.
Thailand
(92.3 of a possible 100),
Malaysia (86.2) and China (68.4) are three
economies widely seen as the future of Asia. What they have
in common is above-average level of female participation.
.
The idea is that the more opportunities women have, the more
vibrant economies are and consequently, the less need there
is to amass a huge public debt to boost growth.
.
At the bottom of the list is South Korea (45.5),
followed by Indonesia (52.5) and Japan (54.5).
Perhaps it’s a bizarre coincidence, yet MasterCard’s
findings fit quiet neatly with 2 important issues in Asia:
leadership and debt.
.
While India’s total exports
in the past 5 years rose by 73%, those of ASEAN rose at
double that rate and six-fold to China’s.
.
In the 1997 East Asian currency and their full economic
crisis, the US strong-armed Japan not to start a proposed
East Asian currency fund that would have prevented at least
the worst of the crisis.
.
The US benefited from its buying devalued East Asian
currencies and using them to buy up East Asian real
resources.
.
Now China is already taking steps toward such an
arrangement, only on a much grander financial and also
economic scale.
.
The Central Bank of China
has begun to buy new euros. China itself has begun to
use some of its dollars to buy real goods from other Asians,
and thousands of iron ore and steel from Brazil.
.
Supported by bulk purchases
of Russian fighters, submarines and destroyers, China’s
build-up exceeds its self-defense needs. From
Japan to India, questions about Chinese strategic ambitions
are making Asian capitals nervous.
.
The recently signed Chinese
law arrogates to China the right to use military force
against Taiwan should Beijing perceive Taipei to be
moving towards independence.
.
China has aided Iranian ballistic missile, chemical weapons
and conventional arms program, says CIA.
.
China craves international acceptance and respect as a
responsible power. To gain it, China must resolve Taiwan’s
future peacefully, help dismantle North Korea’s nuclear
program and its support of Iran’s WMD and missile program.
.
China fruit producer
Beijing Huiyuan Beverages & Food is in talks with
foreign potential buyers.
.
Hong Kong
lawyers and politicians denounced the government’s decision
to introduce a 2-year term for the territory’s next CEO as
evidence of an erosion of the rule of law and autonomy.
.
With the European Union
reportedly planning to remove China from the list of
countries included in its Generalized System of
Performance (GSP) to dampen the threat of ballooning
shipments of textiles from that country, many of Taiwan’s
garment makers are moving their manufacturing into SE Asia.
.
The proposed new agreement will lower tariffs on textile
products imported from underdeveloped countries (including
in Asia, Cambodia, Laos & Bangladesh). China & India are off
GSP preferential list.
.
Cambodia is attractive to Taiwan’s textile manufacturers
because it is both in American and European lists. Many of
them are planning to enlarge existing plants or set up new
plants there.
.
US policy insists that Taiwan’s political future be
determined peacefully. A Chinese attack on Taiwan would draw
on American military response.
.
Taiwan’s government will
have to grant a discount of up to 50% or back a minority
management if it wants to recapitalize state-owned
Changwa Bank by bringing in a foreign shareholder.
.
The Bank of Japan is
finding it so hard to pump extra-liquidity into its
financial system that it has been forced to lengthen the
term of its money market operations.
.
Japanese shipping line
NYK plans to find customers for a European containers
port which has remained unused for the last 4 years.
.
Hyundai
is winning international accolades for design & reliability
as it battles to catch up with Japanese, European & American
rivals on global markets.
.
Two of the most dangerous al
Quaeda-linked groups (Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf)
are working together to train militants in scuba-diving for
seaborne terror attacks, said a recently captured guerrilla
in the Philippines.
.
At least 21 top furniture manufacturers in Cebu have
committed to provide the furnishings for Malacanang sa
Sugbo, allowing the national government to save millions
of pesos while transforming the seat of power in central
Philippines as a showcase of some of their best products.
.
Filipino professionals and development workers hold key and
sensitive positions in the government, international
organizations and private businesses in Cambodia.
.
According to Sen. Ralph Recto, the US Embassy in Manila
collects about P2 billion ($36 million a year from Filipinos
applying for visas. It has made RP a land of milking
cows.
.
Sen. Luisita Ejercito, wife of deposed president Joseph
Estrada, was detained by US Immigration & DHS at SF Intl.
Airport for husband’s ongoing corruption case in plundering
some $80 million in public money during his 30-month in
office.
.
Indonesia
plans to raise cigarette taxes only days after Philip
Morris proposed the $5.2 billion takeover of local
producer HM Sampoerna.
.
Malaysia
plans to recruit 100k
Pakistanis to relieve an acute labor shortage caused by a
crackdown that sent hundreds of thousands of illegal workers
fleeing.
.
The Pakistanis will be allowed to work in all sectors
including construction, manufacturing and services, said the
Home Affairs Minister.
.
The New Straits Times estimated that about 200k
workers were needed in the manufacturing sector; 150k in
construction; 50k in plantation, and 20k in the services
sector.
.
The Indian government
is planning to allow the country’s 29 states to bypass the
country’s strict labor laws through the creation of
Chinese-style special economic zones, said the Minister
of Trade & Commerce.
.
Hindu nationalists attacked
a warehouse of US-based PepsiCo and protested outside the
American consulate in Bombay after the US revoked a visa for
the elected head of Gujarat, citing his role in the 2002
religious riots.
.
The Food & Drug
Administration (FDA) in Maharashtra plans a crackdown
on manufacturers for infants, including baby oil and
shampoo.
.
India may face new US
sanctions for failure to stop human trafficking.
.
At least 35 people were
killed and scores injured when a powerful bomb ripped
through a crowd of pilgrims as they ate their evening meal
near a mosque in SW Pakistan.
.
Pres. Musharraf vowed to upgrade Pakistan’s nuclear
capability but with a strict adherence to nonproliferation
as he watched the test-firing of a long-range missile which
can carry a nuclear warhead.
.
Tsunami-hit Sri Lanka
accepted a Paris Club job offer to freeze its debt payment
until the end of 2005, but plans to press lenders to extend
moratorium to the end of 2007, said Minister of Finance.
.
Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao’s decision to skip Nepal this month in his
trip to South Asia is being interpreted by New Delhi
as a major concession to Indian sensitivity.
.
Security forces arrested hundreds of people calling for the
restoration of democracy in the biggest protest since King
Gyanendra imposed emergency rule last month.
