on September 16.
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Friday, September 12, 2008
Look East Policy Could Be the Kohinoor for North East India
Former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee had India's 'Look East' policy in mind when he proposed at the ASEAN-India summit in Bali (Indonesia) 2003 the holding of an India-ASEAN car rally "to draw dramatic attention to our geographical proximity".
A possible route according to him could be from Guwahati in the North-east India, through Burma, Thailand and Cambodia to Hanoi in Vietnam. He said then "It would draw commercial interest in infrastructure along the route, promote tourism and development".
The India-ASEAN car rally has since become a reality. Flagging off the First India-ASEAN Rally at a colorful function at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati (Assam) on Nov. 23, 2004, the present Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said, "We are now rediscovering the age old relations".
While addressing the recent meeting of the North East council Dr Singh said the North East India could be a gateway for India for the ASEAN and East Asia it is for the North East Council to build on this. During his visit to the North East In November 2004 Dr Singh described the region as the "gateway" to India's engagement with the Association for South East Asian Nations and with the sub-regional grouping, BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand-Economic Cooperation))
The recent inauguration of a highway project to link the North-East to Thailand via Myanmar, a rail project connecting Manipur to Yangon, and the signing of an agreement for a gas pipeline from Myanmar through the North-East and Bangladesh to Kolkata, are all opportunities in the making for the region, which is also rich in natural resources
If the concerned governments, particularly that of India, Burma and Thailand, and local authorities of these countries are serious about their declared intentions, then these new initiatives would indeed rediscover, renew and rejuvenate the age-old cultural and historical ties between the peoples of South-east and North East India. In turn, greater interaction would undoubtedly boost trade, commerce and tourism prospects in the entire region.
In Asia, political boundaries have separated peoples who have cultural, historical, racial and ethnic affinities and share socio-economic and climate conditions
The moot point is whether the Government of India is only trying to become closer with the Southeast Asian countries by using northeast region as a "conduit" for its economic development. If so, it will be disastrous in the long run. You cannot have "Look East Policy" or "Indo-ASEAN Car Rally" only to please neighboring countries. But the core issue is how to make the people of the region aware that New Delhi is equally concerned for their security and well-being.
The recent statement of the Union Minister for Development of the North East Region (DONER), PR Kyndiah that the North-East Region is no more "sensitive" but "strategic" to not only the entire country but also the neighboring countries like China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar has full of sense.
Though the north-east has enormous natural and human resources, India's north-east has always been neglected by the central government in New Delhi. As a result, tribals (Nagas, Mizos, Karbis, Meities, Khasis, Garos, Bodos etc) in these mountainous areas remain economically and educationally backward.
Even though India is making a small late beginning towards the East Asia via the North East, China has already started the process very fast. Recognization of Sikkim as an integral part of India Opening up of the Nathula pass between Sikkim and Tibet are all measures towards this Chinese Strategic and economic thinking
China also wants the Old Burma Road, which connects China's southwestern Yunnan province with Burma, opened. Likewise, to increase trade and commercial activities with India, China wants a direct flight between Calcutta in West Bengal and Kunming, the fast-growing capital of Yunnan that was closed to trade in the '60s
Last year, a 70-member delegation from landlocked Yunnan, led by its vice governor, Shao Quiewi, met high-ranking members of the West Bengal government to explore opportunities in trade, investment and cultural cooperation.
Besides tapping tourism and the tea industry with India, China has its eye on ASEAN countries for development of trade. "There are close relations between Yunnan and South-east Asian markets, and Yunnan wants to exploit this. Our trade relationship with Bengal was mutually beneficial till links were snapped in the 1960s," said a member of the Yunnan Chamber of Commerce, who accompanied the delegation. "We are seeking more border points, including the Old Burma Road. Once the road is opened, this will go a long way in developing trade between China and South-east Asian countries".
Question arises as to why China is focusing so much on this part of the world. Reasons for this are many. India's "Look East Policy" worries Beijing because it has cut short latter's expansionist policy with the Southeast Asian countries mainly Myanmar. The Indo-ASEAN car rally has generated tremendous amount of "goodwill mission" with the Southeast Asian countries. The idea of "Indo-ASEAN Car Rally" was to make grounds for partnership in the economic developments of the sub-continent and the "Look East Policy" was in that direction and certainly, the northeast region will act as an "Economic bridge" between the rest of the country and the Southeast Asian countries.
