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BURMA RELATED NEWS - January
15, 2002.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kyodo News - Japan to
extend 203 mil. yen scholarship grant to Myanmar
AFP - China urges region-wide free trade after
Japan-Singapore pact
AFP - Pertamina goes international with Vietnam
deal
Reuters - China steps up diplomacy as U.S.
presence haunts leaders
Myanmar-China trade rising
Bkk Post - Asia-Pacific nations urged to co-operate
Bkk Post - Ministry not against statue
The Nation - Hashimoto
keen to step up drug war
Xinhuanet - Thai Soldier Killed Along Myanmar
Border
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Projects Highest Jute
Exports in 20 Years -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Japan to extend 203 mil. yen scholarship
grant to Myanmar
YANGON, Jan. 15, Kyodo - Japan
will provide 203 million yen to Myanmar to set up a scholarship fund aimed at
giving Myanmar state scholars the opportunity to study in Japan, the Japanese
Embassy said Tuesday.
Japanese Ambassador Shigeru Tsumori and Myanmar Economic Development
Minister Soe Tha exchanged notes on the grant in Yangon on Tuesday.
The Human Resources Development Scholarship will provide Myanmar nationals
with opportunities to obtain master's degrees at Japanese higher educational
institutions in various fields, the embassy said in a press statement.
The Japanese government hopes the scholars will serve for the further
development of Myanmar with their acquired knowledge, the statement said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday January 15, 5:00 PM
China urges region-wide free trade after Japan-Singapore pact BEIJING, Jan 15 (AFP) - China
reacted to the inking of a free-trade pact between Japan and Singapore Tuesday,
saying a wider forum ought to be the main channel for promoting prosperity in
Asia.
The '10 plus three' plan for an area covering the 10 members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as China, Japan and South
Korea should remain the main focus for development in the region, China's
foreign ministry said.
"Asian countries should stress cooperation, with '10 plus three' as the
main channel for promoting the common development of the entire Asian region,"
ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said at a briefing.
Visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his Singaporean
counterpart Goh Chok Tong on Sunday signed a free trade agreement, the first
ever for the world's second largest economy.
"We hope to see good cooperation between Japan and Southeast Asia," Sun
said. "We hope that Japan, as the only developed country in Asia, will play a
role for development in Asia."
ASEAN and China have said they will set up a free-trade zone within the
next 10 years, which will become the world's largest, if implemented.
ASEAN comprises the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia,
Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday January 15, 7:50 PM
Pertamina goes international with Vietnam deal JAKARTA, Jan 15 (AFP) -
Indonesia's national energy firm Pertamina said Tuesday it has signed its first
overseas exploration contract, an agreement with Malaysia's Petronas and
PetroVietnam to search for oil off Vietnam.
The first phase of exploration will last for two years and cost 20 million
dollars, Pertamina's director for upstream production, Iin Arifin Takhyar, told
a press conference.
It will start with the drilling of the first two wells at a cost of seven
million dollars for each well.
The estimated total reserves from the new exploration area, in the Nam Con
Son oil basin on the southern continental shelf of Vietnam, are 144 million
barrels.
Earlier drilling of two wells resulted in the finding of 33 million barrels
of oil reserves.
Con Son Joint Company, a body set up by the three companies, will carry out
the exploration, which is expected to last through 2018.
The Vietnam work will be the first foreign exploration for Pertamina. Until
a new law was passed last year it was not allowed to operate overseas
Takhyar said the deal was in line with "the spirit of ASEAN.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations comprises the Philippines,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.
Petronas Carigali and Pertamina have a 30-percent share each in the new
joint outfit, while PetroVietnam, as the host, has 40 percent.
Takhyar said Pertamina will commit 5.4 million dollars for the first
two-year-phase.
