- IV.
International
. Since 9/11 the US has focused its considerable
attention on South Asia and the Middle East, where it is
now transfixed in Iraq.
.
In Asia, security challenges have evolved rapidly with
enormous strategic implications. China’s rise is evident in
every walk of life and its considerable influence is now felt in
every corporate boardroom, diplomatic gathering and military
planning session throughout the region.
.
The US remains the great power in Asia, but China now
welds considerable hard, soft and every other kind of power in
an increasingly interconnected region.
. Asia’s
economic role
is also becoming increasingly significant with the region’
exports again on the rise and Asian central banks continuing to
hold huge amounts of dollars even while the value of the dollar
slides.
. The US is not ready to regard China as a
market economy because Beijing has yet to effect important
market reforms, such as making its currency convertible,
allowing negotiated wage settlements and a free flow of capital.
. GM
(world’s largest car company) plans to spend $3 billion with
its Chinese joint venture partners to more than double
capacity to 1.3 million vehicles by 2007.
.
Chinese financial information company Xinhua Insurance is
to acquire Margent of the US, ahead of a planned listing.
.
Shanghai is sticking out like a sore thumb among Chinese
cities. The emphasis on personal freedom collides with the old
tradition, and touches on taboo subjects in China: sex, drugs
and crime. It’s a city where the present generation no longer
accepts old rules, but doesn’t want to confront the government
directly.
SUVs
are the fastest growing segment of the Chinese auto market, with
sales doubling to 200k vehicles from 2001 to 2003, and are
expected to grab as much as 20% of the market in 5 years.
.
Chinese drivers are drawn to SUVs in Chinese cities because of
their rugged look, highup seating, feeling of safety, and
passenger and load capacity.
.
The appeal of SUVs is the despair of Govt. planners, who fret
about pollution and China’s growing dependence on foreign oil.
.
US will quadruple its flight to China by 2010. The potential
US-China agreement “has far more air service value for US
carriers than the current US-EU proposals.
. Ritz-Carlton
Hotel
of Chevy Chase, MD plans to open a 256-room luxury hotel in
China in the fall 2006 in Beijing’s Financial Street area, the
capital city’s growing financial district.
.
China is cracking down on the development of shopping malls,
hoping to rein in speculation in the sector.
.
Manufacturing productivity in China is nearly a fifth higher
than that of lading European countries and almost as high as the
US, said the McKinsey Management Consultancy.
. Tens of thousands of people gathered in central park
in Hong Kong and lit candles to mark the 15t anniversary
of the Tienanmen Square massacre and protest PRC’s hard
line against democratic reform.
.
In previous years, the June 4 vigil focused on mourning the
hundreds killed when Chinese troops and tanks suppressed
student-led, pro-democracy demonstrations in Tienanmen Square in
1989.
.
PRC maintains that the Tienanmen Square crackdown was necessary
o ensure social stability, which made possible the country’s
economic growth over the past 15 years.
. The Carlyle Group hired 3 executives
to make real estate investments in Asia, e.g., Rio Minami &
Satoru Hayashi to work in Tokyo, and Derek Lai, in Hong Kong.
. Arsonists
struck the office of a prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy
lawmaker, the latest in a series of attacks against democracy
activists and China critics in the city.
. The former president of Mitsubishi Motors Corp
was recently arrested on charges related to a cover-up of auto
defects suspected in a fatal accident.
.
Sumo wrestlers have thrown their weight behind efforts to
improve Japan’s relations with China, holding their first bout
in Beijing for more than 30 years.
.
Japanese digital TV viewers discovered that TV would
never be quite the same again. The encryption of digital
transmissions has limited the ability of the nation’s viewers
to record and copy programs.
. Japan’s construction has been
rejuvenated by the surge in private-sector orders, a feat that
Japan’s economic recovery starts to affect general
contractors.
.
The flow of foreign direct investment into Japan fell 3.2% in
the year to March 2004, but Govt. officials insisted the country
remained on target to meet its goal of doubling the investment
stock by 2006.
. Microsoft offices in South Korea were searched by the
nation’s regulators, who are investigating allegations that
the company violated trade rules by tying its instant messaging
program to the Windows operating system.
. A
third of the 36k America troops in South Korea will be
withdrawing before the end of 2005 as part of the most
significant US forces on the Korean peninsula in half a century,
South Korean officials said last week.
