Gas and oil rivalry in the East China Sea
Asia times - Jul 27, 2004
By Kosuke Takahashi
TOKYO - Current explorations of an offshore gas field in the East China Sea by both China and Japan have recently strained relations between the two powerful nations. The tension over sovereignty of this disputed gas field appears to be on the rise, exacerbating mutual mistrust dating back to the Sino-Japanese War and World War II - and not allayed by China's meteoric economic rise and voracious appetite for oil and gas.
While Japan is concerned that Chinese drilling could siphon off natural gas from Japan's territorial seabed, Beijing considers Tokyo's claim as infringing on its interests and sovereignty. China appears to believe that Tokyo feels threatened by China's enormous economic development and is trying to contain it, at least in the East China Sea. This distrust and petroleum rivalry could lead to further serious problems unless both countries swiftly reach some political agreement on the development of the gas field.
The troubled, indefinable boundary
The issue first arose in August 2003 when the Chinese government concluded development contracts with oil development companies in China and other countries, including oil majors Royal Dutch/Shell and the United States oil company Unocal, for exploration and production gas projects in the East China Sea worth billions of dollars. The Japanese government has since expressed concerns that the fields may encroach upon Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and Tokyo officially asked Beijing for precise data on the location of those fields, but Beijing has declined that request.
The issue surfaced again in early June this year when Japan confirmed that Beijing has started constructing a drilling facility in the area within China's EEZ, four kilometers from Japan's claimed center line between each country's coasts. In addition, Japan recently confirmed that Beijing has started constructing drilling facilities at another site, fueling concerns that it will launch similar projects in the near future.
As tensions increased, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing proposed when first visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on June 22 that China and Japan cooperate in exploring the oil and natural gas reserves in the East China Sea. But instead of accepting that offer, Kawaguchi requested that China provide the exact locations, depths and other related data of its offshore drillings underway in the East China Sea, fearing lest that China may have violated Japan's interests in tapping marine resources. But Li did not give any further details, according to the Hong Kong press reports.
The Japanese government appeared to conclude that China is collecting oceanographic data for possible submarine warfare around that area, which Japan considers strategically essential for China to boost its military presence vis-a-vis Taiwan as well as the United States, according to conservative Japanese media, such as the Sankei Shimbun. The disputed gas field is in the vicinity of Taiwan and the disputed Senkaku Islands, which are claimed by both countries. The Japanese government seems to believe this was why China has refused to give any data and information on its oil and gas development in the region.
On July 7, Japan started exploring its own EEZ in the East China Sea for natural gas by sending survey ships, apparently seeking to counter ongoing gas exploration by China at a nearby location. The following day in Beijing, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi summoned Japan's ambassador and delivered an official protest, criticizing Japan's "act that infringed upon China's interests and sovereignty".
Behind this skirmishing are the conflicting views of the two countries on where the demarcation line should be placed between the EEZs of the two countries. Both have been at loggerheads over the boundaries. While Japan defines it as the line marking an equal distance from the coasts of the two countries, China claims its EEZ extends to the edge of the continental shelf. The gas field in question, named Chunxiao, is located four kilometers inside the Chinese side of the EEZ boundary claimed by Japan.
Legally, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea allows coastal countries to regulate catch and seabed resources in an economic zone extending 200 nautical miles, or 370 kilometers, from their shores. But Beijing and Tokyo, both of which signed the convention in 1996, have not agreed on where their sea border lies. The UN says it will decide on global offshore territorial claims by May 2009. In February 2001, Japan and China only agreed to give each other two months' prior notification with regard to maritime scientific research activities in waters around the two countries.
For this reason, China claims the Chunxiao gas field does not cross the border line and would not even if the Japanese method of demarcation is adopted because there are still four kilometers to Japan's claimed center line (although China has never accepted the legitimacy of the Japanese demarcation). Meanwhile, Japan says it has a right to claim its share if resources in the Chinese EEZ are found to straddle the intermediate line. Japan has asked China to provide experimental drilling data, though these efforts have been in vain because it decided to explore the site by itself and has started it already.
China, the world's No 2 oil consumer after the US
China, the world's No 2 oil consumer after the US, is racing to develop natural resources to meet its rapidly growing domestic demand for energy as the economy races ahead. It is believed that since last summer China has stepped up development of gas fields in the East China Sea. That was when China suffered severe energy shortages, especially a shortage of electricity. China is still in dire need of electric power for its heavy industry development and manufacturing sector. Chinese experts believe the 2004 energy shortfall to be at least as severe as that in 2003. Last Friday China's commercial hub of Shanghai, grappling with a worsening power crunch, ordered its two largest auto makers to shut down production for more than a week. The sharp energy shortfall will exist until 2006, according to a recent prediction issued by China Electricity Council.
Moreover, at the National People's Congress in March, China pointed to the development and protection of marine resources as one of the government's priority issues, underscoring the country's growing sense of crisis over energy security. The Institute of Energy Economics in Japan also forecasts that oil consumption in China will grow to 590 million metric tons in 2020 from 220 million tons in 2000, and the country's oil imports will soar to 450 million tons during the same period, compared with 250 million tons for Japan. Furthermore, China is expected to become a net importer of natural gas by 2010. China is also expected to become a net importer of gasoline within this year. China's dependence on the region's oil is expected to reach 50% in 2020 from 15% in 2000, according to experts.
More recently, in the January-June period, fuel oil imports hit 16.37 million tons, a whopping 53.5% rise on the same period a year ago, according to the latest data from Chinese customs.
Meanwhile, Japan, the world's second-biggest economy, has almost no natural resources of its own and relies on the Middle East for nearly 90% of its oil as an energy source. Tokyo hopes to develop other sources, and has been negotiating for access to oil and natural gas reserves with Russia and Iran, among others. Japan is also competing with China over Russia's project to extend a crude oil pipeline in Eastern Siberia. While China has proposed stretching the pipeline inland to Daqing, Japan is seeking an extension to Nakhodka, a port city facing the Sea of Japan.
For Japan, no choice but to work together
Japanese experts believe Japan is facing a tough question on how to deal with its neighbor, which is emerging as an energy guzzler. The problem is that the Chunxiao project, which has jangled Tokyo's nerves, also involves several US and European energy giants and is already at the advanced stage. Gas is scheduled to be pumped to China as early as next year. It is also not clear whether Japan can chip in at this late stage, even if it accepts China's joint-exploitation proposal. Some skeptics say China is only playing for time, not giving Japan any data on the project.
China has also been operating research vessels within Japan's EEZ without notifying the Japanese government in advance. These activities have served to make Japan wary about Beijing's proposal for joint development. Last Wednesday, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said the Japanese government is planning to lodge a stronger protest with Beijing over the repeated presence of Chinese survey ships in Japan's EEZ.
But there are some signs that two counties are beginning to move toward cooperation in energy to find complementary positions. For example, in the private sector, Japan's largest oil refiner Nippon Oil Corp teamed up with PetroChina Co this month in refining and exporting crude oil. The tie-up will solve the dual problems of a refining capacity shortage in China and excess capacity in Japan.
To be sure, on the energy issue, Japan and China have no choice but to work together, although occasional friction is likely because the matter is complicated by historical issues and the territorial dispute. If the current standoff continues, Japan might want to accept China's joint project proposal, taking the opportunity to expand cooperation in resource development with China and to improve the climate for future cooperation. The two countries surely need to explore ways to cooperate, rather than compete for energy resources in Northeast Asia, which as a whole will need to import about 70% of its oil from the Middle East in 2020. Under the circumstances, it would be more beneficial for both Japan and China to forge an alliance in price negotiations than to compete. For Japanese companies in the energy sector, China is a huge, lucrative market. And for China, Japan's energy-saving and environmental-protection technology must be very attractive.
Kosuke Takahashi is a former staff writer at the Asahi Shimbun and is currently a freelance correspondent based in Tokyo. He can be contacted at kosuke_everonward@ybb.ne.jp.
By Kosuke Takahashi
TOKYO - Current explorations of an offshore gas field in the East China Sea by both China and Japan have recently strained relations between the two powerful nations. The tension over sovereignty of this disputed gas field appears to be on the rise, exacerbating mutual mistrust dating back to the Sino-Japanese War and World War II - and not allayed by China's meteoric economic rise and voracious appetite for oil and gas.
While Japan is concerned that Chinese drilling could siphon off natural gas from Japan's territorial seabed, Beijing considers Tokyo's claim as infringing on its interests and sovereignty. China appears to believe that Tokyo feels threatened by China's enormous economic development and is trying to contain it, at least in the East China Sea. This distrust and petroleum rivalry could lead to further serious problems unless both countries swiftly reach some political agreement on the development of the gas field.
