Madrassas to expel foreign students 

Saturday, July 30, 2005


AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Islamabad
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday the estimated 1,400 foreign nationals studying at the country's madrassas would have to leave the Islamic prayer schools.

"All foreigners are to be removed" from Pakistan's more than 10,000 Koranic schools, said General Musharraf, and no new visas would be issued to non-Pakistanis wishing to study at the seminaries.

The ban would also apply to holders of dual nationality.

"An ordinance to this effect will be adopted in the next coming days," as part of new rules requiring all seminaries to register with the government by year-end, General Musharraf said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged Pakistan to move against extremists and radical madrassas following news that some of the London July 7 bombers had recently visited the country.

General Musharraf vowed to continue a crackdown on hardliners ordered last week in which security forces said they had rounded up more than 600 suspected militants and Islamic clerics.

"Until now there is no suspect arrested" directly related to the London bombings, he said. "The investigation is going on. It's a little premature to draw a conclusion. It's a very tedious job."

The president, who has banned 10 extremist groups, said the raids were aimed not at rounding up large numbers of people, but at catching the leaders of the Islamic radical underground.

"I don't want to arrest the workers," he said. "I want the leaders of the banned groups. I'm not impressed by figures. We want to get all of the bigwigs.

"I don't bluff. I do act with realism. I am realistic, not idealistic. I am very, extremely serious."

He also pledged to enforce a ban on anti-western hate speeches being spread through mosque loudspeakers or audio recordings.

Many hardline madrassas were set up as indoctrination and military training sites during the 1979-1989 US-backed war against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.


Tokyo schools board adopts history book ignoring war atrocities 

scmp - Friday, July 29, 2005


REUTERS in Tokyo
Tokyo's education board yesterday adopted a history textbook for use at 26 junior high schools in the capital that critics say whitewashes Japan's militaristic past - a decision that will anger Beijing and South Korea.

Japan's Education Ministry in April approved a new edition of the textbook, written by nationalist scholars, sparking protests from China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's aggression before and during the second world war persist.

The six-member Tokyo education board adopted the textbook for use at four state-run schools and 22 schools for the blind and deaf and the physically and mentally handicapped, said an official at the Tokyo metropolitan government.

"The decision was reached unanimously," he said, adding that the textbooks would be used for four years, starting next year.

The board also adopted a civics textbook, sponsored by the same scholars, that has upset South Korea as it reiterates Tokyo's claim to two tiny islands disputed with Seoul, for use at the 22 schools for the handicapped.

Earlier this month, the education board of the city of Otawara in Tochigi prefecture, 150km north of Tokyo, had become the first municipal government to adopt the latest versions of the textbooks.

Critics say the history textbook, sponsored by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform (Tsukurukai), plays down the 1937 Nanking Massacre, ignores the sexual enslavement of women and depicts Japanese wartime actions as aimed at liberating other Asian countries.

A previous version of the history textbook, approved in 2001, was adopted by less than 1 per cent of school districts nationwide, but Tsukurukai hopes to increase the share to 10 per cent this time.

The Tsukurukai praised the Tokyo board's decision and said it hoped other school boards would follow suit.

"We would like education boards that are to decide on adoption from now on to also deal resolutely with unjust pressure from within and outside the country ... and make appropriate decisions," the group said.

The Tokyo board has jurisdiction over the four state-run high schools - all of which run six-year programmes combining junior and senior high schools - and a number of schools for the handicapped, while local school boards will decide what text to use in districts throughout the capital and elsewhere in Japan.

A civics group opposed to the history textbook demanded that the Tokyo education board repeal its decision.

"We strongly and angrily protest against this outrage," the group, called the Tokyo network to prevent the adoption of Tsukurukai textbooks, said.

"The board will likely taste disgrace internationally as a local municipality that ... adopted a textbook that distorts the facts of history," the group said.


King calls for restraint in use of emergency powers 

scmp - Monday, July 25, 2005


ASSOCIATED PRESS in Bangkok
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra says the country's revered king has warned him not to abuse his power under an emergency law that lets the government suspend civil rights in its battle against a Muslim insurgency.

Activists, media and some politicians have bitterly criticised the new law, saying it grants Mr Thaksin dictatorial powers, protects officials who violate human rights, and could antagonise Muslims.

Mr Thaksin said in his weekly radio address on Saturday that King Bhumibol Adulyadej had advised him about using the new powers - an apparent bid to boost the credibility of Mr Thaksin's vows to use them in moderation.

"The king told me to control the use of power granted by the [emergency] decree and not abuse power so that it will not cause problems or misunderstanding," he said.

Mr Thaksin also defended the new law, under which the government on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in the Muslim-dominated southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.

Citing the example of Britain, he said Thailand faces a similar dilemma over compromising civil liberties to protect national security and cope with a "new type of war".

"The government doesn't have a mania for power," Mr Thaksin said.

The new law lets the prime minister impose curfews, ban gatherings, limit travel, censor news, detain suspects without charge, confiscate property and tap phones.


Chinese set to become dominant language 

scmp - Saturday, July 23, 2005


JOSIE LIU and ALICE YAN
A US academic has forecast that Chinese will be neck and neck with English in the race to become the world's dominant language within the next two decades.

Zhao Qingguang, a professor at Carleton College in Minnesota, told educators and government officials at the World Chinese Conference in Beijing this week that Chinese culture and language were likely to rise to international prominence in the near future.

Borrowing from a 1898 quote by former German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Mr Zhao said: "What will be the main factor to influence the historical process of the world in the 21st century? Today, we can say that it will be the rise of the Chinese language."

Professor Zhao said that when he first began to teach Chinese at Carleton College 20 years ago, people doubted the usefulness of the language.

"But today, more than 800 American colleges have established a Chinese programme, and this is only the beginning," he said.

Despite the influx of Chinese products onto the world market, China's language and culture were still largely a mystery to the rest of the world and many people's understanding of the country did not go beyond the Great Wall, bound feet and giant pandas.

"The rise of Chinese is the symbol of the rise of China, and it should not be left behind the rise of the economy," Professor Zhao said. "We should be more active and passionate in promoting the Chinese language and culture - not sit back and wait."

The number of students taking up Chinese studies still lags behind more traditional second-language options.

About 24,000 American high school students learn Chinese, compared with the more than one million learning French.

