Mekong Dams Could Destabilize Region – The Irrawaddy
August 12th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19214&Submit=Submit
BANGKOK––Uncoordinated decision-making and unilateral initiatives not only threaten the Mekong River area environment and livelihoods, but could affect security in Southeast Asia.
With four out eight Chinese dams already built on the Lancang, the name for the Upper Mekong River inside China, and nine more either in place or awaiting construction on the river’s middle and lower reaches in Cambodia and Laos, the jury is still out on how these dams will impact on the region. Environmental damage could also damage the economies in the region, in turn causing political strife within the affected countries and damaging the relations between countries. (more…)
Free Trade, Disputed Waters – The Irrawaddy
August 11th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19175
China and Asean have put in place a free trade agreement and a US $10 billion investment fund, but disputes over the
Mekong River and the South China Sea remain
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has often been sidelined by bilateral dealings between China and Asean member-states. But on Jan. 1, the organization scored a major victory when the free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Asean came into effect.
The FTA was a logical follow-up to the facts on the ground: trade between the two sides more than quadrupled between 2001 and 2009, from US $41.6 billion to $213 billion. With the FTA in place, trade between China and Asean is expected to surpass that between the US and Asean by the end of 2012.
Also on the positive side, in late 2009, China and Asean decided to set up the $10 billion China-Asean Investment Cooperation Fund (CAICF) to underwrite infrastructure, energy and information and communications technology projects across the region. (more…)
Despite bullish talk, challenges ahead for Thai economy – The Irrawaddy
August 6th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19147
Despite political upheaval, Thailand’s economy is likely to grow by 6-7% in 2010, though slowdown in demands elsewhere could offset this, according to the Finance Minster Korn Chatikanvanij.
Earlier Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva told a seminar on the ASEAN Free Trade Area that “exports of both agricultural and industrial goods are doing well and the outlook for the remaining months is also promising, driven by growing Asean economies and the global economic recovery,” he said. For the first half of 2010 Thailand’s exports came to a total of $93.07 billion, up 36.6% year-on-year.
However, sounding a note of caution, Finance Minster Korn told a gathering at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Thailand on Wednesday night that the country’s trade- and export-dependent economy means that growth is predicated on demand elsewhere, with a possible slowdown in China worrying given that Thailand is already suffering from a drop-off in trade with Europe, which accounts for 12% of Thai exports. (more…)
Looking East: India’s Eden, and a Land of Nod – Asia Times
August 2nd, 2010
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LH03Ae02.html
India’s Look East policy aims to help the giant nation develop economically and counter China, but involves grave moral compromises as seen in Burma dictator Than Shwe’s visit to the country.
Indian junior minister for external affairs Preneet Kaur(R) presents a statue of Mahatma Gandhi to Myanmarmilitary ruler Senior General Than Shwe (L) as his wife Daw Kyaing Kyaing (C) looks on during a visit to the Rajghat memorial in New Delhi on July 27, 2010. Than Shwe received a red-carpet welcome in New Delhi as he began the formal leg of a state visit to India amid protests and criticism from rights groups. (Getty)
As India sought a way out of post-Cold War economic stagnation, its “Look East “policy was a shot at finding its place in a globalising world – which was initially dominated by the US but later rebalanced by the dramatic rise of China and ensuing need for India to enhance its economic and diplomatic links with the growing Asian economies to its east.
The end of the Cold War was the nail in the coffin for India’s Non-Aligned Movement aspirations – for a third way between the US and now-defunct USSR. Without the two superpowers to play off against, the (self)deception that NAM was a viable alternative was finally blown away. For other NAM members, the end of the Cold War had a much bloodier impact, with 300,000 people killed during the six wars that wracked India’s fellow NAM leader, the former Yugoslavia.
Still, with a stagnant economy fuelling widespread and often raw poverty, India was a sickly Tiger, unlike the dynamic Big Cats in east and southeast Asia. Looking east offered not only new markets and trading partners, but models of economic growth and development for India as it emerged out of socialist autarky. Prof. Sandy Gordon teaches at Australian National University and is a founding editor of the South Asia Masala. In an email, he said that “The Asian tigers to India’s east were seen not only as role models for economic liberalisation, but also as markets and a new geopolitical sphere – one with which India was more comfortable at that time that it was with a policy of reaching out in unambiguous terms to the West.”
India’s economic growth continues to be impressive, with the International Monetary Fund now projecting 9.4 per cent growth for India in 2010, plotted to drop a bit to 8.4 per cent in 2011. Like elsewhere in Asia, India has rebounded quickly – compared with the West – from the global economic downturn that hit in 2008. India’s super-rich emerge to take their place alongside the financial elites elsewhere, and as the country’s middle class expands, vast numbers of people are being lifted out of poverty. The country is producing world-class multinational companies such as Wipro, Infosys, Tata and others. However vast poverty remains, according to a new ‘multidimensional poverty index’ developed at Oxford, and soon to be harnessed by the UN’s Human Development Report. This index numbers 410 million Indians in poverty, meaning there are more poor people in eight Indian states than in all 26 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. (more…)
New US Law Could Force PTTEP Disclosure – The Irrawaddy
July 31st, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19110
As Thailand’s national petroleum and exploration company PTTEP inks a new deal to acquire gas from the M9 field off the coast of Burma, new US legislation may force disclosure from energy companies investing in the military-run country, including PTTEP.