The troubled, indefinable boundary
The issue first arose in August 2003 when the Chinese government concluded development contracts with oil development companies in China and other countries, including oil majors Royal Dutch/Shell and the United States oil company Unocal, for exploration and production gas projects in the East China Sea worth billions of dollars. The Japanese government has since expressed concerns that the fields may encroach upon Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and Tokyo officially asked Beijing for precise data on the location of those fields, but Beijing has declined that request.
The issue surfaced again in early June this year when Japan confirmed that Beijing has started constructing a drilling facility in the area within China's EEZ, four kilometers from Japan's claimed center line between each country's coasts. In addition, Japan recently confirmed that Beijing has started constructing drilling facilities at another site, fueling concerns that it will launch similar projects in the near future.
As tensions increased, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing proposed when first visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on June 22 that China and Japan cooperate in exploring the oil and natural gas reserves in the East China Sea. But instead of accepting that offer, Kawaguchi requested that China provide the exact locations, depths and other related data of its offshore drillings underway in the East China Sea, fearing lest that China may have violated Japan's interests in tapping marine resources. But Li did not give any further details, according to the Hong Kong press reports.
The Japanese government appeared to conclude that China is collecting oceanographic data for possible submarine warfare around that area, which Japan considers strategically essential for China to boost its military presence vis-a-vis Taiwan as well as the United States, according to conservative Japanese media, such as the Sankei Shimbun. The disputed gas field is in the vicinity of Taiwan and the disputed Senkaku Islands, which are claimed by both countries. The Japanese government seems to believe this was why China has refused to give any data and information on its oil and gas development in the region.
On July 7, Japan started exploring its own EEZ in the East China Sea for natural gas by sending survey ships, apparently seeking to counter ongoing gas exploration by China at a nearby location. The following day in Beijing, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi summoned Japan's ambassador and delivered an official protest, criticizing Japan's "act that infringed upon China's interests and sovereignty".
Behind this skirmishing are the conflicting views of the two countries on where the demarcation line should be placed between the EEZs of the two countries. Both have been at loggerheads over the boundaries. While Japan defines it as the line marking an equal distance from the coasts of the two countries, China claims its EEZ extends to the edge of the continental shelf. The gas field in question, named Chunxiao, is located four kilometers inside the Chinese side of the EEZ boundary claimed by Japan.
Legally, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea allows coastal countries to regulate catch and seabed resources in an economic zone extending 200 nautical miles, or 370 kilometers, from their shores. But Beijing and Tokyo, both of which signed the convention in 1996, have not agreed on where their sea border lies. The UN says it will decide on global offshore territorial claims by May 2009. In February 2001, Japan and China only agreed to give each other two months' prior notification with regard to maritime scientific research activities in waters around the two countries.
For this reason, China claims the Chunxiao gas field does not cross the border line and would not even if the Japanese method of demarcation is adopted because there are still four kilometers to Japan's claimed center line (although China has never accepted the legitimacy of the Japanese demarcation). Meanwhile, Japan says it has a right to claim its share if resources in the Chinese EEZ are found to straddle the intermediate line. Japan has asked China to provide experimental drilling data, though these efforts have been in vain because it decided to explore the site by itself and has started it already.
China, the world's No 2 oil consumer after the US
China, the world's No 2 oil consumer after the US, is racing to develop natural resources to meet its rapidly growing domestic demand for energy as the economy races ahead. It is believed that since last summer China has stepped up development of gas fields in the East China Sea. That was when China suffered severe energy shortages, especially a shortage of electricity. China is still in dire need of electric power for its heavy industry development and manufacturing sector. Chinese experts believe the 2004 energy shortfall to be at least as severe as that in 2003. Last Friday China's commercial hub of Shanghai, grappling with a worsening power crunch, ordered its two largest auto makers to shut down production for more than a week. The sharp energy shortfall will exist until 2006, according to a recent prediction issued by China Electricity Council.
Moreover, at the National People's Congress in March, China pointed to the development and protection of marine resources as one of the government's priority issues, underscoring the country's growing sense of crisis over energy security. The Institute of Energy Economics in Japan also forecasts that oil consumption in China will grow to 590 million metric tons in 2020 from 220 million tons in 2000, and the country's oil imports will soar to 450 million tons during the same period, compared with 250 million tons for Japan. Furthermore, China is expected to become a net importer of natural gas by 2010. China is also expected to become a net importer of gasoline within this year. China's dependence on the region's oil is expected to reach 50% in 2020 from 15% in 2000, according to experts.
More recently, in the January-June period, fuel oil imports hit 16.37 million tons, a whopping 53.5% rise on the same period a year ago, according to the latest data from Chinese customs.
Meanwhile, Japan, the world's second-biggest economy, has almost no natural resources of its own and relies on the Middle East for nearly 90% of its oil as an energy source. Tokyo hopes to develop other sources, and has been negotiating for access to oil and natural gas reserves with Russia and Iran, among others. Japan is also competing with China over Russia's project to extend a crude oil pipeline in Eastern Siberia. While China has proposed stretching the pipeline inland to Daqing, Japan is seeking an extension to Nakhodka, a port city facing the Sea of Japan.
For Japan, no choice but to work together
Japanese experts believe Japan is facing a tough question on how to deal with its neighbor, which is emerging as an energy guzzler. The problem is that the Chunxiao project, which has jangled Tokyo's nerves, also involves several US and European energy giants and is already at the advanced stage. Gas is scheduled to be pumped to China as early as next year. It is also not clear whether Japan can chip in at this late stage, even if it accepts China's joint-exploitation proposal. Some skeptics say China is only playing for time, not giving Japan any data on the project.
China has also been operating research vessels within Japan's EEZ without notifying the Japanese government in advance. These activities have served to make Japan wary about Beijing's proposal for joint development. Last Wednesday, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said the Japanese government is planning to lodge a stronger protest with Beijing over the repeated presence of Chinese survey ships in Japan's EEZ.
But there are some signs that two counties are beginning to move toward cooperation in energy to find complementary positions. For example, in the private sector, Japan's largest oil refiner Nippon Oil Corp teamed up with PetroChina Co this month in refining and exporting crude oil. The tie-up will solve the dual problems of a refining capacity shortage in China and excess capacity in Japan.
To be sure, on the energy issue, Japan and China have no choice but to work together, although occasional friction is likely because the matter is complicated by historical issues and the territorial dispute. If the current standoff continues, Japan might want to accept China's joint project proposal, taking the opportunity to expand cooperation in resource development with China and to improve the climate for future cooperation. The two countries surely need to explore ways to cooperate, rather than compete for energy resources in Northeast Asia, which as a whole will need to import about 70% of its oil from the Middle East in 2020. Under the circumstances, it would be more beneficial for both Japan and China to forge an alliance in price negotiations than to compete. For Japanese companies in the energy sector, China is a huge, lucrative market. And for China, Japan's energy-saving and environmental-protection technology must be very attractive.
Kosuke Takahashi is a former staff writer at the Asahi Shimbun and is currently a freelance correspondent based in Tokyo. He can be contacted at kosuke_everonward@ybb.ne.jp.
The struggle to be heard
scmp - Wednesday, July 21, 2004
ABDOU FILALI-ANSARY The "clash of civilisations" supposedly under way between the west and the Muslim world, which many see as manifested in Iraq, in fact masks other conflicts which will probably prove far more significant in the long term. One of these struggles is taking place among Muslims themselves over the shape of reform within their own societies. The Muslim reformist tradition - the search for an authentic path that links Islam's traditions to the modern world - stretches back to the mid-19th century. Then, Muslim thinkers contrasted the decline of their own societies with Europe's dynamism, a particularly painful distinction in light of European successes in colonising large parts of the Muslim world. Then, too, Muslim intellectuals focused on the "decadence" of Muslim societies and their debilitating political and social corruption. Many early Muslim reformists were clerics or senior bureaucrats, who had seen at first hand how diminished their societies had become. More importantly, they were members of a tiny minority that had been educated in the written heritage of Islam. These men aspired to participate in the centuries-long discussions among Muslim scholars about the proper ordering of Muslim life. Their judgment was clear: Muslims had sunk far below what their religion required them to be, and lagged far behind the accomplishments of their ancestors. For the reformers, normality meant the progressive development of Muslim societies. So they sought to engage with the ideas that they saw emerging from Europe: rationality, tolerance and ethically determined behaviour. They did not ignite the mass mobilisation they hoped for, and were not able to redress social ills through better implementation of religious prescriptions. But their influence was powerful and lasting. The paradox here is that the open-minded reformism they espoused helped stir conservative trends among Islamic thinkers, who seized on the revival of Islamic norms to urge a return to the "purity" of the first Islamic societies. Thus, the most lasting effect of the first reformist wave was the establishment of a salafi (traditionalist) trend and eventually the emergence of an even more radical fundamentalism. Today, we can see the force of this ideology, but it would be a mistake to assume that the spirit of the original Muslim reformists has vanished. Out of the spotlight, countless Muslim scholars and academics have continued to probe the connections between Islamic thought and modern values. Thus, a sharp, focused challenge to the assertions of religious orthodoxy has emerged. While their work encounters great resistance from traditionalist and fundamentalist circles, these contemporary reformers have had a big impact on a rising generation of Muslim intellectuals around the world. Of course, listeners must strain to hear the voices of reformists amid the din of those calling for resistance to the enemy and a return to the pure sources of Islam. However, the seeds of a new wave of "reform" have taken root, and await an early thaw. Adapting Islam to modern conditions was the purpose of the first generation of reformers. By engaging fully with the main currents of modern thinking, their contemporary successors seek to better understand how universal principles can be expressed through Muslim tradition. Abdou Filali-Ansary is director of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations at the Aga Khan University of Karachi, Pakistan.