State Councillor Chen Zhili said it was incumbent on China, as the home of the Chinese language, to actively advance Chinese teaching and help learners around the world.

To that end, China would recruit overseas volunteers to teach the language and try to boost interest in Putonghua in neighbouring countries in the next five years.

From September, China will for the first time recruit foreign volunteers to teach Putonghua overseas.

Volunteers with university degrees and qualifications in Chinese language education will be hired by agencies of the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language - known as Han Ban - to work in overseas schools and universities for a year. The recruits will be given a monthly allowance of US$400.

"Chinese language teachers are in great demand. More than 30 countries have put requests to us for teachers and we have dispatched 1,000 volunteers each year to 17 countries," said Xue Hualing, director of Han Ban's volunteers department.


US gives Howard the nod to attend Asia summit 

scmp - Friday, July 22, 2005


ROGER MAYNARD in Sydney
The final hurdle appears to have been removed in Australia's bid to join the inaugural East Asia Summit, to be held under the auspices of Asean in Kuala Lumpur in December.

But the move seems to have more to do with US-China relations than any particular sympathy among Asean nations for Canberra's wish to be included.

Concerned about the increasing influence of China over the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, US President George W. Bush has urged Australia to do whatever is necessary to win an invitation to the Malaysian meeting.

Australian newspapers yesterday reported that Mr Bush said he would be happy for Australia to join the summit and sign the so-called Treaty of Amity and Co-operation.

The Sydney Morning Herald said policymakers in Washington were concerned that the summit might strengthen China's influence in Asia.

Quoting a US official, the newspaper said "it was in America's interest to have Australia and other US allies at the summit to counter China".

The Australian said the US had "expressed concern at China's growing influence over Asean ahead of a crucial Australian bid to join an Asean economic group".

By giving Australian Prime Minister John Howard a nod and a wink at their meeting in Washington this week, Mr Bush has cleared the way for Canberra to sign the treaty.

It requires signatories pledge to take a peaceful approach to the resolution of conflicts in the region.

Mr Howard, who once branded the treaty a relic of the cold war, now looks like he will have to eat his words.

Until now, Mr Howard has refused to sign the treaty because of the implications it might have for Australia's alliance with the United States.

But Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said yesterday Australia had agreed to sign the non-aggression pact.

Analysts said the decision would likely be announced next week at a regional security forum in Laos.

Malaysia' Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said earlier this year that accession to the treaty was "absolutely indispensable" for participation in the talks.

"No country that does not wish any harm on the countries of the region should have any difficult acceding to the treaty," Mr Abdullah added.


Australia says will sign Asean friendship pact under certain conditions 

scmp - Friday, July 22, 2005


ASSOCIATED PRESS in Sydney
Updated at 1.14pm:
Australia is prepared to sign a friendship treaty with its Southeast Asian neighbours, but is still in talks with countries in the region over details of the pact, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Friday.

On Thursday, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Downer had told him Australia was ready to sign the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Treaty of Amity and Cooperation.

“The FM called me and informed me that Australia has agreed to ratify,” Syed Hamid said.

But Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio the deal was not yet done.

“We’re having talks with the Asean countries and ... we will continue to over the details of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation,” he said.

Canberra is expected to iron out the concerns and sign the treaty at an Asean security conference next week in Laos.

The pact requires signatories to renounce the use or threat of force against any Asean member. It allows for arbitration by a tribunal for disputes between signatory countries.

Australia had said it did not want to sign, creating suspicion among Asean countries, especially after Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s earlier comments that he would be prepared to launch pre-emptive strikes if terrorists in neighboring nations were planning to attack Australia.

Asean had told Australia it cannot attend the inaugural East Asia Summit in December in Kuala Lumpur unless it signs the treaty. It has been signed by seven other countries in addition to the 10 Asean members.

“If we can satisfy ourselves about various concerns we have then we would be prepared to sign it, particularly as signing it will ensure that Australia can participate in the East Asia Summit process,” Mr Downer said on Friday.

“We see the East Asia summit as the birth of a growing East Asian community so it makes good sense for the region for Australia to be involved,” he added. “If the price is signing a Treaty of Amity and Co-operation, we’ll do that if we can sign it without it any way interfering with treaties and other arrangements we have with countries outside of the Asean region.”

Kevin Rudd, the opposition Labor Party’s spokesman on foreign affairs, said discussion of the treaty was a case of “foreign policy mismanagement at its worst.”

“Only three months ago, Prime Minister John Howard said that he would never under any circumstances sign such a nonaggression pact with Southeast Asia,” Mr Rudd told reporters in Brisbane.

He also said it was “remarkable that we have a major U-turn and back-flip in Australian foreign policy announced not by the Australian foreign minister, but by the Malaysian foreign minister in Kuala Lumpur.”


Sex imbalance could threaten progress 

scmp - Thursday, July 21, 2005


AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Tours, France
China is set to become the world's largest lonely hearts club, with 23 million men of marriageable age unable to find female partners, an international conference heard yesterday.

The prospect of millions of single men portends major social and political problems for the country, experts told the population conference.

The mainland, like Taiwan and South Korea, had paid the price for a rapid decline in fertility combined with a preference for male children, according to University of Texas researchers Dudley Poston and Karen Glover.

Their findings show that since the 1980s, the use of medical techniques enabling the sex of a baby to be determined before birth has led to high rates of abortion of female foetuses.

"From the year 2000 and continuing until 2020 there will be many extra boys of marriageable age seeking females to marry, who will be unsuccessful in their courtship pursuits," the researchers said.

During China's baby boom of the 1960s, the fertility rate peaked at 7.5 children per woman - compared to 3.7 at the height of the US baby boom in the 1950s - but plummeted following the introduction of the one-child policy in 1979, to 1.7 children per woman in 2001.

The one-child policy led to massive sex selection in favour of boys from the 1980s. As the ratio reached 120 male babies for every 100 female, the excess boys became known as the guang guan or "bare branches".

According to the research, men who do not marry are more prone to crime, raising fears of social and political instability - and a return to more authoritarian rule.

The researchers said: "China could well turn to an authoritarian form of government. In such a scenario, the country's slow progress toward democracy could be stalled if not halted."

Female immigration to China on a large scale to counterbalance the problem was unlikely, the researchers said.

Instead, they suggested the most probable scenario was that excess single men would settle in "bachelor ghettos" in the big cities.

