(Phill Sherrod) Senkaku / Diaoyu: Chinese ships in disputed islands, tension grows between Tokyo and Beijing

» 12/21/2012 09:43
JAPAN - CHINA
Senkaku / Diaoyu: Chinese ships in disputed islands, tension grows between Tokyo and Beijing
According to the Coast Guard, a group of vessels has crossed the 12 nautical miles around the atolls. A showdown from Beijing, which shows that it can "come and go" when it wants to. It is the first violation in the area, since the Japanese elections which confirmed the victory of Abe.


Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Beijing has sent some ships to the territorial waters surrounding a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea at the center of a dispute with Japan. This is the first incursion since the Japanese elections which saw the triumph of the "hawk" and conservative Shinzo Abe, of the Liberal Party (LDP). From now on the new Tokyo leadership has made it clear that the Chinese challenge "must be stopped", although it is also our duty to construct "good relations in the national interest of both countries." However, the dispute around the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, threatens to plunge already strained relations.

Japan's coast guard reported that three Chinese patrol boats entered in the 12 nautical miles around the Senkaku Islands, and in addition, there is also a group of fishing vessels stationed in adjacent waters. It is the 19th time that Beijing has sent boats to the area, since Tokyo nationalized the atolls last September. Experts believe it is a Chinese show of strength to prove they can "come and go from the area as they please."

Tensions have peaked since 13 December last when Tokyo scrmbled fighter jets after a Chinese aircraft entered the airspace of the Senkaku / Diaoyu, for the first time since 1958. For several months, Tokyo and Beijing have been staging a tug of war over the sovereignty of this group of islands in the East China Sea, sending ships, coastguards, fishing boats and now planes. Asian policy experts argue that Beijing "will not compromise" and intends to "keep up the pressure."

The new Communist leadership headed by President Xi Jinping does not seem to be willing to close the territorial disputes in a peaceful manner, involving various strategic areas of Asia and the Pacific. Beijing's latest weapon of choice is that of science. A 11-page report presented to the UN asserts that "the appearance and geological features show that the islands are part of the fault line of China's mainland territory." It is an attempt to undermine the legal system of territorial waters and of international organizations.
(Phill Sherrod)

(Phillip Sherrod) North Koreans celebrate Kim's rocket

12/14/2012 13:08
KOREA
North Koreans celebrate Kim's rocket
by Joseph Yun Li-sun
Hundreds of thousands brave the frigid temperatures in Kim Il-sung Square and celebrate the successful launch of the Unha-3 rocket. Kim Jong-un, North Korea's young dictator, is hailed as the author of the success. However, South Korea is first to find the rocket's first stage fuel container and is convinced that the North is preparing a new nuclear test.


Seoul (AsiaNews) - Despite the bitter cold, hundreds of thousands of North Korea came out en mass today in Pyongyang and other North Korea cities to celebrate the successful launch of the Unha-3 rocket that put a satellite in orbit on Wednesday. In the capital, a traditional mass rally with at least 200,000 people was held with participants dancing and waving large coloured cards to create ideograms with the rocket's name and that of the country's new leader, Kim Jong-un.

The huge crowd in Pyongyang's in Kim Il-sung Square, shown on state television, cheered as top officials in the army, party and government delivered their speeches and praised the new dictator's "bravery and wisdom". Indeed, the launch "was achieved thanks to the Great Marshall Kim Jong-un's endless loyalty, bravery and wisdom," said Jang Chol, president of the State Academy of Sciences.

North Korea claims that the long-range rocket it launched placed a satellite into orbit. It also claims that its space programme is intended for peaceful purposes; critics however contend that it is part of the regime's military nuclear programme.

For his part, the young Kim, cited by the regime's official news agency, told the crowd that North Korea needed "to launch satellites in the future . . . to develop the country's science, technology and economy".

Internationally, the launch has instead raised suspicions, especially in South Korea, which now fears new provocations.

Intelligence authorities and experts here believe a nuclear test is imminent, the daily Chosun Ilbo reported. Defence Minister Kim Kwan-jin told the National Assembly on Wednesday that "North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests and made considerable progress toward a third one," adding that Pyongyang may well conduct another test if it deems it "politically necessary."

To gather more information, South Korea's Navy located the first stage of the North Korean rocket, a fuel container at a depth of about 80 metres.

"The launch means the fulfilment of Kim Jong-Il's last wish," said Yoo Ho-Yeol, a political science professor at Korea University in Seoul. "As such, it helps cement Jong-un's grip on power and strengthens his authority over the North's military elites, securing their loyalty and a sense of solidarity under his leadership," Yoo added. (Phillip Sherrod)

Burmese army launches air strikes on northern rebels

Burmese army launches air strikes on northern rebels
Burma's army has launched air strikes in recent days against ethnic rebels as it fights to regain one of its bases from the Kachin Independence Organisation, government sources said Wednesday, amid an escalation in clashes.


Myanmar's army has used air strikes against northern ethnic rebels, sources from both sides said Wednesday, in an escalation of a conflict that has raised doubts over the country's reform drive.