Again China's deliberate move towards the ASEAN and East Asia and trying to mend ways with India has strategic reasons behind it. United States of America is trying to develop a free trade area with Taiwan -Japan .A US-Taiwan-Japan FTA could provide a shield against Beijing's political clout and spur so-called "competitive liberalization" in East Asia by encouraging countries including Japan and ASEAN members to enter into FTAs with Taiwan. China feels its plan to push an "ASEAN plus three" free trade area (the three being China, Japan and South Korea)- a bloc that would deliberately exclude Taiwan and the USA could not materialize without getting India to act as a buffer in its strategic plan as such its making all this serious noices
It's heartening to see that India has finally woken up from its slumber and has started acting fast on its Look East Policy. The government of India off late is seriously engaging Myanmar in its strategic repositioning against China and the United States of America towards this part of the world.
Burma has shot back to the top of India?s foreign policy agenda following Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam?s visit last month, and battle lines are now being drawn in New Delhi over the contentious question of how to deal with the military junta
In the 13 years since India gave up its commitment to the cause of democracy in Burma and started dealing with the generals, "powerful lobbies in New Delhi have emerged favoring the progressive improvement of relations with the junta for the promotion of India?s national interest".
Indian president Kalam said on his return from Burma that trade between India and Burma should increase sharply in the next three years. The volume of bilateral trade in the financial year 2003-2004 amounted to US $470 million." We need to work out a method by which we can aspire to increase this volume to around $2 billion within the next three years,? Kalam said
The Indian president promised development of a hydroelectric power project at Htamanthi, Sagaing Division, which has a 1,000-megawatt potential, and work on the India-Burma-Thailand trilateral highway, which is likely to start soon would connect the rest of India via Bangladesh and the North East. The president also suggested the development of port facilities in Burma for the benefit of the two countries through which goods from the North East could be exported to other countries of
the ASEAN.
Again India has not only obliged the Burmese junta in driving out and even killing Kachin, Chin and Arakanese rebels from its territory. It intends to compete with China in becoming an important supplier of military hardware to the Burmese army?from high-velocity rifles to aircraft produced on license from other countries. New Delhi is prepared to sell all that Burma?s generals want to buy from them in an effort to reduce dependence on China
India is desperate to get as much natural gas as it can from the blocks in Arakan State passing through Bangladesh and the North East connecting the rest of India. Prime Minister Singh, an economist with ambitions to make India an economic power, is keen to ensure energy security to keep the country?s 7-8 percent annual economic growth on course. Dr Singh wants all possible trans-border energy sources tapped, and Burma is important in his schemes. Chances of the gas pipe line between the two countries finalizing looks very bright now and it the deal is finally though it would boost up tremendous development in the North Eastern part of India.
The development model resulting from India's Look East Policy has tremendous potential for the North East. It serves as a contiguous gateway to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries with which India has established engagement models. However, this would first require working on integrating the North East with the rest of India to make it a solid springboard for the globalization process the first step in this regard should be a focus on a rural-centric development model.
The trade between India and ASEAN has jumped from $ 3.1 billion in 1991 to about $12 billion in 2002 and it is expected to rise to $30 billion by the end of 2007. The share of North East India in this annual trade was around 12 percent annually. There is tremendous scope to increase this further.
Thus looking into the political, strategic and economic angle of this Look East policy of India towards the ASEAN and East Asia can be gold mine for North East India in the long run to solve her age old political problem and economic backwardness and hopefully the coming ASEAN summit this month will help in achieving this aim. One should strongly hope the free trade agreement between India and the ASEAN is signed in this ASEAN Summit as this could pave the way for economic prosperity of the North East.
Dr Suvrokamal Dutta
Foreign Affairs and Economic Expert
Contact: Email: sk_dutta70@yahoo, Dutta007@hotmail
Singapore seeks contempt proceedings vs Dow Jones
Reuters,
Thursday September 11 2008 NEW YORK, Sept 11 (Reuters) -
Singapore's attorney general is seeking contempt proceedings against the publisher of the Asian edition of the Wall Street Journal and two of its editors, saying their editorials "impugn the impartiality, integrity and independence of the Singapore Judiciary."
The move comes after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong filed a libel suit against the Far Eastern Economic Review, which like the Journal is owned by News Corp's Dow Jones & Co.