Previous gender imbalances in China have lead to major political upheaval.

In the 19th century, the Nien rebellion in Shandong province was in part blamed on an excess male population, estimated at 100,000, that was caused by an earlier famine and widespread female infanticide, the researchers said.


Britain says rights and freedoms upheld in Hong Kong under Chinese rule 

scmp - Wednesday, July 20, 2005


ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated at 12.18pm:
Britain overnight (HK time) skirted a major constitutional dispute in Hong Kong, saying in a biannual report that rights and freedoms have been upheld in the former British colony now ruled by the mainland.

The British government also praised the territory’s new leader, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, in its six-monthly report to Parliament about Hong Kong.

“Donald Tsang has a distinguished record in serving the people of Hong Kong over a long period, and we are confident that he will continue to do so in his new post as chief executive,” the report quoted Foreign Secretary Jack Straw as saying.

Mr Tsang, who took office last month, is a veteran civil servant who worked in the colonial administration and was awarded British knighthood for his service.

Mr Tsang’s rise to the top job was controversial because he replaced the unpopular Tung Chee-hwa, who resigned in March citing failing health. Many believe that Beijing pushed Mr Tung out of office because of poor performance.

As Mr Tung prepared to leave, a controversy erupted over whether his replacement would serve the remaining two years in Mr Tung’s term or get a fresh five-year term.

The government insisted that the constitution endorsed the two-year option, while Hong Kong legal experts and pro-democracy lawmakers said the law clearly says the next leader should serve for five years.

Beijing provided a constitutional interpretation favoring two years — a decision pro-democracy forces said amounted to twisting Hong Kong’s cherished rule of law.

Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997 and is ruled under a “one country, two systems” formula that promises a high degree of autonomy.

Britain’s report on Tuesday noted that the past six months have been an “eventful period”.

But the document said: “At the end of it, we assess that, notwithstanding the controversy surrounding the length of term of the new chief executive ... during this period ’one country, two systems’ has generally worked well in practice and the rights and freedoms promised ... continue to be upheld.”

The reported did not offer its own interpretation of the law. But it said the “power to interpret the Basic Law needs to be balanced with demonstrating Hong Kong’s judicial independence and high degree of autonomy.”


Beijing pledge on next Dalai Lama 

scmp - Tuesday, July 19, 2005


MINNIE CHAN
The Tibetan government says Beijing will choose the boy who will succeed the Dalai Lama according to the rules followed by Tibetan Buddhism for centuries.

Government chairman Qiangba Puncog said if the spiritual leader, who has just turned 70, died in exile, Beijing would follow Tibetan Buddhist precedent to choose his reincarnation.

"The choice has never been arranged by the Chinese Communist Party, but by the traditional rules of Tibetan Buddhism since the Qing dynasty," he said.

In 1995, Beijing installed Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama after rejecting a boy chosen by the Dalai Lama. The Panchen Lama is the second highest spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism.

Qiangba Puncog said the Dalai Lama, who fled Lhasa in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, would not be allowed to return to Tibet unless he abandoned his struggle for independence.

But the chairman said channels of contact between both parties remained open, with the government maintaining informal contact with family members of the Dalai Lama and other representatives.

Speaking in Hong Kong to mark Tibetan Week, Qiangba Puncog said the status of the Dalai Lama was not a religious issue but a political problem.

"The key point is the Dalai Lama and his followers should really promise to give up Tibetan independence and safeguard our country's territorial integrity," he said.

"The Dalai Lama's exiled government has set up a parliament and military troops. It has even expanded its separatist activities and made the Tibet problem an international issue." This made it too early to discuss the question of the Dalai Lama's homecoming.

Qiangba Puncog said the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile, based in Dharamsala, India, had changed tack during negotiations with Beijing and broke off talks at the time of the former Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.

He said the central government had sought to narrow the gap between richer urban and poorer rural areas in Tibet through education and improvements to infrastructure, such as the Qinghai-Tibet railway.

"In order to build up a harmonious society, social stability and economic development are the most important elements," he said.


Democratic ideals could pose challenge for Beijing 

scmp - Monday, July 18, 2005


CARY HUANG in Beijing
Ma Ying-jeou's election as chairman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, will create as many headaches as hopes for Beijing, mainland analysts say.

Mr Ma, who was born in Hong Kong and is a Harvard-educated law professor, is a staunch advocate of both democracy and national reunification, they say.

However, they believe he will continue outgoing chairman Lien Chan's policy of seeking reconciliation with the mainland and upholding Beijing's cherished "one China" principle.

"There will be more headaches for the communist leaders to face with Ma Ying-jeou, who links the reunification issue to democracy and ideology," said Zhu Xianlong , a leading mainland Taiwan affairs expert.

Noting that Mr Ma has been a vocal critic of Beijing's enactment of the Anti-Secession law and its crackdowns on Falun Gong and June 4 pro-democracy demonstrators, Professor Zhu said he could present an even bigger challenge to the communist leadership than pro-independence Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

"What the DPP has been doing is defensive, it just tries to distance Taiwan from the mainland without any demand to intervene in the mainland's internal affairs.

"But what Mr Ma would be pursuing is aggressive; he could intervene in the mainland's internal affairs by saying `you should first introduce democracy before we can sit down and talk about reunification'."

He said Mr Ma's landslide victory on Saturday paved the way for him to become the KMT's presidential candidate in the 2008 elections. Professor Zhu predicted if Mr Ma won the presidency there would be a relative period of calm for four to eight years, depending on whether he wins re-election.

"However, I am not optimistic that Mr Ma, as Taiwan's next president, would succeed in negotiating a deal with Beijing on major issues such as reunification."


Xu Bodong of Beijing's Union University said communist leaders were basically happy with Mr Ma's election as he adhered to the "one China" principle and recognised the so-called "1992 consensus" between semi-official bodies, which suggested both sides recognised there is only one China, despite being unable to agree on a definition.

However, Professor Xu said Mr Ma's backing of democracy and criticism of the communist government might displease Beijing leaders and create minor barriers to reconciliation.

"It would be problematic for him to play the democracy card, but all the Taiwanese politicians use that card."