ABDOU FILALI-ANSARY The "clash of civilisations" supposedly under way between the west and the Muslim world, which many see as manifested in Iraq, in fact masks other conflicts which will probably prove far more significant in the long term. One of these struggles is taking place among Muslims themselves over the shape of reform within their own societies. The Muslim reformist tradition - the search for an authentic path that links Islam's traditions to the modern world - stretches back to the mid-19th century. Then, Muslim thinkers contrasted the decline of their own societies with Europe's dynamism, a particularly painful distinction in light of European successes in colonising large parts of the Muslim world. Then, too, Muslim intellectuals focused on the "decadence" of Muslim societies and their debilitating political and social corruption. Many early Muslim reformists were clerics or senior bureaucrats, who had seen at first hand how diminished their societies had become. More importantly, they were members of a tiny minority that had been educated in the written heritage of Islam. These men aspired to participate in the centuries-long discussions among Muslim scholars about the proper ordering of Muslim life. Their judgment was clear: Muslims had sunk far below what their religion required them to be, and lagged far behind the accomplishments of their ancestors. For the reformers, normality meant the progressive development of Muslim societies. So they sought to engage with the ideas that they saw emerging from Europe: rationality, tolerance and ethically determined behaviour. They did not ignite the mass mobilisation they hoped for, and were not able to redress social ills through better implementation of religious prescriptions. But their influence was powerful and lasting. The paradox here is that the open-minded reformism they espoused helped stir conservative trends among Islamic thinkers, who seized on the revival of Islamic norms to urge a return to the "purity" of the first Islamic societies. Thus, the most lasting effect of the first reformist wave was the establishment of a salafi (traditionalist) trend and eventually the emergence of an even more radical fundamentalism. Today, we can see the force of this ideology, but it would be a mistake to assume that the spirit of the original Muslim reformists has vanished. Out of the spotlight, countless Muslim scholars and academics have continued to probe the connections between Islamic thought and modern values. Thus, a sharp, focused challenge to the assertions of religious orthodoxy has emerged. While their work encounters great resistance from traditionalist and fundamentalist circles, these contemporary reformers have had a big impact on a rising generation of Muslim intellectuals around the world. Of course, listeners must strain to hear the voices of reformists amid the din of those calling for resistance to the enemy and a return to the pure sources of Islam. However, the seeds of a new wave of "reform" have taken root, and await an early thaw. Adapting Islam to modern conditions was the purpose of the first generation of reformers. By engaging fully with the main currents of modern thinking, their contemporary successors seek to better understand how universal principles can be expressed through Muslim tradition. Abdou Filali-Ansary is director of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations at the Aga Khan University of Karachi, Pakistan.
New administrative law may clarify the regulation of religions
scmp - Monday, July 26, 2004
NAILENE CHOU WIEST in Beijing
A new law intended to simplify business approvals could have implications for the regulation of religious affairs on the mainland.
The Administrative Approval Law, which came into effect on July 1, is intended to prevent authorities from infringing the rights of individuals and corporations.
Implications for religious groups arise because the government has traditionally relied heavily on decrees to set the boundaries for their activities. The new law, however, makes administrative orders issued by government departments invalid unless they are upgraded to regulations, or are authorised by the State Council.
Ma Jin , director of the legal department of the State Religious Affairs Administration, writing in the journal China Religion, said the law spells out that the application process for permits to worship must be open.
Legitimate interests of religious groups to practice religion in government-registered venues would also be protected, he wrote.
At present, religious congregations can worship only in registered venues.
In the past, some government departments lacked clear legal status to handle religious affairs. The new law would clarify the institutional authority, he wrote.
Analysts of the mainland's policies on religion said that, on one hand, applying the new law to religious affairs continued policies that protected officially sanctioned religious groups while cracking down on unregistered activities.
But they said the law would also enable the government to give individuals or organisations permission to engage in religious activities even if they did not belong to one of the five officially recognised religions - Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and Protestant and Catholic Christianity.
Since their congregations are generally small, it is unlikely the government would add them to the list of recognised religions.
Instead, the legislation will be relevant to expatriates, such as the fast-growing Jewish community in Shanghai, since it makes it possible for them to apply for legal recognition of their beliefs.
Analysts said the Administrative Approval Law came into effect a month after the Central Committee of the Communist Party issued a document pledging to redouble efforts to encourage the study of Marxist atheism.
Increasing hostility towards religion on the mainland has led to concern that zealous officials could impose more stringent conditions for granting permission to religious groups, outlawing a wide range of activities such as the building of churches and charity work.
Christian observers have noted the implementation of the law could vary from place to place, according to the disposition of local authority.
Obtaining government permission will not translate to automatic freedom for groups to practise their religion as the law calls on the government to exercise "supervision", which some foreigners say gives a new legal basis for interference.
"In meetings after meetings, you hear `resisting foreign infiltration is our long-term goal'," a source in Shanghai said.
Controls were also being tightened in other affluent coastal cities, as local religious bureaus sought to slow the growth of foreign religious organisations, the source said.
With many foreigners practising their religions in Shanghai, authorities in the city are often at a loss over how to handle issues such as the content of religious websites, bible schools and Christian-revival meetings, when these are ostensibly aimed at Chinese communities overseas but are also open to the local faithful.
In 1994, the State Council put forward a set of regulations for foreigners engaging in religious activities, but a corresponding set of rules for mainlanders has never been issued.
The prospect of enacting a law governing the practise of religion is even more remote.
NAILENE CHOU WIEST in Beijing
A new law intended to simplify business approvals could have implications for the regulation of religious affairs on the mainland.
The Administrative Approval Law, which came into effect on July 1, is intended to prevent authorities from infringing the rights of individuals and corporations.
Implications for religious groups arise because the government has traditionally relied heavily on decrees to set the boundaries for their activities. The new law, however, makes administrative orders issued by government departments invalid unless they are upgraded to regulations, or are authorised by the State Council.
Ma Jin , director of the legal department of the State Religious Affairs Administration, writing in the journal China Religion, said the law spells out that the application process for permits to worship must be open.
Legitimate interests of religious groups to practice religion in government-registered venues would also be protected, he wrote.
At present, religious congregations can worship only in registered venues.
In the past, some government departments lacked clear legal status to handle religious affairs. The new law would clarify the institutional authority, he wrote.
Analysts of the mainland's policies on religion said that, on one hand, applying the new law to religious affairs continued policies that protected officially sanctioned religious groups while cracking down on unregistered activities.
But they said the law would also enable the government to give individuals or organisations permission to engage in religious activities even if they did not belong to one of the five officially recognised religions - Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and Protestant and Catholic Christianity.
Since their congregations are generally small, it is unlikely the government would add them to the list of recognised religions.
Instead, the legislation will be relevant to expatriates, such as the fast-growing Jewish community in Shanghai, since it makes it possible for them to apply for legal recognition of their beliefs.
Analysts said the Administrative Approval Law came into effect a month after the Central Committee of the Communist Party issued a document pledging to redouble efforts to encourage the study of Marxist atheism.
Increasing hostility towards religion on the mainland has led to concern that zealous officials could impose more stringent conditions for granting permission to religious groups, outlawing a wide range of activities such as the building of churches and charity work.
Christian observers have noted the implementation of the law could vary from place to place, according to the disposition of local authority.
Obtaining government permission will not translate to automatic freedom for groups to practise their religion as the law calls on the government to exercise "supervision", which some foreigners say gives a new legal basis for interference.
