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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 28,
2001.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AP - UN Human-Rights Grp Ends Session, Sidesteps
China Rebuke
AFP - Thailand to urge Myanmar to appoint
anti-drugs envoy
AP - Activists hold
unprecedented pro-democracy rally in Singapore
IHT - Burma Has Done Nothing to Deserve Japan's
Aid Reward
Inside China - Chinese
Army Chief Meets With Myanmar Junta Leader
IT - Musharraf to be first Pak leader to visit
Myanmar
Bkk Post - Surakiart urged to take up coal
protest with Burma
Bkk Post - Red Wa branch out into heroin
supply
Bkk Post - Border drug effort
widens
The Nation - Burma urged to appoint a liaison
envoy
The Nation - Residents
lobby Surakiart to press junta on lignite plant
The Nation - Asean seeks ways to compete with
800-lb gorilla
Xinhuanet - Musharraf to Visit Myanmar,
Vietnam
JT - Japan and ASEAN
mull free trade pact
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday April 28, 2:06 AMUN Human-Rights Grp Ends Session,
Sidesteps China Rebuke
GENEVA (AP)--The U.N. Human
Rights Commission ended its annual six-week session Friday after urging greater
action against "disappearances," and an end to executions. It condemned
violations in Russia, Iran and Cuba - but once again let China off the hook.
In a closing speech, U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson said the
53-nation body tried to "rise above political differences, national interests
and short-term considerations."
Non-governmental activists were less convinced.
Thanks to support from other developing countries, China managed to push
through a "no-action" motion and so head off a U.S.-sponsored motion condemning
repression for the tenth year.
Amnesty International lamented that the commission had "failed in its
principal duty to protect victims of appalling human rights violations who
happen to live in powerful countries like China."
However, fellow U.N. Security Council member Russia was condemned for the
second straight year for its actions in Chechnya.
"Chechnya was a success - any other decision would have rewarded Russia for
ignoring previous U.N. human rights resolutions," said Joanna Weschler, U.N.
representative of Human Rights Watch.
Other countries which were criticized -as in previous years - included
Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Myanmar and Israel.
The commission's criticism carries purely moral weight and isn't binding.
Even so, countries lobby hard to avoid censure.
Part of the problem, campaigners say, is that many commission members, who
all serve three-year terms, are the very states with suspect records: China,
Vietnam, Libya and Cuba being among them.
"The bad human-rights record is the strongest link among such countries, so
this is a case of human-rights abuser solidarity," said Weschler.
The commission agreed to do more to protect the rights of indigenous
peoples. It called for a global death-penalty moratorium -a move praised by
Amnesty International. It also pledged to start work on an international treaty
on "disappearances" - the abduction and killing of political opponents.
Argentinian delegation head Leandro Despouy, who chaired this year's
session, told reporters the memory of abductions during the 1970s "Dirty War" in
his country was a "national trauma." The U.N. decision was a step toward
repairing the damage, he said.
This year's commission was also marked by Robinson's surprise announcement
that she wouldn't seek a second term because of the constraints of the U.N.
system and its lack of funds.
But two weeks later, she had a change of heart and asked for a one-year
extension.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday April 28, 3:52 PM
Thailand to urge Myanmar to appoint
anti-drugs envoy
BANGKOK, April 28 (AFP) -
Thailand will urge Myanmar to appoint a special anti-drugs liaison envoy at a
UN-sponsored meeting on regional efforts to stamp out the drug trade next month,
a report said Saturday.
Prime Minister's Office Minister Thamarak Isarangura said Thai delegates at
the meeting would push for Myanmar to establish the position that would rank
among international ambassadors.
"A representative from the (Myanmar) side will be necessary and important
in attempts to combat the widespread trade in drugs," Thamarak told the Nation
daily.
Thailand and other countries in the region such as China have already
appointed anti-drug envoys to enhance international cooperation on drug-related
issues.
Thailand and China also signed a cooperation agreement last year in the
fight against drugs, and Thailand will ask Myanmar to enter into a similar
agreement.