Both cases involve coverage of Singapore's government and opposition Democratic Party leader Chee Soon Juan, and are the latest in a string of legal actions brought by the Southeast Asian country against foreign news organizations.
The attorney general's office said in a statement on its website dated Sept. 11 that two editorials published in the Asian Wall Street Journal titled "Democracy in Singapore" and "Judging Singapore's Judiciary," allege that the judiciary is "not independent" and "is biased and lacks integrity."
The statement also cited a letter to the editor written by Chee called "Produce the Transcript, Show the Truth," that was published in the Asian Wall Street Journal on July 9.
Along with Dow Jones Publishing Co (Asia) Inc, the attorney general named Daniel Hertzberg, international editor at the Asian Wall Street Journal, and Managing Editor Christine Glancey.
"We are aware of the statement issued by the Singapore attorney general's office regarding the application for contempt proceedings against the Asian Wall Street Journal," Journal spokesman Robert Christie wrote in an e-mail.
"While we are reserving comment on the application until we receive official notification, we do not believe the articles were contemptuous of the Singapore courts," he wrote.
The editorial "Democracy in Singapore," published on June 26, concerned comments made in a Singapore court as damages were being assessed against Chee and his sister and colleague, Chee Siok Chin.
In 2006, the two lost a defamation suit brought by Lee and his father, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, over an article the Chees published in their party newsletter that was interpreted by the court to imply corruption on the part of the government.
In August, Singapore's prime minister raised the stakes in his libel suit against the Far Eastern Economic Review, saying the magazine implied he was corrupt, court documents showed.
An amendment by Lee's lawyers added the more serious charge to an earlier claim that the magazine had implied that the prime minister was unfit for office because he had condoned corruption by his father.
Singapore leaders have won damages in the past from foreign media groups when they report on local politics, including the Economist, the International Herald Tribune and Bloomberg.
In another contempt case in 1991, Singapore fined the editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal S$4,000 (US$2,777), the proprietors S$4,000 and the publisher S$1,000. The printer and distributor escaped fines but had to pay costs.
At issue was a 1989 story on a Singapore court ruling in favour of then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in his libel action against Derek Davies, then-editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review.
(Reporting by Robert MacMillan; Editing by Ted Kerr)
New Book Release: The Responsibility to Protect
Brussels, 12 September 2008: The International Crisis Group is pleased to announce the release of a new book by its president, Gareth Evans, The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and for All, published by Brookings Institution Press.
After the Holocaust, the world vowed it would “never again!” permit such atrocities to occur. Yet many mass atrocity crimes have since gone unchecked, from the killing fields of Cambodia to the machetes of Rwanda to the ongoing nightmare in Darfur. In this new book, International Crisis Group President Gareth Evans shows how the emergence of the new Responsibility to Protect (R2P) norm has fundamentally changed this landscape and can effectively mean an end once and for all to such large scale suffering.
The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) concept was born out of the catastrophes in Rwanda and the Balkans in the 1990s and captures a simple and powerful idea. The primary responsibility for protecting its own people from mass atrocity crimes lies with the state itself. State sovereignty implies responsibility, not a license to kill.
But when a state is unwilling or unable to halt or avert such crimes, the wider international community then has a collective responsibility to take appropriate action, not excluding the use of military force in extreme and exceptional cases.
R2P was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly at the 2005 World Summit. But many misunderstandings persist about its scope and limits, compounded by its use and misuse in debates about the appropriate reaction to recent events, for example, in Iraq, Darfur, Myanmar and Georgia. And much remains to be done to solidify political support and to build institutional capacity.
The book examines how big a break R2P represents from the past, and how, with understanding of its scope, and its acceptance in principle and effective application in practice, the promise of “never again!” can at last become a reality.
The Author
Gareth Evans has been President and CEO of the International Crisis Group since 2000, after serving eight years as Australia’s Foreign Minister. Evans co-chaired the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty that initiated the Responsibility to Protect concept in 2001, and he was a member of the UN Secretary-General’s High Level Panel in 2004 that successfully proposed its adoption by the 2005 UN World Summit.