"In meetings after meetings, you hear `resisting foreign infiltration is our long-term goal'," a source in Shanghai said.
Controls were also being tightened in other affluent coastal cities, as local religious bureaus sought to slow the growth of foreign religious organisations, the source said.
With many foreigners practising their religions in Shanghai, authorities in the city are often at a loss over how to handle issues such as the content of religious websites, bible schools and Christian-revival meetings, when these are ostensibly aimed at Chinese communities overseas but are also open to the local faithful.
In 1994, the State Council put forward a set of regulations for foreigners engaging in religious activities, but a corresponding set of rules for mainlanders has never been issued.
The prospect of enacting a law governing the practise of religion is even more remote.
Israel must tear down wall: UN
Thursday, July 22, 2004
REUTERS in New York
Israel must obey a World Court ruling and remove its West Bank barrier, the UN General Assembly has demanded in a resolution adopted by an overwhelming vote.
The vote in the 191-nation assembly was 150-6, with 10 abstentions, to adopt the measure aimed at dismantling the 685-km barrier that Israel says is needed to keep out suicide bombers. Palestinians see the wall as a land grab aimed at dashing their hopes for eventual statehood.
The 25 European Union countries backed the Palestinian-drafted measure. The United States, Israel's closest ally, voted against it after US deputy ambassador James Cunningham warned the resolution was unbalanced and could further undermine the goal of a Middle East in which Israeli and Palestinian states lived side by side in peace.
REUTERS in New York
Israel must obey a World Court ruling and remove its West Bank barrier, the UN General Assembly has demanded in a resolution adopted by an overwhelming vote.
The vote in the 191-nation assembly was 150-6, with 10 abstentions, to adopt the measure aimed at dismantling the 685-km barrier that Israel says is needed to keep out suicide bombers. Palestinians see the wall as a land grab aimed at dashing their hopes for eventual statehood.
The 25 European Union countries backed the Palestinian-drafted measure. The United States, Israel's closest ally, voted against it after US deputy ambassador James Cunningham warned the resolution was unbalanced and could further undermine the goal of a Middle East in which Israeli and Palestinian states lived side by side in peace.
Bhopal celebrates over compensation verdict
SCMP -Wednesday, July 21, 2004
AMRIT DHILLON in New Delhi
The mood in Bhopal among survivors of the 1984 gas disaster is euphoric after the Supreme Court ordered that the remaining compensation should be taken out of an Indian bank account and handed over to them.
Most victims will receive a fresh round of compensation, roughly equal to the amount they have already received.
Bands played on the streets of Bhopal and people celebrated.
"It means a lot. There are people who will need medical treatment for the rest of their lives. There are thousands of families where the breadwinner is an invalid and no income is coming in, so this money will help," said Abdul Jabbar, an activist whose lungs were permanently damaged in the tragedy.
More than 3,000 people died after methyl isocynate leaked from a storage tank at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal and spread into the neighbouring slums.
Ultimately 17,000 people died from the after-effects. About 19,000 still suffer chronic, debilitating ailments from having inhaled the deadly gas.
In 1989, Union Carbide paid US$470 million into a Reserve Bank of India account as the final compensation settlement.
Some of this money was given to the victims.
This process took years, with the last round of payments in 1992.
But a sizable amount was left in the account, owing to legal delays over claims. Now that leftover money, 20 years later, has grown to US$327.5 million.
The Supreme Court said on Monday the money belonged to the victims and should be distributed to them and their dependants.
AMRIT DHILLON in New Delhi
The mood in Bhopal among survivors of the 1984 gas disaster is euphoric after the Supreme Court ordered that the remaining compensation should be taken out of an Indian bank account and handed over to them.
Most victims will receive a fresh round of compensation, roughly equal to the amount they have already received.
Bands played on the streets of Bhopal and people celebrated.
"It means a lot. There are people who will need medical treatment for the rest of their lives. There are thousands of families where the breadwinner is an invalid and no income is coming in, so this money will help," said Abdul Jabbar, an activist whose lungs were permanently damaged in the tragedy.
More than 3,000 people died after methyl isocynate leaked from a storage tank at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal and spread into the neighbouring slums.
Ultimately 17,000 people died from the after-effects. About 19,000 still suffer chronic, debilitating ailments from having inhaled the deadly gas.
In 1989, Union Carbide paid US$470 million into a Reserve Bank of India account as the final compensation settlement.
Some of this money was given to the victims.
This process took years, with the last round of payments in 1992.
But a sizable amount was left in the account, owing to legal delays over claims. Now that leftover money, 20 years later, has grown to US$327.5 million.
The Supreme Court said on Monday the money belonged to the victims and should be distributed to them and their dependants.
Jiang Zemin sets 2020 deadline for return of island to mainland
Friday, July 16, 2004
RAY CHEUNG
Central Military Commission chairman Jiang Zemin has warned that Taiwan's return to the mainland must be resolved by 2020 and that the military is capable of stopping an independence bid by the island, according to the Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po newspaper.
Quoting official mainland military sources, the report is the first in which a specific date has been put forward publicly as a deadline for reunification.
"The Taiwan issue cannot be indefinitely dragged on ... The Taiwan leadership is so bold as to initiate the Taiwan independence movement. Our military has the capability and strategy to defeat it," the report quoted sources as saying.
However, mainland analysts cautioned against reading the report as an ultimatum, saying that it should be assessed within the context in which Mr Jiang made the remarks.
One analyst noted the principle of resolving the Taiwan situation soon was already stated in Beijing's 2000 white paper on reunification and suggested that the 2020 deadline may be taken out of context.
"There needs to be more understanding of the circumstances of [Mr Jiang's] speech before any assessment of it is given," the analyst said.
According to the report, Mr Jiang presented the timetable in a speech during a recent PLA meeting. The report said that while the next two decades presented China with the best opportunity for peaceful economic development, war might break out if Taiwan made any moves towards independence.
It said the US had used cross-strait tensions to constrict the mainland and that American support of Taiwan had prolonged its separation from the rest of China.
It blasted Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's plans to hold referendums and revise the island's constitution as a "Taiwan independence timetable".
The report also said that the Taiwanese authorities would not be so bold without US backing. However, it reiterated China's position that it did not seek a direct conflict with the US, but would resort to military action if foreign powers supported the island's independence.
RAY CHEUNG
Central Military Commission chairman Jiang Zemin has warned that Taiwan's return to the mainland must be resolved by 2020 and that the military is capable of stopping an independence bid by the island, according to the Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po newspaper.
Quoting official mainland military sources, the report is the first in which a specific date has been put forward publicly as a deadline for reunification.
"The Taiwan issue cannot be indefinitely dragged on ... The Taiwan leadership is so bold as to initiate the Taiwan independence movement. Our military has the capability and strategy to defeat it," the report quoted sources as saying.
However, mainland analysts cautioned against reading the report as an ultimatum, saying that it should be assessed within the context in which Mr Jiang made the remarks.
One analyst noted the principle of resolving the Taiwan situation soon was already stated in Beijing's 2000 white paper on reunification and suggested that the 2020 deadline may be taken out of context.
"There needs to be more understanding of the circumstances of [Mr Jiang's] speech before any assessment of it is given," the analyst said.
According to the report, Mr Jiang presented the timetable in a speech during a recent PLA meeting. The report said that while the next two decades presented China with the best opportunity for peaceful economic development, war might break out if Taiwan made any moves towards independence.
It said the US had used cross-strait tensions to constrict the mainland and that American support of Taiwan had prolonged its separation from the rest of China.
It blasted Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's plans to hold referendums and revise the island's constitution as a "Taiwan independence timetable".
The report also said that the Taiwanese authorities would not be so bold without US backing. However, it reiterated China's position that it did not seek a direct conflict with the US, but would resort to military action if foreign powers supported the island's independence.
US may use Taiwanese bullets
SCMP - Friday, July 16, 2004
JACKY HSU in Taipei
Taiwan may start providing small-arms ammunition to American troops fighting in Iraq.
The United States has sent letters to Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Italy and South Africa asking for help, according to Taiwan's Apple Daily.
Quoting unnamed Taiwanese defence ministry sources, the daily said the Presidential Office had agreed to provide free of charge 40,000 bullets each for three types of machine guns - the 5.56mm, 7.62 mm and .50 calibre.
US troops in Iraq are firing their way through about 5.5 million rounds of small arms ammunition per month, raising concerns about a shortage.
If the Taiwanese ammunition is found to be of sufficiently good quality, the US might ask Taipei to become a paid supplier of ammunition on a long-term basis, the newspaper said.
The defence sources said Taiwan had a huge stockpile of ammunition and selling some of it to the US could help ease oversupplies.
