17 September 2008
Source: Mizzima News Agency
Local journalists in Rangoon claimed that their publications have been suffering from financial losses due to the harsh policies of the deputy chief of the censor board.
Censorship has reportedly become more severe since Maj. Aung Kyaw Oo, the deputy chief of the notorious Press Scrutiny Board, popularly known as "Literary Kempeitai" took over the duties of his superior, Maj. Tint Swe, who is in Naypyitaw attending a major government meeting.
A monthly magazine editor who requested anonymity said the censors board deputy director has imposed stricter restrictions on magazines and journals to ensure he does not run afoul of his superior.
"He censors many more news and articles whenever Maj. Tint Swe is on official tour. It is painful for us to see these censored manuscripts. Apparently, he does not want to get into trouble [with Maj. Tint Swe]," he said.
Print media publishers have to submit a draft copy to the censor board. After getting back the materials, they have to remove the censored articles, typeset the issue again for the final copy and then submit it for final approval. Only after they pass through these stages that publishers can distribute their papers and magazines in the market.
Mizzima learned that under Maj. Aung Kyaw Oo's directives, the censor board usually removes about half of the 80 domestic news items from each weekly journal at the draft copy stage.
"We could easily ask the director (Tint Swe) to reconsider the publication of censored news and articles after slight modifications. We cannot do this with the acting chief censor," a weekly journal editor said.
The acting censor chief also issued an order that all news stories about government ministries and departments in which the heads of the departments concerned or their representatives had not been interviewed would be deleted.
Literary magazines such as "Mahaythi", "Cherry", "Ahtwe Ahmyin", "Nwe Ni", and "Sabephyu" were among those severely hit, with their circulation plummeting.
A monthly magazine which had a circulation of over 10,000 copies before is now selling just 7,000 copies. Meanwhile, a magazine that used to sell 3,000 copies can now barely sell 1,000 copies.
"The censor board badly cuts and deletes widely read popular articles and it is hardly readable with so many deletions and omissions. On the other hand, the readers cannot afford to buy these magazines as prices of basic goods keep rising," said a veteran magazine editor who wished not to be named.
As the market for the monthly literary magazines shrinks, publishers are now relying more on advertising revenue to cover production costs.
"Magazines now turn to advertising as an alternative source of income. The market for magazines that offer only literary content is shrinking day by day," he said.
"Maj. Aung Kyaw Oo has been in this office for about four months. He is tough [on us]. He has no literary or journalistic background, unlike Maj. Tint Swe who has a background in journalism. He shows more sympathy with journalists," a magazine editor said.
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Mizzima News (http://www.mizzima.com/) is a news organization eadquartered in New Delhi, India, run by exiled Burmese journalists. A SEAPA partner, it aims to promote awareness about the situation in Burma and promote democracy and freedom of expression in the country.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Burmese papers report losses due to strict policies of censor board deputy chief
On eve of Saffron Revolution anniversary, Burma's exiled news sites attacked
18 September 2008
Source: Mizzima News Agency
On the eve of the first anniversary of the week-long Saffron Revolution, the websites of three leading Burmese news agencies in exile have come under attack, rendering them inaccessible since the afternoon of September 17.
Distributed Denial of Services (DdoS) attacks overwhelmed the websites of the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), "The Irrawaddy" and the "New Era Journal". Under DDOS attacks, websites are flooded with so much automated requests for data that their respective systems effectively get jammed.
The websites of the three Burmese news agencies have not been responding to their requests since Wednesday afternoon.
"It is pretty certain that we are under attack. We were attacked at about 11 a.m. today," Toe Zaw Latt, chief of DVB Thailand bureau told Mizzima.com, an Alerts partner of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA). Mizzima, which is also an independent news service run by exiled Burmese in New Delhi, India, itself experienced a similar DDOS attack last July.
"The Irrawaddy" magazine, an independent news provider run by Burmese journalists exiled in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said its website has been facing problems since Tuesday evening. "We can confirm today (18 September 2008) that we are being attacked," Aung Zaw, editor-in-chief of "The Irrawaddy" told Mizzima.
The Bangkok-based "New Era Journal" also confirmed that its website is also under attack.
This is the second attack against the Oslo-based DVB in the past three months.
The webmaster of the DVB said it is difficult to determine the level of the attack, adding that they could not predict when the sites will be accessible again.
"We do not know who is behind all this, but it is certain that these are deliberate attacks," Toe Zaw Latt said.
Mizzima noted, meanwhile, that Internet speed has also been down in Rangoon since Wednesday morning between 10 am to 3 pm. As a result, several Internet cafes in downtown Yangon reportedly had to close. Sources said Internet connection only resumed at its regular speed at 6 pm.
September 18 marks the anniversary of the start of street protests in Yangon which built up to a violent military crackdown in Burma last year. Burmese journalists—both inside and outside the country—have been worried about how Burma's junta might deal with the anniversary of what has come to be known as the "Saffron Revolution".
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Mizzima News (http://www.mizzima.com/) is a news organization headquartered in New Delhi, India, run by exiled Burmese journalists. A SEAPA partner, it aims to promote awareness about the situation in Burma and promote democracy and freedom of expression in the country.
Burma is a source and transit country for human trafficking.
Burma
The Situation
Burma is a source and transit country for human trafficking.
Source
Burmese men, women, and children are trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation in Thailand, the People’s Republic of China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, South Korea, Macau, and Pakistan.1 Children are trafficked to Thailand for forced labor as beggars. In 2005, the Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand reported that Kachin women and girls trafficked to China were forced into prostitution or to become brides to Chinese men. While there are no reliable estimates on the number of Burmese who are trafficked, most observers believe that the number of victims is at least several thousand per year.2
Transit
Burma is a transit country for victims trafficked from China to Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.3 There are also reports of Bangladeshis trafficked through Burma destined for Malaysia and Chinese trafficked through Burma to Thailand.4
Internal Trafficking
Burma has internal trafficking from rural areas to border areas with China and Thailand, particularly areas with trucking routes, mining areas, military bases, fishing villages, and military camps.5 Children are trafficked internally for forced labor in agriculture and small-scale industries or as child soldiers.
Causes
There are many causes of human trafficking in Burma. The military junta’s gross economic mismanagement, human rights abuses, and its policy of using forced labor are the top causal factors for Burma’s significant trafficking problem. The official ban on overland emigration of most young women drives some seeking to leave the country into the hands of “travel facilitators,” who may have ties with traffickers.6 The lacks of job opportunities and higher incomes have also pushed Burmese to migrate into one of its five neighboring countries. This situation has created an opportunity for traffickers to lure the victims to other countries with false premises.7
The Burmese Government
The Burmese Government was placed in Tier 3 in the 2007 U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report for not fully complying with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and not making significant efforts to do so.