. US
Negotiators refused North Korean requests to broadly outline
what type of rewards it might receive if it agreed to halt its
nuclear weapons program.
. The curse of Philippine politics is the
creation of political dynasties, where children, grandchildren,
wives, uncle, cousins, in-laws of retiring members of Congress
have taken over, regardless of qualifications.
. It’s official—the winner of the
Philippine presidential elections is Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
with 12,905,808 votes and movie star Fernando Poe, Jr. with
11,872,232. Other candidates were much behind.
. RP
is the choice destination for companies that outsource call
center jobs, says the Chairman of the International Committee
for the America TeleServices Association.
.
Max’s Chicken is eyeing expansion prospects in NY, NV,
HI and CA.
. Much of the concern in maritime security focuses on
the Strait of Madagascar, a vital marine artery for more than
one-quarter of the world’s trade and half of its oil,
including most of the fuel bound for Japan, China and South
Korea.
.
Singapore, whose economy depends on international trade,
is one of the first maritime nations to comply with the new U.N.
rules to protect ports against terrorism, which includes
periodic exercises.
. The
SARS virus was detected in teardrops taken from patients
in Singapore last year, doctors said, raising the prospect the
disease may be easier to diagnose.
. Response has been uneven. Efforts to build a regional
approach are hampered by national rivalries, equipment shortages
and an acute sensitivity, particularly Malaysia &
Indonesia, about maintaining control of their territorial
waters.
. Other Southeast Asian countries, notably Indonesia,
lack the resources to adopt such safeguards. Indonesia has only
117 naval vessels, from patrol boats to warships to protect the
waters off its 17,500 islands.
.
An attack that blocked the Malacca Strait, a 500-channel running
between Sumatra (Indonesia) and the Malaysian peninsula
to Singapore, would badly hurt world trade, forcing vessels to
make long detours and substantially boosting shipping costs.
. Rebels fighting to split Aceh province
from Indonesia vowed not to abandon their decades-long struggle
despite Sweden’s arrest of their leaders.
. Thailand ‘s mainly Buddhist authorities are struggling to
identify who is fomenting unrest in the south. Suspicions fall
on those educated in Muslim nations.
.
Football-crazy Thais have poured into Cambodian casinos
by the thousands to place bets, and Burmese are scrapping
up cheap satellite dishes s Euro 2004 fever hits Southeast Asia.
. Agriculture supports 2/3 India’s population
of more than 1 billion but generates only ¼ of its GNP. In the
last 5 years, while the services sector grew by 8%, agriculture
has grown by only 2%.
. India
has seen spates of suicide in recent years, from Punjab to
Kerala. The suicides reflect a rural culture in which excess
indebtedness becomes a mark of shame. Yet private moneylenders
and public creditors magnify the problem when they collect even
after deaths.
.
India’s IT technology
and business process outsourcing sector grew at the fastest pace
last year since the global IT slowdown began n 2001, said the
head of NASSCOM.
.
One of its major liabilities is the country’s infrastructure
deficiencies, particularly in power supply which is “dismal”
in many parts of the country.
.
A major area in need of immediate attention is the upgrade of
India’s laws and their enforcement on cyber-crime, data
privacy and auditing standards.
.
India produces 2 million graduates a year. If it wants to
be competitive in the global economy, it has to bring English
language education to every village and district in the country.
.
India has more than 3.5 million sex workers, yet they are
almost invisible. Already India has more than 4.3 million cases
of HIV—second only to South Africa. If drastic measures are
not taken, it is feared than more than 25 million Indians could
be HIV positive by 2010.
.
Coca Cola may be forced to close a plant in southern
India because a village council has accused it of depleting
local groundwater and is refusing at renew its license, a
company official said.
.
About 14k trains run daily in India, shuttling 13 million
passengers.
. Pakistan expects more arrests to follow its capture of a
nephew of alleged mastermind of 9/11 terrorist attacks in US and
7 other suspected al Quaeda militants, said the interior
minister.
.
India and Pakistan agreed to set up a hotline between their
foreign ministries to reduce the threat of
accidental nuclear war, giving a small but helpful nudge
to a nascent peace process.
. A bomb exploded at an opposition rally in NE
Bangladesh, killing one person and wounding at least 60, doctors
and police said.