The defence ministry declined to comment on the report.
But opposition legislators criticised the move, saying it could jeopardise the island's security in the face of threats of retaliation from terrorists.
They said the terrorists had warned other countries against helping the US in Iraq.
Terrorists killed a South Korean and recorded the killing in a videotape sent for television release after failing to get agreement from Seoul to withdraw its troops sent to help the Americans.
JACKY HSU in Taipei
Taiwan may start providing small-arms ammunition to American troops fighting in Iraq.
The United States has sent letters to Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Italy and South Africa asking for help, according to Taiwan's Apple Daily.
Quoting unnamed Taiwanese defence ministry sources, the daily said the Presidential Office had agreed to provide free of charge 40,000 bullets each for three types of machine guns - the 5.56mm, 7.62 mm and .50 calibre.
US troops in Iraq are firing their way through about 5.5 million rounds of small arms ammunition per month, raising concerns about a shortage.
If the Taiwanese ammunition is found to be of sufficiently good quality, the US might ask Taipei to become a paid supplier of ammunition on a long-term basis, the newspaper said.
The defence sources said Taiwan had a huge stockpile of ammunition and selling some of it to the US could help ease oversupplies.
The defence ministry declined to comment on the report.
But opposition legislators criticised the move, saying it could jeopardise the island's security in the face of threats of retaliation from terrorists.
They said the terrorists had warned other countries against helping the US in Iraq.
Terrorists killed a South Korean and recorded the killing in a videotape sent for television release after failing to get agreement from Seoul to withdraw its troops sent to help the Americans.
Washington defends arms sales to island
Friday, July 16, 2004
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Washington
Washington says it will continue selling weapons to Taiwan, shrugging off a warning from Beijing that any improvement in Sino-US relations hinged on America cutting military links with the island.
Beijing has said it is "gravely" concerned over recent US moves on the Taiwan question, pointing out that the situation was "quite critical", particularly over arms sales.
"I don't know why one needs to talk about recent US moves," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
He said there had been no change in US policy regarding the mainland and Taiwan, and vowed defence sales to Taipei would continue as enshrined in US law.
"We continue the sale of appropriate defensive military equipment to Taiwan in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act," he said.
Senior Bush administration officials were quoted by The Washington Times as saying on Wednesday that a key reason for US military sales to Taiwan was the mainland's missile buildup opposite the island.
Pending sales are expected to include Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile systems and P-3 anti-submarine aircraft. Taiwan also is negotiating to buy up to eight diesel-electric submarines and several guided-missile destroyers.
Mr Boucher said the US was committed to its one-China policy based on three joint communiques signed by the two countries and the Taiwan Relations Act.
"We've opposed unilateral moves by either side that would change the status quo," he said.
"For Beijing, this means no use of force or other forms of coercion against Taiwan. For Taipei, it means exercising prudence in managing all aspects of cross-straits relations."
He reiterated US policy not to support independence for Taiwan.
"For both sides, it means no statements or actions that would unilaterally alter Taiwan's status," he said.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Washington
Washington says it will continue selling weapons to Taiwan, shrugging off a warning from Beijing that any improvement in Sino-US relations hinged on America cutting military links with the island.
Beijing has said it is "gravely" concerned over recent US moves on the Taiwan question, pointing out that the situation was "quite critical", particularly over arms sales.
"I don't know why one needs to talk about recent US moves," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
He said there had been no change in US policy regarding the mainland and Taiwan, and vowed defence sales to Taipei would continue as enshrined in US law.
"We continue the sale of appropriate defensive military equipment to Taiwan in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act," he said.
Senior Bush administration officials were quoted by The Washington Times as saying on Wednesday that a key reason for US military sales to Taiwan was the mainland's missile buildup opposite the island.
Pending sales are expected to include Patriot PAC-3 anti-missile systems and P-3 anti-submarine aircraft. Taiwan also is negotiating to buy up to eight diesel-electric submarines and several guided-missile destroyers.
Mr Boucher said the US was committed to its one-China policy based on three joint communiques signed by the two countries and the Taiwan Relations Act.
"We've opposed unilateral moves by either side that would change the status quo," he said.
"For Beijing, this means no use of force or other forms of coercion against Taiwan. For Taipei, it means exercising prudence in managing all aspects of cross-straits relations."
He reiterated US policy not to support independence for Taiwan.
"For both sides, it means no statements or actions that would unilaterally alter Taiwan's status," he said.
'Cross-strait war possible in eight years'
Friday, July 16, 2004
RAY CHEUNG
Taiwan could be just eight years away from war with the mainland, a former Taiwanese deputy defence minister says.
Lin Chong-pin, a faculty member of the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies at Taiwan's Tamkang University, said that by 2012 the PLA would be strong enough to seize the island and deter the United States from intervening in a cross-strait conflict.
Professor Lin's assessment was less gloomy than that of some analysts, who say the mainland could strike in 2006 - when Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian plans to call a referendum to revise the island's constitution.
Beijing has repeatedly said it would see such a move by Taiwan as a march towards independence.
"I'm not worried about 2006. It is 2012 when Beijing may make a move," Professor Lin said.
The central government has said it remains committed to peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but would not rule out war if the island declared independence.
Professor Lin said that in eight years the People's Liberation Army would not only have strengthened special operations forces but raised its arsenal of global positioning satellites, cruise missiles and unmanned aircraft. He said it would also have planted enough infiltrators in Taiwan.
He said Beijing's strategy was not to annihilate the island, but to paralyse it.
"The plan is to seize Taiwan with minimum bloodshed and physical damage," Professor Lin said.
If Mr Chen pushed ahead with the referendum plan in 2006, Professor Lin predicted the PLA might launch a series of short-range tactical missile strikes over Taiwan to scare the island before the vote.
"You can imagine the potential effect this would have on the Taiwanese stock market and society," he said.
"Beijing could then tell the US: `Well, I told you to reign in Taipei, but you didn't do anything and so we have to do it ourselves'," Professor Lin said.
To boost the shock value, the PLA would announce the strikes in advance and say where the missiles would hit, he said.
Despite Beijing's recent criticism of Washington's China policies, Professor Lin believed the mainland would work with the United States.
"The linchpin for Beijing is co-operation before struggle with the US. No matter how harsh the criticism gets, the exchanges between the two sides will be stable," Professor Lin said.
On Tuesday, Sun Weide , a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, blasted US officials for their position towards Taiwan.
His remarks followed a visit to Beijing by US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice last week, during which she rejected Chinese leaders' demands that Washington not supply Taiwan with advanced weaponry.
RAY CHEUNG
Taiwan could be just eight years away from war with the mainland, a former Taiwanese deputy defence minister says.
Lin Chong-pin, a faculty member of the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies at Taiwan's Tamkang University, said that by 2012 the PLA would be strong enough to seize the island and deter the United States from intervening in a cross-strait conflict.
Professor Lin's assessment was less gloomy than that of some analysts, who say the mainland could strike in 2006 - when Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian plans to call a referendum to revise the island's constitution.
Beijing has repeatedly said it would see such a move by Taiwan as a march towards independence.
"I'm not worried about 2006. It is 2012 when Beijing may make a move," Professor Lin said.
The central government has said it remains committed to peaceful reunification with Taiwan, but would not rule out war if the island declared independence.
Professor Lin said that in eight years the People's Liberation Army would not only have strengthened special operations forces but raised its arsenal of global positioning satellites, cruise missiles and unmanned aircraft. He said it would also have planted enough infiltrators in Taiwan.
He said Beijing's strategy was not to annihilate the island, but to paralyse it.
"The plan is to seize Taiwan with minimum bloodshed and physical damage," Professor Lin said.
If Mr Chen pushed ahead with the referendum plan in 2006, Professor Lin predicted the PLA might launch a series of short-range tactical missile strikes over Taiwan to scare the island before the vote.
"You can imagine the potential effect this would have on the Taiwanese stock market and society," he said.
"Beijing could then tell the US: `Well, I told you to reign in Taipei, but you didn't do anything and so we have to do it ourselves'," Professor Lin said.
To boost the shock value, the PLA would announce the strikes in advance and say where the missiles would hit, he said.
Despite Beijing's recent criticism of Washington's China policies, Professor Lin believed the mainland would work with the United States.
"The linchpin for Beijing is co-operation before struggle with the US. No matter how harsh the criticism gets, the exchanges between the two sides will be stable," Professor Lin said.
On Tuesday, Sun Weide , a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, blasted US officials for their position towards Taiwan.
His remarks followed a visit to Beijing by US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice last week, during which she rejected Chinese leaders' demands that Washington not supply Taiwan with advanced weaponry.