Book launch events with Gareth Evans and special guest speakers:
17 September, New York: with Romeo Dallaire, hosted by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and the International Peace Institute, 777 United Nations Plaza, 44th Street and 1st Avenue, 12th Floor; 1pm to 3pm
22 September, London: with Lord Patten of Barnes and Lord Hannay of Chiswick; hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Arundel House, 13-15 Arundel Street, Temple Place, WC2R 3DX;11am to 1230pm
7 October, Brussels: with Eric Chevallier, Joschka Fischer and Emma Bonino; at Residence Palace, Polak Room, Rue de la Loi 155; 11am-1230pm
28 October, Washington, DC: hosted by Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW 20004-3027; 10am to 1130am
If you would like to attend any of these launch events, please send a short email with your name, affiliation and launch city to media@crisisgroup.org
If you would like to obtain the book, at a discounted price, please use the order form below or order online at:
http://www.brookings.edu/press/Books/2008/responsibilitytoprotect.aspx
Use code KGE8 to get a 20% discount off the cover price.
Min Ko Naing Defiant at Hearing: Lawyer
Min Ko Naing
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article3.php?art_id=14243
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By MIN LWIN Friday, September 12, 2008
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A lawyer for Min Ko Naing, a leading figure from Burma’s nationwide pro-democracy uprising in 1988, said that the detained activist was defiant when he appeared in court at Rangoon’s Insein Prison on Tuesday.
“You can sentence us to a thousand years in prison for our political activities, but we will continue to defend ourselves in accordance with the law. Nobody can hide from justice,” the lawyer quoted Min Ko Naing as saying to the presiding judge.
Nyi Nyi Hlaing, a lawyer for Min Ko Naing and 34 other members of the 88 Generation Students’ Group, said that the defendants were facing a variety of charges related to their involvement in last year’s protests against a drastic fuel price hike by the ruling junta.
The charges include violations of Electronics Act 33A, the Illegal Organizations Act 17/1 and Section 4 of SPDC Law No 5/96, which prohibits actions that “endanger the national convention.”
The accused were also charged with violating Article 130B of the Penal Code, which prohibits libel against friendly foreign powers. The charge stems from the group’s alleged criticism of China and Russia for their role in vetoing a draft UN Security Council resolution o¬n Burma in January 2007.
Nyi Nyi Hlaing told The Irrawaddy that the prosecution also accused Min Ko Naing and his colleagues of speaking with the exiled media. Recorded interviews and other items uploaded to Web sites operated by Burmese exiles were exhibited as evidence.
On Tuesday, the 35 detained former student leaders appeared in the Rangoon East District Court, located in Insein Prison, with their lawyers and family members to hear the charges against them.
According to relatives of the defendants, the 88 Generation Students’ Group requested on August 27 to be permitted to appear in court without handcuffs. They also requested the presence of witnesses during the court hearing, in accordance with international laws. However, only family members were allowed to enter the courtroom.
“The family members could be present and listen to the court proceedings, but [the defendants] were still in handcuffs,” said Aung Thein, another lawyer for the group.
Most of the accused have been in detention since August 21, 2007, when they were arrested for leading a march against sharp increases in the price of fuel and other commodities on August 19.
Many are veterans of Burma’s pro-democracy movement who have spent more than a decade in prison for their political activities.
Besides Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, other prominent members of the 88 Generation Students’ Group who are now in detention include Htay Win Aung, Min Zeya, Mya Aye and Kyaw Min Yu (also known as Jimmy).
Lawyers for the group expressed doubt that they would receive a fair trial, saying that the authorities had already decided that they were guilty.
“Nobody should predict the outcome of a trial before a verdict has been reached,” said Aung Thein, referring to a press conference given by police chief Brig-Gen Khin Ye, who repeatedly declared that the defendants were guilty of a variety of crimes.
Nine other political activists who were not present at Tuesday’s hearing were also among the accused. They include Tun Myint Aung and Soe Tun, who are still in hiding, and Nilar Thein, who was arrested on Wednesday, and Mar Mar Oo, who was apprehended two weeks ago.
Related article: Empowering Peaceful Dissent
China launches nationwide baby formula probe
By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer
Fri Sep 12, 12:40 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080912/ap_on_re_as/china_baby_formula_recall_2
BEIJING - China's Health Ministry on Friday ordered a nationwide probe of milk powder linked to a rash of kidney stones in infants and one death and said those responsible "will face serious punishment."
The announcement this week that infants were sickened by the milk powder fueled new worries about Chinese product safety after a spate of injuries and deaths blamed on tainted toothpaste and other goods.