Thamarak will represent Thailand at the anti-drugs meeting in Yangon
scheduled for May 8-11, which will bring together ministers from Cambodia,
China, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
The six nations signed an agreement in 1995 to work together to fight
narcotics trafficking by reducing demand, boosting law enforcement and
encouraging crop substitution.
Their home affairs ministers meet every two years to discuss the progress
of cross-border drug control projects and to approve new strategies devised by
the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP).
The region's narcotics crisis is a hot diplomatic topic, and the focus of a
flurry of visits between Thailand, Myanmar and China which produced an agreement
for closer tripartite collaboration on the issue.
Massive drugs production within Myanmar's borders, which is feeding a
serious addiction crisis in Thailand, caused a serious rift between the two
neighbours earlier this year.
A bloody skirmish between their national armies was sparked by rival ethnic
armies operating along the border who are accused of involvement in the heroin
and methamphetamines trade.
The UNDCP said China was sending its vice minister of public security, Bai
Jing Fu, to next month's meeting, which will be hosted by Lieutenant General
Khin Nyunt, a senior member of Myanmar's ruling junta.
Other confirmed delegates are Thailand's Thamarak and Cambodia's Secretary
General of the National Authority for Combating Drugs Em Sam An.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- WIRE: 04/28/2001 10:05 am ET
Activists hold unprecedented
pro-democracy rally in Singapore
SINGAPORE (AP) Civil
rights activists in Singapore attracted about 2,000 people Saturday to a
pro-democracy rally the first event of its kind to take place in the tightly
controlled city-state.
Addressing the crowd in Chinese, English and Malay, speaker after speaker
denounced the ruling People's Action Party to enthusiastic applause.
The rally was intended to show support and raise funds for the country's
most prominent opposition politician, Joshua "J.B.J." Jeyaretnam, who faces
ouster from Parliament. He holds one of only three opposition seats in the
93-seat legislature.
"You should be using the whip to tell the government where to go and how to
go," Jeyaretnam told the cheering crowd. "The state has become ... a monster."
It was the first time a group has organized a mass political rally that was
openly critical of the government. Police initially denied the activists a
permit to hold the rally, but relented after organizers agreed to hire their own
security guards to maintain order.
Jeyaretnam told his supporters there are several "casualties" of the people
having given up their power. "The casualties are the people losing power in the
parliament, the constitution, the judicial system, the trade unions and the
press," which he says are all controlled by the government.
The crowd burst into enthusiastic applause and cheered when he told them
the Singapore press "is a national disgrace."
The event might be sign of greater freedom of _expression_ in a nation that
has traditionally had little tolerance for dissent. But Jacob George, one of the
event's organizers, said Saturday it's too early to tell.
A single political movement, the People's Action Party, has ruled Singapore
since independence in 1965. It has won widespread praise for turning a
malaria-infested, poverty-stricken tropical island into one of Asia's most
stable and prosperous nations.
"The fact that the government has given permission to do this is
significant," said Zulkifli Baharudin, an independent member of Parliament.
But few Singaporeans have dared speak poorly of the PAP in public a
situation that may be slowly changing with the opening last September of a
"Speakers' Corner" in a public park.
Some in the crowd told The Associated Press that they were not at the
stadium to support the opposition, but were there to hear what they had to say.
However, a 31-year-old man who identified himself as Mathen said he was at
the stadium to rally for Jeyaretnam. "We need an opposition in Singapore," he
said. "The government can't fool all of us."
Evelyn Martin, a 25-year-old bank teller, said an opposition was needed
because "the government was not always right."
The crowd chanted "J.B.J." repeatedly throughout the event in support of
the opposition stalwart.
Jeyaretnam will lose his seat in Parliament if he cannot pay hundreds of
thousands of dollars he owes in defamation lawsuits brought by senior government
officials and their supporters.
He was recently declared bankrupt a status that officially bars him from
the legislature. He is appealing the ruling. To help pay for his bills,
activists on Saturday were selling T-shirts, stickers and autographed copies of
a book of collected speeches by Jeyaretnam.
