[burmanet2-l] Burma Related News - Oct 10, 2002.

["TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - October  10, 2002.
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HEADLINES
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AFP - Proposed economic pact with Japan will "lift ASEAN's GDP"
AFP - Burmese dissidents predict military regime might soon negotiate
reforms
AFP - Cambodia to ban gun carrying and outdoor eating for ASEAN summit
AFP - North Korea slams US over religious freedom report
AFP - Reporters Without Borders calls on Myanmar to release prisoners
Reuters - Myanmar frees prisoners before U.N. envoy's visit
Reuters - China withdraws death sentences for church leaders
AP - Myanmar government releases prisoners _ but criticized over new alleged
arrests
Bkk Post - Ethnic rebels will be closely watched, says new minister
BBC - Burma releases prisoners
Independent - Strategic significance of the Andamans
Xinhuanet - Human trafficking eradication in Asia has long way to go
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Thursday October 10, 3:34 PM
Proposed economic pact with Japan will "lift ASEAN's GDP"

SINGAPORE, Oct 10 (AFP) - A proposed trade pact with Japan could lift
ASEAN's economic output by two percent and boost its exports to the Asian
economic giant by 21 billion US dollars, a senior Singapore trade official
said.

ASEAN must enhance its business environment in order to continue attracting
Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) which has remained strong despite
the rising attraction of China, Minister of State for Trade and Industry
Raymond Lim said Thursday.

"The gains from working together will be substantial," Lim said in a speech
at the annual ASEAN-Japan Business Meeting.

"The benefits of a FTA (free trade agreement) with Japan would even surpass
those from a FTA with China due to the complementary nature of the Japanese
and ASEAN economies," he said.

In a trip to the region earlier this year, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi's call for a closer economic partnership with the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) received backing from the region's leaders.

If the vision of a proposed trade pact is realised, Lim said the 10-member
regional bloc's export volumes to Japan would grow by 21 billion dollars by
2020, while Japanese exports to the region would also receive a similar
boost.

"ASEAN's GDP (gross domestic product) growth will be boosted by 2.0
percent," he added.

Trade between Japan and ASEAN between 1995 and 2001 was worth 54 billion
dollars, higher than the 48 billion dollars between China and Japan.

"The economic ties between Japan and ASEAN therefore remain strong," Lim
said.

Isao Kaneko, president and chief executive of Japan Airlines, who co-chaired
the meeting, said Japan has "consistently directed approximately twice as
much foreign investment" into the 10-member regional bloc than it has to
China.

He said the proposed ASEAN-Japan free trade pact should be further expanded
to cover all of East Asia, which would include China and South Korea.

"There may be different ways to go about it: bilateral, multilateral or
comperehensive ways in forming regional integration," he told the delegates.

"The important thing is, however, that we make steady progress as an
ultimate goal in the formation of an economic partnership of all the
countries of East Asia," he said.

During a meeting in Brunei last month, the trade minsters of ASEAN and Japan
said they should start considering a framework that could lead to an FTA
within 10 years.

ASEAN, which groups Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, is about the finalise a
framework agreement on a proposed free trade pact with China which they also
hope to seal within 10 years.

The framework -- which will guide negotiators -- is to be signed by the
leaders of ASEAN and China when they meet for a summit in Cambodia next
month.
South Korea has said it has directed a feasibility study on the possibility
of a free trade accord with ASEAN.

ASEAN however is not keen on an East Asian free trade area, saying the
regional bloc would be overshadowed by its bigger and wealthier Northeast
Asian neighbours.

This is why ASEAN prefers to negotiate separate free trade pacts with China,
Japan and South Korea.
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Wednesday October 10, 12:44 PM
Burmese dissidents predict military regime might soon negotiate reforms

OTTAWA, Oct 9 (AFP) - Burmese dissidents meeting here Wednesday suggested
the military regime running their country might be ready to negotiate
reforms with the international community, a move which could lead to the
installation of a democratic government.

Sein Win, the "prime minister in exile" of the National Coalition Government
of the Union of Burma, said he felt the military regime in Burma, also known
as Myanmar, was now ready to negotiate with the opposition for the
installation of a democratic government.

What the international community needs to do now is exert extra pressure on
the military regime, Win told reporters as Burmese non-governmental
organizers were here for a one-day meeting with officials and activists.