Forums for citizens a chance for change 

scmp - Saturday, July 16, 2005


IRENE WANG
Plum Garden on the outskirts of Beijing is not the most obvious place to look for the seeds of democratic change, and 66-year-old retiree Fang Hai is an unlikely standard-bearer for the cause.

Early this month, Mr Fang was one of 23 people asked to express the views of residents on property management charges set by the Beijing Municipal Government. They told the open forum the charges should be lower in the suburbs than in the city centre.

In recent years, many cities and rural areas have held public hearings on policies that affect ordinary people. The process is not designed to challenge the Communist Party and does not include direct elections, but gives people a say in public decision-making.

Some analysts say contact between the government and public interest groups may help defuse rising social tension and usher in a kind of democracy with Chinese characteristics.

But observers also question the effectiveness of the process and whether it can become an institutionalised part of the way decisions are made.

The hearings became part of the legal system in the past decade with the introduction of legal codes on legislation, administrative punishment and pricing. As a result, the hearings have mainly focused on price increases and the drafting of regulations.

One place where the idea has taken off, with surprising results, is in Zeguo, a rich township in the coastal province of Zhejiang .

More than 250 residents were picked at random to represent the permanent population of 120,000 people. They met recently to discuss and rate which projects would be funded by the town's budget this year. The local people's congress backed the consensus to make it legitimate.

Zeguo Township's party secretary and meeting organiser, Jiang Zhaohua, said the outcome was different from what officials expected.

"We thought our people would like projects with immediate visible effects, but on the contrary, they voted for the projects with long-term benefits," Mr Jiang said.

"The usual practice of local governments is for 20 people from the party committee sitting together and deciding everything behind closed doors."

Zeguo township and the other 15 administrations under Wenling city began holding open discussions six years ago. The city's publicity department came up with the idea to explore how to "enhance and improve ideological and political work".

Gradually, the discussions turned into public policy debates in which anybody could express their opinions.

"The discussion process has been institutionalised," Wenling publicity official Chen Yimin said. "We assess officials based on how well they implement the system, and people question officials if any important public policy goes through without debate."

However, Wenling is still a relatively rare case among the mainland's 660 cities and 20,600 township governments.

More often than not, authorities are opaque and tend to ignore public complaints, fuelling rising conflict between citizens and the local authorities.

Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang said the number of mass protests has shot up from about 10,000 in 1994 to more than 74,000 last year.

Last month six farmers in Dingzhou city , Hebei province , died at the hands of armed thugs when they refused to hand their land to a state-owned power plant without satisfactory compensation.

Land disputes are a factor in the country's rapid urbanisation and modernisation and some analysts doubt that open deliberation will have any real impact on the situation.

Cai Dingjian , a former deputy director of the National People's Congress Standing Committee Research Office, said the hearings were mostly for show.

"Few members of the congress attend the hearings," Professor Cai said. "In most cases staff members just give the members a summary of their opinions or judgment, and so the hearings cannot have much of an effect on legislation."

Shanghai Jiaotong University professor Zhu Mang is also sceptical. "The public hearings carry no legal onus, and no laws specify how public hearings should influence decision-making," he said. "The deliberative process in Zeguo is established and organised by the almighty party committee, fitting in with China's reality.

"But it's up to those in power to popularise the Zeguo model and rein in official influence, and we should find incentives for them to do so."

After two hours of debate on the property management fee, Mr Fang headed back home knowing the issue was now out of his hands.

"All we can do now is to wait for the government's final decision," he said. "But after the government hears opinions from all sides, they may have a more impartial and realistic policy."


China sides with Kyoto, stresses rich nations' role on climate change 

Friday, July 8, 2005


AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Gleneagles, Scotland
Updated at 1.28pm:
Chinese President Hu Jintao renewed his backing for the UN Kyoto Protocol on climate change on Thursday (overnight Friday HK time), urging Group of Eight nations to take the lead in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Hu made the remarks as he took part as an invited guest at the three-day summit of the some of the world's richest nations at a heavily fortified golf resort here.

"To enhance international cooperation on climate change, it is necessary first to uphold the guiding role of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol," Mr Hu told G8 members and other invited leaders.

"Developed countries should take the lead in reducing the emission level and help developing countries with capacity building to tackle climate change," the Chinese leader said in a speech.

"It is essential to address climate change in the context of sustainable development," Mr Hu said.

It is also important to "follow a path of development that features harmony between economic growth on the one hand and population, resources and the environment on the other," he added.

The protocol, which came into force in January, set legally binding targets for developed countries to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming by 2010.

But it does not require developing countries, including China, to follow suit. Instead, they are being offered financial and other assistance to help them adopt cleaner energies and adapt to the impact of climate change.

US President George W. Bush is a fierce opponent of Kyoto, declaring its binding targets to be too costly for the US economy and unfair because fast-growing populous countries are not part of the targeted emissions cuts.

China, the world's second biggest producer of carbon dioxide (CO2) after the United States, is experiencing near double-digit annual economic growth and its goal is to quadruple gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020.

As the country industrialises, its energy consumption is expected to rise significantly and to cause air pollution accordingly.

In 1990, China emitted 2.289 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, but in 2002, after experiencing GDP growth of 204 percent since 1990, Chinese CO2 pollution was 3.307 billion tonnes, according to latest available statistics.


Bangkok offers help to homeless Hmong 

scmp - Sunday, July 10, 2005


ASSOCIATED PRESS in Bangkok
Thai authorities have begun offering medical treatment, food and shelter to thousands of ethnic Hmong expelled from their villages under a government campaign to drive them back to their native Laos.

The 6,500 Hmong refugees have been scattered along a roadside in central Phetchabun province since Monday night, after village landlords expelled them from their homes to meet a government deadline threatening them with fines or prison if they did not evict the tenants.

"For humanity, we must help them," government spokesman Chalermdej Chompoonut said. "We have officials to take care of these people already. They provide the health assistance ... if they don't have [food and shelter], we have to provide them also."

Thailand's National Security Council decided last month to deport the Hmong because they are considered illegal immigrants and are suspected to be engaging in illegal drug trafficking or helping Hmong exile groups stage attacks against their home country, damaging bilateral relations.

A local official earlier told doctors to stop providing the Hmong with medical care, while vendors say they were instructed to stop selling them food.

One baby girl died after she and her parents spent a shelterless day and night in the rain.