He said deals for hydrocarbon exploration in Malaysia and Indonesia were
expected to be reached soon and there had been preliminary talks with Brunei and
Myanmar on similar agreements.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday January 15, 1:01 PM
China steps up diplomacy as U.S. presence haunts leaders By Jonathan Ansfield BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese
Premier Zhu Rongji's meetings with Indian leaders this week are the latest in a
series of cross-border exchanges drummed up by Beijing since the war in
Afghanistan brought U.S. troops into its Central Asian backyard.
The diplomatic flurry -- from calls for restraint between nuclear rivals
India and Pakistan to last week's anti-terror meeting with Russia and four
Central Asian neighbours -- signal Beijing's wariness over the prospect of
Washington's long-term presence in the region, analysts and diplomats say.
The parade of Chinese diplomatic exchanges with everyone from Myanmar and
Vietnam to the south and Kazakhstan and Mongolia to the west and north are a
hint of China's underlying post-Cold War fear of encirclement, they say.
"Strategically, China will be on guard against the possibility of U.S.
military movements, including the stationing of U.S. troops, becoming
permanent," said Zhu Feng, director of Peking University's International
Security Programme.
"One of the most important goals of China's more proactive diplomacy is to
offset this, to balance this."
China, following Russia, seized the opportunity to ally itself with
Washington's war on terrorism after the September 11 attacks on the United
States.
By chiming in with calls for peace and stability in war-torn Afghanistan,
Beijing has sought sympathy for its struggle with Muslim separatists in the
northwestern region of Xinjiang.
And by nudging both its old ally Pakistan and relatively new friend India
to settle their crisis through dialogue, China has tried to round out its
diplomatic approach toward South Asia.
Observers say Beijing has pent-up anxieties -- manifested by a debate
simmering in leadership and academic circles -- over whether the war on terror
could backfire on China in the long run, leaving U.S. troops camped near its
border indefinitely.
"U.S. presence in the region plays on their worst fears... of
encirclement," said one Western diplomat in Beijing.
STABILITY THE KEY
In one alarming scenario outlined by Peking University's Zhu, a beefed up
U.S. presence in Central Asia would erode China's strategic leverage over Taiwan
-- viewed by Beijing as a rebel province to be united with the mainland, by
force if necessary.
Still, few say China has any designs towards a Cold War-style scramble for
spheres of influence with the United States.
Rather, Beijing is chiefly concerned that instability and uncertainty on
its borders could derail its "grand strategy" of economic modernisation at home,
which it believes is critical to the survival of Communist party rule, said the
diplomat.
"I don't think they want anything other than regional stability," he said.
China, Asia's economic rising star, has seen its influence in the region
surge in the past decade through infrastructure projects in former Soviet
republics, military deals with Pakistan and Russia and talk of free trade with
Southeast Asia.
Beijing has tried to look the part, raising its voice in a drive for
regional cooperation in the wake of September 11.
President Jiang Zemin has forged closer ties with Russian President
Vladimir Putin in a string of phone chats, and aimed to bolster China's economic
and strategic position in Southeast Asia with a trip to Myanmar in December.
China was among the earliest countries to send missions to Kabul after the
fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and has said it could raise the flag on its
embassy there, perhaps this month.
Some observers say Beijing's search for balance in South Asia relations is
partly motivated by the presence of the United States on that frontier.
Washington has strengthened ties with India, kept a tight leash on Pakistan and
taken the lead in defusing tensions between the two.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf received a lukewarm welcome on the
second of two visits this month to "all-weather friend" Beijing. Premier Zhu
told him China "expected" Islamabad and New Dehli to reach a peaceful resolution
in their row.
Zhu was expected this week to reassure New Dehli of a more even-handed
policy to the region after years of backing Pakistan.
COMPETITION OR COOPERATION?
Beijing, a long-time supplier of arms to Islamabad, has been lured by the
chance to boost trade ties with India and repelled by fears that Muslim
extremism in Pakistan could spill into China -- and undermine its hardline
position on terror.
Still, China lacks the political clout to play a major diplomatic role. The
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a Central Asia grouping that Beijing
championed as a foil to U.S. influence in the region before September 11, closed
its meeting last week with few initiatives and many doubts over its potential.