There are reports of military and civilian government officials who are complicit in trafficking children to serve as child soldiers.8 NGOs also reported that individual police officials extort money from economic migrants and others leaving the country.9 During 2006, the Burmese government did not take action against military or civilian officials who engaged in forced labor.10
The 2005 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law criminalizes sex and labor trafficking in Burma.11 The penalty for trafficking women, children, and youth is 10 years to life; the penalty for trafficking men is five to 10 years; the penalty for fraud used to traffic is three to seven years; the penalty for trafficking victims for pornography is five to 10 years; the penalty for trafficking with an organized criminal group is 10 years to life; the penalty for serious crime involving trafficking is 10 years to life or death; and the penalty for public officials who accept money related to an investigation of trafficking is three o seven years. All penalties also include the option of a fine.12
Prosecution
The Burmese has taken steps to increase its arrests, prosecutions, convictions for trafficking. In 2006, the ruling junta reported that its police identified over 400 traffickers in 191 cases, and convicted 53 traffickers with sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment. Authorities report that over 90 women from Ruili were sold into the P.R.C. as forced brides, arrested 34 suspects, and rescued 17 victims. In January 2007, police arrested an additional 47 suspected traffickers.13
The Burmese government has taken no law enforcement action against the military for forced labor. The ruling junta implemented a moratorium on prosecution of forced labor complaints and released two prisoners who were jailed for supporting forced labor complaints.14
Protection
The Burmese Government offers limited services to protect trafficking victims, offering even less services to victims of internal trafficking. The government requires a 30-day program of rehabilitation for victims of external trafficking, in eight vocational training centers and one shelter.15 According to police reports, the government returned 419 trafficking victims.16 According to the U.S. Department of State, there were over 80 trafficking victims in these shelters in 2006. According to the United Nations InterAgency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), there have been over 100 girls and women returned to neighboring countries.17
Prevention
The Burmese government has a variety of prevention programs. The government has collaborated with non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations to offer educational programs, poverty alleviation, vocational skill training, and micro-credit loans. Ten TV spots have been allocated to UNIAP and UNICEF to increase awareness of trafficking.18 The Women's Affairs Federation and National Committee for Women's Affairs conducted almost 8,000 educational sessions for women around the country that included information about the risks of trafficking. The government also distributed pamphlets and newsletters by an international organization, published press articles, and aired television and radio plays on trafficking. The Central Police Training Institute includes trafficking in its curriculum for incoming cadets and in-service police training.19
International Cooperation
The Burmese government has been working with UNIAP to sponsor seminars for national, state/division, and lower level authorities and received training from the Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons Project. In January 2006, the government signed the ASEAN Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Agreement.20 The Government has signed Memorandums of Understanding with Thailand and Australia to combat trafficking in Asia and assist Burmese illegal migrants working in Thailand.21
____________________
1 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
2 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
3 UNODC: Trafficking in human beings: Global Patterns
4 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
5 UNIAP: Burma Overview
6 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
7 UNIAP: Burma Overview
8 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
9 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
10 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
11 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
12 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
13 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
14 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
15 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
16 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
17 UNIAP: Burma Overview
18 UNIAP: Burma Overview
19 2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
20 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
21 UNIAP: Burma Overview
10th anniversary of CRPP - september 16, 2008
http://www.irrawadd ymedia.com/ research_ show.php? art_id=448
August 08, 2008,Let The World Experience The Real China
http://fiveliteracies.typepad.com/richard_hames/2008/08/let-the-world-e.html
This guest posting is by freelance journalist and writer Lijia Zhang who lives in Beijing. This article was published in the Observer newspaper and is reprinted here with Lijia's permission. Lijia is the author of author of "Socalism is Great!" - a worker's memoir of the new China which is available from Amazon.
Posted at 01:22 PM in Society | Permalink
When I was at school, sports lessons included an exercise in which we threw hand grenades (made from wood topped with metal to resemble the real thing) against a wall carrying a red slogan offering the reason for such a militaristic pastime: Exercise our bodies and protect our motherland.
We feared that China might be invaded one day by the American "imperialists" or Soviet "revisionists". Indeed, the whole West held an evil intent towards us. Living in a closed country, we had little idea about the outside world.
I went to school in Nanjing in the early '70s, when the revolutionary fever of the Cultural Revolution was calming down. A few years earlier, my father had been banished to the countryside for criticizing the government. These were the darkest of times for my family, as well as for our nation. China has come a long way since then, yet the image of those dark days remains deeply imprinted on Western minds.
I wonder whether the West is a little too keen to report the negative stories. Or perhaps the West feels more comfortable hearing such stories?
That's my impression, as a Chinese who has lived abroad, but who has returned to Beijing. Even during those days throwing grenades, I dreamt of becoming a journalist and writer. That dream was shattered when I was 16 and my mother dragged me to work at a state-owned missile factory.
My journalistic career started with the Olympics. In 1993, on the night when the result of the first bid was announced, I was at Tiananmen Square. I recall the fountain going off as we thought China had won the bid. It was heartbreaking to interview the bitterly disappointed crowds. But, in truth, China wasn't really ready. The memory of the bloody crackdown in 1989 was still fresh.
I was also in Beijing eight years later when China did win the bid. In our neighbourhood, grannies spent the whole afternoon practising their dance steps and their husbands beat drums and gongs.
I was just as happy as everyone else. Since the economic reforms, China has lifted millions of people out of poverty. An incredible feat. As a child, I used to roast cicadas to satisfy my craving for meat; now my 19-year-old nephew, a student in Nanjing, drives his own car.
People are enjoying a great deal more personal freedom. As a girl in the rocket factory, I had to endure so many rules. I worked there for 10 years. I was never promoted, partly because of my naturally curly hair — my boss thought I wore a perm.
Back then, only those with a bourgeois outlook would curl their hair. These days, young women curl their hair, shave off their hair or change the colour of their hair whenever they want. It's not a small thing.
Over the past few years, I have seen how the capital has been transformed. State-of-the-art buildings — not just Olympic buildings such as the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube — have popped up like mushrooms.
Huge efforts and sacrifices have been made. To ensure the best possible air quality, polluting factories around Beijing have been shut down, construction work has been halted and cars have been taken off the roads (the results, admittedly, have been mixed).
Other measures are excessive: beggars, the homeless and migrants without documents have been driven out. Petitioners who bring their grievances to the Supreme People's Court have been stopped from entering the capital. Potential troublemakers are being monitored or are under house arrest. Such has been the stance the authorities adopt while dealing with uncertainty.
Yet Beijing's Olympics will be a success because the majority of the population want them to be, not just because the government wants to use Olympic success to gain legitimacy.
No doubt there will be many more negative stories abroad, criticising China's human rights abuses, the lack of media freedom and the over-tight security. Of course, some Chinese have no access to the reports, but those who do tend to dismiss them as grumbles from anti-China forces.
In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre, China's people ranked first among 24 nations in their optimism about their country's future, buoyed by the fast economic growth and the promise of the Olympics.
There is, I believe, another factor — the timing. The survey was conducted recently just after the unrest in Tibet and during the troubled Olympic torch relay, when China experienced a surge of nationalism in response to what many Chinese regarded as an "anti-China feeling" in the West and "biased" Tibet reports.
I have no problem with the negative stories, but I think it's wrong for the West to stand in moral judgement, especially when some of the accusations are not true. For example, what happened in Lhasa, in my view, was far more complicated than "the Chinese Government's ruthless crackdown on Tibetan protest".
There was a peaceful protest, but there was also a violent racial riot, one I doubt would be tolerated in any country.
But the Chinese Government seems to have little idea about how to present itself. Blessed with domestic support and armed with skills in mass organisation, the authorities could have taken a more relaxed approach to this festival of sport. Why didn't it make the Olympic Games China's big coming-out party? It didn't need to cause so much interruption to people's lives. It would have been far better to let the world to see China as it actually is.
Position Paper of the People’s Republic of China at The 63rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/zxxx/t512751.htm
2008/09/16
I. The Role of the United Nations (UN)
The world is undergoing tremendous changes and adjustments. Peace and development remain the call of the times. The pursuit of peace, development and cooperation is the common aspiration of all governments and peoples around the world. Interdependence among countries is increasing and the international situation has been stable on the whole. At the same time, however, the world is far from trouble-free. Regional conflicts and hotspot issues keep emerging. Imbalances in the world economy are worsening. The North-South gap is widening. Traditional and non-traditional security threats are intertwined. All this poses difficulties and challenges to world peace and development.
Multilateralism is an inevitable choice for countries to share the development opportunities, jointly meet various challenges and advance the noble cause of peace and development of humanity. The UN is an important platform to practice multilateralism, achieve win-win cooperation and build a harmonious world of enduring peace and common prosperity. China firmly supports the UN in continuing to play a central role in international affairs and firmly supports efforts to uphold and strengthen the effectiveness and authority of the UN.
II. UN Reforms
China supports the UN in carrying out necessary and reasonable reform to enhance its authority and efficiency and better fulfil the responsibilities bestowed on it by the Charter of the United Nations. It meets the development needs of the UN itself and also represents the consensus of the entire membership. The outcome document adopted at the 2005 UN Summit has charted the course for the reform, and China welcomes its positive results. Security, development and human rights are the three pillars of the UN. Reforms in these three fields should proceed in a balanced way. Efforts should be made particularly to produce results in the field of development. Necessary guarantees in terms of institutional arrangement and resources should be assured for development to promote the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals for the benefit of developing countries.
China supports reasonable and necessary reform of the Security Council to enhance its authority and efficiency. We have always supported developing countries in playing a bigger role in the UN, including the Security Council. We maintain that priority should be given to increasing
the representations of developing countries, especially African countries, in the Security Council. As reform bears on the future development of the UN and the common interests of all countries, extensive and democratic discussions should be carried out to take into account the interests and concerns of all parties and reach consensus. China is ready to work with all other parties to ensure that the reform of the Security Council will follow a direction that is conducive to the overall interests of the UN member states and upholds and enhances the solidarity of the member states.