Paul Cawthorne, a Bangkok-based representative of Doctors Without Borders, said the group was monitoring the situation but had not intervened because the Thai government appeared to be taking action to assist the Hmong.

Thai authorities decided after talks on Friday to give humanitarian aid to the Hmong, but still regard them as an outlaw group.

"We consider this illegal entry to the country. We have to do as immigration law says," Mr Chalermdej said, without elaborating.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said earlier that the government was co-operating with Laos on the matter. But a Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yong Chanthalangsy, said his government had not reached any agreement on deportations.

The Hmong fear they will be persecuted by Laos' communist government if they are repatriated because of their Vietnam War-era links to the United States.


Laos willing to discuss fate of Hmong refugees with Thailand 

scmp - Saturday, July 9, 2005


AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Hanoi
Laos has denied that 7,000 ethnic Hmong in Thailand are its nationals but says it is ready to discuss Bangkok's plan to repatriate them.

Thailand earlier said it wanted to send back the refugees, who have allegedly been crossing the border since April last year.

Laotian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy yesterday said his country considered the matter of refugee repatriations closed after taking back Hmongs in the 1990s through a UN programme.

"For us, as of now, there are no more Lao refugees in Thailand," he said.

"We finished with all the refugee camps in Thailand when we completed the voluntary repatriation programme which brought us to work with Thailand and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the early 1990s.

"But if there is any issue Thailand wishes to discuss, they may raise it through existing mechanisms," he said, adding that there were joint committees at local and central government levels.

Part of the Hmong minority formed a CIA-backed secret army when the Vietnam war spilled into Laos. Many fled to Thailand when US forces withdrew in 1975.

On Thursday, Thailand's deputy director of the internal security operations command, General Pallop Pinmanee, said nearly 7,000 Hmong described as illegal immigrants living in Phetchabun province should be sent back to Laos.

But the Laotian spokesman ridiculed the comment.

"How come over 6,000 refugees are falling down from the sky?" Yong Chanthalangsy said. "Where did they come from? In the newspapers never have we been informed that there is such a movement of refugees."

There would be a meeting of the joint border commission with Thailand next week, he said.

"We cannot settle the problem or address any issue through the media. It is not acceptable that one side takes unilateral decisions."

Thailand has spent almost 30 years running Hmong camps, among them Tham Krabok, which officially closed in May.

Washington in 2003 announced a resettlement deal for Tham Krabok's 14,300 residents, who were living at the camp about 150km northeast of Bangkok.

The deal, which does not cover Hmong living in other areas, was considered the final chapter in the project.


Mainland winnows for grains of truth in GM rice claims 

scmp - Saturday, July 9, 2005


LIN GU
Following its report in April that genetically modified rice had been illegally on sale in a Hubei seed market for at least two years, Greenpeace said on June 13 that the rice in question had found its way into Guangzhou and other southern cities.

To date, however, no approval for the commercial release of GM rice has been granted on the mainland, officials in charge of bio-safety assessment at the Ministry of Agriculture said.


Some consumers are worried about the potential risks of eating unlabelled GM rice, which is genetically engineered to produce an inbuilt pesticide.

China recently ratified the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol, which requires imported GM organisms to be labelled.

Should China allow the commercial production of GM rice, it would be the first time it has approved such a project since 1999, when a global outcry over the safety of GM foods persuaded the government to stop the practice.

It would also be in stark contrast to Monsanto Co's decision last year to halt plans to introduce the world's first GM wheat in Canada and the US. At present, herbicide-tolerant or insect-resistant soy, cotton, corn and rapeseed account for most of the GM products. China has only approved GM cotton.

It has been suggested some mainland GM scientists are withholding information from the public arena, because such transparency might affect their personal interests.

According to a survey by the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekend, biotechnologists form a critical mass in the bio-safety committee of the Ministry of Agriculture. Quite a few of them also research GM products, are government grant panellists for biotech projects, and are directors of biotech companies. "There is a network of people who have very close relationships," says James Keeley, a British researcher on China's biotech policy.

Following Greenpeace's accusations, local authorities in Guangdong responded quickly with an investigation of the market at the centre of the allegations. But the provincial government of Hubei, the source of the illegal circulation, has yet to produce any report to address public concerns, although three months have passed since the problem was exposed.

Additional reporting from Reuters


Seeds of ignorance 

scmp - Saturday, July 9, 2005


LIN GU
Tian Zihai of Zhongzhou village in Hubei province was among the first farmers to grow genetically modified (GM) rice, although China has not approved its commercial release.

He bought two kilograms of GM rice seed in 2000 from a sales manager of the provincial seed company who said the new seed would create cost savings on pesticide and labour.

Mr Tian had no idea that the seed was genetically engineered to produce inbuilt pesticide, and that state law forbids its sale. All he knew was that the seed did prove effective in resisting pests, so he bought more the next year.

Now the Tians grow about 0.7-hectare of GM rice a year, selling some and saving the rest for their own consumption.

Mr Tian dismissed any note of caution about a rice mutation that even pests dare not eat. "Look, I have eaten it for four years with no problem at all," he said, smiling reassuringly.

Encouraged by Mr Tian's "success", the local seed station started to introduce the "magic seed" in 2003.

Also encouraged was Zhang Qifa, China's leading biotechnology scientist, who conducted the mainland's largest field trials on GM rice. When interviewed by Newsweek in December last year, Professor Zhang mentioned that farmers near the GM test areas in Hubei had grown and eaten such rice without any side effects.

The scientist was quoted as saying: "A local company got some of the GM [rice] seed and began selling it to local farmers."

The claim triggered six undercover investigations in Hubei by the environmental group Greenpeace. Until April, when Greenpeace exposed the illegal growing and trading of GM rice in the province, few locals were aware that they had violated the law.

A two-day trip in Wuhan and Xianning made by this journalist in May, a month after Greenpeace announced its findings, found four out of the seven retailers investigated had sold anti-pest rice seed.

Most investigations identified Professor Zhang - who works at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Huazhong (Central China) Agricultural University - as the source of the illegal grain.

Greenpeace collected rice samples from the Hubei market and sent them to the GeneScan laboratory in Germany for transgenetic DNA testing, which proved they had GM traits identical to those long researched by Professor Zhang's team.

But the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) refused to accept the test results, on the grounds that the standards might differ from China's. The ministry said it would rely on the findings of an investigation conducted by the local government.