Others say it also lacks the will so far to get involved in negotiating
crisis settlement. China, which perennially lashes out at countries meddling in
its affairs, has brushed aside suggestions it would try to mediate the
Pakistan-India conflict.
For now, China is unlikely to stray beyond its secondary role in spite of
its diplomatic hustle, fearing the many-pronged threat of instability more than
America's long-term strategies.
"The Afghan situation and Pakistan-India crisis create new incentives for
cooperative relations among the powers," Zhu said. "China will continue to
pursue that main line".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar-China trade
rising
AFP, Yangon
Trade between Myanmar and its giant northern neighbour China increased 3.1
per cent during the first 10 months of 2001 to 499 million dollars, according to
an economic magazine published here.
Privately owned monthly periodical Living Color attributed the steady
growth in bilateral trade to increasingly good relations between the two
countries.
By the end of 2000, 759 trade agreements worth some 1.786 billion dollars
had been signed between Myanmar and Chinese companies and another 87 projects
worth 186 million dollars were struck during the first 10 months of 2001.
The magazine said Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to Myanmar last
month opened a "new chapter" in bilateral relations, by furthering economic and
technical cooperation in the fields of energy and fisheries, among others.
Jiang was the first Chinese president to travel to Myanmar since the
current regime took power in 1988.
During the four-day visit he inked several deals on economic and
technological ties, livestock and fisheries and oil drilling in Myanmar's Pyay
field.
Myanmar's military government, long considered a pariah regime by western
countries, has for years depended on China as a vital source of foreign
investment and arms.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - January 15,
2002.
Asia-Pacific nations urged to co-operate
China says Triangle poses global threat
Subin Khuenkaew
China has urged all Asia-Pacific countries to join the fight against
illegal drugs.
It has also admitted drug production in the Golden Triangle is a major
threat to the global community.
Yang Fengrui, executive deputy secretary-general of China's National
Narcotics Control Commission, made the remarks as the very first Thai-Chinese
drugs control co-operation meeting began in Chiang Mai yesterday.
``The Golden Triangle area poses a global threat and we have been under a
lot of pressure,'' Mr Yang said.
``Therefore, China wants to find ways for us to work together to tackle the
problem.''
Thailand and China were collaborating through exchanges of anti-drug
officers and information, he said.
A total 1,000 tonnes of methamphetamine precursors were seized in China
last year as part of joint operations.
Kitti Limchaikij, secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control
Board, said it was the first meeting since the signing of a memorandum of
understanding on drug suppression in Beijing last October.
The three-day meeting is expected to lead to more collaboration in the
fight against drugs.
``This is the first meeting, but a large amount of drugs was seized in the
Andaman Sea following last October's signing of the MoU,'' Mr Kitti said.
Two major Burmese drug suspects were arrested in Rangoon in October after
the ONCB informed Burma's Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control about the
seizure of 116kg of heroin and 7.8 million methamphetamine pills from two
fishing trawlers in the Andaman Sea.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - January 15,
2002.
Ministry not against statue Post reporters The Foreign Ministry is not against a planned statue of King Naresuan the
Great but wants it built where it will not upset Burma.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said ministry officials were holding
talks on the monument's location with their National Security Council and
Defence Ministry counterparts.
``There is no opposition to its construction,'' Mr Surakiart said. If the
statue ``links with history at the site where history took place then it would
be a good thing, because Thai people revere him [King Naresuan] highly''.
But, Mr Surakiart said, the statue ``should not be built to confront
anyone''.
The Third Army wants the statue erected in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district,
on a site just one kilometre from Kuteng Nayong, a disputed area claimed by both
Thailand and Burma.
If built there, the monument would face a statue of Burma's King
Bayinnnaung in Tachilek. King Naresuan, according to Thai historians, was the
victor in a fierce battle fought by the two kings four centuries ago at Don
Chedi in Suphan Buri province.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Hashimoto keen to step up drug war
Published on Jan 15, 2002
Visiting former Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto yesterday agreed
to increase cooperation with Thailand in combating narcotics trafficking,
according to a Government House press release.
