IV. International
(01-03-09)
. ASEAN
moved to forge an EU-style community, signing a charter
that makes a legal entity for the first time and would
pave the way for creating a single market within 7
years. It set out a common set of rules for trade,
investment, environment and other fields.
.
One of the key goals is to establish a single market by
2015 for the vast and diverse region of 500 million
people, though the deepening global financial crisis and
political instability in several member states could
derail those plans.
.
The most controversial part of the charter is proposed
human rights, detail of which will be hammered for
approval at an ASEAN summit in Thailand, scheduled to
take place in February. But it will have no ability to
impose sanctions on equal countries that violate the
rights of its own citizens, limiting its effectiveness.
. China is
considering ships to fight pirates off the Horn of
Africa in what would be the country’s first significant
naval combat mission since the 15th century.
.
Wo Weihan was once a
respected scientist with his own medical research lab in
Beijing. For
copying articles from missile technology magazines in
public library, buying 4 night vision equipment scopes,
gathering information about the health of senior
government leaders and collecting documents from a local
CCP conference, he was branded a spy and executed in
November 2008.
.
His is one of the several executions that highlight
secrecy, lack of due process and uneven application of
the law that cover capital cases after
China
started a radical overhaul of the way it handles the
death penalty.
.
Starting in 2007 China began for the first time in more
than 2 decades to require final review of every capital
case by the Supreme People’s Court. The hope was
to reduce the number of executions and bring some
consistency to a process that had been handled unevenly
by the lower courts. Chinese courts handed down 30%
fewer death sentences in 2008 compared to 2006.
.
Defendants on death row
continue to be executed from such nonviolent crimes
as illegal fundraising, graft, drug dealing and
espionage. They were prosecuted and dispatched with
lack of transparency, according to Chinese
lawyers who complain of blocked access to their clients
and say many confessions were coerced.
. There are
double standards: officials accused of embezzling
millions receive suspended death sentences that spare
their lives while ordinary citizens convicted of
stealing far less die by lethal injection or a singe
gunshot to the head, according to lawyers and records.
.
China remains the world’s top executioner. It carried
out 5k to 6k executions in 2007. That same year, the US
executed 42 people. On a per-capita basis, China is
estimated to have carried out 30x the number of
executions than the US did.
.
Putting workers on
forced unpaid leave, often for one or more days a week,
is a tactic being adopted around the world as firms seek
to cut costs and keep skilled workers on the payroll,
even if there is little work to do, so that they will
have resources when orders pick up.
.
Employment specialists
say the phenomenon is not unique to
Taiwan
and is used more broadly
by manufacturers in cyclical industries, ranging from
electronics maker in South Korea to car makers in UK,
and manufacturers in
Germany.
.
In one of the clearest
and most sobering signs of the times, TSMC, the world’s
largest contract chipmaker and one of Taiwan’s most
profitable firms, said it will roll out its own forced
leave without pay systems in 2009. TSMC’s main rival,
UMC, is taking similar measures.
.
Philippine Airline flight from Manila to
Zamboanga (12/26) was unable to land on schedule because
there were no traffic controllers around to answer
request to approach the runway. Traffic controllers, who
apparently were still in a Christmas holiday mood, came
in late for work.
.
Government troops have surrounded hundreds of rogue Moro
Islamic Liberation Front rebels who attacked civilian
communities in North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat
(12-23-24).
.
Data from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed that while
credit card receivables grew by 1.5% to P124.4
billion, the growth was a fraction of a quarterly
average of 10% and the previous quarter’s 30.8% growth.
.
A young, Oxford-educated
opposition leader, Abhhisit Vejjajiva, was elected P.M.
of Thailand
in a parliamentary vote, taking on the challenges of
political turmoil and economic crisis that have wounded
2 previous Thai governments this year.
.
Democrat-led government is under criticism from its
members over plans to appoint former career diplomat
Kasit Piromya as foreign minister, given the latter’s
close affiliation with the People’s Alliance for
Democracy, that he would be more of a liability than an
asset.
.
A. Grimm Group, the giant industrial conglomerate, is
planning to spend 25 to 30 billion baht to expand
its business over the next 6 years by focusing on the
energy, cooling & healthcare and lifestyle sectors.