In response to Greenpeace's appeal for urgent action to stop the spread of GM rice, Fang Xiangdong, vice-director of the MOA's bio-safety office, said: "We have to exercise extreme caution to find concrete evidence, so that serious legal action can be taken."

That extreme caution is understandable, given Professor Zhang's prominent status. Among his multiple titles he also serves as vice-chairman of the China Association of Science and Technology, the mainland's highest government-controlled civil scientific organisation.

While awaiting reports from Hubei, the MOA issued a circular on April 27, requiring a nationwide investigation into the status of GM crops in field trials. To date, there are still no reports from Hubei and no sign that the MOA is going to make any more public announcements.

In fact, the local authorities did take action long before Greenpeace's investigation. One industry insider said that as early as last autumn, Hubei authorities had already conducted investigations into violations of bio-safety regulations and "punished some wrongdoers according to law", although they would not give details.

A newsletter, printed one month ahead of Greenpeace's April announcement, by a local agricultural technology centre in Jiangxia district on the outskirts of the provincial capital Wuhan, said that anti-pest rice seed is "a type of crop forbidden to grow by the country, because it may not be good for human health, and farmers must not buy and grow it".

Zhang Liangxing, manager of the centre, said the local government tried to halt the harvesting and sale of GM rice last year, but the ban was difficult to implement because farmers were so much in favour of the seeds.

The manager said Professor Zhang initiated the field trials of GM rice and that when the seed appeared on the market, it was at higher-than-average prices. "Even if Professor Zhang himself didn't sneak the seed [into the market], people around him could have done," the manager said, adding that "as someone working for a state-owned agricultural centre, I would never sell a GM seed before its safety has been proven".

"China has a very strict legal system to regulate its seed market and GM crops, and we are regularly monitoring what's happening in the fields," said the MOA's Mr Fang.

Some, however, find that less than satisfactory. "The Hubei scandal shows that the government failed to control GM rice at the research stage, so how will it regulate large-scale commercialisation?" said Sze Pang Cheung, campaigner for Greenpeace China.

Yang Xiongnian, deputy director of the MOA's science, technology and education department, said: "We cannot guarantee the problem will disappear, given that China has more than 90,000 seed retailers and some profit-driven individuals may want to test the law."

Still, the man at the centre of the storm remains silent, despite repeated media inquiries.

Five years ago, Professor Zhang began the process of applying for safety certification for his GM rice seed - a prerequisite for commercial release. He has conducted all the required procedures, such as field trials, environmental release trials, and pre-production trials - large-scale farmer field trials across Hubei's five counties. When final approval for commercialisation will come remains anyone's guess.

Last year, Professor Zhang and 15 other scholars, including the leading biotechnologists in the country, filed a report to the State Council, urging early approval of a commercialisation permit and complaining that "over-strict" bio-safety regulations had slowed the industrialisation of GM technology and contradicted "the strong need for new technology among Chinese farmers".

On June 22, the MOA's bio-safety committee held its biannual meeting where experts were invited to give their views on the safety issues involved in growing GM crops. However, to the chagrin of GM proponents, commercialisation has remained merely a topic for discussion.

China has ploughed millions of yuan into biotechnology, with GM crops at the cutting edge of the research. Professor Zhang's national plant gene centre alone received 15 million yuan from the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2002, in addition to the 56 million yuan he received for research into GM rice.

China's largest investment in biotechnology, however, "puts pressure on scientists to deliver something", said James Keeley, a British researcher studying China's biotechnology policy. "It is a problem when you have this high-level investment, because at some point policymakers are going to ask, `what are the benefits of spending this money on biotech research if we are not going to use it?'"

One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Much of China's rice research funding goes to [Professor] Zhang."

Professor Zhang has signed a contract with the Ministry of Science and Technology, which has set a timetable for the industrialisation of GM crops.

It is possible that Hubei is being touted as a "we did it first" model to press for official recognition, as was the case with GM cotton in China.

That could well be the case, according to one Beijing-based scientist. "In some countries, popularisation happened before there were standardised regulations. It's such a nice technology, and farmers just can't wait."

That was also the case for one of China's neighbours, according to Mr Keeley. Indian authorities had long refused to commercialise anti-pest GM cotton, but scientists deliberately gave the cotton seeds to farmers and it was soon widely grown across one province. Due to their popularity among farmers, crops from the seeds quickly spread out of control. "Because it looks embarrassing, given that you can't enforce regulations, or you're persuaded that since farmers want it, you should just let them have it," Mr Keeley said.

Indeed, farmers like Mr Tian are always open to new technology, although he has no idea whether it's legal or not.

But a seed retailer in Jiangxia sounds a cautious note: "Our country has not clearly stated whether GM rice can do us any harm or not. Even if we're OK, how about our children, and theirs?"

Lin Gu is a Beijing-based writer for China Features.


Acceptance of rights replacing reflex fear of protests 

scmp - Thursday, July 7, 2005


SHI TING
Sixteen years after the Tiananmen crackdown, has it dawned on the mainland leadership that protesters may not be out to undermine Communist Party rule but often have legitimate grievances about economic inequalities and social injustice?

For the second time in a week, a top leader has openly admitted unrest is on the rise - and attributed the protests largely to economic and social, rather than political factors.

Zhou Yongkang, the public security chief and a state councillor, maintained the rising protests were "internal conflicts among the people" that had mainly been triggered by domestic economic factors, the behaviour of cadres and by a lack of justice.

Although they could become a major source of social unrest, panic was unnecessary, he told a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing on Tuesday. "If you look into those mass incidents carefully enough, you will find few of them are confrontational and rebellious in terms of political purpose, and most of them can be properly handled."

The right approach was to "be fully aware of their potential threat to social stability, while at the same time avoiding extreme measures".

The number of mass protests has shot up from about 10,000 in 1994 to more than 74,000 last year, according to Mr Zhou. His rare and frank examination of the causes and scale of protests on the mainland followed an acknowledgment of the problem by the vice-minister of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, Chen Xiwen, in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

Mr Chen said reports of recent violent protests by farmers were the tip of the iceberg. The incidents showed farmers knew how to protect their rights and interests, he said, and hailed their willingness to speak up against injustice as a sign of democracy.

Political scientist Hu Xingdou said the pair's remarks reflected Beijing's new-found readiness to address mass protests.