III. Security Sector
1. UN Peacekeeping Operations
UN peacekeeping operations are an important and effective means to practice multilateralism and uphold collective security. The peacekeeping operations, with ever expanding scale and increasingly broader mandate, are facing more and more challenges. China supports reasonable reform of UN peacekeeping operations to further improve resources allocation and enhance the rapid reaction and deployment capability of peacekeeping operations. The reform should comply with the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations and the universally recognized norms governing peacekeeping operations, strengthen communication and coordination among various UN departments and agencies and between the Security Council, the UN Secretariat and the member states, in particular, the states involved in the peacekeeping operations, and enhance cooperation between the UN and relevant regional organizations.
2. Peacebuilding
The task of peacebuilding involves the whole UN system. As an important link of efforts in the fields of peace and development, the Peacebuilding Commission should play its role to the full. China is of the view that the Commission should focus on the following three areas: First, it should not only launch quick-impact projects in the recipient countries but also take into consideration their long-term development; Second, it should properly identify priority areas with full respect given to the opinions of the recipient countries; Third, it should be a good coordinator among relevant agencies and step up cooperation with the General Assembly, Security Council and ECOSOC. China supports the Commission in playing a bigger role in peacebuilding and has pledged US$ 3 million to the Peacebuilding Fund.
3. Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict
China is deeply concerned about the security of life and property of civilians affected and threatened by armed conflicts and urges the parties concerned to faithfully observe the International Humanitarian Law and the relevant Security Council resolutions and give full protection to civilians.
The responsibility to protect civilians rests first with the government of the country involved in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the International Humanitarian Law. Humanitarian assistance should respect the principles of impartiality, neutrality, objectiveness and independence,respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries concerned and refrain from interfering in local political disputes or impeding the peace process.
Civilian protection should focus on conflict prevention. The Security Council should step up its effort to prevent conflicts and keep peace. Civilian protection should also be given priority in post-conflict peacebuilding. Relevant UN agencies should strengthen coordination and forge synergy for this purpose.
4. Counter-Terrorism
China supports combating terrorism in all manifestations. The international community should act on the Charter of the United Nations and other universally recognized norms of international law in its fight against terrorism and give full play to the leading and coordinating role of the UN and its Security Council.
China welcomes and supports the adoption of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and supports the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee and the General Assembly Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force in playing an active role in coordinating counter-terrorism efforts among member states.
Both the symptoms and root causes of terrorism must be addressed. By making full use of its resources, the UN should play an active role in eliminating poverty and other root causes of terrorism, promote dialogue among civilizations and assist developing countries in counter-terrorism capacity building. China opposes the linkage of terrorism to certain countries, ethnic groups or religions and is against the practice of double standards.
China supports and takes an active part in the drafting of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, and hopes all parties will continue consultation with a constructive and cooperative attitude and reach consensus at an early date.
5. The Korean Peninsula Nuclear Issue
A Korean Peninsula that enjoys peace, stability, progress and prosperity serves the common interests of countries in the region, China included, and the rest of the international community. To further advance the Six-Party Talks and achieve the goals set out in the September 19 Joint Statement at an early date are the shared aspirations of the international community.
As the chair of the Six-Party Talks, China will continue to play a constructive role, strengthen consultation and coordination with other parties and work for the early, comprehensive and balanced implementation of the remaining actions of the second phase to move the Talks into a new phase.
6. The Myanmar Issue
China hopes to see Myanmar maintain peace and stability and achieve democracy and national reconciliation. The Myanmar issue is, in essence, a country’s internal affair. The international community should provide constructive assistance to Myanmar. Imposing sanctions and exerting pressure will not help solve the issue. China supports the good offices of the UN Secretary-General and his Special Adviser. These efforts take time and require patience and persistence. China supports giving full play to the role of the tripartite mechanism involving the ASEAN, the UN and Myanmar in helping Myanmar complete post-cyclone reconstruction at an early date.
7. The Afghan Issue
The situation in Afghanistan has a bearing on peace and stability in the region and beyond as well as on the smooth progress of the international counter-terrorism efforts. Despite positive progress, the reconstruction process in Afghanistan still faces numerous challenges. To succeed, it requires first and foremost the determined efforts of the Afghan Government. It also needs the strong support from the international community.
China has consistantly supported and actively participated in Afghanistan’s peaceful reconstruction. China applauds the formulation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy, welcomes the Paris Declaration issued at the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan and supports further implementation of the Afghanistan Compact. We call on the international community to continue to take an interest and make inputs in Afghanistan and intensify coordination and cooperation. China supports the UN in continuing to play a leading role in resolving the Afghan issue.
8. The Iranian Nuclear Issue
China supports upholding the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. To properly resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiation and maintain regional peace and stability serve the interests of all parties.
The Iranian nuclear issue is at a critical stage. There is a rare opportunity for resuming talks. Parties concerned should step up diplomatic efforts and show flexibility, so as to facilitate early restart of talks and negotiations to seek a comprehensive, enduring and proper settlement of the nuclear issue. China remains committed to encouraging dialogue for peace and will continue to play a constructive role in pushing for the peaceful settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue.
9. The Middle East Issue
It is China’s long-held position that parties concerned in the Middle East issue properly solve their disputes through dialogue and negotiation on the basis of relevant UN resolutions, the principle of “land for peace”, the Middle East Roadmap for Peace and the Arab Peace Initiative.
The International Conference on the Middle East held in Annapolis has achieved positive progress. We hope Palestine and Israel will seize the opportunity and steadily advance peace talks. China also welcomes and supports the efforts made by parties concerned to resume talks between Syria and Israel and between Lebanon and Israel. The international community should respect the religious and ethnic features of Arab countries, take into account the culture, history and reality of the Middle East and establish a balanced and effective peace mechanism to work for a just, enduring and comprehensive settlement of the Middle East issue.
10. The Iraq Issue
China holds that Iraq’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity should be maintained and supports its unity, stability and development. China supports the efforts of the Iraqi Government in stabilizing the security situation, promoting national reconciliation and carrying out reconstruction and has encouraged Iraq to build good-neighborly relations of mutual trust and cooperation with its neighbors.
China considers it necessary to give full play to the important role of the UN in resolving the Iraqi issue. The international community should work together, promptly deliver pledged assistance and help Iraq embark on a road of peace, stability and development at an early date.
11. The Issue of Darfur, Sudan
The causes for the Darfur issue are complicated. To resolve this issue, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sudan should be fully respected in the first place. China stands for a “double-track” strategy to promote balanced progress in peacekeeping deployment and political negotiation. The role of the UN-AU-Sudan tripartite mechanism should be brought into full play as the main channel. At the same time, it is important to help Sudan improve the humanitarian and security situation in Darfur and realize peace, stability and development in the region as soon as possible.
China takes the issue of “impunity” seriously. We are gravely concerned about the indictment of Sudanese President Bashir proposed by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. We believe that measures taken by relevant parties on the Darfur issue should facilitate stability in Sudan and proper settlement of the Darfur issue.
China has made its efforts in promoting a proper settlement of the Darfur issue. The 315-member engineering unit dispatched by China to Darfur as peacekeepers has been fully deployed. To date, China has provided RMB140 million in humanitarian assistance to the region and contributed US$2.3 million to the AU peacekeeping mission and US$500,000 to the relevant UN Trust Fund. China will continue to play a constructive role in resolving the Darfur issue.
12. The Zimbabwe Issue
China is following the situation in Zimbabwe and hopes that Zimbabwe will restore domestic stability and development as soon as possible. China appreciates and welcomes the resolution of election disputes between parties concerned through dialogue and negotiation and the agreement reached on establishing a government of national unity.
The Zimbabwe issue is an internal affair of Zimbabwe. The current problems should mainly be resolved by the Zimbabwean people independently. The international community should do more to advance peace and stability in Zimbabwe and may play a constructive role in encouraging dialogue and promoting reconciliation. China welcomes the active mediation of the AU,SADC and South African President Thabo Mbeki and supports them in continuing to play an important role in this issue.
13. The Kosovo Issue
It is the common objective of the international community to properly resolve the Kosovo issue and build a Kosovo where diverse ethnic groups live together in harmony. The best way to resolve the issue of Kosovo’s status is for the Serbian Government and the Kosovo authorities to reach a mutually acceptable solution through negotiation. This is also what the international community should continue to work for.
IV. Development Issues
1. “Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs)
The UN MDGs serve as the guiding document for international development cooperation. The international community has made some progress in implementing the MDGs in recent years. But it remains a long and arduous task to meet the goals on schedule by 2015.