Critics accuse Singapore of using defamation lawsuits against politicians
and journalists as a political tool. The government dismisses such claims and
says the suits are necessary to protect officials' reputations against false
accusations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Burma Has Done Nothing to Deserve
Japan's Aid Reward
David I. Steinberg International Herald Tribune
Saturday, April 28, 2001
WASHINGTON Japan and Burma have had a special and close relationship since
World War II. Among the young nationalistic, anti-colonial Burmese leaders whom
the Japanese trained just before that war were U Aung San, leader of the
independence struggle and father of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the current opposition
leader, and U Ne Win, who led Burma's military and the country for about four
decades.
. The emotional ties between the two countries remain strong today and good relations between these states have served the interests of both parties. Starting with war reparations in the 1950s, Burma received about $2.2 billion in assistance from Japan before the Burmese military coup of 1988, and hundreds of millions in debt relief and humanitarian assistance since then. Japan has been the closest industrialized power to the Burmese leadership since independence. . The recent announcement that Japan would provide more than $28 million to rehabilitate the Lapida hydroelectric project in Kayah State that the Japanese had built in the late 1950s was not unexpected; Japanese sources had indicated some months ago that this was in the wind. The project is important, as the original power plant was probably the most effective foreign aid project in Burma sponsored by any country, and remains critical to that society, for it supplies a major portion of the electrical supply for Rangoon and other cities. . The Japanese government has informally justified this measure as humanitarian assistance, because the people need electricity. Yet that is a rationalization implying more than is stated. . Electricity is important, but Japan has been looking for excuses to restart its foreign assistance program in Burma for a variety of reasons, including the opportunities for business, contracts to Japanese companies for infrastructure construction, interest in the exploitation of Burmese natural resources, strong emotional attachments and the strategic concern to counter the growing Chinese presence in Burma. The informal ongoing dialogue between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the military junta and the easing, even if only temporarily, of tensions between the two groups provide a good excuse. . Japanese officials in Tokyo were asked a couple of years ago what they would do about foreign aid to Burma if there were only cosmetic changes - if power still remained in the hands of the military and human rights abuses were still evident. The response was a studied silence. Evidently, this opportunity to resume a foreign assistance program loomed large. . The United States has pressured Japan to withhold aid and present a united front toward the Burmese military by insisting that it honor the results of the 1990 election, which the opposition overwhelmingly won. The Japanese foreign ministry has tried to support the U.S. position because of the importance of the overall U.S. relationship, but has been opposed in this by the business community and other ministries. . Tokyo has formally called for better respect for human rights and has advocated democratic change in Burma, but that position has been undermined internally by the liberal use of the euphemism of humanitarian aid. Japan has never followed the U.S. position, imposed unilaterally in 1997, on sanctions on new investments in Burma. . Because of war sensitivities, Japan has been reluctant to levy conditionality on much of its past assistance. Funds flowed too easily, and although many of the projects and loans were important to the survival of the Burmese regime in its isolationistic period of the later 1960s and early 1970s, much of the aid was less than fruitful, simply increasing Burmese debt that multiplied as the exchange rate hardened. . All major powers concerned with the well-being of the Burmese people should consider how best to encourage liberalization of the military regime. As part of this process, it would be useful quietly to establish benchmarks of progress, each rewarded by foreign aid or other desired actions. . It is also necessary to establish reasonable quid pro quos along the way. One of the lessons of the 1970s and 1980s, when foreign aid flowed too generously into Burma, was that changes were not fostered; the result was little economic and political progress. The Japanese may be sending too strong a signal, too early, to the Burmese authorities. . The writer, head of Asian Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inside China
Chinese Army Chief Meets With Myanmar
Junta Leader
BANGKOK, Apr 27, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Visiting Chinese army
commander General Fu Quanyou on Thursday met with the leader of Myanmar's
military junta, Senior General Than Shwe, state-run radio said.
The talks, held at the People's Assembly in Yangon, were also attended by
senior members of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) -- the official
name of the ruling military regime -- and leading cabinet ministers, it
said.
General Fu, heading a group of high-ranking Chinese military officials,
arrived in the Myanmar capital Wednesday at the invitation of his Myanmar
counterpart General Maung Aye, it added.