Fighting between the country's military, known as the 'Tatmadaw', and the armed wing of the KIO (Kachin Independence Organisation) has worsened in recent days as the army battled to regain one of its bases, a government negotiator involved in peace efforts told AFP.

"We heard the military used helicopters and training jets while trying to get their camp back," said Hla Maung Shwe, who is also an adviser to President Thein Sein.

He declined to specify how the aircraft were used, but a report on the military's Burmese language Myawaddy news website said a key base had been seized from the rebels on December 30 "with the help of air strikes in the region".

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced since June 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire between the government and Kachin rebels broke down.

The rebels are calling for greater political rights and an end to alleged human rights abuses by the army.

Clashes in Kachin, along with communal unrest in western Rakhine state, have cast a shadow over Myanmar's widely praised emergence from decades of army rule.

KIO deputy chief of foreign affairs Colonel James Lum Dau said that the fighting in Kachin had become "more serious" since last week, adding that it was concentrated in an area about seven miles (11 kilometres) from the rebel headquarters in Laiza on the Chinese border.

"Before they (attacked) with helicopters, now they are using jets with rockets and bombs," he said.

AFP was not able to independently verify whether the jets had been used to fire on the rebels.

A close observer of the situation, who asked not to be named, said there had been a "marked escalation" in fighting.

"They are firing a lot from helicopter gunships and using heavy artillery. It has been very close to the KIO headquarters," he said.

Civil war has gripped parts of Myanmar since independence from Britain in 1948.

Myanmar's new quasi-civilian government has reached tentative ceasefires with most of the country's other major ethnic rebel groups, but several rounds of talks aimed at resolving the conflict in the country's far north have shown little tangible progress.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay, who declined to give details of the latest fighting, said the Kachin rebels had not responded to an invitation for further dialogue.

The UN recently appealed to Myanmar to stop blocking aid to tens of thousands of displaced people in rebel-held territory in Kachin.

North Korean leader calls for end to “confrontation” with South

North Korean leader calls for end to “confrontation” with South
In the first televised New Year address by a North Korean leader in 19 years, Kim Jong-un called for the end of “confrontation between the north and the south” of the Korean peninsula. The two Koreas never signed a treaty to end the 1950-1953 war.


North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation between the two Koreas, technically still at war in the absence of a peace treaty to end their 1950-53 conflict, in a surprise New Year speech broadcast on state media.

The address by Kim, who took over power in the reclusive state after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in 2011, appeared to take the place of the policy-setting New Year editorial published in leading state newspapers.

Impoverished North Korea raised tensions in the region by launching a long-range rocket in December that it said was aimed at putting a scientific satellite in orbit, drawing international condemnation.


EXCLUSIVE REPORT: INSIDE NORTH KOREA

North Korea, which considers North and South as one country, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests.

“An important issue in putting an end to the division of the country and achieving its reunification is to remove confrontation between the north and the south,” Kim said in the address that appeared to be pre-recorded and was made at an undisclosed location.

“The past records of inter-Korean relations show that confrontation between fellow countrymen leads to nothing but war.”

The New Year address was the first in 19 years by a North Korean leader after the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un’s grandfather. Kim Jong-il rarely spoke in public and disclosed his national policy agenda in editorials in state newspapers.

The two Koreas have seen tensions rise to the highest level in decades after the North bombed a Southern island in 2010 killing two civilians and two soldiers.

The sinking of a South Korean navy ship earlier that year was blamed on the North but Pyongyang has denied it and accused Seoul of waging a smear campaign against its leadership.

Last month, South Korea elected as president Park Geun-hye, a conservative daughter of assassinated military ruler Park Chung-hee whom Kim Il-sung had tried to kill at the height of their Cold War confrontation.

Park has vowed to pursue engagement with the North and called for dialogue to build confidence but has demanded that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions, something it is unlikely to do.

Conspicuously absent from Kim’s speech was any mention of the nuclear arms programme.

North Korean rocket 'could have reached US'

North Korean rocket 'could have reached US'
A North Korean rocket launched earlier this month has shown that the country has likely developed the technology to fire a warhead more than 10,000 km, theoretically putting the US West Coast within range, South Korean officials warned on Sunday.


This month’s rocket launch by reclusive North Korea shows it has likely developed the technology, long suspected in the West, to fire a warhead more than 10,000 km (6,200 miles), South Korean officials said on Sunday, putting the U.S. West Coast in range.

North Korea said the Dec. 12 launch put a weather satellite in orbit but critics say it was aimed at nurturing the kind of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.

North Korea is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests and the U.N. Security Council condemned the launch.

South Korea retrieved and analysed parts of the first-stage rocket that dropped in the waters off its west coast

“As a result of analysing the material of Unha-3 (North Korea’s rocket), we judged North Korea had secured a range of more than 10,000 km in case the warhead is 500-600 kg,” a South Korean Defence Ministry official told a news briefing.

North Korea’s previous missile tests ended in failure.

North Korea, which denounces the United States as the mother of all warmongers on an almost daily basis, has spent decades and scarce resources to try to develop technology capable of striking targets as far away as the United States and it is also working to build a nuclear arsenal.