The UN will hold a High-level Event in September for a mid-term review of the MDGs. The international community should take this as a good opportunity to redouble efforts and work for comprehensive and balanced progress across the world in achieving the MDGs. To this end, the international community should establish genuine global development partnerships, provide strong support for developing countries, and place great importance on Africa’s development by increasing aid for Africa.
The UN and other international organizations should set frameworks for comprehensive and objective monitoring and evaluation of progress made. It is necessary to both look at the progress made by various countries in implementing the MDGs and evaluate the performance of developed countries in honoring their commitments.
2. Africa’s Development
Africa is the continent with the most developing countries in the world. Development is a pressing and arduous task facing Africa. To maintain stability and development in Africa is the common responsibility of the international community. To help African countries realize greater development, the international community should effectively honor commitments of aid for Africa, actively assist Africa in preventing and resolving conflicts to lay the foundation for development, respect African countries’ independent choice of development models and strengthen South-South cooperation as a useful supplement to North-South cooperation.
China is always a firm supporter of the cause of peace and development in Africa. At the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November 2006, President Hu Jintao announced a host of policy measures on behalf of the Chinese Government to support Africa’s development, including expansion of aid for Africa, debt relief, tariff exemption and increase of assistance and input to Africa in social development. China is working earnestly to fulfill the above commitments in order that African countries and people benefit from them as soon as possible. China is ready to work with African countries and the rest of the international community to continue to make contribution to Africa’s development.
3. Food Security
Food security is not only an issue of economy and livelihood, but also an issue of development and security. All parties should embrace the concept of common development, coordinate policies and actions actively and effectively, and work together to properly address the food security issue. China believes that it is necessary to do the following:
-- Increased aid and support the UN in playing a coordinating role to stabilize food prices and help developing countries to tide over difficulties;
--Formulate a long-term international food cooperation strategy and make food production a priority to increase the amount of food production and food reserves;
--Foster a favorable environment and establish a fair and reasonable order for international agricultural trade;
--Enhance macro-coordination and curb excessive speculation, formulate an international cooperation mechanism led by the UN, and establish a global food security system that integrates early warning, monitoring and supervision, macro-regulation and emergency relief;
--Look at the food issue from many inter-related perspectives, and foster an enabling environment for food security by taking a combination of measures covering finance, trade, aid, the environment, intellectual property rights and technology transfer.
There are a number of factors contributing to the continued rise of the food price. It is neither objective nor constructive to lay the blame on the growth of developing countries or the certain policy of certain country.
China is a positive force for upholding world food security. Its food self-sufficiency rate has been kept at 95% or above for the past 10 years. China has met the food needs of about 20% of the world population with only around 9% of the world’s arable land, making great contribution to world food security. In addition, China has always provided assistance to other developing countries according to its ability.
4. Energy Security
Energy security bears closely on the stable growth of the world economy and the livelihood of people around the world. Countries should foster a new energy security concept featuring mutually beneficial cooperation, diversified forms of development and common energy security through coordination, and work together to uphold world energy security through enhanced dialogue and cooperation. In line with the spirit of interdependence, the international community should promote mutually beneficial cooperation in the development and use of energy, advance the development of new energy and renewable energy and promote the application of advanced energy technologies. Practical cooperation in the energy fields should be strengthened. Healthy growth of the international energy market should be promoted and security of international transportation routes should be guaranteed. International cooperation in energy and in development should be coordinated and priority should be given to ensuring developing countries of their right to development. Such cooperation should aim at promoting common development of the whole world. It should combine with international poverty reduction efforts to help developing countries strengthen infrastructure building, reduce poverty, develop economy and improve people’s lives through energy-based poverty alleviation programs.
China is willing to continue its active participation in international energy cooperation on the basis of equality, reciprocity and mutual benefit, and work with other countries to uphold world energy security.
5. Climate Change
Climate change, a major challenge faced by today’s world, needs to be addressed through international cooperation. Climate change is primarily caused by developed countries’ historical emissions over many years and their current high per capita emissions. Developed countries bear unshirkable responsibilities for climate change and they should continue to take the lead in emission reduction after 2012, and honor their obligations of providing financial resources and technology transfer to developing countries set forth in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol. Developing countries are the main victims of climate change. Though faced by pressing tasks of development and poverty eradication, they will make contribution to the joint efforts to cope with climate change by embarking on the road of sustainable development.
In essence, climate change is an issue of development, and should be addressed in the context of sustainable development. In the international climate change cooperation, the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” should be observed and the role of UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol as the main channel of international cooperation on combating climate change should be upheld.
The Bali Roadmap has reaffirmed UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol as the effective framework for the international community to tackle climate change. At present, negotiations on the implementation of the Bali Roadmap have reached a critical juncture. It is imperative for countries to show political sincerity and turn slogans into actions following the principles and framework of UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol, so as to achieve positive results by the end of 2009. Developed countries, in particular, should continue to take the lead in reducing their emissions by a large margin and with quantitative commitments by following the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”, and provide support to developing countries in the fields of capital, technology, adaptation and capacity building, so as to help developing countries enhance their capacity of tackling climate change. Under such preconditions, developing countries will, under the framework of sustainable development, make their efforts to the best of their capacity to cope with climate change.
6. South-South Cooperation
For developing countries, South-South cooperation is an important channel to draw strengths from each other and realize common development, as well as an important means to help each other and work together to address development challenges. In recent years, South-South cooperation has achieved positive progress, generating active trade and investment among the developing countries. Some new mechanisms or initiatives have been launched among developing countries, injecting new vitality to South-South cooperation. All parties should make joint efforts to enhance cooperation in various fields, effectively use multilateral mechanisms, uphold common interests and expand South-South cooperation in width and depth.
China wishes to reiterate that South-South cooperation supplements rather than substitutes for North-South cooperation. Globalization has led to growing interdependence among countries in the world. Developed and developing countries should work together to bring about common prosperity and development.
7. Financing for Development
Financing is an important guarantee for international development cooperation. For years, shortage of financial resources has seriously impeded the economic and social development of developing countries. At present, the progress is slow in implementing the MDGs, and developing countries are in urgent need of financial and technical support from the international community. Thus it is worrying indeed that the official development assistance has decreased rather than increased.
The international community should focus on implementing the Monterrey Consensus, promote the establishment of a global development partnership, and supervise and promote the delivery of pledged international cooperation and development assistance.
First, faithfully honor commitments and increase official development assistance (ODA) to hit the target that ODA accounts for 0.7% of the gross national income of developed countries. Second, encourage and support the capacity building of developing countries to enhance their capacity of mobilizing domestic resources and attracting international capital. Third, create a favorable external environment, give full play to the role of trade as an engine for development, promote the reform of the international financial regime and coordinate policies on development and on trade and finance.
At the end of this year, the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development will be held in Doha, Qatar. Parties concerned should work together for substantive progress at the conference in mobilizing development resources and ensuring adequate and predictable financing for development.
8. Doha Round Negotiations
Success in the Doha Round negotiations will be in the interests of all parties concerned, for it will facilitate the stable development of the world economy and orderly growth of international trade.
China maintains that efforts should be made to push for comprehensive and balanced outcome of the Doha Round negotiations at an early date and curb trade protectionism. The development objective of the Doha Round must be achieved and concerns of developing countries, particularly the least developed countries, should be fully accommodated so that developing countries will fully and effectively participate in the multilateral trading regime and benefit from it.
China has been committed to the building of a fair, equitable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading regime. China made great contribution in market openness upon WTO accession and will continue to make contribution that matches its status as a new member and a developing member of the WTO. China will work with all the other parties concerned to ensure the success of the Doha Round negotiations at an early date, and give strong impetus and confidence to efforts aimed at revitalizing the world economy.
9. Reform of the International Financial Regime
The international financial market is volatile and the world economy faces more uncertainties. Countries around the world want to see necessary reform of the international financial regime to properly cope with current challenges in the world economy.
The international financial reform should focus on reflecting the changes in the world economic pattern, increasing the say and representation of developing countries, reducing their risks in participating in economic globalization and shaping an institutional framework that is conducive to sound and sustainable development of the world economy. The priority of such reforms should be on the building of a stable, orderly and equitable international financial regime.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made some progress in increasing the say and representation of developing countries. In future, it should focus on improving regulation on the international financial market, in particular, improving regulation on the economic vulnerability and policies of reserve currency issuing countries which could affect the whole system, warding off financial risks, and properly coping with financial fluctuations. The World Bank, as a multilateral institution for poverty alleviation, should focus on the long-term interests of developing countries. It should further increase its input in the development issue and take real actions as soon as possible to improve the say and representation of developing countries to reflect their concerns. The World Bank also needs to mobilize more resources to help developing countries achieve the MDGs.
V. Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-proliferation
China has consistently placed importance on and supported international arms control and disarmament efforts and stood for comprehensive prohibition and thorough destruction of all weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) such as nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
China is firmly opposed to the proliferation of WMDs and their means of delivery. To achieve the goal of non-proliferation, countries should be committed to building a global security environment of cooperation and mutual trust to realize universal security for all countries; try to resolve the proliferation issue by political and diplomatic means; bring into full play the core role of the UN and other relevant international organizations; and well handle the relations between non-proliferation and peaceful use.
China has never evaded its due responsibilities and obligations in nuclear disarmament and supports the conclusion of international legal instruments on complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons. China has persistantly exercised the utmost restraint on the scale and development of its nuclear weapons and upheld its commitment that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances and that it will unconditionally refrain from using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones.
China firmly supports the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and is actively promoting its early entry into force. China supports the Conference on Disarmament in concluding a comprehensive and balanced programme of work and launching negotiations on the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty as soon as possible.
China maintains that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is the cornerstone of the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. Under the current circumstances, the authority and universality of the NPT should be further upheld and strengthened for it to play an even greater role in preventing proliferation of nuclear weapons and promoting nuclear disarmament and peaceful use of nuclear energy.
China supports the purposes and objectives of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention. China has fully and strictly fulfilled the obligations under the two Conventions, supported the enhancement of their universality, and called on countries that own or possess chemical weapons and countries that have abandoned chemical weapons in other countries to further intensify their work and speed up destruction of chemical weapons.
China has consistently stood for peaceful use of outer space and opposed the weaponization and an arms race in outer space. The formulation of relevant international legal instruments through negotiation is the best way to achieve this goal.
China has attached importance to military transparency and been committed to enhancing mutual trust in the military field with other countries. In 2007, China joined the UN Standardized Instrument For Reporting Military Expenditures,and resumed its participation in the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
China supports the UN in playing an important role in addressing issues related to missiles and conventional arms trade, and has participated in the work of relevant Groups of Governmental Experts in a constructive manner. Relevant efforts should be continued within the UN framework in an appropriate, comprehensive and balanced way, and concerns of all parties concerned should be respected.
China attaches importance to the humanitarian issues in the field of arms control,fully implements its obligations under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and its Protocols, and takes an active part in the work of the Group of Governmental Experts of the Convention. China has actively engaged in international de-mining assistance and assisted relevant countries in getting rid of sufferings caused by landmines. China actively supports the international efforts on combating illicit trade in small arms and light weapons and earnestly implements the United Nations Program of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects and the International Instrument to Enable States to Identify and Trace,in a Timely and Reliable Manner, Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons.
VI. Human Rights
Governments of all countries in the world are duty-bound to promote and protect human rights in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and relevant provisions of the international instruments on human rights,taking into account their national conditions. The international community should recognize that all human rights are indivisible and attach equal importance to the realization of the economic, social and cultural rights, the civil and political rights, as well as the right to development. Due to different national conditions, countries have taken different approaches and adopted different models on human rights. It is undesirable to impose one uniform model to promote and protect human rights.
China is an advocate of international cooperation in the field of human rights. We stand for dialogue and cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect to address differences on the issue of human rights, and enhance mutual understanding and learning for common development. We oppose politicizing human rights issues and adopting double standards.
China takes part in the work of the UN Human Rights Council with a constructive attitude and is ready to work with other countries to ensure that the Council addresses human rights issues in a fair, objective and non-selective manner to promote constructive dialogue and cooperation in this field.
VII. Social Issues
1. Transnational Crimes
Transnational crimes like production and trafficking of illicit drugs, smuggling, trafficking in persons and money laundering have become more reckless and are often connected with terrorist activities, posing serious threats to economic development and law and order of various countries and presenting challenges to regional stability and even world peace.
Strengthening international cooperation to prevent and combat transnational organized crimes is not only the common need of the international community but also the shared responsibility of all countries. The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime is an important document of the international community in the fight against transnational crimes. The international community should, in accordance with the purposes of the Convention, earnestly fulfill their obligations under the Convention and strengthen cooperation on the basis of “mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation”.
2. Anti-Money Laundering
Money laundering is intertwined with terrorism and other transnational crimes and poses a serious threat to the financial stability and economic security of all countries. International cooperation in anti-money laundering is conducive to the building of a sound international financial system and harmonious development of the international community.
China attaches great importance to the fight against money laundering and actively promotes and participates in international and regional cooperation in this respect. China became a full member of the Financial Action Task Force in June 2007. China will continue to work with the international community and participate more actively in international cooperation in anti-money laundering to build a sound and orderly international financial system.
3. Public Health
The issue of public health bears on the health and safety of people of all countries. The International Health Regulations, which came into effect on 15 June 2007, is an international legal document on the prevention of international spread of diseases. Governments of all countries should continue to enhance public health capacity building through economic development, in order to provide strong guarantee for a healthy life of the people and promote coordinated and sustainable economic and social development.
At China’s initiative, the resolution on “Strengthening Capacity-Building in Global Public Health” was adopted unanimously at the 58th, 59th and 60th sessions of the UN General Assembly, fully reflecting the attention of the international community on capacity building in public health. Developing countries face many difficulties in the prevention and control of major infectious diseases, and the international community should provide greater help to them to strengthen their capacity building in disease prevention and treatment.
4. Anti-Corruption
The United Nations Convention against Corruption sets the legal principles and rules for the joint efforts of all countries to punish and prevent corruption. All countries should earnestly strengthen international cooperation against corruption on the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty, equality and mutual benefit. Extradition, mutual legal assistance and asset recovery should be regarded as the focus and priority in the implementation of the Convention. Technical assistance should focus on meeting the needs of developing countries and assisting them in capacity building without attachment of additional conditions. Countries should strive to improve the efficiency of cooperation by minimizing restrictions of their domestic laws on the measures of cooperation provided for in the Convention.
VIII. The UN Financial Issues
All member states of the UN should, in accordance with the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations and the principle of “capacity to pay” set out in UNGA resolutions, continue to fulfill their financial obligations to the UN by paying unconditionally their membership dues and assessments for peacekeeping operations in time and in full, to ensure a solid and stable financial footing for the UN.
The efficiency of the use of UN resources should be further enhanced through integration of resources and programs with full consideration and accommodation given to the legitimate concerns and demands of developing countries.
Member states should step up coordination and communication to improve work efficiency and give more guidance to the Secretariat in program coordination, finance and budget.
IX. Rule of Law
1. The Rule of Law at the National and International Levels
It is a shared goal of all countries to achieve rule of law at the national and international levels. Countries are entitled to independently choose the models of rule of law that are suitable for their national conditions and can learn from each other’s model for common development. To strengthen international rule of law, it is necessary to uphold the authority of the Charter of the United Nations, strictly abide by the well established principles and rules of international law, adhere to the consistent application of international law, avoid double standards, improve international law-making process and promote democracy in international relations.
2. Combating Impunity
China condemns all crimes in violation of human rights and international humanitarian law and supports the international community in its efforts to address impunity in conflict areas. The international efforts to punish crimes should not disrupt the ongoing peace process in conflict areas or hamper the measures in conflict areas to promote national reconciliation and build enduring peace. The issue of impunity can only be better addressed with relaxation of tension and political stability in related regions.
3. The International Court of Justice
China supports an enhanced role of the International Court of Justice in the peaceful settlement of international disputes and supports the Court in its efforts to improve the way it works. The right of each country to freely choose the method of peaceful settlement of disputes should be respected.
4. The International Criminal Court
China supports the establishment of an independent, impartial, effective and universally accepted institution for international criminal justice to punish the most serious international crimes. The work of the International Criminal Court should be pursued in a way that dose not impede or jeopardize the relevant peace process. China will continue to follow the work of the International Criminal Court.
5. Oceans and the Law of the Sea
China places great importance on maritime issues and the law of the sea and believes that the international community should strengthen cooperation and coordination to establish and maintain a harmonious international order on the sea. We propose that:
First, we need to maintain harmony between mankind and the sea in order to sustain a mutually-rewarding relationship between them. The way to achieve this goal is to strike a balance between reasonable utilization and scientific conservation of the sea.