Beijing ready to attack Taiwan within 20 years: report
Thursday, July 15, 2004
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Updated at 5.21pm:Taiwan must re-enter the Chinese fold or face military action in the next 20 years, a report in a Beijing-backed Hong Kong newspaper warned on Thursday, quoting mainland military sources.
In response to Taiwan's recent "pro-independence provocation", Beijing gave what was believed to be the first ultimatum to reclaim sovereignty over the island, the report in Wen Wei Po said.
Unnamed military sources were quoted as saying former Chinese president and Central Military Commission chairman Jiang Zemin had recently discussed a timetable regarding using force to achieve Taiwan's reunification in a speech at a military conference in Beijing.
Wen Wei Po has long been used as a mouthpiece for Beijing's sabre-rattling on cross-strait issues.
The front-page article, featuring a picture of People's Liberation Army troops marching next to a convoy of tanks, said China's biggest national security threat in the next 20 years came from Taiwan.
Beijing has regarded Taiwan as a renegade province that must be reunified, by force if necessary, since the Communists won a civil war and drove the defeated Nationalists into exile on the island in 1949.
Acknowledging the coming decades would be a key period of economic development in China, the report said the threat of Taiwan's recent gestures towards independence - including the scheduled referendums on amending Taiwan's constitution - had generated "a sense of urgency" on the issue.
"The Taiwan leadership is so bold as to initiate the Taiwan independence movement. Our military has the capability and strategy to defeat it," the report said.
"We should be alert to the fact that if Taiwan authorities didn't have the backing of America, it would not be so bold and willful," it added.
"China has no desire to be engaged in direct conflict with America, but if foreign powers would interfere and support Taiwan independence, we can only resort to a military resolution."
China has already shifted its strategic military base to the southeastern coastal region across the strait from Taiwan.
Also, various branches of the People's Liberation Army, including those in charge of advance weapons, missiles and submarines had been making preparations for war, it said.
More efforts would be made to strengthen the air force, navy and missile facilities and their joint landing capability "in order to crush the Taiwan independence conspiracy, and to defend the reunification of the nation," the report said.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Updated at 5.21pm:Taiwan must re-enter the Chinese fold or face military action in the next 20 years, a report in a Beijing-backed Hong Kong newspaper warned on Thursday, quoting mainland military sources.
In response to Taiwan's recent "pro-independence provocation", Beijing gave what was believed to be the first ultimatum to reclaim sovereignty over the island, the report in Wen Wei Po said.
Unnamed military sources were quoted as saying former Chinese president and Central Military Commission chairman Jiang Zemin had recently discussed a timetable regarding using force to achieve Taiwan's reunification in a speech at a military conference in Beijing.
Wen Wei Po has long been used as a mouthpiece for Beijing's sabre-rattling on cross-strait issues.
The front-page article, featuring a picture of People's Liberation Army troops marching next to a convoy of tanks, said China's biggest national security threat in the next 20 years came from Taiwan.
Beijing has regarded Taiwan as a renegade province that must be reunified, by force if necessary, since the Communists won a civil war and drove the defeated Nationalists into exile on the island in 1949.
Acknowledging the coming decades would be a key period of economic development in China, the report said the threat of Taiwan's recent gestures towards independence - including the scheduled referendums on amending Taiwan's constitution - had generated "a sense of urgency" on the issue.
"The Taiwan leadership is so bold as to initiate the Taiwan independence movement. Our military has the capability and strategy to defeat it," the report said.
"We should be alert to the fact that if Taiwan authorities didn't have the backing of America, it would not be so bold and willful," it added.
"China has no desire to be engaged in direct conflict with America, but if foreign powers would interfere and support Taiwan independence, we can only resort to a military resolution."
China has already shifted its strategic military base to the southeastern coastal region across the strait from Taiwan.
Also, various branches of the People's Liberation Army, including those in charge of advance weapons, missiles and submarines had been making preparations for war, it said.
More efforts would be made to strengthen the air force, navy and missile facilities and their joint landing capability "in order to crush the Taiwan independence conspiracy, and to defend the reunification of the nation," the report said.
Muslim Uighur accused of separatism executed
scmp - Tuesday, July 13, 2004
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Beijing
Updated at 5.01pm:
A Muslim has been executed on charges of seeking independence for China's Muslim-majority northwestern region of Xinjiang and making explosives, a court official said on Tuesday.
Kuerban Tudaji, an ethnic Uighur, was sentenced to death June 30 and later executed, said Fu Rongqing, a spokesman for the Supreme People's Court in Xinjiang. Mr Fu said he wasn't sure of the date the execution was carried out.
Death sentences in the mainland typically are carried out shortly after the last appeal fails. Most executions are by gunshot to the head or neck, while some courts use lethal injection.
Mr Fu said Kuerban Tudaji was convicted of seeking independence for Xinjiang - or trying to "split China," in legal terms - and for making and transporting explosives and ammunition.
The human rights group Amnesty International issued a statement saying it "strongly condemned" the execution and expressing concern that Kuerban Tudaji didn't receive a fair trial.
The mainland's communist government claims Uighur separatists are fighting to turn Xinjiang into an independent theocratic state and are part of an international Islamic terrorist network. But foreign experts are sceptical of claims of an organised campaign.
Opponents of Beijing's rule over Xinjiang say the government is using terrorism as an excuse to tighten control over a region that is divided from the rest of China by language, ethnicity and religion.
Chinese leaders tolerate no challenges to Communist Party rule, but the extent of the crackdown in Xinjiang is unknown because of controls on information from the area.
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Beijing
Updated at 5.01pm:
A Muslim has been executed on charges of seeking independence for China's Muslim-majority northwestern region of Xinjiang and making explosives, a court official said on Tuesday.
Kuerban Tudaji, an ethnic Uighur, was sentenced to death June 30 and later executed, said Fu Rongqing, a spokesman for the Supreme People's Court in Xinjiang. Mr Fu said he wasn't sure of the date the execution was carried out.
Death sentences in the mainland typically are carried out shortly after the last appeal fails. Most executions are by gunshot to the head or neck, while some courts use lethal injection.
Mr Fu said Kuerban Tudaji was convicted of seeking independence for Xinjiang - or trying to "split China," in legal terms - and for making and transporting explosives and ammunition.
The human rights group Amnesty International issued a statement saying it "strongly condemned" the execution and expressing concern that Kuerban Tudaji didn't receive a fair trial.
The mainland's communist government claims Uighur separatists are fighting to turn Xinjiang into an independent theocratic state and are part of an international Islamic terrorist network. But foreign experts are sceptical of claims of an organised campaign.
Opponents of Beijing's rule over Xinjiang say the government is using terrorism as an excuse to tighten control over a region that is divided from the rest of China by language, ethnicity and religion.
Chinese leaders tolerate no challenges to Communist Party rule, but the extent of the crackdown in Xinjiang is unknown because of controls on information from the area.
Beijing says no Dalai Lama talks until he accepts 'One China'
scmp - Tuesday, July 13, 2004
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Beijing
Updated at 5.25pm:
The mainland on Tuesday made clear to the Dalai Lama there is no chance of negotiations for his return home until he publicly declares both Tibet and Taiwan are part of China and halts his ''splittist'' agenda.
''Only when the Dalai Lama really gives up his pursuit for 'Tibet independence,' stops separatist activities against the mainland, declares in public that he recognises Tibet is an inalienable part of China and so is Taiwan, will we contact him for negotiations,'' said foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue.
The Dalai Lama has asked China to resume dialogue with his government-in-exile, which sent delegations to Beijing in September 2002 and in May 2003.
He has previously said he could accept three of China’s conditions for talks: that Tibet drop its call for independence, put an end to separatist movements and accept the legitimacy of the Chinese government.
But when it came to the Chinese demand that the Tibetan side accept that Taiwan is an integral part of the mainland he has been non-committal, saying it was a matter for the Taiwanese to decide.
The government in Beijing meanwhile took a swipe at the United States for what it said was interference in its domestic affairs after the State Department released a report on ''Tibet Negotiations''.
The report said that substantive dialogue between the mainland and Tibet could lead to ''a negotiated settlement on questions regarding Tibet''.
Mr Zhang said it disregarded the facts and was irresponsible for ''rendering help to the Dalai Lama’s separatist activities''.
''We demand the US side honour its commitment by visible actions that the United States recognises Tibet is part of China and will not support 'Tibet independence,' which the US side has repeated for several times,'' she said.
The Buddhist leader, respected worldwide for his teachings and principles of non-violence, leads the Tibetan government-in-exile in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala, where he fled in 1959.