Local officials were ordered to report all possible cases of illness in infants linked to the powder and to arrange emergency treatment, the ministry said in a statement.
"Those responsible will face serious punishment," said a ministry spokesman, Mao Qunan, quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency.
The major Chinese dairy that produced the formula has recalled 700 tons of the product and said it was contaminated with melamine, a chemical used in plastics, Xinhua and the official China Daily newspaper reported.
People who answered the phone at the dairy, Sanlu Group Co., said managers were not available to comment.
"The Health Ministry is still conducting a nationwide investigation of babies' illness due to this, and at the same time is urgently organizing exports to conduct research and treatment," the ministry statement said.
Another ministry statement instructed doctors in how to diagnose and treat the ailments.
In one province, Gansu in the northwest, doctors have reported a total of 59 cases of kidney stones in infants, compared with none in 2006 or 2007, the China Daily said. It said many of those babies were fed the Sanlu formula.
Fonterra, a New Zealand dairy cooperative that owns 43 percent of Sanlu, said it was advised the company had a "quality issue in its products as a result of receiving defective milk in China."
The company "has advised us that they have recalled product in China and have put new milk quality testing procedures in place," Fonterra said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. The statement gave no details of the recall, but China Daily said it involved 700 tons of milk powder.
According to Xinhua, Sanlu said the contaminated powder was produced before Aug. 6.
Authorities launched an investigation this week after 14 babies who drank the formula developed kidney stones and one died, state media reported.
The case adds to a string of safety incidents in China over tainted toothpaste, toys, seafood and other products that have been blamed for deaths and injuries.
Melamine is the chemical involved in a massive pet food recall last year. It is not supposed to be added to any food ingredients, but suppliers in China sometimes mix it into food to make it appear to be high in protein. Melamine is nitrogen rich, and standard tests for protein in bulk food ingredients measure levels of nitrogen.
In Washington, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers to avoid infant formula from China. Authorities said Chinese formula was not legally approved for importation into the United States but might be sold at ethnic grocery stores.
"We're concerned that there may be some infant formula that may have gotten into the United States illegally and may be on the ethnic market," said Janice Oliver, deputy director of the FDA's food safety program.
Sanlu, based in Shijiazhuang southwest of Beijing, is China's biggest producer of milk powder, with 18 percent of the market, according to government data. The company says it produces 6,800 tons of milk per day.
In 2004, more than 200 Chinese infants suffered malnutrition and at least 12 died after being fed phony formula that contained no nutrients. Some 40 companies were found to be making phony formula and 47 people were arrested.
Irony much?
http://jeanchoi.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/irony-much/
Posted by: Jean Choi | September 11, 2008
The 2008 Beijing Olympics finally came to a close two weeks ago, with a spendid closing ceremony that even surprisingly featured the Korean singer Rain. Aside from the Korean national team’s outstanding achievements in numerous sports categories such as baseball and archery, the Beijing Olympics proved to be a source of controversy due to the lip-syncing incident and the computer-generated fireworks during its opening ceremony, as well as the feasibility of China hosting this internationally and historically-renowned event. However, excluding these problems, I would have to admit that the 2008 Olympics was a fairly big success and that it did live up to the expecations that were associated with the symbolic significance of its opening date: August 8th, 2008. However, not long after I had written something on my blog about what meaning the date August 8th holds in Chinese culture, I found something even more interesting on the Internet. It turns out to be that August 8th also marks the 20th anniversary of Burma’s largest democratic uprising. What’s more, China is one of the main supporters of Burma’s regime, as it frequently supplies weapons of mass destruction to the military regime in Burma.
The site (click here) provides a lot of information on the current political conditions in Burma, as well as the history behind the entire situation. There is also a petition going on against viewing the Beijing Olympics (remember, the Paralympics is still going on at this point!), because the date of the democratic uprising in Burma coincides with the official opening date of the entire Beijing Olympics. It’s a shame that I didn’t know anything about the unstable political situation in Burma until now, because if I had known any earlier, then I probably wouldn’t have written a post about how the Beijing Olympics is supposed to be full of good fortune because of its auspicious opening date. I guess this just adds one more controversy to the several that are already associated with China’s hostage of the Olympics! At any rate, below is a clip found on the US Campagin for Burma website that effectively summarizes the history behind Burma’s fight for freedom. Try visiting the website and let’s all take some action!
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