"The Burma problem has to be solved by dialogue -- there is no other way,"
Win said, rejecting the idea of an armed rebellion against the military
junta.

Since the release in May from 19 months of house arrest of democratically
elected Aung San Suu Kyi, the attitude of the junta toward political
opponents has started to shift, with the "freeing of political prisoners,
but at a very slow pace," he added.

By contrast, the economic situation in the country, punished with heavy
economic sanctions for refusing political reforms, is deteriorating rapidly.

With the economy collapsing, the military regime is being fully stretched,
Harn Yawnghwe, director of the "Euro-Burma office" in Brussels, said here.

Workers are looting government warehouses for rice, refugees continue to
flood into China and Thailand and some one million Burmese remain
"internally displaced" within Burma, he added.

"The time is now ripe to pressure the military government," Yawnghwe
suggested.
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Thursday October 10, 02:11 AM
Cambodia to ban gun carrying and outdoor eating for ASEAN summit

PHNOM PENH, Oct 10 (AFP) - The Cambodian government is to launch a crackdown
on the carrying of guns and ban outdoor eating ahead of the upcoming ASEAN
summit, officials said Thursday.

Chief of cabinet for Phnom Penh municipality, Man Chheoun, said authorities
intended to enforce a strict prohibition on the carrying of short and long
firearms before and during the ASEAN Summit.

"This will be done not only by the Phnom Penh municipality, but the campaign
will be orchestrated at a national level," he told AFP.

A formal request was expected to be made to Cambodia's Interior Ministry
from Phnom Penh governor Chea Sophara and include a request to clear
sidewalks of restaurant tables and chairs.

There is no shortage of guns in Cambodia, a legacy of nearly three decades
of war which ended in 1998. This combined with a culture of impunity has
allowed the gun trade to flourish.

Man Chheoun said a strict prohibition on the carrying of legal firearms
would also be enforced.

He said letters would be sent to people living on the main streets of the
capital ordering them to "clear chairs, tables or anything that could block
the walking path of the main street."

"We will inform them that this summit will be the greatest honor for all of
Phnom Penh residents and the entire Cambodian nation," he said.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will hold its annual
summit in Cambodia for the first time this November.

ASEAN groups Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Heads of state, or high ranking officials are also expected from China,
Japan, South Korea, South Africa and India.
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Thursday October 10, 05:17 AM
North Korea slams US over religious freedom report

SEOUL, Oct 10 (AFP) - North Korea on Thursday denounced the United States
for labelling the Stalinist state in a recent State Department report as one
of the world's worst offenders in restricting religious freedom.

The North's foreign ministry spokesman, quoted by state-run Korean Central
News Agency (KCNA), said the report was "a product of (Washington's) hostile
policy."

"The freedom of religious belief and religious activities is fully
guaranteed by the law in the DPRK (North Korea)," the spokesman said in a
KCNA dispatch monitored here.
"The US anti-DPRK diatribe ... is an undisguised and shameful interference
in the internal affairs of the DPRK, a product of the hostile policy pursued
by the Bush administration against the DPRK," he added.

US President George W. Bush branded North Korea, together with Iran and
Iraq, as part of an "axis of evil" early this year.

The US State Department on Tuesday listed North Korea as repressing
religious freedom for the second consecutive year in its annual report,
which also included China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Sudan.

"Genuine religious freedom does not exist," the US report said, citing
reports by human rights groups that members of underground churches have
been beaten, arrested, or killed in North Korea.

The US "International Religious Freedom Report 2002" has further damaged
relations between Pyongyang and Washington which recently clashed following
a visit to North Korea by a senior US envoy.

The North accused James Kelly, the US special envoy who visited Pyongyang
last week to convey Washington's concerns over a perceived regional military
threat from North Korea, of taking an "arrogant and high-handed" stance.

Pyongyang has also been listed for years on another US State Department
report of states sponsoring terrorism.
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Reporters Without Borders calls on Myanmar to release prisoners

BANGKOK, Oct 10 (AFP) - Press rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders and
the Burma Media Association (BMA) Thursday called on Myanmar's junta to
release dozens of dissidents imprisoned recently for possessing banned
newspapers.

