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Foreign ministers of ASEAN have requested an
Australian signature on the “amity and cooperation” treaty,
which commits members not to attack one another.
.
In the past 7 years, after the East Asian
economic crisis, the 10 countries of ASEAN, plus China,
Japan & South Korea, have emerged as the most influential
regional grouping.
.
Proposals have included currency-stabilizing
schemes, An Asian food market, an Asian monetary fund and
regional strategic oil reserves.
.
The US International Trade Commission
voted to review its decision allowing punitive tariffs on
shrimp fro Thailand and India, reflecting concerns about the
impact of December’s tsunami.
.
Hewlett-Packard
overtook Lenovo, China’s biggest PC maker, to become
Asia-Pacific’s top PC seller in Q1, IDC said.
.
Chinese textiles manufacturers are promising
new efforts to curb clothing export to US after it grew 41%
in January following the lifting of restrictive quotas.
.
China warned about the dangers of excessive
flows of speculative capital into the country and threatened
severe punishments for local governments and individuals
caught breaking foreign exchange rules.
.
Chief among the among the problems were fake
investment schemes to get foreign currency into the county
before it was converted to renminbi and used to buy
real estate.
.
China’s foreign exchange reserves last year
were boosted by foreign investment of more than $60 billion,
trade surplus of $32 billion and some bank borrowings, but a
big amount is unexplained.
.
China is mulling new rules to curb the growth
of foreign banks, potentially upsetting HSBC’s and
Citigroup’s plans, state media said.
.
His true color is now in the open. Chinese
Pres. Hu Jintao is emerging as an unyielding leader
determined to preserve the Communist Party’s monopoly on
power and willing to impose new limits on speech and other
civil liberties to do it.
.
He is bent on controlling public opinion,
presiding over a crackdown to restore discipline to state
media and intimidate dissident intellectuals.
.
In international affairs, Hu’s government has
taken steps that appeal to nationalist sentiments, e.g.,
anti-secessionist law and a series of anti-Japanese street
demonstrations.
.
The Chinese government’s Internet controls
have kept pace with rapid changes in technology and are
buttressed by self-censorship, said university researchers
in a study.
.
China’s filters are block specific references
to Tibet on independence without blocking all references to
Tibet, according to a report OpenNet Initiative.
.
The government also limits discussions about
Falun Gong, Dalai Lama, Tienanmen Square and other topics
deemed sensitive.
.
China is more successful than other countries
in keeping the extent of its censorship efforts secret. The
content is often removed rather than replaced with a notice.
.
China rebuffed demands for an apology after
voters damaged Japanese diplomatic missions in protests over
Japan’s wartime aggression and its bid for a UN Security
Council seat.
.
This is the culmination of the Japanese
government approval of a junior high school text last month
that tried to whitewash Japan’ wartime atrocities and
justify its aggression in Asia during the first half of the
20th century.
.
Suspicions abound that Beijing was behind the
protests to undermine Tokyo’s Security Council campaign.
.
China does not want PM Koizumi of Japan
pulling closer to the US in the world war on terror. This
alliance also implies protection of a free and democratic
Taiwan against Beijing’s new anti-secession law.
.
Japan firmly supports US efforts t stop North
Korea’s military and nuclear buildup. China dominates North
Korea to put pressure on Kim Jong Il to renegotiate a
nuclear agreement. China says it will help with the North
Korean problem and never seems to do very much.
.
Nissan posted a 1.7% earnings gain for its
fiscal year and announced a plan to amp up sales while
maintaining industry-leading profit margins.
.
China ruled Hong Kong’s new leader should run
2 years to fill out Tung Chee Hwa’s term instead of 5, amid
criticism Beijing is undermining the territory’s legal
system.
.
In a visit by Taiwan’s Nationalist Party head
(Lien Chan) to the mainland, the NP & CCP appeared eager to
lay aside past conflicts and get along even while
disagreeing over the self-governing island’s permanent
status.
.
The NP did poorly in December’s legislative
election making many of his supporters uncomfortable with
the way he had dealt with the mainland.
.
Beijing had also invited the head of Taiwan’s
People First Party which had advocated reunion with China
under negotiated conditions. It ii Beijing’s favorite
political party in Taiwan.
.
South Korea is raiding cyberspace’s red light
district in a campaign pitting Confucian morals against
modern technology.
.
US hopes warnings that North Korea would be
preparing a nuclear weapons test will spur China and other
countries to take a hard line against its atomic ambitions.
.
Hyundai Motors net rose 14% as robust
overseas sales offset higher raw-materials costs and the
dollar’s weakness against the won.
.
Korean chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor
agreed to plead guilty to US price-fixing charges and will
pay a $185-million fine.
.
With one of the fastest growing population,
growing every 18 years, and one of the most corrupt
governments in the world, Filipinos have began looking for
greener pastures around the world.
.
More than 8 million, a tenth of the
population, find gainful employment in other countries. They
remit more than $8 billion to their families in the
Philippines.
.
Everyday 3500 Filipinos leave the country for
foreign employment. The Filipino Diaspora continues with
more than 100 countries admitting Filipinos within their
borders.
.
RP is now feeling the impact of the massive
brain drain, in a shortage of doctors, nurses, teachers and
other professionals, including priests.
.
“Forty years ago, we were only 2nd to Japan
in economic stature and way ahead of Singapore, Hong Kong,
Malaysia and Thailand. Today at our present growth rate, it
will take over 30 years to get to where Thailand is today.”
(RP Pres. GMA)
.
Suspected Islamic rebels exploded a bomb in
Southern Thailand, killing 2 policemen and wounding 3 people
near the Malaysian border.
.
A ban on poultry farming in Vietnam’s urban
areas is being extended to 15 cities and provinces as part
of efforts to combat bird flu, the Agriculture Ministry
said.
.
A bomb exploded at a busy market in Burma’s
ke tourist city of Mandalay, killing at least 2 people in
and wounding 15 others, officials said.
.
India and US signed an “Open Skies” aviation
agreement that allows US and Indian carriers to operate as
many flights a they want between the two countries.
.
Indian airliners currently operate 28 flights
a week to the US with nearly 2 million passengers traveling
between the 2 countries annually.
.
Air India will buy 20 new 787 Dreamliner
airplanes from Boeing which shows signs of a comeback in
aircraft sales after a year of setback and public stumbles.
