Surprise over U.S.-China joint statement

Special Correspondent

It talks of India-Pakistan ties

NEW DELHI: Strategic analysts have expressed surprise over the summit-level joint statement by U.S. and China mentioning India and Pakistan but cautioned against “over-excitement” on the issue. India has refused to react saying there is “no point in doing so.”

The statement by U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, issued on Tuesday in Beijing, supports the “improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan.”

It says “the two sides are ready to strengthen communication, dialogue and cooperation on issues related to South Asia and work together to promote peace, stability and development in that region.”

“In the present circumstances, I hope Mr. Obama and Mr. Hu Jintao are not confusing hope with facts,” observed the former External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh. “India has consistently extended its hand of friendship to Pakistan but the response has been wholly unsatisfactory. The government and the people of India want warm and cordial relations with Pakistan so do the people of Pakistan. Regrettably the establishment of Pakistan is not in favor,” he added.

The former Foreign Secretary, Salman Haider, was surprised that such observations had been made because the U.S. knows it would be regarded as some sort of provocation to India. “But India should not get overexcited, for, it is a confident country which has done well and is in command of its processes. The statement should not give a message to Pakistan that it could start attempting the involvement of others in our bilateral affairs. We have repeatedly told our friends not to interfere. This is not a good formulation and is not at all helpful,” he said.
Not first time

However, this is not the first time that a U.S.-China summit-level joint statement has mentioned India. Meeting soon after the Pokhran tests in 1998, the then U.S. President Bill Clinton and the former Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, had issued a statement that was more specific on Kashmir, the main irritant in India-Pakistan relations. The statement expressed the “commitment” of the U.S. and China to help peacefully resolve “the difficult and long-standing differences between them [India and Pakistan], including the pending issue of Kashmir.”

As joint statements go, the recent as well as the earlier ones also dwell on the international situation in other parts of the world such as the Six-Party Talks on a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, the Iranian nuclear issue and the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan among others.

California Governor Schwarzenegger visits US troops in Iraq

Sacramento, California - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited US troops Monday in Iraq. The former Hollywood action star was previously in Iraq in 2003.

He met with hundreds of troops at Camp Victory in Baghdad, signing autographs and handing out cigars, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/295026,california-governor-schwarzenegger-visits-us-troops-in-iraq.html.

Vietnam protests China move in South China Sea

Hanoi - Vietnam has protested new moves by China to assert sovereignty over the disputed Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, local media reported Tuesday. China announced November 8 it had decided to establish local governing bodies known as hamlet committees on Woody Island, the largest of the Paracels.

"This act seriously infringes upon Vietnam's territorial sovereignty," said government spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said. It would harm the prospects for peaceful negotiations to determine the islands' permanent status.

China has occupied the Paracel Islands since 1974, when its troops overwhelmed a South Vietnamese garrison occupying the islands.

On Monday, Vietnamese Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh told local media that South-east Asia should pool efforts to achieve a better bargaining position in maritime territorial negotiations.

"Let's stop allowing the bloc [the Association of South East-Asian Nations] to be separated and divided, in order to better protect the sovereignty and territory of each country," Thanh said.

Thanh was understood to be talking about negotiations with China, which has pressed the region's countries to negotiate bilateral treaties with it, rather than as a bloc.

Both Vietnam and China are signatories to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. The declaration commits the parties to resolving the islands' status through negotiations, and provides for freedom of navigation.

Vietnam and China generally enjoy close relations, but the conflict over maritime resources is a persistent source of tension. Each country submitted maritime territorial claims to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in early May, and rejected the other's claims shortly afterward.

The South China Sea is believed to contain substantial undersea oil reserves.

Hong Kong shivers through coldest November in a decade

Hong Kong - As heavy snow fell in parts of China, Hong Kong temperatures fell below 10 degrees Celsius Tuesday as the sub-tropical city shivered through its coldest November in 10 years. More than 30 elderly people were taken to hospital with cold-related illnesses as a winter monsoon sent temperatures plunging.

Tuesday was the coldest day of the year so far with an average temperature of 12 degrees Celsius and temperatures two to three degrees lower in the New Territories bordering China.

Weathermen warned the cold conditions would last at least until the end of the week.

Hong Kong is located in a sub-tropical belt at the southern tip of China where it never snows and only occasionally traces of frost can be seen.

As well as the coldest November temperatures for a decade, 2009 saw Hong Kong's hottest August for more than 30 years with average daily temperatures hitting 33 degrees on at least 10 days.

Indonesia checking reports asylum standoff resolved

Jakarta - Indonesia said Tuesday it was checking reports that Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard an Australian customs ship moored off Indonesia's Bintan island had agreed to disembark after weeks of standoff. The 78 Sri Lankans were picked up by the Australian ship Oceanic Viking in international waters one month ago, while on their way to Australia, claiming persecution in their homeland.

They were taken to port on Bintan but had refused to disembark, prompting weeks of standoff.

Last week, 22 of them agreed to go ashore and enter at an Australian-funded refugee center on Bintan, after being promised speedy processing for their refugee claims by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Australian media reported Tuesday that the standoff with the remaining migrants had ended.

The website of Australian broadcaster ABC said Australian officials had informed their Indonesian counterparts that the 56 Sri Lankans still aboard had agreed to disembark.

"We are still unable to confirm the reports but if there's such information it's only natural for our officials on the ground to be prepared," Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.

Most Australia-bound emigrants, mainly from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, arrive on small boats from Indonesia, where they have paid smugglers to arrange their passage.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/295042,indonesia-checking-reports-asylum-standoff-resolved.html.

China jails Tibetan website founder for 15 years - Summary

Beijing - A Chinese court has sentenced the founder of a Tibetan-language website to 15 years in prison for "disclosing state secrets," and a Tibetan blogger was sentenced to five years in prison, officials and rights groups said on Tuesday. Kunchok Tsephel, 39, was given the longer sentence by the Intermediate People's Court in the Gannan Tibetan prefecture of the north-western province of Gansu, apparently for charges linked to postings on his website and for passing on information about protests by Tibetans last year.

A court official confirmed the 15-year sentence against Kunchok Tsephel to the German Press Agency

Turkey ends prison isolation of jailed PKK leader Ocalan

Istanbul - The Turkish government has ended the isolation of jailed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, media reports said Tuesday. Ocalan has been held in solitary confinement on the island prison of Imrali, off the coast from the city of Bursa, since his capture in 1999.

Despite his isolation, Ocalan maintains a high level of control over the PKK and remains a popular figure in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish south-east.

According to media reports, authorities Tuesday brought five more inmates to the island prison.

The move is being seen as another part of the government's new "democratization" initiative, aimed at boosting the cultural and political rights of Turkey's Kurdish minority.

The PKK, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, has been fighting Turkish forces since 1982, in a struggle that has cost an estimated 40,000 lives.

Although the group originally sought the creation of a separate Kurdish state, it now calls for improved rights for Turkey's Kurds, believed to number between 12 to 15 million.