"Now they begin to stop the sort of paranoid thinking that every protest aims to subvert their leadership. "[They have started] realising most of the time it's as simple as people wanting some access to basic economic resources," said the Beijing Science and Technology specialist on social justice issues.

"I think the government may improve its methods of handling riots by trying to solve problems via dialogue instead of hardline measures."


Malaysia to allow tens of thousands of refugees to work legally 

scmp - Wednesday, July 6, 2005


ASSOCIATED PRESS in Kuala Lumpur
Updated at 1.01pm:
The government will allow tens of thousands of refugees to work in Malaysia to help make up for a labor shortage caused by the country’s expulsion of about 380,000 mainly Indonesian illegal immigrants earlier this year, a report said on Wednesday.

Most of the estimated 40,000 refugees in Malaysia also are Indonesians — having fled its strife-torn Aceh province — as well Muslims and other minority groups from Myanmar.

Once the refugees obtain valid documentation of their status from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, they will be welcome to “contribute to the economy in the country,” the Star newspaper quoted Home Minister Azmi Khalid as saying. This permission would apply only to those already in the country once the policy was announced, the report said.

Government officials were not immediately available for comment on the report.

The government previously rejected calls by the UN refugee agency to allow refugees to work, arguing they had entered the country without valid papers and that letting them work would attract migrants who move for economic reasons but pose as asylum-seekers.

An about-face by the government would follow complaints of a labor shortage at plantations, construction sites and factories since Malaysia’s mass expulsion of illegal migrants early this year, following a temporary amnesty allowing undocumented migrants to leave without penalty.

Malaysia depends heavily on foreign workers for menial jobs.

In recent weeks, Malaysia has fast-tracked the recruitment of workers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar and Vietnam to help hard-hit sectors.

The UN refugee agency last month played down concerns that allowing refugees to work would encourage more people to seek asylum in Malaysia, saying the policy could be structured to apply only to those already in Malaysia.

About 1.5 million migrant workers, mostly Indonesians, work legally in Malaysia. Hundreds of thousands more work here illegally, despite a crackdown launched in March following the amnesty, which enabled illegals to leave voluntarily without being jailed or fined.


Historic court ruling returns desert homeland to Aborigines 

scmp - Saturday, July 2, 2005


NICK SQUIRES in Hobart
Aborigines are celebrating the biggest land handover in Australia's history after an area of desert 170 times the size of Hong Kong was returned to its traditional indigenous inhabitants.

The return of the land, covering nearly 190,000 sq km of Western Australia state, is the culmination of a 20-year fight by the Ngaanyatjarra tribe, some of whom were living a nomadic existence as recently as the 1980s and were the last Aborigines to come into contact with western culture.

The handover, by Australia's federal court, means the tribe will have full and exclusive access to sacred sites without hindrance from mining companies, farmers or government agencies.

It grants them the right to hunt and fish and to use natural resources such as ochre for ceremonial body painting.

The ruling by Australia's federal court recognises that the Ngaanyatjarra have maintained their ties with the remote desert region since Western Australia was first colonised by Britain in 1829. There are about 5,000 Ngaanyatjarra living in a dozen widely scattered communities where English is the third or fourth language.

"It's important because it'll [enable] our people to look after the sacred sites - not like before," said Robin Smythe, of the Ngaanyatjarra Council.

The decision will also strengthen the tribe's position in negotiations with mining firms - much of Outback Australia is rich in uranium, iron ore, gold and other minerals. The native title claim, as it is known, covers a vast area of the Gibson and Great Victoria deserts of Western Australia.

The concept that Australia was an empty land - in Latin, terra nullius - and therefore ripe for settlement when Captain Cook first landed on the east coast in 1770 was overturned by a 1992 legal case which recognised 40,000 years of Aboriginal settlement and established the principle of native title.

A native title claim can co-exist with the rights of previous claimants such as sheep or cattle ranchers, and the Ngaanyatjarra's win will not lead to the eviction of white farmers.

"It's always been their land, it's just that their rights weren't recognised by white law," a spokeswoman for the Native Title Tribunal said.

"It will mean that if a company wants to mine, they will have to seek permission. Previously they could just go ahead, even if it meant destroying a sacred site."


Academics at top think-tank tread a fine line on state secrets 

scmp - Saturday, July 2, 2005


CARY HUANG in Beijing
Xia Yong's recent promotion, from director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Research Institute of Law to director of the National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets, has been one of two hot topics among members of the academy's 3,000-strong fellowship.

The other is the detention of a CASS sociologist and an official at the mainland's top government think-tank on suspicion of leaking state secrets.

Lu Jianhua , 45, from CASS' Research Institute of Sociology, was taken into custody by state security agents in April. Chen Hui , an assistant to the director of the CASS general office, was detained around May. Both are believed to be involved in the same case.

The appointments and the detentions reflect the academy's higher profile as well as the risks that prominence brings.

Professor Xia's promotion last month should not have come as a surprise to CASS scholars because the academy has become a reserve of talent for the central government. Many CASS scholars have been seconded or promoted to officialdom, and sources say the past few months alone have seen several examples.

Zhang Ximing, deputy director of CASS' Institute of News and Media Study, was appointed deputy director of the powerful Theoretic Bureau of the Communist Party's publicity department. The bureau oversees the country's ideological and theoretical study and directs the state media's propaganda work.

Jiang Xiaojuan , director of CASS' Institute of Finance and Trade Economics, was named a deputy head of the State Council's Research Office. The research office's main function is to prepare reports and speeches for the premier and his deputies. It also conducts investigations assigned by state leaders.

A leading legal expert who helped draft Hong Kong's Basic Law, Professor Xia has had little to do with state secrecy.

He is known in Hong Kong as one of four mainland "guardians" of the Basic Law for his argument that Beijing has the final say on the special administrative region's constitutional-reform issues.

Professor Xia has been to Hong Kong several times in the past two years for forums and seminars and he has often said that as an academic he did not represent the central government. But his public comments are believed to reflect official thinking. "Very often, their visits have been arranged to informally articulate Beijing's position ahead of a major decision on SAR affairs made by the central government," an insider said.

A CASS American-affairs expert told the South China Morning Post Professor Xia had also been to the United States several times to meet academics, US State Department officials and congressmen to solicit opinions on key issues on behalf of the central government.