"This new crackdown is evidence of the military regime¹s hostility towards
the pluralism of information," said Robert Menard, secretary-general of
Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres - RSF).

"It is intolerable that dozens of Burmese people should be imprisoned simply
for having read or distributed a newspaper," he wrote in a letter to
Myanmar's Home Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing signed jointly by BMA president U
Thaung.

RSF said some 30 activists, mostly former political prisoners, were arrested
and interrogated by intelligence services last month for possessing
opposition publications including a Thai-based newspaper Khit Pyaing.

More than a dozen people are still being held in undisclosed locations, it
added.

The two groups also asked Tin Hlaing to persuade the junta to allow the
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) to launch a newspaper.

NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi reportedly requested a licence to publish a
newspaper after her release in May from 19 months under house arrest.

The US State Department earlier this month sharply criticised the arrests of
the 30 opposition activists, describing them as a "significant step
backwards" for hopes that the junta is easing its iron grip on political
activity.

"We continue to urge the regime to release all those detained for the
peaceful expression of their political views," an official said.

Exiled opposition groups have claimed the arrests expose the junta's pledge
to permit people to freely indulge in political activities as a sham.

Aung San Suu Kyi has said her party's top priority is to secure the release
of all the political prisoners in the country's jails.

The Nobel peace laureate suggested in August that a mass release would be a
precondition to her beginning a fully fledged political dialogue with the
Yangon junta.

The two sides have been engaged in a dialogue aimed at national
reconciliation since October 2000.

Hundreds of political prisoners have been freed since the dialogue began,
but between 1,300 and 1,500 are believed to be still incarcerated.

According to RSF and the BMA, almost 40 people have been arrested over the
last two years for having distributed or read an opposition newspaper
printed in Thailand.
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Myanmar frees prisoners before U.N. envoy's visit
By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Military-ruled Myanmar has freed 31 political
prisoners, including seven members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD), a week before a visit by a United Nations human rights
envoy, the NLD said on Thursday.

The opposition party said most of the freed prisoners were former students
arrested more than six years ago, while the seven NLD members were elderly
senior officials. All were released on October 9.

``All seven NLD members are around 60 years of age and they are senior
officials from some township NLD offices in Yangon Division,'' party
spokesman U Lwin told Reuters.

He said about 180 NLD members were still in prison. Human rights group
Amnesty International say more than 1,000 political prisoners languish in
Myanmar's jails.

The U.N. human rights envoy to Myanmar, Brazilian academic Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro, is due in the country for a 10-day visit to assess the rights
situation on October 17, having postponed his visit by four days.

``He said that he had to postpone his visit because of some pending matters
he had to deal with in Brazil and we agreed to it,'' a Myanmar government
official told Reuters.

Pinheiro's has visited Myanmar three times, but this will be his first since
the government freed Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace prize, from
19-months of house arrest in May.

Diplomats say pressure from the international community, including economic
sanctions imposed by the United States and European countries, persuaded the
ruling generals to free Suu Kyi.

But many analysts say the generals, desperate for investment to pull the
country out of a deepening economic crisis, are trying to clean up the
country's image but have no real intention of releasing their grip on power.

The Myanmar government said last month it had invited Pinheiro to visit in a
bid to dispel allegations its troops used rape as a weapon of war against
ethnic minority girls and women.

The invitation followed criticism by Washington and a report from two
minority rights groups saying Myanmar troops had raped at least 625 girls
and women between 1996 and 2001 in Shan state in the east of the country.

Pinheiro submitted a report to the United Nations in April, saying the
conditions for political prisoners in Myanmar's jails had improved since
they were allowed visits from the Red Cross two years ago.

He called for the immediate release of all political prisoners, most of whom
were detained after the military refused to recognise victory by the NLD in
1990 elections.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962.
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China withdraws death sentences for church leaders

HONG KONG, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Thursday spared the lives
of five Christian church leaders who had been sentenced to death, but handed
down heavy penalties of up to life imprisonment for injury and rape, a
rights group said.

The judgement came after a surprise two-day retrial ahead of a summit
between the presidents of China and the United States later this month, and
after a U.S. report this week that found little improvement in religious
freedom in China.

