|
|
||
|
|
|
Policy Forum Online: Ethical Governance Of Investment Biweekly Update
Browse Past Reports:
Email Services:
|
|
I. United States1. Bush Speech on Preemptive Strikes The Washington Post ("BUSH'S UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY GRADUATION SPEECH," 06/02/02) reported that in a commencement address to cadets at West Point, George Bush warned that the US can no longer rely on massive retaliation as a deterrent, and from now on preemptive strikes may have to be an option. The full text of the speech can be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47940-2002Jun2.html 2. KEDO DPRK Visit Reuters ("CHIEF OF U.S.-LED CONSORTIUM VISITS NORTH KOREA," Seoul, 06/04/02) reported that the Charles Kartman, director-general of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization left with 10 other consortium officials by ship Tuesday for a two-day visit to the DPRK. Kartman was to attend a ceremony marking the launch of a program to train DPRK nuclear technicians and safety officials to operate the two reactors under construction in Sinpo on the DPRK's northeastern coast, said ministry spokesman Kim Hong-jae. Before making the trip, Kartman met in Seoul with Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun and Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Tae-sik to discuss the reactor project. 3. Japan Nuclear Issue The Associated Press ("FOLLOWING FLAP, JAPAN EXPLAINS POSITION ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS TO NEIGHBORS," Tokyo, 06/04/02) reported that Japan's government has been on the defensive since Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told reporters in Tokyo late last week that the future political situation could change to the extent that Japanese people would choose to have nuclear weapons. Fukuda and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi quickly stressed that the remarks were merely hypothetical and the government had no intention of giving up its long-standing policy of not possessing or developing nuclear arms. Fukuda on Tuesday said that position had been conveyed to the ROK and the PRC. "I believe they sufficiently understood the true meaning of what I said," he said. "I think all the countries understand that we have no intention of changing our policy." Opposition lawmakers likewise criticized the Fukuda's comment as inappropriate, with some calling for him to step down. Koizumi has backed his aide, saying the remarks were misunderstood. 4. PRC Counter-terrorism Plan The Associated Press (Joe McDonald, "CHINA HAS OWN COUNTERTERRORISM PLAN," Urumqi, 06/04/02) reported that in a tree-shaded compound in the PRC's desert northwest, a squad of police in gray fatigues march and punch the air in a display for foreign reporters. Some use kung fu kicks to smash boards with their bare feet. The troops are part of the PRC's war on terror in heavily Muslim Xinjiang. "The number of terrorists is quite small, so the threat to public order is small," Wang Lequan, the PRC Party secretary for Xinjiang, said at a rare news conference for foreign reporters in Urumqi, the region's capital. The PRC government claimed in a report in January that violence in Xinjiang was linked to a global Islamic group and said separatists killed 162 people between 1990-2001. The report identified a group called East Turkestan Islamic Movement and said it received weapons and training from al-Qaida. The PRC says Pakistan caught the group's No. 3 leader and sent him back to the PRC in March. But the group is unknown to foreign experts who say most attacks in Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan, appear to be the work of scattered individuals or small groups. "The Chinese government knows there is no connection between Uighur activists and bin Laden, but after 9-11 it made a good excuse," said Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the East Turkestan Information Center, a Uighur exile group in Sweden. Wang, the Xinjiang party secretary, said al-Qaida's Afghan camps trained more than 1,000 Uighurs. He said about 110 had returned to the PRC and were arrested, and 300 others were captured by US forces in Afghanistan. The PRC says it has asked the US to hand over captured Uighur fighters but received no reply. 5. Taiwan Military Condemns Defector The Associated Press ("TAIWAN MILITARY CONDEMNS OFFICER FOR DEFECTING TO CHINA 23 YEARS AGO," Taipei, 06/04/02) reported that Taiwan's military on Tuesday condemned a former army officer for defecting to the PRC 23 years ago, calling his action a "great shame" that warrants the use of the death penalty. Lin Yifu is now a professor at Beijing University and reportedly a key adviser to PRC Premier Zhu Rongji. He had requested to return to Taiwan to attend his father's funeral on Tuesday, but dropped the plan after Taipei threatened to prosecute him. "Defection on the battlefront is a great shame," Defense Ministry spokesman Huang Shuey-sheng said of Lin. "The defector should bear disgrace throughout his life." Lin's possible return has sparked a controversy on the island. Some have argued on his behalf on humanitarian grounds, while others have said his return could confuse troops and undermine their morale. Head of the military court, Liu Chin-an, has said Lin could face the death penalty on charges of defection, sedition, leaking state secrets and unlawful flight. Lin defected in 1979 while he was an army commander on Taiwan's outlying islet of Kinmen, close to the PRC's southeast coast. 6. Philippines-US Anti-terror War The Associated Press (ERIC SCHMITT, "WOLFOWITZ, IN PHILIPPINES, LOOKS TO A GREATER U.S. ROLE," Abiawan, 06/03/02) reported that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz came to the southern Philippines today to assess plans for US troops to extend a counterterrorism training mission with the Philippine military and to become more involved in searching for two Americans held by a militant Muslim group. "I come away more of an advocate for engagement with the Phillipines," Wolfowitz said after his visit. "The stakes are large there, and so are the problems." Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, the new commander of American forces in the Pacific, has recommended moving the Green Beret advisers here on Basilan Island closer to the hunt for Abu Sayyaf and the hostages, military officials said. The admiral's predecessor, Admiral Dennis C. Blair, had a similar recommendation pending when he stepped down last month. Admiral Fargo, who visited here two weeks ago, wants the advisers to train Philippine troops at the company level, which would allow US soldiers to join Philippine soldiers on patrol and give them on-the-ground advice and access to better equipment. But Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is treading carefully, mindful that such a step would increase the risk of US casualties. Rumsfeld discussed the proposals with Admiral Fargo by video teleconference on Friday, but no decision was reached, senior officers said. "Unless we get to the next phase of training, the chances of freeing the hostages are not that great," said one senior official familiar with the classified briefings. Philippine officials voiced support for company-level training, which is called for in the original agreement. "We want Phase 2 to begin as soon as possible," said the defense secretary, Angelo Reyes, who joined Wolfowitz here. 1. Japanese Nuclear Policy The Japan Times ("OPPOSITION SEEKS FUKUDA'S HEAD," Tokyo, 06/04/02) reported that four major opposition parties agreed Monday to demand the resignation of Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda over his suggestion last week that Japan could abandon its three non-nuclear principles. Although the remarks in question were initially attributed by the media to "a top government official", Fukuda on Monday admitted that he himself was responsible. In addition to Fukuda's resignation, the four parties also demanded that a House of Representatives special committee currently deliberating a package of bills regarding Japan's reaction to military emergencies hold a special session attended by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. With the ruling bloc having rejected demands that Koizumi attend the session, the opposition boycotted the day's committee proceedings, which closed without deliberation. 2. Misuse of Personal Data by SDF The Japan Times ("PRIVATE DATA KEPT BY ALL SDF ARMS," Tokyo, 06/04/02) reported that the Japanese Defense Agency on Monday said that it and each branch of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) have systematically collected data on individuals who made information-disclosure requests, contradicting a statement last week indicating the practice was isolated to the Maritime Self-Defense Force and carried out by one person at his own initiative. Agency officials also said lists of individuals plus information about them was posted on agency and SDF computer networks and viewed by an unspecified number of officials. At present it is unknown whether any of the private data collected could have been obtained by outsiders. 3. US Bases in Japan The Japan Times ("RESIDENTS WIN DAMAGES FOR BASE NOISE," Tokyo, 05/31/02) reported that the Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered the Japanese government to pay some 2.4 billion yen in damages to 4,763 residents near the US Yokota Air Base, west of Tokyo, for noise pollution caused by US military aircraft. The court, however, rejected the plaintiffs' request for the US government to suspend early morning and late night flights at the base, saying it is beyond the jurisdiction of a Japanese civil court. The court also rejected requests for compensation for future suffering. The plaintiffs will appeal the ruling, they said. They were seeking a total of about 12 billion yen in damages -- between 600,000 yen and 800,000 yen per person -- arguing that they suffered insomnia and mental distress attributable to military aircraft noise between 1996 and 1998. During the trial, the government maintained that residents who moved to the areas after 1996 must have been more or less aware of the noise problem beforehand, because the pollution was already an issue then. 4. Asia-Pacific Defense Ministers Forum Kyodo ("JAPAN PROPOSES ASIA-PACIFIC DEFENSE CHIEF FORUM," Singapore, 06/03/02) reported that Japanese Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani on Sunday proposed the launch of a new forum of Asia-Pacific defense ministers that could meet regularly to discuss regional security issues. Nakatani made the proposal during an Asian security conference, organized by the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies. Nakatani lauded the ASEAN Regional Forum as an arena where foreign ministers discuss Asia-Pacific security issues, but said it allows limited involvement of defense officials. Nakatani also said he hopes for a new forum to eventually clear the way for regional cooperation in peacekeeping operations, maritime accidents and other large-scale disaster rescue operations. Piracy, drug trafficking, and terrorism are other problems a new forum could tackle, he added.
The NAPSNet Daily Report aims to serve as a forum for dialogue
and exchange among peace and security specialists.
Conventions for readers and a list of acronyms and
abbreviations are available to all recipients.
For descriptions of the world wide web sites used to gather
information for this report, or for more information on web
sites with related information, see the collection of
other NAPSNet resources.
Produced by the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development in partnership with:
Ilmin Internationl Relations Institute
Center for American Studies,
International Peace Research Institute (PRIME),
Monash Asia Institute,
Brandon Yu: napsnet@nautilus.org
Timothy L. Savage: napsnet@nautilus.org
Kim Young-soo: yskim328@hotmail.com
Hibiki Yamaguchi: hibikiy84@hotmail.com
Saiko Iwata: saiko@akira.ne.jp
Hiroya Takagi: hiroya_takagi@hotmail.com
Peter Razvin: icipu@online.ru
Wu Chunsi: cswu@fudan.ac.cn
Dingli Shen: dlshen@fudan.ac.cn
John McKay: John.McKay@adm.monash.edu.au
|
||