Maung Aye is also the deputy commander in chief of Myanmar's armed forces
and vice chairman of the SPDC.
The report gave no details of the discussions, saying only that the talks
had been "friendly and amicable."
General Fu and his delegation also held separate meetings with Maung Aye
and the junta's first secretary Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt in the afternoon,
it said.
The commanders of Myanmar navy and air force also attended the meetings, it
added.
China, the first country to recognize Myanmar's military regime which
seized power in a bloody coup in September 1988, is the junta's main arms
supplier.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Times of India - April 28,
2001.
Musharraf to be first Pak leader to
visit Myanmar
YANGON: General Pervez Musharraf will make the first official visit next
week by a Pakistani leader to military-run Myanmar in 16 years, Myanmar
officials said on Friday.
Myanmar state newspapers announced Musharraf will visit at the invitation
of General Than Shwe, the leader of the ruling state peace and development
council. Diplomats said his three-day visit would start on Tuesday.
It will be the first visit by a Pakistan leader since the current Myanmar
regime took power after crushing democracy protests in 1988. The last visit was
by the military ruler Zia-ul Haq in 1985.
Only leaders of Southeast Asian countries and the prime minister of China,
which is Myanmar's closest ally, have visited in the past 13 years. Myanmar
remains diplomatically isolated by the west, which is critical of its human
rights record.
Myanmar deputy foreign minister Khin Maung Win said Musharraf's visit would
"greatly contribute to the strengthening of traditional ties of friendship and
cooperation between the two countries," he said.
The minister described bilateral relations as "multifaceted," ranging from
trade and commerce to cooperation in international fora and defence.
Myanmar's regime, which has recently been improving ties with neighbouring
India, retains closer military ties with Pakistan, which is India's archrival.
On Sunday, a flotilla of Pakistan naval vessels including a submarine, a
destroyer and two support ships will make the first ever port of call by the
Pakistan navy in Myanmar, at a wharf 15 km south of Yangon, a Myanmar official
said. (AP)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - April 28,
2001.
ENVIRONMENT
Surakiart urged to take up coal protest
with Burma
Bhanravee Tansubhapol Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai should persuade Burma to move a
planned coal-fired electricity plant, Chiang Mai residents say. An 11-strong
delegation which included members of the Rak Mae Sai group made the call in a
letter to the minister, who leaves for talks in Rangoon tomorrow.
The letter, which carried 5,000 signatures, said locals were concerned
about the adverse environmental impact.
They also want a say on any other plans that might affect their
district.
Gen Maung Aye, the Burmese army commander, laid a foundation stone for the
plant in Tachilek last year. It was supposed to start running in March.
The 60-rai plant will go on a site 5km from the Thai border. Offices and
staff living quarters have been finished. Pang Polchai, a teacher at Bann Huay
Krai school in Mae Sai, said local people did not want the air polluted with
sulphur which was dangerous to life and the future of tourism in Chiang Rai.
They thought the Burmese government would understand.
A convoy of trucks carrying electricity generators from China was stopped
at the Mae Sai checkpoint last weekend.
Mr Pang said his group knew about the plant nine months ago and told the
government but officials told Mae Sai people not to protest so as to preserve
Thai-Burmese relations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - April 28,
2001.
Red Wa branch out into heroin
supply
Wassana Nanuam The Red Wa are producing and selling heroin in addition to their major
product, methamphetamine, Third Army chief Lt-Gen Watthanachai Chaimuenwong said
yesterday.
Two consignments of speed seized recently, 7.6 million and 6.15 million
pills, had each also included 4.5kg of heroin.
This showed the United Wa State Army was selling methamphetamines and
heroin in the same packages.
He said the Red Wa had at least 55 methamphetamine plants along the
northern border.
Six new production bases had been set up just across the border from Tak
and the pro-Rangoon Democratic Karen Buddhist Army had been hired to guard
them.
In the past four months, the military had seized 30 million speed pills, he
said.
But this was less than 10% of an estimated 700 million tablets expected to
be smuggled into Thailand this year.
