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Ties with China enter new phase,
Hegemonic stance blocks Bolton’s way to UN |
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Annan's reform plans draw flak from developing countries
United Nations, April 7 Secretary-General Kofi Annan's sweeping UN reform proposals are drawing harsh criticism from developing states wary of too much emphasis on security and too little on poverty and inequities in the global financial system. 
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Ties with China enter new phase, says Musharraf
Islamabad, April 7 The two leaders, who met at the Aiwan-i-Sadr, observed that a series of agreements and the treaty of friendship signed by the two countries on Tuesday would carry forward their deep-rooted and all-weather relationship to new heights. They also exchanged views on regional and international issues of common concern and said they would continue to share and coordinate their views at political and diplomatic levels. Receiving the visiting leader, President Musharraf said Pakistan and China enjoyed long-term strategic ties and their time-tested friendship had been a factor of stability and progress in the region. ‘‘Our relations are long-standing, encompassing all spheres and marked by a high degree of mutual trust and confidence,’’ he remarked. The President described the signing of the friendship treaty as a step forward from the historic declaration signed by President Hu Jin Tao and President Musharraf in Beijing in 2003. President Musharraf particularly referred to the economic and defence cooperation between the two countries and said Chinese assistance in the construction of Gwadar port and other development projects was a testimony to Beijing's commitment to the region's economic progress. ‘‘The fast-expanding Pakistan-China cooperation in various economic areas will herald closer ties between the private sectors and also strengthen people-to-people contacts,’’ he said. The Chinese Prime Minister appreciated the economic turnaround achieved by Pakistan and said consistency of policies had propelled Islamabad to a stable economic stage. Appreciating Islamabad's efforts for establishment of durable peace and stability in the region, Mr Wen said Beijing favoured peaceful settlement of all disputes in South Asia. China had been supportive of Pakistan's initiatives for peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues with India, including the lingering Jammu and Kashmir dispute. He said agreements signed on Tuesday were important due to their substance.
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Presidents, royalty in Rome for Pope’s funeral
Vatican City, April 7 In death the Polish Pontiff who travelled to more countries than any other pope in 2,000 years was drawing millions from around the world for his funeral, to be held outdoors tomorrow morning in St. Peter’s Square. Thousands of pilgrims, among an estimated 4 million packed into Rome, waited cheerfully in the brisk morning air after an all-night vigil to be among the last to see Pope’s body lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica. The line was far shorter than yesterday when anxious authorities told pilgrims to stay away from the saturated city and the police blocked any more from joining the queue. “It was incredibly cold in the night,” said Maciej Kubat, a 21-year-old student who waited is hours in line after coming from Krakow where John Paul was Archbishop before becoming Pope. “We got in for about 10 minutes, but it was worth it, I came because tthis was the best way I knew to show my respect for our Pope.” Among the kings, queens and powerful to attend tomorrow’s funeral, U S President George W. Bush led the way late yesterday visiting the Pope’s body along with his two immediate predecessors — his father, George Bush, and Bill Clinton. Aboard Air Force One on the flight from Washington, Clinton and Bush senior had fond memories of the Pontiff, who opposed the two Gulf Wars but supported Clinton’s intervention in Bosnia in the mid-1990s. “He differed with us on Desert Storm (in 1991),” Bush senior said. “He worried about the length of the war and the loss of innocents.” Clinton, himself a consummate politician, recalled Pope’s ability to energise people. — Reuters
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Hegemonic stance blocks Bolton’s way to UN
“THERE is no United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that’s the United States, when it suits our interest, and when we can get others to go along. And I think it would be a real mistake to count on the United Nations as if it is some disembodied entity out there that can function on its own,” a senior American official told stunned participants at a panel discussion in New York over a decade ago.
Those words, and many more, are back to haunt John R. Bolton as he faces a Senate confirmation hearing on his nomination as the next US ambassador to the United Nations. The Senate foreign relations committee postponed a hearing, scheduled for Thursday, to consider the Bolton nomination because several panel members were attending Pope John Paul II’s funeral, a committee spokesman said. The hearing was rescheduled for Monday. President George W. Bush’s decision to nominate Mr Bolton has deeply divided diplomats, both past and present, and members of the Congress. “In nominating John Bolton. the President has decided to pander to extremists on the far Right, rather than work cooperatively with internationalists from across the political spectrum,” said Charles J. Brown, president and CEO of the Citizens for Global Solutions. Mr Brown believes Mr Bolton is the wrong man for the job. “His past statements represent a litany of caustic diatribes against any from of international cooperation.” “The United States makes the UN work when it wants it to work, and that is exactly the way it should be, because the only question, the only question for the United States is what is in our national interest. And if you don’t like that, I’m sorry, but that is the fact,” Mr Bolton once stated. It is arguments such as this that prompted 59 extremely concerned former diplomats, 46 of whom served under Republican administrations, to circulate a letter opposing Mr Bolton’s nomination. The letter, written by Ambassador Jonathan Dean, urges Senator Richard G. Lugar, Chairman of the powerful Senate foreign relations committee, to reject Mr Bolton’s nomination when it comes before his committee. The former diplomats added, “John Bolton’s insistence that the UN is valuable only when it directly serves the United States, and that the most effective Security Council would be one where the U.S. is the only permanent member, will not help him to negotiate with representatives of the remaining 96 per cent of humanity at a time when the UN is actively considering enlargement of the Security Council and steps to deal more effectively with failed states and to enhance the U.N.’s peacekeeping capability.” |
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Annan's reform plans draw flak from developing countries
United Nations, April 7 The comments came during a General Assembly debate yesterday. Nations spoke publicly for the first time on Annan's report last month on overhauling the United Nations in time for a summit in September on development, security and human rights. Many of the proposals, the most extensive in the 60-year history of the United Nations, emphasise eradicating poverty for the poorest of the poor. — Reuters
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