Gong Shengliang, founder of the underground South China Church, which has
been branded by Beijing as an ``evil cult,'' received a life sentence for
injury and rape, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and
Democracy said in a statement.

For injury charges, key church members Xu Fuming and Hu Yong were jailed for
life while Gong Bangkun and Li Ying were given 15-year terms, the group
said.

Gong Shengliang, Xu and Hu had previously been given death sentences, while
Gong Bangkun and Li had been given suspended death sentences. Their previous
charges included involvement with an ``evil cult.''

At their appeal against the ruling last month, the high court of central
China's Hubei province repealed their death sentences and a retrial
subsequently took place at a municipal intermediate court on Wednesday and
Thursday.

In its latest judgement, the court acquitted the five, together with 12
other church members, of ``evil cult'' charges.

Four of the 12, who were previously convicted only of ``evil cult''
offences, walked free on Thursday. The Hong Kong group said the other eight
received sentences lighter than 15 years of imprisonment, but did not
elaborate.

It also did not elaborate on the alleged crimes involving injury and rape.

It said the defendants would appeal against the latest judgement.

China bans all religious activity outside state-backed religious
organisations, but rights groups say millions of people worship regularly in
underground churches and prayer groups.

On Monday, the United States, in its annual report on religious freedom
around the world, found improvements in Afghanistan, Egypt and parts of
southeastern Europe but little change in countries such as China, where
religious worship is most severely restricted.

The report issued by the U.S. State Department names the same six countries
as in 2001 -- China, Cuba, Laos, Myanmar, North Korea and Vietnam -- as
victims of totalitarian or authoritarian attempts to control religious
belief or practice.
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Myanmar government releases prisoners _ but criticized over new alleged
arrests
Thu Oct 10,10:31 AM ET

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Myanmar's military government has arrested dozens
of dissidents for distributing banned newspapers, a press freedom group said
Thursday.
The allegation came as the government announced the release of 31 other
political prisoners.

Late last month, intelligence officers arrested about 30 political activists
for possessing opposition publications, said the Paris-based group Reporters
Without Borders, better known by its French acronym RSF.

Nearly 40 people have been arrested over the past two years in Myanmar, also
known as Burma, for distributing or reading opposition newspapers - mostly
printed in neighboring Thailand - RSF said in a statement issued with the
Burma Media Association, an exiled Myanmar opposition group based in
Washington, D.C.

Some of those arrested have been tortured or given heavy prison sentences,
the statement claimed.

In a joint letter to Myanmar Home Affairs Minister Col. Tin Hlaing, the two
groups demanded the immediate release of all those imprisoned "simply for
having read or distributed a newspaper."

Meanwhile, the government said it freed 31 political prisoners, including
seven members of the opposition National League for Democracy party, on
Thursday.

It was one of the largest groups of dissidents freed in a single day since
such releases began after the ruling junta and the opposition started
reconciliation talks two years ago.

The junta is believed to hold up to 1,500 political prisoners, including
several hundred members of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy, which won a 1990 general election but was not allowed
to take power.

More than 300 of Suu Kyi's party's members have been freed since the talks
began.
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Bangkok Post - Thursday 10 October 2002
Ethnic rebels will be closely watched, says new minister
Wassana Nanuam

Defence Minister Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhaya says Burmese ethnic
rebels operating along the western border will be closely watched to prevent
them stirring up trouble that may create misunderstandings with Rangoon.

Border problems could be avoided if ``third parties'' were not allowed to
use Thai soil to stir up trouble.

``If we did not allow other people to cause misunderstandings in the border
area then problems can be prevented,'' the new defence minister said.

He would follow guidelines set by his predecessor, Deputy Prime Minister
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, in using personal ties with the military to
strengthen ties with neighbouring countries.

Once Rangoon reopened its border, expected on Oct 15, he would issue new
instructions on control of border passes to avoid further problems.

Gen Thammarak said there was much to be learnt from past events which led to
heightened tensions between Bangkok and Rangoon along the border.

A defence source said Gen Chavalit, who is deputy prime minister in charge
of security affairs, had sent his army advisory chairman Gen Vichit Yathip,
his close aide, to Rangoon last week to seek cooperation in reopening the
border, which Rangoon closed on May 22.