Maj-Gen Tomorn Kittisophon, commander of the Naresuan Task Force, said the
Red Wa had changed routes used to smuggle drugs into Thailand through Tak
province.
He also confirmed they had formed an alliance with the DKBA to guard six
production plants.
"It is widely known who the DKBA is controlled by," he said.
The DKBA is allied with and supported by the Burmese government as an armed
force to counter the anti-Rangoon Karen National Union rebels.
A Third Army source said demand for heroin was still high. Opium
plantations in the Golden Triangle area have the capacity to produce 2,000
tonnes a year-enough for 200 tonnes of heroin.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - April 28,
2001.
Border drug effort
widens
Anucha Charoenpo Thailand hopes to strengthen cross-border law enforcement with its
neighbours after the May 8-11 Asian drugs conference in Burma.
Chatchai Suthiklom, deputy secretary-general of the Narcotics Control
Board, said co-operation was part of the 1993 Memorandum of Understanding on
Drug Control in East Asia.
The agreement included law enforcement along the border between China and
Laos, China and Burma, and China and Vietnam, which has been in force for two
years.
Mr Chatchai said the plan would be expanded to include Cambodia and
Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, Laos and Vietnam and Burma
and Thailand where trafficking had reached alarming levels.
Joint drug suppression units would be sought in Chiang Rai opposite Burma's
Tachilek, in Tak opposite Burma's Myawaddy, in Nong Khai opposite Vientiane, and
in the Chiang Rai-Tachilek-Bo Kaew border area.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NATION - April 28,
2001.
DRUG SUMMIT: Burma urged to appoint a
liaison envoy
Piyanart Srivalo
'Necessary and important step to combat the widespread trade,' says Thamarak Thailand will propose at next month's regional anti-drug summit in Rangoon
that Burma appoint an "anti-drugs envoy" to liaise with other countries in the
region, PM's Office Minister Thamarak Isarangura says.
The appointment would be of an ambassadorial level, Thamarak told The
Nation.
"A representative from the Burmese side will be necessary and important in
attempts to combat the widespread trade in drugs," he said.
Thailand and China have already agreed to appoint anti-drug envoys, whose
task is to expedite bilateral cooperation on drug-related issues.
Beijing and Bangkok inked a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on
narcotics last year, and the Thai government has proposed that Rangoon enter a
similar framework. Beijing and Rangoon have their own bilateral MoU on
narcotics.
Thammarak will represent Thailand at the ministerial meeting of the six
countries, all signatories to a 1993 Memorandum of Understanding on drug control
in the subregion under the auspices of the UN Drug Control Programme in 1993.
The meeting will convene in Rangoon from May 8 to 11.
Among the issues to be discussed are the progress of many drug reduction
and suppression projects, such as precursor control in East Asia, enhancement of
capacity to gather and exchange information among law-enforcement agencies and
development of regional drug-control operational procedures.
The delegation will also witness a drug-burning ceremony and visit the
Kokang area in far northeastern Shan State on China's border. The area is under
the influence of the former Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, which
remains armed and is believed to be still heavily involved in production of
heroin and synthetic drugs.
The heavily armed group is one of many ethnic insurgent groups that have
signed a cease-fire agreement with Rangoon.
Thammarak's proposal came as a new salvo was fired in the verbal war
between the two neighbours. Burma has accused Thailand of threatening Asean
unity on the drug issue, by dumping all the blame for the rampant drug trade
along their border on the Burmese.
"Thailand has resorted to [using a] scapegoat and pushing responsibility to
the other party, rather than cooperating in a manner of shared responsibility,"
it said in a statement. "Irresponsible actions which can jeopardise the Asean's
unprecedented determination to solve regional matters peacefully in an
atmosphere of goodwill, friendship and cooperation among the member countries
should be seriously considered."
The statement follows a series of high-profile seizures by the Thai
security forces of methamphetamine thought to have originated in Burma.
Meanwhile Burmese troops on Thursday fired three artillery shells into the
Kingdom while fighting Shan rebels. The shells landed near a Thai military
outpost in Fang District, Chiang Mai province. The incident prompted the Thais
to return fire.