But experts believe the North is still years away from mastering the technology needed to miniaturise a nuclear bomb to mount on a missile.

South Korean defence officials also said there was no confirmation whether the North had the re-entry technology needed for a payload to survive the heat and vibration without disintegrating.

Despite international condemnation, the launch this month was seen as a major boost domestically to the credibility of the North’s young leader, Kim Jong-un, who took over power from his father who died last year.

Apparently encouraged by the euphoria, the fledgling supreme leader called for the development and launching of “a variety of more working satellites” and “carrier rockets of bigger capacity” at a banquet in Pyongyang on Friday which he hosted for those who contributed to the lift-off, according to North Korean state media.

China opens world’s longest high-speed train

China opens world’s longest high-speed train
China began service on the world’s longest high-speed rail Wednesday, with TV crews filming as the first train pulled out of Beijing West Railway Station. The 2,298-kilometre line connects the capital to Guangzhou city in eight hours.


China started service Wednesday on the world's longest high-speed rail route, the latest milestone in the country's rapid and – sometimes troubled – super fast rail network.

The opening of the new 2,298-kilometre (1,425-mile) line between Beijing and Guangzhou means passengers will be whisked from the capital to the southern commercial hub in just eight hours, compared with the 22 hours previously required.

China Central Television broadcast the departure of the first train live from Beijing West Railway Station. It also carried live reports from inside showing passengers toting cameras to apparently snap commemorative photos.

Trains will travel at an average speed of 300 kilometres per hour over the line, which includes 35 stops in major cities such as Zhengzhou, Wuhan on the Yangtze River and Changsha.

State media have reported that December 26 was chosen to start passenger service on the Beijing-Guangzhou line to commemorate the birth in 1893 of revered Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

The Beijing-Guangzhou route was made possible with the completion of a line between Zhengzhou and Beijing. High-speed sections linking Zhengzhou and Wuhan and Wuhan and Guangzhou were already in service.

China's high-speed rail network was established in 2007, but has fast become the world's largest with 8,358 kilometres of track at the end of 2010. That is expected to almost double to 16,000 kilometres by 2020.

The network, however, has been plagued by graft and safety scandals, most notably a deadly bullet train collision in July 2011 that killed 40 people and sparked a public outrage.

The accident was China's worst rail disaster since 2008 and caused a torrent of criticism aimed at the government amid accusations that authorities compromised safety in their rush to expand the network.

Authorities said they have taken steps ahead of the new line's opening to improve maintenance and inspection of infrastructure, including track, rolling stock and emergency response measures.

"The emergency rescue system and all kinds of emergency pre-plans are established to improve emergency response ability," according to a ministry booklet.

Still, safety concerns remain.

The Global Times newspaper, with close ties to China's ruling Communist Party, on Wednesday quoted a Ministry of Railways official acknowledging continuing problems despite intense efforts to solve them during trial runs.

"We can't make sure it's error-proof in the future, and we have been subject to a lot of pressure from the public," Zhao Chunlei, deputy chief of the ministry's transportation department, told the paper.

The train's opening means that it will be in service over China's Lunar New Year holiday period, which falls in mid-February next year.

Hundreds of millions of people travel across the country during that period to visit their ancestral hometowns in the world's largest annual migration.

Philippines 'sin tax' introduced, dampens New Year fun

Philippines 'sin tax' introduced, dampens New Year fun

A "sin tax" on cigarettes and alcohol dampened the New Year party spirit when it was introduced in the Philippines Tuesday, as part of a government bid to boost finances.
Many stores started selling tobacco and drink at inflated prices before midnight, ahead of the official implementation of the tax hikes on January 1, hitting partygoers in the pocket.
Tax on cigarettes will gradually be raised to 30 pesos ($0.72) per pack by 2017, roughly doubling the current price to around 52 pesos.
Duty on alcohol will also increase gradually until 2017, increasing the price of a bottle of beer by 23.50 pesos, with varying levels for other drinks including wine and spirits. It will be further increased by four percent each year thereafter.
"The new prices compared to countries like Singapore for example, are still low, but for the ordinary Filipinos they are expensive," said Laudemer Angeles, a 33-year-old shop owner in the town of Bacoor, south of Manila.
"Many of my customers were complaining about the higher prices and were not too happy when they bought their booze and smokes for their parties last night."
Anti-smoking campaigner Emer Rojas said he hoped the new taxes would lead to a gradual decline in the number of people suffering from tobacco-related illness.
"I think the sin taxes should even be raised higher," he told AFP. "But we commend President Aquino for showing his resolve in signing the law."
The government has said that the country of 100 million has the highest incidence of smoking in the region, with tobacco-related diseases costing the country 177 billion pesos ($4.3 billion) last year.
The new taxes aim to raise 33 billion pesos ($800 million) this year alone, gradually increasing over the coming years.
A large percentage of the money will go towards the government's health care programme.
The government first asked parliament to raise taxes on "sin" products as early as 1997, but a strong lobby by tobacco manufacturers stifled change.
The lobby included members of parliament representing tobacco-growing regions as well as powerful cigarette companies that enjoyed one of the lowest tobacco taxes in Southeast Asia.