Gen Chavalit said Rangoon's decision to open its border checkpoints next
Tuesday was a good sign for bilateral relations. Gen Thammarak also
emphasised the need for fraternity and unity in the armed forces. Without it
the military would be reduced to a laughing stock. He urged the armed forces
not to be selfish or bicker among themselves.

``It's embarrassing and we'll be ridiculed,'' he said.
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BBC - Thursday, 10 October, 2002, 13:56 GMT 14:56 UK
Burma releases prisoners

The Burmese military government has released 31 prisoners, including seven
members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).

The move comes a week before a visit by a United Nations human rights envoy.

An NLD spokesman said most of those released on Wednesday were former
students, arrested more than six years ago, while the NLD members were
elderly senior officials of the party.

The UN human rights envoy to Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, is next week due
to make his first visit to the country since the authorities freed the NLD
leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest in May.

The invitation followed allegations that Burmese troops used rape as a
weapon of war against ethnic minority females - an allegation the
authorities deny.

Earlier this month the Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said
after visiting Burma and meeting Aung San Suu Kyi that she was sceptical
about the military government's promises of reforms.
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Independent-Bangladesh
Strategic significance of the Andamans
Prakash Nanda
10 Oct 2002.

India's first "Joint Service Command" (Unified command) of the three
services and the Coast Guard that was created in the Union Territory of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands completed one year of its formation on October
8, 2002. Named as Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), it is intended to
ensure "impregnable surveillance and security of land, water and air space
"of the Andaman and Nicobar "region" as a whole. It is under the direct
control of the Chairman of the Committee of the Chiefs of Staff. In fact,
the ANC is supposed to be "the laboratory" for the eventual unified command
of the three services at the national level.

Why of all the places the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were chosen to be
providing the base for Indian's first unified command? A recent visit those
islands by the present writer revealed that they are strategically too
significant. The Northern most point of the Andaman group of islands is
barely 190 Nautical Miles, or approximately 300 Kilometers from the Myanmar
mainland. From the Coco Islands, which house, today, the Chinese maintenance
and berthing facilities, it is just 18 kilometers.

Similarly, the southernmost point of the Nicobar group of islands, called
the "Indira Point" is just 150 or so kilometers from Sumatra. Phuket in
Thailand is only 273 nautical miles away from Indira point. These aspects of
the geographical location of the Andaman and Nicobar islands are all the
more significant when one realises that their distance from any part of the
Indian mainland is about 1200 kilometers (1255km from Calcutta, 1190 km from
Chennai and 1200 km from Vishakhapatanam). Significantly, these islands
create a series of choke points which not only help them dominate western
entry to the Straits of Malacca (hence the whole of Southeast Asia, China,
two Koreas and Australia) from Europe and West Asia but also any movement
between the Far East and Calcutta, Cox's Bazaar(Bangladesh), or Yangon
(Rangoon.) In addition, these islands also control any movement between
Trincomolee (Sri Lanka) or Visakhapatnam and Yangon.

The Andamans provide the key to the eventual success of the much talked
about "Look East Policy" of India (policy towards the Asia-Pacific reason).
It is the close proximity of Andaman and Nicobar Islands with the Southeast
Asia that make India as much a part of that region as that of South Asia. As
it is, the region has already been marked by the emergence of some regional
economic orgainisations like the ASEAN, of which India is a dialogue
partner, the APEC, which India is aspiring to join, BIMSTEC (consisting of
Bangladesh, India , Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand), and Mekong Gaga
Cooperation Project(involving India , Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and
Vietnam).

What is noteworthy in this context is that all these organisations have
member countries, which, with the notable exception of landlocked Laos, are
all maritime countries. In this sense, the Andamans provide the most ideal
logistics base from where sea power could extend its reach. In fact, India
has been conducting regular joint naval exercises and joint-military
training with the Southeast Asian countries, both bilaterally and
multilaterally. Since 1995, the Indian Navy has been hosting regular
gathering of warships from these countries at Port Blair. Every two year
bilateral gatherings of this nature are held and these are called "Milan" of
warships. Countries that have participated include Singapore, Thailand,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and the United States. Significantly, as per
the latest Indo-US accord, Indian naval ships based in Port Blair are
escorting these days all the American vessels from Singapore to Diego
Garcia.