Beijing occupied Tibet, which it insists has been an integral part of the Chinese nation for centuries, in 1951.
Since then it has been accused of trying to wipe out Tibet’s unique Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression as well as mass ethnic Chinese immigration.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Beijing
Updated at 5.25pm:
The mainland on Tuesday made clear to the Dalai Lama there is no chance of negotiations for his return home until he publicly declares both Tibet and Taiwan are part of China and halts his ''splittist'' agenda.
''Only when the Dalai Lama really gives up his pursuit for 'Tibet independence,' stops separatist activities against the mainland, declares in public that he recognises Tibet is an inalienable part of China and so is Taiwan, will we contact him for negotiations,'' said foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue.
The Dalai Lama has asked China to resume dialogue with his government-in-exile, which sent delegations to Beijing in September 2002 and in May 2003.
He has previously said he could accept three of China’s conditions for talks: that Tibet drop its call for independence, put an end to separatist movements and accept the legitimacy of the Chinese government.
But when it came to the Chinese demand that the Tibetan side accept that Taiwan is an integral part of the mainland he has been non-committal, saying it was a matter for the Taiwanese to decide.
The government in Beijing meanwhile took a swipe at the United States for what it said was interference in its domestic affairs after the State Department released a report on ''Tibet Negotiations''.
The report said that substantive dialogue between the mainland and Tibet could lead to ''a negotiated settlement on questions regarding Tibet''.
Mr Zhang said it disregarded the facts and was irresponsible for ''rendering help to the Dalai Lama’s separatist activities''.
''We demand the US side honour its commitment by visible actions that the United States recognises Tibet is part of China and will not support 'Tibet independence,' which the US side has repeated for several times,'' she said.
The Buddhist leader, respected worldwide for his teachings and principles of non-violence, leads the Tibetan government-in-exile in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala, where he fled in 1959.
Beijing occupied Tibet, which it insists has been an integral part of the Chinese nation for centuries, in 1951.
Since then it has been accused of trying to wipe out Tibet’s unique Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression as well as mass ethnic Chinese immigration.
Proposed dam may leave poor high and dry
SCMP - Monday, June 14, 2004
RAY CHEUNG
In Chinese, "nu" means fury.
The Nujiang seems appropriately named, as there is a furious fight being waged over the future of the river, one of the mainland's last wild waterways. It starts in the freezing Qinghai-Tibet plateau and descends 1,578 metres over a distance of 742km, carving out majestic gorges in the Gaoligong and Biluo mountains, before flowing into Myanmar and the Andaman Sea.
Environmentalists, developers and local governments are locked in a battle over plans to harness the power of the river, known as the Salween in bordering countries, to generate electricity.
Last March, the national Huadian Power Corporation and the government of Yunnan province announced an agreement to build 13 hydroelectric dams at a cost of close to 90 billion yuan.
Supporters say the project is needed to boost the nation's energy supplies and lift the region's people out of abject poverty.
But opponents see it as a cash cow which will destroy the pristine environment and strip people of their livelihood.
The planned dams would be capable of generating 21 million kW annually, 30 per cent more than the massive Three Gorges Dam, and generate 34 billion yuan in annual income.
Wang Shijia , deputy party secretary of Nujiang county where eight of the proposed dams would be built, said the project was the region's only chance for development. "We are poor and have no other choice but to dam the river," said Mr Wang, whose county is the poorest in Yunnan.
Officials put the average per capita annual income of its 500,000 people at 950 yuan - compared with the US$1,090 national average - with close to half the residents living below the poverty line. Nujiang county has been promised a tax windfall of 1 billion yuan a year, 10 times its current base. Officials are pledging to build homes and create jobs with the new money.
With its magnificent gorges, the Nujiang region is known as the "grand canyon of the orient" and is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, containing 25 per cent of China's plant species and half of the nation's animal species. Last November, the United Nations designated the region as a world heritage site.
If the dams are built, the level of the Nujiang would rise as high as 30 metres in some areas, leading to the forced relocation of about 50,000 people.
"All these people have is their land. Without it, they will lose their culture and will not be able to survive," said Wang Yoncheng, of the Beijing-based Green Earth Volunteers environmental group.
Yu Xiaogang, of the Green Watershed group based in provincial capital Kunming , also believes that the project would leave the people worse off.
Mr Yu and a Yunnan University researcher conducted a study that found hundreds of farmers who were relocated in previous dam projects in Yunnan not only lost their land, but also never received the promised compensation.
"The problem is that dam projects are hard to stop," Mr Yu said.
Just 5km north of the Nujiang's Yabiluo section - one of the proposed dam sites - sits Ganben, a small village surrounded by high mountains.
The roaring river runs brown with sediment washed out of the mountains by spring rains, and ploughed fields cling to steep slopes above the farmers' tiny huts. One of the primitive homes belongs to a farmer surnamed Hu, 22, who belongs to the Lise ethnic minority.
When asked his opinions on the dam project, Mr Hu replied: "I don't know." This response is typical of the people whose families have lived on the river's banks for centuries. Like Mr Hu, most are illiterate farmers.
However, Ou Xiaowen, another farmer who lives 40km downstream in Xiaoshaba village, has plenty to say.
"I'm sure the dam will be good for the country, but the local cadres will take their cut, leaving us hanging out to dry with no land," said the 58-year-old who was ploughing a field and planting corn with his wife and daughter.
Battle lines were drawn over the project in August when the State Development and Reform Commission, which is in charge of approving the nation's infrastructure projects, started reviewing the proposal.
However, it delayed handing down its decision at the request of the State Environmental Protection Administration.
A month later, the administration organised an expert forum, inviting not only supporters and opponents, but also journalists as part of its new public participation policy. The move allowed environmentalists, many of them full-time journalists, to attend the closed-door event.
However, the gathering descended into a shouting match. Immediately afterwards, green groups launched a nationwide campaign against the project by using the internet, petitions and exhibitions featuring celebrities.
Opponents in the media launched a barrage against the project, with dozens of critical articles featuring in the nation's most influential media organisations, including China Central Television. Activists also took their message to society's grass roots and to the highest levels of power.
One opponent recruited a personal friend of Jiang Zemin to write a letter to the former president, urging him to help stop the project.
But the scheme's supporters were not to be outflanked, and Yunnan provincial officials recruited 24 scientists in October to publicly voice their backing for the project. Officials from the local government and power industry have willingly given interviews to the press while refining their message by arguing that the dams would have environmental benefits.
"Once there is hydroelectric power, the people will no longer have to deforest the mountains to get energy," said Duan Bin of the Nujiang Party Committee's propaganda department.
Supporters have also used strong-arm tactics, with the provincial propaganda department forbidding local media from producing negative reports on the project and silencing one outspoken local critic.
But the opponents scored a significant victory in February. Premier Wen Jiabao issued a temporary order to stop work on the project until its social and environmental impact is "carefully discussed and scientifically decided".
The order said the proposal must to go through a rigid environmental impact assessment and a report submitted to the administration and the commission.
But the project's advocates have far from given up hope.
Surveyors contracted by the developers are taking hydrological and geological measurements at the Yabiluo site while labourers are paving a road to the site of another dam at Liuku.
Such work does not violate Mr Wen's directive because this only stopped "actual project work", allowing "preparation work" such as surveying and hydrological analysis to continue.
RAY CHEUNG
In Chinese, "nu" means fury.
The Nujiang seems appropriately named, as there is a furious fight being waged over the future of the river, one of the mainland's last wild waterways. It starts in the freezing Qinghai-Tibet plateau and descends 1,578 metres over a distance of 742km, carving out majestic gorges in the Gaoligong and Biluo mountains, before flowing into Myanmar and the Andaman Sea.
Environmentalists, developers and local governments are locked in a battle over plans to harness the power of the river, known as the Salween in bordering countries, to generate electricity.
Last March, the national Huadian Power Corporation and the government of Yunnan province announced an agreement to build 13 hydroelectric dams at a cost of close to 90 billion yuan.
Supporters say the project is needed to boost the nation's energy supplies and lift the region's people out of abject poverty.
But opponents see it as a cash cow which will destroy the pristine environment and strip people of their livelihood.
The planned dams would be capable of generating 21 million kW annually, 30 per cent more than the massive Three Gorges Dam, and generate 34 billion yuan in annual income.
Wang Shijia , deputy party secretary of Nujiang county where eight of the proposed dams would be built, said the project was the region's only chance for development. "We are poor and have no other choice but to dam the river," said Mr Wang, whose county is the poorest in Yunnan.