Third Army Commander Lt-General Wattanachai Chaimuanwong said he believed
the incident had been unintentional, since the Burmese were pushing hard to
recapture their border base, which was recently lost to the Shan State Army.
Heavy fighting between Burmese troops and the Shan army in the area
yesterday entered its fourth day, forcing authorities to evacuate villagers
living along the border.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - April 28,
2001.
Residents lobby Surakiart to press junta
on lignite plant
Local residents from Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district yesterday called on
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai to voice their concern with Burma over
the planned lignite power plant on the border during his visit on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
Surakiart will be attending a retreat with other Asean foreign ministers
and is expected to bring up the issue with his counterparts. A protest letter
was handed to Surakiart's personal secretary, Thai Rak Thai MP Lalita
Ruek-samran.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last week halted a major shipment of
equipment heading for a lignite power plant in the border town of Tachilek,
adjacent to Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district.
The plant is less than five kilometres from the border. Local residents and
the Third Army have voiced strong opposition to the plan, saying it would
degrade the area.
Mae Sai residents threatened to burn down the 44 containers, forcing the
drivers to return to the dock at Phrapadaeng Pier in Samut Prakan, where the
containers were offloaded from China.
Many believe the containers may hold precursor chemicals heading for
clandestine drug labs belonging to a pro-Rangoon group, the United Wa State
Army.
The Third Army was reported to be very upset by the Burmese authorities'
decision to keep the border closed while permitting the 44 containers to cross.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Surakiart downplayed the incident, saying
the decision to halt the containers had been based purely on environmental
concerns. He expressed optimism that Rangoon would understand but did not go
into detail as to how middle ground could be reached.
Fang Pholchai, one of eleven activists who protested at the Foreign
Ministry yesterday, told reporters that the local community believed the
pollution that the plant could generate would be detrimental to the area.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NATION - April 28,
2001.
Asean seeks ways to compete with
800-lb gorilla
Nareerat Wiriyapong
The Asean Coordinating Committee on Investment will next week float to the association's foreign ministers the concept of developing multi-level promotional packages to attract greater foreign investment. Asean foreign ministers meet next week in Cambodia.
The proposal is a clear sign that Asean has recognised it is losing the
race for foreign direct investment (FDI) to China.
China has the advantages of a large domestic market, complemented by low
labour costs, and is on the brink of entering the World Trade Organisation,
which will usher in a new era of freer trade and investment for the Asian giant.
Thailand's Board of Investment senior executive adviser Somphong Wanapha
said the packages could be customised to cater for foreign investment in a
number of different areas: the whole Asean region; a large sub-region consisting
of the Greater Mekong sub-region and southern Thailand's Triangle Economic
Cooperation area; country-by-country; and on a bilateral basis between Asean
countries.
Each of these areas could adopt particular incentives to lure foreign
investment, he said.
To enable development of attractive investment criteria, support from
international organisations such as the Asian Development Bank and UNCTAD
(United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) were required, he said.
Such investments often take the form of corporate tax "holidays", or
reduced import duties on raw materials. Along with the new criteria, Somphong
said Asean would promote next year as "the year" for investing in Asean. A
campaign to attract FDI would carry on throughout 2002.
"This is the first joint attempt by the 10 Asean members to tell the whole
world our combined market of 500 million people is as large as China's," he
said.
After the Cambodian meeting, slated for Siam Reap on Wednesday and
Thursday, details of the packages will be sorted out, particularly a minimum
investment budget to be recognised by Asean. Figures from the Federation of Thai
Industries had Asean's 1999 FDI at US$16.9 billion (Bt767.63 billion), down from
$19.6 billion a year earlier.
Japan, European Union member-nations, and the United States were the
biggest investors.
However, if re-investment earnings were included in Asean's FDI data, the
picture would be brighter, because the region's projects are increasingly being
financed with investment earnings. At least 30 per cent of FDI in Asean is
estimated to be financed with investment earnings.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Musharraf to Visit Myanmar,
Vietnam
2001.04.28 17:57:15 ISLAMABAD, April 28 (Xinhuanet)
-- Pakistan's Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf will be visiting
Myanmar and Vietnam from 1-5 May, 2001, a press release by the Foreign Office
said here Saturday.