However, India's cooperative naval diplomacy in the region has not been
reciprocated by China and Myanmar. In fact, China has always resented the
growing Indian naval activity in the region. In early 1993, Zhao Nanqi,
director of the General Staff Logistics Department of the Chinese Navy,
issued a top-secret memorandum that explained in great detail the PLA's
strategic plans to consolidate control over the South China Sea and the
Indian Ocean under the new doctrine of "high-sea defense." Zhao stated that
"We can no longer accept the Indian Ocean as only an ocean of the Indians".
Accordingly, the most urgent task identified by the Chinese navy has been to
consolidate control over the Strait of Malacca so that no other power is
capable of blocking its surge the moment it was capable of surging into the
Indian Ocean. If Yossef Bodansky, Director of the Task Force on Terrorism
and Unconventional Warfare of the U.S. Congress is to be believed, in 1995,
Beijing resolved to markedly expedite its surge, at the least parts of it,
so that it would be impossible for its "enemies" to forestall its rise to
global power. It decided to "to encircle the Strait of Malacca and, through
covert operations, create intolerable conditions for potential enemies and
opponents in the region".

Bodansky writes that "it has become imperative for the PRC to consolidate
direct control over both approaches to the Strait of Malacca while
neutralizing the states in between through covert action. The two approaches
to the Strait of Malacca can be dominated from the Spratly islands and
Burma's coastline on the Bay of Bengal. The key to the covert action is
having Beijing's close allies-Iran and Pakistan-either win over the Muslim
governments of the key regional states or subvert the Muslim population of
other key states in the region so that the internal crisis and instability
will prevent them from resisting the Chinese strategic surge and rise to
hegemonic position".

Bodansky's point is that the Islamist subversion of several countries in
Asia is intensified because of the strategic interests of a third party-
China-and, to a lesser extent, of its close allies like Pakistan who bear
the brunt of the sponsorship of, and support for the terrorist escalation
has been shared by many analysts the world over. This aspect is all the more
important in the post- September 11, 2001 phase of fight against
international terrorism. Indeed, Islamist forces sponsored by Pakistan are
destabilising the local states overlooking the Strait of Malacca. The
Islamists have gained more influence in Indonesia, Malaysia and the
Philippines (courtesy the ISI-trained Abu Sayyaf forces). They have been
subverting Thailand-using both the local Patans in the countryside and
spectacular operations by expert terrorists arriving from the sponsoring
states-while also maintaining subversive infrastructure in Indonesia as
deterrence for Jakarta, as well as taking over the struggle of the Rohingya
Muslim minority in Myanmar to exercise additional pressure on Yangon to
cooperate with Beijing.

The case of Myanmar assumes special significance for India. China has
installed a major maritime reconnaissance and electronic intelligence
station on Great Coco Island. Along with the Small Coco Island where the
Chinese Army is also building bases, these two islands provide a great
opportunity to China to be based at a crucial point in traffic routes
between the Bay of Bengal and the Strait of Malacca. The Coco Islands are
also an ideal place for monitoring the major Indian naval facilities in
Andaman and Nicobar Islands and missile launches in the Chandipur of
Balasore in Orissa and the satellites' launching at Sriharikota in Andhra
Pradesh.

Chinese strategists see Myanmar occupying the same place in the Chinese
calculus of deterrence vis-à-vis India in South-Southeast Asia that Pakistan
does in South-Southwest Asia. In fact, triangular relations among China,
Myanmar and Pakistan are particularly disturbing to India. Pakistan has
invited China for development and construction of her strategic naval base
at Gwadar on the Makran coast. This Pakistan-China defence project has far
wider strategic significance; for it gives China access and basing
facilities in the Indian Ocean and in close proximity to the Straits of
Hormuz. It also amounts to maritime encirclement of India in the sense that
with the presence at Gwadar at one end and at Cocos at the other, the
Chinese Navy can pose few problems to India.

