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| Tuesday,
July 17, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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First
Sino-Russian friendship pact in 50 years
General not backed by people, says Bhutto Lankan MPs force
entry into House Ten more Bangladesh advisers sworn in |
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Environment talks open with US-Europe discord Maoists set terms for talks
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First Sino-Russian
friendship pact in 50 years Moscow, July 16 Mr Jiang and Mr Putin signed a broad Good Neighbourly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, replacing an outdated 1950 version that failed to prevent the 1969 border war. The agreement, valid for 20 years according to Ria-Novosti news agency, is not directed against any third state, said a text released to journalists before the signing. The treaty commits the giant neighbours to “mutual efforts to support global strategic balance and stability. “Both support cooperation over cornerstone agreements which provide support for strategic stability,” it continues in a reference to the key 1972 ABM arms control treaty which bars disputed plans for a US missile shield. But the treaty also underlines that “military and technical cooperation between the two agreed sides is not being directed against any third state.” In a joint statement issued today in the Kremlin, Mr Putin and Mr Jiang said they aspired for a “just and rational new international order.” Yet their friendship treaty made it clear that the two giant nations had no immediate plans to form a closer union. “The friendly relations of the two countries are inter-state relations of a new type. These are based on non-conclusion of a union, the lack of confrontation character and are not
directed against third countries,” it said. The treaty is the first such document since 1950, when Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung created a Soviet-Chinese alliance that later soured into bitter rivalry by the 1960s. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 Moscow and Beijing have put their disputes behind and forged what they call a “strategic partnership.” China is the biggest customer for Russia’s struggling defence factories, rich in expertise and advanced weapon designs but short on orders from Russia’s own impoverished military. Together, the two countries oppose US plans for a national missile defence and alleged US attempts to dominate world affairs. Both countries, staunch opponents of the US plans to build a missile shield to ward off attacks by so-called “rogue states” such as Iraq and North Korea, condemned a successful weekend test of the US defence system over the Pacific Ocean. Mr Jiang said yesterday when he arrived in Moscow for his state visit that he viewed the treaty as a basis “for long-term healthy and stable Russian-Chinese relations in the 21st Century.” Mr Jiang’s visit also follows the successful test on Saturday of a missile interceptor by the USA — a step forward in its quest to build a national missile defence system. Both Russia and China warn that the proposed US missile shield would upset the strategic balance and trigger new global arms race. China’s concerns are potentially even stronger. China has already bought billions of dollars worth of Russian jets, submarines, missiles and destroyers during the 1990s, becoming the biggest customer of
Russia's ailing military industrial complex. Despite such cooperation, some analysts point to contradictions and underlying tension in the Russian-Chinese relationship. The two countries’ trade volume was $ 8 billion last year and $ 3.8 billion in January-May 2001 -dwarfed by Chinas’ $ 115 billion in annual trade with the USA. Russian energy companies and airline makers are losing ground in the Chinese market to western competitors.
AFP, AP |
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General not backed by people, says Bhutto Islamabad, July 16 “The Simla Agreement’s strength lay in that it was an agreement between two democratically elected leaders. They had a mandate and they used it effectively. General Musharraf’s lack of mandate is a major impediment in the Agra summit providing an understanding of the strength and durability of
Simla,” she said. In a hard-hitting summary on the Agra summit tinged with satirical reference published today in a Pakistani newspaper The Nation, Ms Bhutto drew a comparison between the Simla Agreement worked out by her father and former Prime Minister
Z.A. Bhutto and former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Agra summit between General Musharraf and Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. She said much of the success at
Agra summit depended on the chemistry the summit leaders build up between themselves. “As a trained commando versed in the game of camouflage, General Musharraf walks tight rope between peaceniks and warmongers,” she said. The “code word” devised by the bureaucrats to describe the Simla summit was “if it is a success, we will say a boy is born and if a failure, we will say it is a girl. South Asia and the larger world community waits with a batted breath to see the offspring of the Musharraf-Vajpayee talks at Agra, the city of love,” Ms Bhutto said. The former Prime Minister, who is in self exile abroad, said General Musharraf arrived in New Delhi on July 14 to a “resplendent red carpet welcome. He tried not to smile,” which, she said, reminded her about her father’s words to her when she went along with him to Chandigarh for talks on Simla Agreement in 1972. “Do not smile,” my father said. “Remember our soldiers who died and are imprisoned. And do not look grim, otherwise the Press will say the talks are doomed.” However, the warmth of the Indian reception was “infectious” enough for her not to smile even though Ms Gandhi appeared “more aloof.” Referring to the “heart-melting” reception being accorded by India to General Musharraf, Ms Bhutto said the Indian Foreign Office planned the receptions accorded to important heads “well.” “General Musharraf’s itinerary is one that can make the hardest hearts melt. On the Indian soil, he was received as undisputed President of Pakistan, an honour his own people have yet to grant him,” she said.
