. Economic ministers from the 10-member Assn. of
Southeast Asian Nations agreed to drop regional tariffs and
streamline government regulations from 10 sectors as a first
step toward the creation by 2020 of a regional economic
community akin to the European Union. The plan is to be
implemented in 2007 by Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand,
Indonesia & the Philippines, and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar
(Burma) & Vietnam are to be implemented in 2012.
. The US will ask China to limit textile & clothing
exports in an attempt to head off petitions from domestic
companies. DOC Undersecretary said the Chinese apparel industry
is beginning to understand that a negotiated export cap will
provide greater certainty to both Chinese and US companies.
.
China’s Railway Ministry awarded contracts for upgrading key
railway lines in 6 firms, including Kawasaki Heavy
Industries, Alston of France and Bombardier of Canada.
. Hong Kong has taken several steps to reduce pollution
in the pas decade, including the conversion of taxis to
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). It has a network of air pollution
monitoring stations whose readings are published on the Internet
every hour.
.
Hong Kong officials have not persuaded their counterparts in
Guangdong to tacke the issue as urgently as Hong Kong or Beijing
would like. Economic expansion in Guangdong, more than 15% in
the first half of this year, will make it hard to achieve the
targets.
. Taiwan arrested two men on suspicion of supplying
arch rival China with secrets about Taiwan’s Mirage 2000-5 jet
fighters, the state-run Central News Agency reported.
. Shinsei Bank of Tokyo said it would pay at least $595
million for two-thirds of the consumer finance company Aplus
to extend its reach into Japan’s lucrative consumer loan
market.
. About
350 miles northeast of Nosappu (offshore of Sakhalin Island,
part of Russia), Japanese companies are participating in the
firs $10 billion slice of what would be $100 billion development
of oil and natural gas reserves believed to rival the North
Slope of Alaska.
.
Mitsubishi Motors and 3 former executives pleaded not guilty to
falsifying a 2/2002 report to Japan’s Transport Ministry
on a vehicle defect that caused a wheel to fly off a truck and
kill a pedestrian, the company said.
. Japanese police searched a nuclear plant
owned by Kansai Electric Power Co. for evidence of any
negligence that might have led to a deadly accident there last
month.
. South Korean-US relations are a major axis in South
Korea’s plan for the future. The deeper the emotional discord
between the two countries, the heavier the burden on South
Korea’s national security and prosperity. The government
should show some action that will earn public trust. Given
things as they are, South Korean-US relations may face a real
crisis.
.
eBay plans to increase its stake in South Korea’s largest
online auction company, Internet Auction. EBay said it
would purchase nearly 3 million publicly held shares of Internet
Auction to boost its ownership stake from 62 to 85%.
.
Washington announced in June it would withdraw 12,500 of the 37k
US troops in South Korea by the end of 2005. Seoul has asked its
ally to delay the withdrawal by at least a year to allow more
time for South Korea to strengthen its own forces.
.
The restructuring marks a shift by US away from its Cold War
security posture, which involved large, static overseas military
bases acting as deterrent against Communist enemies.
.
Washington insists the reduction in troop numbers will not
diminish US military capabilities on the Korean Peninsula,
pledging to spend $11 billion strengthening those forces that
remain.
.
South Korea’s economy grew faster than expected in Q2, driven
strong exports and revived capital spending, but the momentum is
likely to slow because of sluggish private consumption and
higher oil prices.
.
Overall domestic rose 2.2% from a year earlier, thanks to brisk
investments by semiconductors and carmakers.
.
Corporate investment jumped 6.2%, ending4 consecutive quarters
of decline, but private consumption fell 0.7%, marking 5
consecutive quarters of decline.
.
A prominent South Korean scientist acknowledged that an
unauthorized experiment to enrich uranium was conducted in 3 or
4 tests.
. Thai PM Thaksin believes that Thailand should be run
by management principles like a country. And no one has
exploited Thai political culture better than he.
.
Thailand offers a lesson to those who push the idea that
democracy is a universal aspiration that America should
aggressively export to the world. A democratic culture cannot
take roots in a society as long as people see themselves as
subjects in a hierarchical order rather than citizens in an
egalitarian one.
. Even so, Thailand has a long record of
adapting better than most states to changing word political and
economic circumstances. It skillfully avoided colonization in
the 19th century.
.
While his popularity remains high in rural areas. Bangkok’s
gubernatorial election (2 weeks ago) is yet more evidence that
resistance to his authoritarian style of leadership is growing
among educated urbanites.
. Thailand, which has 60,000 tons of frozen
chicken is can’t sell because of trade ban, is I talks with
Russia to exchange the mea for fighter jets. The Thai Govt.
offered to swap 250,000 tons of chicken meat in the next 5 years
for fighter aircraft made by Russia’s Sukhoi Holding, a Thai
trade group said.
. Australia has advised government officials to avoid
western hotels in Jakarta after a US security deal cited them as
danger spots.
. Malaysia’s highest court freed former Dep. PM Anwar
Ibrahim, after almost 6 years in jail on what he said were
trumped-up charges of corruption & sodomy.
.
Former PM Mahathir Muhamad had sponsored Anwar’s rise in
Govt., but the 2 men disagreed over Malaysia’s policies for
economic recovery after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
.
After his dismissal, Anwar led tens of thousands of protesters
demanding democratic reform and an end to corruption in the
largest demonstration Malaysia had ever seen.
. Using a wheelchair and wearing a neck &
back brace from an injury allegedly aggravated by a police
beating, he sad he was grateful for is release and felt
vindicated.
.
Under Malaysian law, his corruption conviction bars him from
political activity for 5 years. But if the high court overturns
that conviction, Anwar could return to politics immediately.
. Burma is ruled by a military dictatorship since 1962.
They no longer bother with elections.
.
It is an effort to force Burma’s military junta to allow free
elections and release opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize
winner Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. US has imposed str0ng
economic sanctions.
.
But other countries, e.g., China, Singapore & Thailand are
ignoring the sanctions and trade openly with the military
regime. The generals have grown rich, skimming a percentage from
these international deals and profiting from the lucrative opium
trade.
.
With the permission of the generals, foreign countries are
plundering its natural resources. There has been widespread
deforestration of Burma’s teak forests.
. India test-launched a surface-to-surface missile
capable of carrying nuclear weapons, said a Defense Ministry
spokesman.
. Tata
Steel of India paid $286 million for Singapore’s NatSteel,
marking the first move into a foreign market by Tata, the metal
group’s parent company.
. Pakistan may be losing control over homegrown
militants who were once allies in the struggle against the
Soviets in Afghanistan and more recently against forces in
Kashmir.
. With
a strategic decision to build a genuine democracy, Pakistan will
remain one of the swamps that breed terrorism.
. Nepal’s Foreign Minister asked all Nepalese in Iraq
to contact the nearest diplomatic mission immediately and wait
for instructions to evacuate.
. The
men kidnapped last month while traveling from Jordan to jobs in
Iraq were cooks and cleaners. Nepal has no troops in Iraq.
Kidnappers demanded that it stop sending contract workers to the
country. The execution of 12 Nepalese hostages appeared intended
to frighten off the many foreign workers who came to Iraq to
work for US-led forces.