Officials put the average per capita annual income of its 500,000 people at 950 yuan - compared with the US$1,090 national average - with close to half the residents living below the poverty line. Nujiang county has been promised a tax windfall of 1 billion yuan a year, 10 times its current base. Officials are pledging to build homes and create jobs with the new money.
With its magnificent gorges, the Nujiang region is known as the "grand canyon of the orient" and is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, containing 25 per cent of China's plant species and half of the nation's animal species. Last November, the United Nations designated the region as a world heritage site.
If the dams are built, the level of the Nujiang would rise as high as 30 metres in some areas, leading to the forced relocation of about 50,000 people.
"All these people have is their land. Without it, they will lose their culture and will not be able to survive," said Wang Yoncheng, of the Beijing-based Green Earth Volunteers environmental group.
Yu Xiaogang, of the Green Watershed group based in provincial capital Kunming , also believes that the project would leave the people worse off.
Mr Yu and a Yunnan University researcher conducted a study that found hundreds of farmers who were relocated in previous dam projects in Yunnan not only lost their land, but also never received the promised compensation.
"The problem is that dam projects are hard to stop," Mr Yu said.
Just 5km north of the Nujiang's Yabiluo section - one of the proposed dam sites - sits Ganben, a small village surrounded by high mountains.
The roaring river runs brown with sediment washed out of the mountains by spring rains, and ploughed fields cling to steep slopes above the farmers' tiny huts. One of the primitive homes belongs to a farmer surnamed Hu, 22, who belongs to the Lise ethnic minority.
When asked his opinions on the dam project, Mr Hu replied: "I don't know." This response is typical of the people whose families have lived on the river's banks for centuries. Like Mr Hu, most are illiterate farmers.
However, Ou Xiaowen, another farmer who lives 40km downstream in Xiaoshaba village, has plenty to say.
"I'm sure the dam will be good for the country, but the local cadres will take their cut, leaving us hanging out to dry with no land," said the 58-year-old who was ploughing a field and planting corn with his wife and daughter.
Battle lines were drawn over the project in August when the State Development and Reform Commission, which is in charge of approving the nation's infrastructure projects, started reviewing the proposal.
However, it delayed handing down its decision at the request of the State Environmental Protection Administration.
A month later, the administration organised an expert forum, inviting not only supporters and opponents, but also journalists as part of its new public participation policy. The move allowed environmentalists, many of them full-time journalists, to attend the closed-door event.
However, the gathering descended into a shouting match. Immediately afterwards, green groups launched a nationwide campaign against the project by using the internet, petitions and exhibitions featuring celebrities.
Opponents in the media launched a barrage against the project, with dozens of critical articles featuring in the nation's most influential media organisations, including China Central Television. Activists also took their message to society's grass roots and to the highest levels of power.
One opponent recruited a personal friend of Jiang Zemin to write a letter to the former president, urging him to help stop the project.
But the scheme's supporters were not to be outflanked, and Yunnan provincial officials recruited 24 scientists in October to publicly voice their backing for the project. Officials from the local government and power industry have willingly given interviews to the press while refining their message by arguing that the dams would have environmental benefits.
"Once there is hydroelectric power, the people will no longer have to deforest the mountains to get energy," said Duan Bin of the Nujiang Party Committee's propaganda department.
Supporters have also used strong-arm tactics, with the provincial propaganda department forbidding local media from producing negative reports on the project and silencing one outspoken local critic.
But the opponents scored a significant victory in February. Premier Wen Jiabao issued a temporary order to stop work on the project until its social and environmental impact is "carefully discussed and scientifically decided".
The order said the proposal must to go through a rigid environmental impact assessment and a report submitted to the administration and the commission.
But the project's advocates have far from given up hope.
Surveyors contracted by the developers are taking hydrological and geological measurements at the Yabiluo site while labourers are paving a road to the site of another dam at Liuku.
Such work does not violate Mr Wen's directive because this only stopped "actual project work", allowing "preparation work" such as surveying and hydrological analysis to continue.
Damming of Mekong sparks fear for farmers
SCMP - Wednesday, June 30, 2004
REUTERS in Singapore
The damming of the Mekong river to help power the mainland's economy could pose a grave threat to the livelihoods of millions of Southeast Asian farmers and fishermen within a decade, an Australian researcher said yesterday.
Evidence suggested that completion of two dams on the mainland stretch of the 4,800km river, along with work to make the Mekong more navigable, had triggered damaging changes in the river's flow patterns, said Milton Osborne, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra.
The river fell to record lows in the recent dry season, leaving boats stranded. In Cambodia, the fish catch dropped by almost 50 per cent after a 15 per cent decline the year before, Mr Osborne told Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
"Many of these problems, which have been identified not just by mad-eyed greenies but by serious scientists, are a cause for concern," Mr Osborne said.
Seventy per cent of the 70 million people living in the Mekong Basin depend on the fish that teem in the river, or on the crops that it irrigates.
Although experts would not be able to deliver a definitive verdict for a decade, their projections were worrying, Mr Osborne said. The Mekong was on a knife-edge.
"The cumulative effects of the developments that have taken place, plus the additional physical changes that are planned with more dams in China and the extension of river clearances further downstream into Laos, mean that there is reason to be concerned about the Mekong's future," Mr Osborne said.
China has completed two Mekong dams in the southwestern province of Yunnan at Manwan and Dachaoshan. It started work this year on a third at Xiaowan that Mr Osborne said would be a "monster" with a wall 300 metres high and a reservoir 169 km long. Only the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze River would be larger.
There are plans for five more Mekong dams by 2020.
Beijing says that as well as generating much-needed hydroelectric power, the dams benefit countries downstream - Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam - by smoothing the flow of the mighty river.
But Mr Osborne said the opposite was happening: construction of the dams and the release of water to enable mainland ships to sail downstream were leading to substantial changes in river levels.
Apart from preventing some species of fish from returning to breeding grounds, the dams blocked 35 per cent of sediment that used to flow down the Mekong, forming fertile soil.
Mr Osborne, who acknowledged that drought and overfishing were also factors behind dwindling fish catches, said the imbalance of influence with countries downstream meant Beijing was unlikely to stop building dams.
Beijing has declined repeated invitations to join the Mekong River Commission, which oversees the health of the waterway.
"Construction of dams without consultation, the promotion of river clearances and the extension of Chinese trade down the river sit alongside other aspects of China's steady push to assert its dominance in the region," Mr Osborne said.
REUTERS in Singapore
The damming of the Mekong river to help power the mainland's economy could pose a grave threat to the livelihoods of millions of Southeast Asian farmers and fishermen within a decade, an Australian researcher said yesterday.
Evidence suggested that completion of two dams on the mainland stretch of the 4,800km river, along with work to make the Mekong more navigable, had triggered damaging changes in the river's flow patterns, said Milton Osborne, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra.
The river fell to record lows in the recent dry season, leaving boats stranded. In Cambodia, the fish catch dropped by almost 50 per cent after a 15 per cent decline the year before, Mr Osborne told Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
"Many of these problems, which have been identified not just by mad-eyed greenies but by serious scientists, are a cause for concern," Mr Osborne said.
Seventy per cent of the 70 million people living in the Mekong Basin depend on the fish that teem in the river, or on the crops that it irrigates.
Although experts would not be able to deliver a definitive verdict for a decade, their projections were worrying, Mr Osborne said. The Mekong was on a knife-edge.
"The cumulative effects of the developments that have taken place, plus the additional physical changes that are planned with more dams in China and the extension of river clearances further downstream into Laos, mean that there is reason to be concerned about the Mekong's future," Mr Osborne said.
China has completed two Mekong dams in the southwestern province of Yunnan at Manwan and Dachaoshan. It started work this year on a third at Xiaowan that Mr Osborne said would be a "monster" with a wall 300 metres high and a reservoir 169 km long. Only the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze River would be larger.
There are plans for five more Mekong dams by 2020.
Beijing says that as well as generating much-needed hydroelectric power, the dams benefit countries downstream - Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam - by smoothing the flow of the mighty river.
But Mr Osborne said the opposite was happening: construction of the dams and the release of water to enable mainland ships to sail downstream were leading to substantial changes in river levels.
Apart from preventing some species of fish from returning to breeding grounds, the dams blocked 35 per cent of sediment that used to flow down the Mekong, forming fertile soil.
Mr Osborne, who acknowledged that drought and overfishing were also factors behind dwindling fish catches, said the imbalance of influence with countries downstream meant Beijing was unlikely to stop building dams.
Beijing has declined repeated invitations to join the Mekong River Commission, which oversees the health of the waterway.
"Construction of dams without consultation, the promotion of river clearances and the extension of Chinese trade down the river sit alongside other aspects of China's steady push to assert its dominance in the region," Mr Osborne said.