Hashimoto, who met Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday, heads a
federation of lawmakers devising measures to combat the illegal drug trade. He
is scheduled to co-chair a meeting in Tokyo in late April to discuss
drug-related issues.
The ex-premier explained to Thaksin that most stimulant drugs were believed
to enter Japan via two routes, China and South Korea.
Hashimoto was presented with a Royal decoration, becoming a Knight Grand
Cross (First Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant.
The press release also quoted Thaksin as expressing appreciation for
Hashimoto's work in suppressing narcotics-smuggling networks and the Japanese
government's efforts to fight drug syndicates in the region.
Thaksin said Thailand was ready and willing to cooperate with other
countries, including Japan, on the problem.
During his visit to Bangkok, Hashimoto will attend the first Asia-Pacific
Forum for Environment and Development, held to promote new forms of
environmentally sustainable development.
Thaksin also met Klauspeter Schmallenbach, the leader of a European
Commission delegation, whom he briefed on Thailand's efforts and experience in
combating drug trafficking.
Regarding Burma, Thaksin told Schmallenbach that the national
rehabilitation process in Burma was moving in the right direction and that
Thailand hoped this would help bring peace and prosperity to the region.
Thaksin said that the Burmese people would suffer if countries imposed
sanctions on Burma to bring about democratic reform.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thai Soldier Killed Along Myanmar
Border
Xinhuanet 2002-01-15 16:09:29 BANGKOK, January 15 (Xinhuanet)
-- A Thai patrol soldier was reportedly gunned down Tuesday, while patrolling
along the Thai-Myanmar border in Thailand's border province of Kanchanaburi,
according to a report of the Thai News Agency (TNA).
The soldier was patrolling in the province's Sangkhla Buri district to
prevent frequent drug trafficking and car robbery, normally conducted along the
border. He was with others of the same unit, the report said.
Some three kilometers away from their unit base, the soldiers discovered
three men, whom they asked for an investigation, but the men in turn fired at
them, according to the report.
Two men of the opposite side also found dead, along with a muzzle-loading
gun, the report said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Projects Highest Jute
Exports in 20 Years
Xinhuanet 2002-01-15 11:25:03 YANGON, January 15 (Xinhuanet)
-- Myanmar exported 4.2 million U.S.dollars worth of raw jute and jute products
in the first nine months of the present fiscal year 2001-02 ending March and
another about three million dollars worth of them are projected to be exported
in the rest of the fiscal year, according to the state-run Myanma Jute
Industries (MJI).
The total export earning of about 7.2 million dollars through sale of jute
in the fiscal year would stand the highest in 20 years, the MJI predicts.
The MJI attributed the possibility to being able to win direct sale
contracts with foreign importers without going through international
tenders.
Prompt customer services including speedy shipments of orders are said to
help establish markets in Asian countries such as China, Indonesia, Japan and
Pakistan.
Meanwhile, according to the MJI, by the first week of January, it had
purchased nearly 40,000 tons of jute from growers, also the highest registered
in 20 years, and it is estimated that the amount of jute bought this fiscal year
would go up about 20 percent over the previous fiscal year.
The MJI disclosed that it reserved 15,000 tons yearly for production of
various exportable items.
Raw jute of Myanmar is said to fetch about 200 dollars a ton and export
volume in the nine-month period totaled 18,000 tons.
Myanmar's jute is cultivated from February to April in the country's three
divisions of Ayeyawaddy, Bago and Yangon.
According to official statistics, in the last fiscal year of 2000-01,
Myanmar grew nearly 48,600 hectares of jute and it was nearly 56,700 hectares
this fiscal year. It plans to increase up to 60,750 hectares in the
future.
Myanmar exports various kinds of raw jute and jute products such as jute
and hessian bags, carpet backing and carpets.
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