. South Korea,
which imports all its oil, is trying to cut reliance on
crude and diversify energy sources after oil prices in
NY climbed to a record $147.27 a barrel in July. It will
build 12 more nuclear-powered plants, 7 coal-fired
plants and 11 fueled by liquefied natural gas by 2022,
the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said (12/22).
.
The cost of
nuclear-power generation is 3 won per kilowatt
compared with 22 won at coal-fired plants and 89
won for gas, according to the ministry. Nuclear
plants will provide 48% of generating capacity by 2022,
up from 34% in 2008. It will reduce resilience on
oil-fired plants to 0.2% from 1.9%.
.
SK will invest 100 trillion won in alternative
energy by 2030. It targets a 44-fold increase in supply
of solar power to 3,504 megawatts, a 37-fold gain in
wind power to 7,301 megawatts and a 19-fold increase in
bio-fuels supply.
.
The Indonesian government may further cut prices
of premium gasoline and diesel on January 15 hinting it
may even partly or entirely float the prices of the 2
subsidized fuels to keep in line with global crude
prices. If it happens, it will be the third price cut
since early December.
.
Thousands of Aceh residents held communal prayers at
places of worship across the province (12/26) as they
honored victims of the devastating 2004 tsunami that
claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Demonstrations
were held in some cities demanding audit of the
Rehabilitation & Reconstruction Agency’s performance
and seek its accountability.
.
VP Jusuf Kalla said that working harder to mitigate the
fallout from the global financial downturn would gift
the current administration enough political credit to
win a second term in office in 2009. He went on to say
that Indonesia’s economic situation was currently under
control with fallout not expected to be as severe as US.
.
The Personal Income
Tax Law will take effect 1/1/09 in
Vietnam
as scheduled but
Party Politburo will make the final decision on how
it will be enforced, the Vice Speaker of the Parliament
said. There have been calls for deferment because of
possible impact in the context of economic slowdown.
.
The central government has requested the People’s
Committees of six northern mountainous provinces to
restrict residents migrating to the Central Highlands
Dak Lok Provinces.
.
The Ministry of Science & Technology (MoST) will
install detecting devices on retail gasoline pumps
across the country after widespread fuel fraud was found
at gas stations.
.
The UN s trying a new approach towards
Myanmar:
entice the generals with fresh promises of development
money in exchange for the freedom of more than 2k
political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi and to
open the country to democratic change.
.
In the months ahead, UN leadership will press the Obama
administration to relax US
policy on Myanmar
and open the door to return of international financial
institutions, including the World Bank. The bank left in
1987 because Myanmar did not implement economic and
political reforms.
.
Critics characterize the strategy as desperate attempt
to salvage a diplomatic process that has deteriorated UN
envoy Ibrahim Gambari is simply grasping to show
progress in moving a regime that has no intention of
embracing democratic reform.
. Indian
P.M. Manmohan Singh tried to allay fears about
possibility of war with neighboring Pakistan saying
nobody wants war. His comments came amid rising calls in
India
for military action and a day after Pakistani air force
conducted war-training exercises with fighter jets above
the country’s major cities.
.
The two nuclear-armed nations have hurled angry rhetoric
since India accused “elements” in Pakistan of planning
the 3-day siege in Mumbai that left at least 170 dead,
including 6 Americans, and injured more than 230.
Pakistan has offered to help in a joint probe and has
detained some suspects, but India deemed the steps
cosmetic and has demanded more effective action.
.
India’s foreign minister has said on two occasions the
government was keeping all options open, implying the
possibility of military action. Pakistani army chief of
staff said his country’s armed forces are fully prepared
and would react within minutes of any military strike by
India.
.
The dancing girls of
Lahore, the
cultural capital of
Pakistan,
are on strike in protest against the tide of Taliban
ization that is threatening to destroy an art form that
has flourished since the Mughal Empire.
.
The strike, which is supported by the theaters where
they perform, was sparked by Lahore’s High Court to ban
the Murjna, the graceful and elaborate dance
first developed in the Mughal Court 400 years ago, on
the grounds that it’s too sexually explicit.
.
The government and its goons should know better that you
cannot legislate morality. They tried it in the 1980s.
The government tried to encourage “family friendly”
dances, but once-packed theaters are now nearly empty,
despite dropping their prices from 300 rupees to
25 rupees a seat.