Second, we need to make an equitable distribution of maritime interests between countries with advantageous and disadvantageous maritime conditions and between developed and developing countries. It is important for us to share the responsibility of conservation and work together to care for the sea, the common homeland of mankind.
Third, in order to maintain a harmonious maritime order, it is important to strengthen international rule of law with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as the legal basis. The Convention, a product of many years of international negotiation, reflects the concerns of various parties in a relatively balanced manner. It has set a legal foundation and framework for building a harmonious maritime order and for addressing new maritime problems and challenges.
Fourth, a scientific and reasonable delineation of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles is not merely a right some coastal states are entitled to under international law. It also concerns the scope of international seabed area which is the common heritage of mankind. The international community should ensure that the work of the Committee on the Limits of the Continental Shelf is conducted in a serious, science-based and accurate manner.
Activists and member states discuss ASEAN rights body
http://teakdoor.com/thailand-and-asia-news/35585-activists-member-states-discuss-asean-rights.html
Reporting by Aye Nai
Sep 16, 2008 (DVB)–Representatives of NGOs were among those who took part in ASEAN discussions in Manila on 11 September on the setting up of a body to monitor state compliance with the ASEAN human rights charter.
Aung Myo Min, director of the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, attended the ASEAN meeting and said there was debate between nations on the source of human rights norms.
"There were some disagreements among the representatives from the 10 ASEAN countries who attended the meeting," Aung Myo Min said.
"Nations like the Philippines were keen on drawing up a human rights charter based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he explained.
“But countries like Burma and Laos were against that idea – they wanted the charter to be based upon Asian values."
But Aung Myo Min said others had said a charter based on Asian values would not be feasible given the diverse range of cultures and traditions within ASEAN member states.
Aung Myo Min said the forum had also discussed the establishment of a mechanism to hold states accountable for violations of human rights.
"The arguments also revolved around how to set up human rights courts or tribunals on a local scale,” he said.
“We very much wanted that to happen but some people believed it was still too early for ASEAN to have such a system – it seemed like they didn't want it to happen. They didn't want to give power to the court," he continued.
"We gave our opinions and expressed our desire to make this possible but we have to wait and see if we can get agreement from the people responsible for drawing up the charter and how much approval they will get from the ASEAN foreign ministers."
english.dvb.no
Court begins first hearing on Burma loan
The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions held the first hearing on the case against ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which involved the Export-Import Bank’s four-billion baht loan granted to the Burmese government during his administration.
The hearing was held on Tuesday at 10am, but Mr Thaksin failed to appear before the panel as he currently lives in exile in Britain.
The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions held the first hearing on the case against ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which involved the Export-Import Bank’s four-billion baht loan granted to the Burmese government during his administration.
The hearing was held on Tuesday at 10am, but Mr Thaksin failed to appear before the panel as he currently lives in exile in Britain.
The now-defunct Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC) filed the lawsuit against the deposed premier for alleged conflict of interest and abuse of authority, which violate articles 152 and 157 of the criminal code.
According to the ASC, the government of Burma sought the loan for its telecommunications system development, and it was expected to purchase equipments from Shin Satellite Co, an affiliate of Shin Corporation Public Company Limited, in which the major shareholders were members of Mr Thaksin’s family.
Thaksin Relative Has Party Backing for Thai Prime Minister
By Ron Corben
Bangkok
16 September 2008
Thailand's People's Power Party has nominated a relative of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to become the nation's new leader. But as Ron Corben reports from Bangkok, fighting among the PPP's factions created uncertainties before the vote.
Thailand's acting PM and deputy leader of the ruling People's Power Party, Somchai Wongsawat speaks during a news conference in Bangkok, Thailand, 11 Sep 2008
The People's Power Party has endorsed interim Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to lead a new government. His nomination goes to a vote in parliament Wednesday.
Mr. Somchai, a former permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, is seen as less combative than Samak Sundaravej, who had to resign as prime minister last week after a court ruled he had violated conflict of interest rules. Many PPP members and the party's five coalition partners refused to re-elect him.
Sunai Pasuk, a representative in Thailand for Human Rights Watch, says with the vote coming Wednesday the political landscape appears to be settling after weeks of tension.
"For now at least efforts from the political parties in the parliament to go along with the existing principal of electoral democracy - that is the biggest party in the parliament has the right to nominate a new prime minister," Sunai said.
But it was not clear that Mr. Somchai would have full party support. A party faction threatened to boycott the election, because its members saw Mr. Somchai as too divisive. He is the brother-in-law of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup two years ago.
Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, says the split appeared to be a power struggle between factions.
The PPP is largely made up of politicians from the banned Thai Rak Thai Party, which Thaksin led. It has been banned because of voting irregularities.
"The conflict between groups is intensifying," Panitan said. "TRT was a composition of different faction groups under the leadership of one man - Thaksin and his no-nonsense rule. But since his departure from politics, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for these power groups to hold together."
PPP sources told journalists the differences had been settled.
Thailand has been gripped by political tension for months as anti-government protests led by the People's Alliance for Democracy called for Samak's resignation. They accuse him acting on behalf of Thaksin.
The former prime minister fled to Britain last month during a corruption trial.
Thaksin remains immensely popular among rural and poor voters. But the urban middle class considers him corrupt and authoritarian.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Thaksin after he failed to appear to face charges over a loan to Burma's military government that prosecutors say would have benefited his telecommunications business.
And on Wednesday, a special Supreme Court will issue a verdict in the first corruption case against Thaksin. He is accused of using his influence to enable his wife to buy land through a government agency.
NHPC to set up power projects in Myanmar
17 Sep, 2008, 0115 hrs IST,Subhash Narayan, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: NHPC is set to enter Myanmar with a plan to set up two hydro-power projects. The Myanmar project would be second overseas presence for NHPC after Bhutan.
The company has signed an MoU with Myanmar’s power ministry to develop two hydro-power projects of 1200mw (Tamanthi project) and 600mw (Shwzaye project) on the Chindwin river close to the border, minister of state for power Jairam Ramesh said.
The projects are part of the Look East Policy of the government under which India would expand business ties with Myanmar, especially in the energy sector. Besides NHPC projects, Bhel would also provide its services to two other power projects in the neighbouring country.
“The Chindwin river basin has enormous hydropower potential estimated to be around 2,500mw. Besides, the basin is also of strategic importance to the country due to its proximity to several north-eastern states. The project would definitely help the country to meet its energy deficit. The projects would be kickstarted after the utility conducts a techno-economic feasibility,” Mr Ramesh said.
Singapore Defends Its Visa Move Against Myanmar Protesters
SINGAPORE (AFP)--Singapore defended its decision not to renew the visas of some Myanmar nationals working or studying in the city-state, saying they were " undesirable."
Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng said there was no political pressure to move against the Myanmar nationals, who had earlier taken part in a Singapore protest against Myanmar's military rulers.
"The recent immigration actions taken by ICA (Immigration and Checkpoints Authority) against a few Myanmar nationals were not the result of political pressure or requests from the Myanmar government," Wong said in a written reply, released Wednesday, to a question in parliament.
Wong said that the Myanmar activists were politicizing the visa issue, and that the immigration office had "rightly decided that such persons are undesirable and that they should leave."
Wong said the move involved only a small number of Myanmar nationals, whom he said "had persistently defied our laws in pursuing their political agenda."
Those individuals took part in an illegal demonstration during a summit of Southeast Asian leaders hosted by Singapore last year, Wong said, adding that the protest was deliberately held near the venue to attract public and media attention.
Demonstrations are rare in Singapore, where a gathering of five or more people without a permit is illegal.
Three Myanmar nationals who joined the protest had to leave Singapore this year after their visas weren't renewed, according to Myo Myint Maung, a student who said he was speaking for the group.
Three others, who are Singapore permanent residents and who had also joined the protest, had their visas extended for one year instead of the usual five, Myo Myint Maung said.
International rights groups have accused Myanmar's military leaders of committing massive human rights violations against the country's citizens.
Singapore and Myanmar are members of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The other members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
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Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi halts food rations boycottDetained opposition leader accepts rations for first time in a month after regime grants demands ove
Ian MacKinnon,
south-east Asia correspondent guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday September 16 2008
11:22 BST Article history
The detained Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Photograph: Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/EPA
Burma's detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has accepted food rations for the first time in a month.
A Burmese regime official today said a package of food left at the crumbling lakeside villa where she has spent 13 of the past 19 years was picked up yesterday evening.