The visit is intended to reaffirm Pakistan's close and cordial ties
with Myanmar and Vietnam. It also reflects Pakistan's desire to further
strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation with the countries of the region,
said Foreign Office.
The Chief Executive's visit to Myanmar will be the first by a
Pakistani head of government since 1985.
According to details, the Chief Executive will hold meetings with
Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC). He will also lay a wreath at the Mausoleum of the last
MughaI Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.
The Chief Executive's program at Vietnam includes a call on President
Tran Duc Luong and talks with Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Japan Times: Apr. 29,
2001
Japan and ASEAN mull free trade pact
Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will next week set up
a study group on the conclusion of a free trade agreement in a bid to compete
with emerging powerhouse China and growing trade blocs in Europe, as well as
both North America and Latin America, government sources said
Saturday.
Tokyo and the 10-member ASEAN will formally agree to set up the group of
government economic experts in a ministerial-level meeting on Friday in Siem
Reap, Cambodia, to be held on the sidelines of a gathering of economic ministers
from ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea, the sources said.
The group will compile and submit its proposals to the economic ministers
when they next meet in Hanoi this fall, and the ministers will report on the
outcome of their discussions of the proposals to the following Japan-ASEAN
summit in Brunei, also in fall, the sources said.
Participants from Japan will include officials of the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry, they said.
The envisaged FTA is expected not only to lower customs duties and tariffs,
but also facilitate investment and harmonize the conventionally distinct
domestic rules and systems between the two sides, including those related to
information technology, the sources said.
The planned proposals will cover broad issues ranging from trade,
investment and IT to cooperation in the environment and energy issues, policies
to enhance competitiveness and small companies and coordinating industrial
standards and patent policies.
Japan expects the FTA with the region to help numerous Japanese companies
operating in Southeast Asia expand cross-border operations region-wide, the
sources said.
It will be mutually beneficial for both sides, they said, even though Japan
will risk touching the domestically sensitive issue of a surge in imports of
agricultural products. Japan on Monday imposed emergency import curbs on three
agricultural products.
ASEAN, meanwhile, is eager to enhance economic ties with Japan in the face
of intensifying competition from China, whose low-cost labor attracts Japanese
companies, contributing to its rapid export-driven economic expansion, they
said.
Growth of Japanese investment in the region has slowed somewhat amid the
protracted economic doldrums in Japan and with companies increasingly opting to
seek new investment chances in China rather than ASEAN, one official said.
The Japan-ASEAN framework is also aimed at countering the recent move by
China to conclude, for its part, an FTA with ASEAN, the sources said.
Beijing in November proposed that the region set up a similar working
group. ASEAN hailed the idea, but seems to be worried about the rising
competitiveness of China, particularly in light of its approaching entry into
the World Trade Organization, the official said.
ASEAN itself is pursing regional trade liberalization under the ASEAN Free
Trade Area (AFTA) arrangement. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Japan had been reluctant to sign an FTA out of fear it would lead to
regional protectionism, but changed its stance recently to accept it as a way to
supplement multilateral trade liberalization under the WTO, given that such
moves have spread worldwide.
Tokyo is currently negotiating with Singapore to conclude by the end of
this year an FTA of similarly broad coverage. It would be Japan's first FTA with
a trading partner.
Japan and ASEAN also aim to counter the European Union and growing
Pan-American moves to increase free trade arrangements, such as expanding the
North American Free Trade Agreement of Canada, Mexico and the United States into
the proposed Free Trade Areas of the Americas, including Latin America and the
Caribbean.
Japanese METI Minister Takeo Hiranuma is to skip the meeting because of
political factors in Japan.
A string of ASEAN-plus-three meetings of finance, economic and foreign
ministers were held last year after East Asian leaders agreed in 1999 to
increase cooperation through ministerial meetings. The economic ministers first
met in May last year in Yangon.
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