PTI |
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Pak girl pleads to PM for peace Chichawatni, July 16 Ayesha Jameel, who hails from Chichawatni town in Pakistan’s West Punjab province, in her letter praised Vajpayee for according a warm welcome to President Pervez Musharraf. Ayesha’s letter comes in the wake of the India-Pakistan summit being held in Agra. She urged the two nations to overlook the past and make a new start in the name of peace and brotherhood. She also added in her letter that the Kashmir dispute was the root cause of tension between India and Pakistan, and it was very upsetting to watch the atrocities being meted out to innocent Kashmiri people by Indian soldiers, as shown in the Kashmir File aired regularly by PTV. She requested Vajpayee to resolve the Kashmir issue, which would strengthen friendship between the two
nations. Indo-Asian News Service |
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Lankan MPs force entry into House Colombo, July 16 “The Opposition leaders decided to move a motion for impeaching the President and they will prepare the list of charges for her impeachment,” Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told reporters here. Earlier, a number of Opposition MPs sought to enter Parliament, a day after Speaker Anura Bandaranaike refused to summon the House in defiance of Mr Kumaratunga’s order proroguing it till September 7. Angry leaders demanded to know from the police why MPs were being prevented from entry. A police officer told them that they were acting under instructions from the President, All-Ceylon Tamil Congress MP A.Venayagamoorthy said. Later, at the instance of the Speaker, the MPs were allowed to hold their meeting in a committee room. Under the Sri Lankan constitution, an impeachment motion needs the support of two-third members of the House for automatic admission, but alternatively, the Speaker is allowed the discretion to admit it with the support of half the number of MPs. Thereafter, the charges in the motion are referred to the supreme court. Mr Wickremesinghe said the Opposition was also looking into alternative means of convening parliament. Parliament would have to do it on its own as the Speaker had ruled that it was not within his powers to summon the House after being prorogued by the President. “All members are bound by oath to uphold the constitution, and by the Doctrine of Necessity, they will have to meet to take up the no-trust motion, which has the support of 115 in the 225-member House”, he said. The Leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, however, did not attend the meeting in Parliament and is planning its own mass protests. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress joined the meeting and expressed support to the decision to impeach the
President. PTI |
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Ten more
Bangladesh advisers sworn in Dhaka, July 16 The eleven-member advisory council will be answerable to the President and will run the day-to-day administration, assist the election commission in conducting the forth coming general election. It will hold office till an elected government takes charge. The newly inducted advisers are — Mr Syed Istiaque Ahmed, a renowned legal practitioner, Justice B.B. Roy Chowdhury, Major-Gen (retd) Moinul Hossain Chowdhury, who was also Bangladesh High Commissioner in Australia, Mr M. Hafizuddin Khan, former Comptroller and Auditor General, Syed Manjur Elahi, an industrialist, and Brig Abdul Malek, a heart specialist, Mr A.S.M. Shahjahan, former police chief and Secretary to the government, Mr A. Muyeed Chowdhury, former Chairman of the Board of Revenue, Ms Rakaiya Afazal Rahman, president of the Metropolitan Chamber and Prof A.K.M. Amanul Islam Chowdhury of the Dhaka University. Four persons each from the list submitted by the two parties, the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have been appointed. The two others, Mr Ahmed and Mr Elahi, were also advisers in the 1996 caretaker government. Meanwhile, the Chief Adviser, Justice Latifur Rahman, has surprised all by shuffling 13 secretaries to the government. He has said his first priority was to restore law and order and recover illegal arms before the election. The Chief Election Commissioner said today that the preparations were in full swing to hold the election in the first week of October. The election schedule would be announced in the first part of August. |
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Israeli tanks destroy Palestinian police unit posts Hebron (West Bank), July 16 The Israeli military said soldiers returned Palestinian fire from several locations in Hebron, the only West Bank town divided into Israeli and Palestinian zones. Israeli soldiers control the centre of the city, where about 450 Jewish settlers live in three enclaves. Israeli tanks destroyed five posts belonging to Force 17, an elite unit of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s police. JERUSALEM: The Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Monday defended his meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the second in less than a month, against angry protests. Peres, the leading dove in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s right-wing dominated government, denied suggestions that his meeting with Arafat in Cairo yesterday while he was there for talks with Egyptian officials was pre-arranged.
AP, AFP |
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Environment talks open with US-Europe discord Bonn (Germany), July 16 With the USA and Europe at daggers drawn over the 1997 U.N.-sponsored Kyoto Protocol, which would force industrial powers to cut greenhouse gas emissions, chances seem slim of an accord during two weeks of meetings in Bonn. Japan has emerged as a pivotal player between the other two polluting, industrial regions. But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has said it would take more talks in Morocco in October to reach an overall deal. Prime Minister Koizumi’s cautious pessimism brought angry responses from environmental campaigners who say delay can only increase the threat that global warming would melt polar ice-caps and flood coastlines and islands. Reuters |
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Maoists set terms for talks Kathmandu, July 16 “I have received signals from the Maoist high command expressing their readiness to hold dialogue, with minimum conditions, including the resignation of the premier, with either the new government or trusted men of the ruling Nepali Congress,” Padma Ratna Tuladhar said. “The Maoists have made it clear that they will not hold dialogue with Koirala’s government and they want him to step down so that the dialogue can start soon,” Mr Tuladhar said. AFP |
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Colombo, July 16