What all this underscores is that India has to continuously and methodically
monitor and contain the growing triangular relationship among China, Myanmar
and Pakistan. And in task, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are destined to
play a vital role.

h.l The case of Myanmar assumes special significance for India. China has
installed a major maritime reconnaissance and electronic intelligence
station on Great Coco Island. Along with the Small Coco Island where the
Chinese Army is also building bases, these two islands provide a great
opportunity to China to be based at a crucial point in traffic routes
between the Bay of Bengal and the Strait of Malacca. The Coco Islands are
also an ideal place for monitoring the major Indian naval facilities in
Andaman and Nicobar Islands and missile launches in the Chandipur of
Balasore in Orissa and the satellites' launching at Sriharikota in Andhra
Pradesh.p

Prakash Nanda is our Nepal Correspondent
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Roundup: Human trafficking eradication in Asia has long way to go
Xinhuanet 2002-10-10 15:18:47

BANGKOK, Oct. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Trafficking in woman and children for forced
labor and commercial sexual exploitation has been recognized by many Asian
countries as a priority development problem, but effective measures to
eradicate the crime still a desirous gift for experts and victims.

As more than 150 European and Asian human rights experts attended a United
Nations-sponsored conference from Oct. 7 to Oct.9 in Bangkok with an aim to
step up operation to combat the growing phenomenon of human trafficking,
some optimistic officialsdescribed the 25-country gathering as "the
beginning of a more substantive cooperation among the countries of Asia and
Europe."

However, more experts said before the effective measures, such as every
country adopting a set of proposals on prevention, service, advocacy and
demand, and setting up a regional network tomonitor and control human
trafficking, were taken into effect, people will still stand in starting
point as ever before.

In her opening speech at the conference, UN Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific Deputy Executive Secretary, Keiko Okaido described
human trafficking as "a major concern for many countries in the Asian
region, either as sites of origin, transit or destination."

Her view was shared by the experts, officials and representatives of the
non-governmental organizations which provided a lot of terrible examples and
figures.

According to the estimate of Tides Foundation, there are more than 300,000
prostitutes in Thailand, of which one of third are minors who have been sold
to brothel from neighboring countries tomeet the demand of "sex tourists".

In Cambodia, 35 percent of the total 100,000 prostitutes are minors, 48
percent of them are abducted and sold. In the Thai-Cambodian border, the
guest can pay the brothel owners 500 to 600 US dollars to "buy a girl's
freedom".

In India, among the 2.3 million prostitutes, a quarter are minors, most of
them were bought by the brothel owners from their parents through economic
incentives, such as fake jobs or marriagepromises.

The UN Population Fund consultative meeting in Slovakia last week said
Southeast Asia is the world's largest source of trafficked persons, with
more than 225,000 people trafficked everyyear, and is a major destination
for sex tourism, while the South Asia is the third largest source of the
world.

More sadly, the bloody facts had been figured out for many years and many
concerned international agreements, conventions andprotocols had been
adopted, but human trafficking still remains tobe the fastest-growing
transnational crime.

So the participants of the seminar appealed that the international society
to review and rework its tactic for the longtime war.

UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) specialist Jean D'Cunha said that
many well-intentioned efforts to curb the trafficking, which tend to focus
on immediate post-trafficking assistance, suchas arresting, detaining and
deporting trafficked persons as illegal immigrants, only resulted in placing
the onus unfairly on the victims of an unjust social order and a chain of
coercive and deceptive events.

She brought forward the suggestion that trafficking should be treated as a
development concern instead of solely as a social problem, with a focus on
long-term preventive measures that take into account unsafe and
discriminatory environments, and build women's capacity to deal with
exploitation.

It's no doubt that D'Cunha's idea is mulled, but it is also very difficult
to be carried out.

Some experts argued that gender inequalities is maybe a more complex
question than human trafficking, for this reason, how to design and
implement the effective measures to set up the prevention system and which
measure would be the most effective ones for every country, both are the
puzzled questions.

In fact, during the discussions of the seminar, experts found because of the
multiformity of the Asian countries, implementing laws required by the
international covenants, cooperation between different countries and lots of
measures which had been inked in papers for many years were only desires of
few peoples.

Thus, Alfhild Petren, senior adviser at the Swedish Foreign Ministry, a
sponsor of the seminar pointed out at the closing ceremony that more
research needs to be done and "we still need to find ways to measures."

For experts, the first step will better be figuring out the firm number of
trafficked persons -- because the victims all are illegal immigrants, there
is no data about their numbers till now -- at least, it will benefit the
combat rather than an acting plan which can not be brought into effect.
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