Nyan Win, a spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD), said Suu Kyi had decided to resume collecting the supplies after the regime granted some of her demands over living conditions.
The acceptance of the food came amid concerns over the 63-year-old Nobel laureate's health. Her doctor, Tin Myo Win, examined her for four hours on Sunday and said she was malnourished after declining most of the regime's food since August 16.
Suu Kyi's lawyer, Kyi Win, said the doctor rejected suggestions the opposition leader had been staging a hunger strike. Suu Kyi and her two maids relied on the meagre food stocks they had kept at the house, he said.
Kyi Win was allowed to meet Suu Kyi four times over the past two months and discussed with the military ways in which the conditions of her detention might be relaxed.
On Friday, the regime agreed she could receive letters from her two sons and newspapers and magazines such as Newsweek and Time, and that her maids would be allow to come and go freely, although they would be searched.
"She decided to accept the food again because the authorities allowed some points of her demands," said Nyan Win, although he was unable to confirm the official's assertion that the food had been collected.
"[Suu Kyi] told her lawyer that she is not on hunger strike, but managed by eating very limited food in those days."
The partial fasting had left her weak and she needed rest, he said. However, the lawyer had relayed a message to the regime saying she would like to talk to its liaison minister, Aung Kyi, after previously declining a meeting because of her fragile condition.
As part of an earlier agreement struck with the regime, Suu Kyi - whose NLD won the 1990 election by a landslide only to see the result ignored by the junta - will receive a twice-monthly visit from Dr Tin Myo Win in future.
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Killer baby formula sold to Burma, Bangladesh
Beijing (dpa) - Two Chinese firms where tests found tainted milk products had exported baby formula milk powder to five countries including Bangladesh and Burma, the government said on Wednesday.
The Suokang and Yashili companies had started to recall their exported milk powder products, which were also sent to Yemen, Burundi and Gabon, said Li Changjiang, the head of the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).
Web www.bangkokpost.com
An earlier report said no melamine was found after experts tested samples of Yashili's milk powder earmarked for export.
Suokang was based in the eastern city of Qingdao and Yashili in the southern province of Guangdong, Li told reporters.
Both firms were among the 22 companies where the ministry found 69 batches of milk powder tainted with melamine, he said.
Three babies have died, 158 children have developed "serious kidney problems" and 6,244 infants have been sickened by baby formula contaminated with melamine, health officials said on Wednesday.
Police in the northern province of Hebei have charged four people in connection with the largest case of melamine contamination and detained 22 others, state media said
When 'Made in China' is a warning
These safety recalls point to reforms that will allow the press and elections to hold Beijing accountable.
from the July 10, 2007 edition
The theory goes like this: Engage China and, willy-nilly, it will reform. The world has opened its doors to "Made in China" goods, but with so many recalls of Chinese products from toys to tires, Beijing is hardly acting like an accountable regime.
In the United States alone this year, nearly two-thirds of the recalls by the Consumer Product Safety Commission have involved Chinese imports. And the number of such recalls has doubled since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Other nations, from Japan to France, are also cracking down on Chinese imports.
American consumers first became aware of China's lax oversight earlier this year with the discovery of toxic waste in food for dogs and cats. Then came news of faulty tires for trucks, lead paint on wooden toys such as Thomas train sets, contaminated fish, and lately, poisonous toothpaste.
At first, China saw all this news as yet another Western conspiracy to keep China down by trying to block its nearly $1 trillion in exports. Officials made a few token "seizures" of Western imports, claiming they were tainted or unsafe.
But then the truth sank in: China's quarter-century dash for dollars lacked an adequate system to hold both government and business accountable to even basic standards in consumer safety.
Last week, Beijing's quality control watchdog agency acknowledged that nearly 1 in 5 products were substandard. (For "large" companies, the quality was a much-better 93 percent.) Two high ranking officials in charge of regulating pharmaceutical drugs have been sentenced to death on corruption charges – certainly a sign of concern within the Communist Party. And behind the veil of secrecy there appears to be more hustle to crack down on wayward, smaller exporters. At least 180 food factories have been shut down.
But what of deeper reforms that would really ensure accountability, such as a free press, independent courts, and elections with political parties?
Not a word.
In American history, it was during the Progressive Era of the early 20th century that safety lapses of the market system were corrected by a vigorous media and vibrant democracy, leading to, for instance, the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.
While China does have such regulatory institutions and allows the media to tackle product quality, can it simply continue to rely on the iron hand of unelected leaders to correct millions of businesses? And can it continue to prevent journalists from asking if China must adopt truly representative government?
Not when lives are at stake, both within China and wherever its exports go.
China has launched a public relations effort in the US, along with lobbying of Congress, in hopes of avoiding consumer backlash or possible trade sanctions over these latest safety issues. But this is simply eyewash to cover the lack of real reform.
The better tack is to allow independent activist groups more freedom to question the government, place more non-Party professionals in high levels of regulatory agencies, and end curbs on the press. Such steps are real reform and will ensure China is welcomed on the world stage as a responsible partner.
Find this article at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0710/p08s01-comv.html
Behind bad baby milk, an ethical gap in China's business
Inspectors found that 13 percent of dairy firms inspected since last week had produced melamine-tainted formula, state TV reported Tuesday. Critics say state regulation alone won’t prevent more food scandals.
By Peter Ford | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the September 17, 2008 edition
Reporter Peter Ford explains why Sanlu, the company behind the tainted milk scandal, was exempt from government inspection.
Beijing - As Chinese officials warned Tuesday that contaminated milk powder may have sickened more than the 1,200 babies already identified, the scandal revealed more than a recurrent regulatory problem, Chinese and foreign experts suggested.
Rather, they said, it pointed to a deeper malaise in Chinese society where private profit often trumps the public good as the country races to create a market economy that has outstripped government regulators.
"China has the problems of any transitional economy," says Yanzhong Huang, a global health expert at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. "But the deeper and more fundamental challenge China faces is a systematic lack of business ethics."
"You cannot fully police the whole food chain," adds Dali Yang, a politics professor at the University of Chicago. "A lot depends on changes in social norms. People have to recognize that integrity does matter."
A leading Chinese dairy company, Sanlu, admitted last week that its baby formula manufactured earlier this year was tainted by the chemical melamine. Doctors in several Chinese provinces have found more than 1,200 babies who drank the formula suffering from kidney stones and renal failure. Two babies have died as a result since May, officials say, warning that the number of cases could rise sharply.
State television reported Tuesday that 22 of 175 dairy producers inspected since last week were found to have produced melamine-tainted milk. They included major brands such as the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, a supplier for the Beijing Olympics.
Investigators say it appears that milk merchants, selling to Sanlu the raw milk they had bought from farmers, had added the chemical – normally used in plastics and fertilizers – to boost the milk's apparent protein content.
Two brothers who owned a milk collection center in Shijiazhuang, Sanlu's home base, were arrested Monday on charges of adulterating the milk they had sold to the company, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Two additional milk suppliers were also arrested later that day. Seventeen others have been detained, including one man suspected of illegally selling melamine.
The case is especially embarrassing to Sanlu – a majority state-owned joint venture with a New Zealand dairy cooperative – because it was allegedly such a paragon of virtue it has been exempted from government food safety inspections since December 2005.
The company's infant formula had been certified as an "inspection-exempt product" for three years by the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ), according to the administration's website.
Such certification means that "the products are exempted from quality monitoring and inspection conducted by the government," the website explains. In return, it adds, "internal inspection should be reinforced."
Forty-seven Chinese dairy companies currently enjoy such an exemption, according to AQSIQ, after demonstrating that they have "a complete quality guarantee system," among other criteria.
Not only did Sanlu fail to detect the melamine in its milk powder, the company has also so far failed to explain why it did not publicly reveal the problem until Sept. 11, although it had received complaints from worried parents as early as last March, and identified the contamination on Aug. 6.
The incident became public only after Sanlu's New Zealand partner, Fonterra, which holds three seats on the company board, informed New Zealand diplomats who told Chinese government officials in Beijing of the problem.
Fonterra has "been trying for weeks to get official recall, and the local authorities in China would not do it," New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark told her country's state TV broadcaster on Monday. "At the local level ... I think the first inclination was to try to put a towel over it."
Last year, after a wave of food safety scandals involving pet food, toothpaste, and seafood, the Chinese government pledged stricter controls, especially of food destined for export.
A new food safety law was presented last December to the National People's Congress, the parliament, after three years of study, and last month the Chinese Food and Drug Administration was put under the wing of the Health Ministry.