Insiders say Professor Xia has also headed an investigative office under the general office of the decision-making Communist Party Central Committee. The office is often assigned by top party leaders to conduct investigative missions. Professor Xia's experience was apparently a contributing factor to his new appointment.

It has been widely reported that Professor Lu had also undertaken such missions in his past visits to Hong Kong. Many CASS scholars have been assigned such jobs, the CASS American-affairs expert said.

Many CASS scholars have also been giving senior government figures the direct benefit of their expertise in the past two years by delivering lectures to state leaders.



Behind the vermillion walls of Zhongnanhai, Pei Changhong , director of CASS' Institute of Finance and Trade Economics, and Huang Weiping of Renmin University had held face-to-face talks with President Hu Jintao , Premier Wen Jiabao and other senior leaders.

Since the first such presentation in December 2002, the Politburo has held 22 study sessions and summoned more than a dozen prominent CASS scholars to give briefings to top leaders.

CASS economist Yi Xianrong said the top leadership was increasingly seeking advice from the academy because, as an independent think-tank, CASS could be objective and balanced.

"Ministries, central agencies and local governments have vested interests on policy issues and often produced biased reports," Professor Yi said.

Professor Yi's recent controversial reports claiming that the mainland property market could crash - just as it did in Hong Kong after the Asian financial crisis - have drawn fierce criticism from various interest groups such as developers and even officials from the Ministry of Construction.

CASS' reports on the widening income gap apparently prompted the leadership to focus on the poverty issue.

The reports also played a role in President Hu's emphasis on building a "harmonious society" since September.

"The new leadership and ministers are better trained and more professional, thus they are more willing to listen to different opinions from the academics," Professor Yi said.

Professor Lu once played a similar role to Professor Xia in Hong Kong affairs, reportedly visiting the city to solicit opinions from local leaders on behalf of the central leadership.

But his role did not exclude him from surveillance by the state secret police who keep an eye on officials and scholars. And now protecting state secrets is Professor Xia's new job.


Most of the aid pledged is not paid, says activist 

scmp - Friday, July 1, 2005


AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in New Delhi
About 60 per cent of all announced international aid does not exist, global pressure group ActionAid said yesterday, singling out the United States and France as the main culprits in "phantom" aid.

A "classic example" of real versus phantom aid was money pledged for victims of last year's Asian tsunami disaster, said John Samuel, Asia director of ActionAid International.

He cited Australia, which he said had so far managed to give just 7 per cent of the money it had pledged. He also named France, Germany, the Netherlands and the US as among countries that have not delivered on their tsunami promises.

"In 2003, total aid announced by developed countries was US$65 billion, of which $50 billion was pledged by the G7," Mr Samuel said, referring to the Group of Seven industrialised countries.

"How much money actually reached the receivers? Only $27 billion, or just 0.1 per cent of the countries' combined national income," Mr Samuel said while releasing "RealAid", a report on the status of global aid mechanisms.

"For the United States and France, two of the world's largest donors, almost 90 per cent of their contributions are phantom aid."

The activist said figures quoted in the report were based on official data of aid given and aid received, apart from field studies. These had been vetted by experts.

"Over the last two years, most of the aid has been directed towards buying arms and ammunition," Mr Samuel said. "As we speak today, 30,000 children are dying of malnourishment and 800 million are going hungry. We demand accountability and transparency from the G8."

The G8 countries are due to hold a summit next week in Scotland.


ILO concerned about economic plight of tsunami victims 

scmp - Thursday, June 30, 2005


JONATHAN KAO and ROBERT CAIRNS
Updated at 6.35pm:
A number of key reconstruction projects have been launched to improve the economic plight of workers in countries devastated by last December's tsunami, the International Labour Organisation says.

Six months after the disaster, the ILO estimates that more than one million people in nations - including Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India - have lost their capacity to earn a living as a result of the tragedy.

Shinichi Hasegawa, ILO regional director for the Asia-Pacific, said re-construction must focus on improving jobs and living standards.

"The ILO believes employment creation should be an explicit and central objective of the economic and social reconstruction effort,'' he says.

The December 26 disaster was precipitated by an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.15 - one of the largest in modern history. It occurred undersea near the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The quake triggered a lethal tsunami that devastated nearby regions - killing 178,000 and leaving 50,000 missing - presumably dead, in 11 countries. Six months on, re-building societies destroyed by the tsunami remains a slow, extremely difficult task. In the countries most affected - Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand - survivors complain that overwhelmed local governments have barely begun reconstructing homes, re-building schools and creating work.

Emergency relief is still being distributed, with the World Food Programme feeding nearly two million people in the region. Aceh, for example, was particularly devastated. As many as 1,000 villages and towns there were either severely damaged or completely destroyed.

The UN said earlier this month it could take a decade to rebuild what was destroyed across Asia.

But some practical steps towards recovery are now underway. The ILO said that a number of new projects are now being launched. These include jobs training, skills development, employment exchanges and livelihood programmes.

The ILO's Shinichi Hasegawa said its tsunami projects involve over US$11 million (HK$85 million), contributed by 12 countries and organisations - including the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme.

He said the ILO was also working with other international and local organisations in providing humanitarian aid.

"The ILO has taken part in impact and needs assessments and provided technical assistance and policy advice to governments to help them develop income generation and employment creation strategies,'' Mr Hawewaga said.

"We have also given direct assistance with rebuilding infrastructure, reestablishing employment services and re-vitalising local economic activities and livelihood programmes," he added.

The ILO said examples of reconstruction projects it was involved with include:

A skills development training programme for women in fishing villages affected by the disaster in India.

An employment service centre in Aceh province in Indonesia to help tsunami victims find jobs.

In Sri Lanka, the ILO has been working with the government to help restore the living standards of people involved in the fishing industry, manufacturing, handicrafts and other jobs; and

In Thailand, it was co-operating with the Thai Ministry of Labour to help tourism industry workers who have lost their jobs.
The ILO said this week that many of these and other programmes "have just started and will being to show their impact in the second half of 2005." Mr Hasegawa said the ILO was also concerned about the rights of particularly vulnerable victims - such as orphaned children and the disabled.
The ILO is the UN specialised agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and human and labour rights.

It was founded in 1919 and is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of Versailles which brought the League of Nations into being and it became the first specialised agency of the UN in 1946.