Skeptics are not convinced by such moves. "Central regulatory reform is only part of the problem," argues Richard Suttmeier, a University of Oregon expert on Chinese product safety. "There is nothing you can snap your fingers at and solve."
With nearly half a million food producing and processing companies, according to official figures, "there are more individual producers than the government could ever regulate," Prof. Suttmeier adds.
The authorities "will be defeated constantly" unless "they begin to think how you make multiple producers responsible agents," he says.
A wide range of reforms is needed, he warns, from capital markets that would starve misbehaving companies of funds to a legal system that would allow aggrieved consumers to sue firms for damages.
"What is really needed is a cultural shift," Suttmeier argues. "That will occur if they make progress with institution building" as part of China's transition from a socialist to a capitalist economic system.
Prof. Yuang also attributes the Sanlu scandal, and others like it, to "the difficulty of transforming institutions from the micro-interference of a centrally planned economy to macro-regulation.
"There is a big question mark over how effective this is," he adds.
Some observers see a silver lining in the scandal. "One positive result is that people will become more aware of food safety," says Ren Fazheng, a professor at China Agriculture University in Beijing. "Government and society will pay more attention to this issue ... and more inspection agencies will use more methods, so the level of inspection will improve."
Yet public opinion, even outrage, has limited impact, as evidenced by the stunted efforts by angry parents who lost children in the Sichuan earthquake in May to demand government accountability. While officials are still investigating why so many schools in the quake area collapsed, protests have been curtailed and media coverage on the issue banned.
Still, with Sanlu closed by government decree and its future in doubt, two men charged with crimes that can carry the death penalty, and a government investigation widening, "this serves as an extremely strong cautionary tale for the whole industry," says Professor Yang.
"Lawsuits have not worked well in China, but the costs are escalating" for companies that cheat, he argues. "Producers realize now how precious their brand name is."
Yuang is less sanguine. "The problem is structural and systematic" he warns. "If it is not tackled we will see many, many more cases like this, and it will really hurt the Chinese economy, especially its export sector."
The sunny side of Wall Street
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0917/p08s01-comv.html
Lehman Bros. had to fall to help return financial markets to the basics of honest market value.
By the Monitor's Editorial Board
from the September 17, 2008 edition
Physicists and financiers have much in common these days – they're both hunting basic reality in their realms. Last week, physicists at a giant particle-collider in Europe began to search for a subatomic entity so fundamental, they claim it creates mass. On Wall Street, a credit crisis has financiers seeking the fundamentals of what creates market value.
Many on Wall Street lost the fundamentals of doing business during an era of loose credit, complex deals that few understand, and blind hope in rising home prices. They also lost sight of three T's that undergird markets: trust, transparency, and truthfulness.
Now, with the collapse of several financial institutions and a dramatic fall in stock prices, Americans need to relearn the prudent use of credit in order to avoid taking on too much debt and putting too much faith in single markets, such as housing.
A two-year fall in house prices, caused by buyers who bought homes they couldn't afford with risky types of mortgages that should never have been offered, needs to fall further until the market locates the rock-bottom worth of a home to Americans.
A new government attempt to prop up that market, either with easy credit or forestalling foreclosures for months, will only re-create the same inflating conditions. It's time for home sellers to accept lower prices and for financial institutions to fess up about their assets.
One likely reason Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson didn't rescue Lehman Brothers last week was that the investment bank had six months since the collapse of rival Bear Stearns to fix its mistake of overborrowing to buy risky mortgage-related securities. It didn't know the worth of its assets.
Taxpayers can't rescue financial institutions that ignore signals to shape up while hoping for a federal bailout. Evacuation warnings for this hurricane were given long ago.
Like Americans with too much credit-card debt, investment banks have been allowed by Congress to take on debt with very little backup capital. That's why so many have fallen, unlike commercial banks that are required to keep reserves against potential losses.
Investment banks and many other financial players, such as mortgage brokers, now need enforced discipline to avoid a new era of risky debtmaking.
The Federal Reserve also needs to learn from its mistake of keeping interest rates too low in 2003 to prevent a housing bubble.
A credit-based economy that turns short-term money into long-term investments needs safeguards, such as capital reserves and transparency. These help handle the greed side of markets. When panic sets in, government must step in and perhaps take over private assets and resell them. That helps handle the fear side of markets.
Wall Street is now in fear mode, even as it learns lessons from its recent greedy era. One lesson is that bundling home loans and reselling them without anyone being held responsible for the risk of those loans creates financial black holes.
At Wall Street's big bang more than 200 years ago, when financiers first gathered under a buttonwood tree in Manhattan to buy and sell, the basics for creating wealth on good credit were established.
It's time for a return to basics that can create true value.
Stocks sink after government bailout of AIG By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK - Wall Street stumbled again Wednesday, with anxieties about the financial system still running high even after the government bailed out the insurer American International Group Inc. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped about 300 points.
The Federal Reserve is giving a two-year, $85 billion loan to AIG in exchange for a nearly 80 percent stake in the insurer, after it lost billions in the risky business of insuring against bond defaults. Wall Street had feared that the conglomerate, which has its tentacles in various financial services industries around the world, would follow the investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. into bankruptcy.
"People are scared to death," said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist for PNC Wealth Management. "Who would have imagined that AIG would have gotten into this position?"
He said the fear gripping the market reflects investors' concerns that AIG wasn't able to find a lifeline in the private sector and that Wall Street is now fretting about what other institutions could falter.
The two independent Wall Street investment banks left standing — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley — remain under scrutiny, as does Washington Mutual Inc., the country's largest thrift bank. Morgan Stanley revealed its quarterly earnings early late Tuesday, posting a better-than-expected 7 percent slide in fiscal third-quarter profit. It insisted that it is surviving the credit crisis that has ravaged many of its peers.
Lehman filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, and by late Tuesday had sold its North American investment banking and trading operations to Barclays, Britain's third-largest bank, for the bargain price of $250 million. Over the weekend, Merrill Lynch, the world's largest brokerage, sold itself in a last-ditch effort to avoid failure to Bank of America Corp.
The troubles in the financial sector could exacerbate the problems facing the weak U.S. economy, given that individuals and businesses rely on the nation's money centers.
The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that new home construction fell by 6.2 percent in August to 895,000 units, the slowest building pace since January 1991. Slumping demand for houses, sinking home prices and mortgage defaults have been the catalysts behind Wall Street's turmoil — and the risky mortgage-backed assets held by the nation's banks are not apt to regain in value until the housing market turns around.
The Dow fell 298.00, or 2.69 percent, to 10,761.02 a day after Wall Street regained some of Monday's nosedive, in which the blue chips fell 504 points. The index is down more than 5 percent on the week, and has fallen more than 23 percent since reaching a record close of 14,164.53 on Oct. 9 last year.
Broader stock indicators also plunged. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 42.68, or 3.52 percent, to 1,170.92, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 76.11, or 3.45 percent, to 2,131.79.
The stock market is likely to see heavy back-and-forth movement as traders continue to assess the flood of news that has poured in over the past several days.
On Monday, the Dow lost 504 points, the largest tumble since its drop following the September 2001 terror attacks. On Tuesday, it rose 141 points, after the Fed decided to leave interest rates unchanged.
"It's still uncertain ground we're treading. We just have to move on a daily basis," said Jack A. Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank.
The government took other measures Tuesday to help alleviate the turmoil in the markets. The Treasury said it will start selling bonds for the Fed to aid it with its lending efforts, while the Securities and Exchange Commission said it will strictly prohibit naked short-selling starting Thursday.
Short-selling is when traders borrow shares of a stock they expect to fall and sell them — if the stock does indeed fall, the traders buy the cheaper shares to cover the borrowed ones and profit from the difference. Naked short-selling occurs when sellers don't actually borrow the shares before selling them; it's a practice some say is partially responsible for the huge drop in the shares of investment banks like Lehman, Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns Cos., which JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought earlier this year.
Bond prices wavered Wednesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, slipped to 3.39 percent from 3.43 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was lower against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.
Crude oil rebounded $2.27 to $93.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude has dropped by about $10 a barrel over the past two days due to concerns that troubles in the financial sector will dampen the economy and cause big funds to unwind their commodities bets.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by nearly 10 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 655.9 million shares.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.2 percent after AIG's rescue, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 3.6 percent.
In afternoon trading in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.37 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 2.25 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 2.27 percent.
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