Thailand’s Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul was in Burma yesterday for the signing of an agreement to purchase gas from M9, also known as Sawtika. He said that Thailand will rely on Burma more and more for energy needs as Thailand’s own petroleum reserves are run down over the coming 23 years.
However, on July 15, the US Congress passed what may prove to be landmark transparency legislation as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This will require oil, gas, and mining companies registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to publicly disclose their payments to governments for the extraction of natural resources on an annual basis.
The new law covers 90 percent of the major internationally operating and 12 of the top 15 Fortune-ranked oil and gas companies. According to Senators Ben Cardin (Democrat) and Richard Lugar (Republican), who mooted the inclusion of the provisions in the broader act, the tools are now available “to help people in resource-rich countries hold their leaders accountable for the money made from their oil, gas and minerals.”
It is not certain at present whether or not this will ultimately oblige PTTEP to disclose payments made to the Burmese junta. This will depend in part on the outcome of the rules under the law, which will be ironed out over the course of this year. (more…)
Cambodia’s Teflon Tribunal – ISN
July 27th, 2010
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=119423
The first conviction against one of the lead perpetrators of mass murder under the Khmer Rouge was issued Monday, but questions remain about the tribunal process.
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) , a hybrid UN-Cambodian war crimes tribunal sentenced ‘Comrade Duch’, a former Khmer Rouge chief jailer and executioner to 35 years in prison Monday for overseeing the deaths of thousands of people in the gristly ‘S-21′ detention and torture center during the height of the Pol Pot regime. An estimated 1.7 million people, a quarter of the country’s population, were killed during the Communist Khmer Rouge era, as Pol Pot and his lieutenants sought to return the country to ‘Year Zero’, abolishing money and property and herding people out of cities and into massive labour camps. Across the country, an estimated 5 million survivors of the Khmer Rouge era remain, alongside thousands of Khmer Rouge officers and footsoldiers.
Relatives of victims wept as the verdict was handed out, but for some, the catharsis turned to anger and disappointment as it became apparent that Kaing Guek Eav, to give his real name, may serve no more than 18-19 years, by which time he will be 85-86 years old. (more…)
US’s Burma Policy Seems to be Floundering- The Irrawaddy
July 23rd, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/opinion_story.php?art_id=19039
Despite the US Senate vote to renew sanctions, America’s Burma policy seems to be floundering as Washington tries to address challenges throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
While US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton maintains rhetorical pressure on the military government in Burma, questions remain about the impact of and viability of American policy toward Burma.
Speaking in Hanoi, Clinton said that the US is “deeply concerned about the oppression taking place” inside the country, despite an election slated for sometime later this year. Since highly restrictive election laws were announced earlier this year, the US has repeatedly stated that the vote is unlikely to be free and fair. (more…)
Bangkok’s Referendum on Protests & Crackdown – The Irrawaddy/Sunday Business Post
July 23rd, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19042
http://www.sbpost.ie/news/world/thai-byelection-set-to-test-waters-50717.html
BANGKOK – With a Government party candidate facing off against a jailed member of the red shirt linked opposition, Sunday’s Bangkok by-election is being viewed by some as a part-referendum on the recent anti-Government red shirt protests and the army crackdown that ultimately dispersed the protestors, amid gunfire, grenade explosions and the burning of almost thirty buildings around Bangkok. Over eighty died and around 2000 people were injured during the two month rally that successively occupied two landmark areas of capital’s downtown.
The Government has retained emergency laws in 16 provinces – including in Bangkok – over two months after the protests ended. Fending off criticism that the laws, which allow for detention without trial, widespread censorship and ban public gatherings of more than five people, are unnecessary now, the Government says that underground redshirt activity is possible in certain parts of the country, but adds that it will review the emergency law implementation as soon as possible. (more…)
An earful but no arm-twisting – The Irrawaddy
July 21st, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19021
Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) reportedly laid into their Burmese counterpart Nyan Win in Hanoi, signaling the bloc’s frustration and embarrassment at the junta’s election plans. However, the specifics of the criticism were not spelled out by Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan.
The criticism also failed to find its way into the mild official Asean statement issued after the ministerial meeting, which contained a single paragraph on Burma with no mention of Aung San Suu Kyi or the rest of the 2,200-plus political prisoners currently incarcerated inside the country.
Conspicuously absent were any references to recent restrictions on campaigning announced by the junta’s electoral commission or the apparent breach of the electoral laws by the junta’s own party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, which seems to be illegally using state resources as it fills the shoes of the government’s defunct Union Solidarity and Development Association, a 27-million member junta-led mass movement.
It sounds all to similar to the Asean summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, last October, when a lengthy communique issued by the bloc’s leaders similarly devoted just paragraph to Burma, omitting key details about lack of freedom of association, media and free speech that stymie the prospects of the country’s elections being free and fair. (more…)
No textual healing for Thailand – ISN
July 21st, 2010
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&id=119092
Two months after Thailand’s army routed the anti-Government redshirt protest movement from central Bangkok, sixteen provinces including Bangkok remain under emergency law. Thai media carried Government claims that sabotage and political assassinations remained possible, as the now-dormant redshirt movement goes underground.
The retention of emergency law will be reviewed by the Government on a week-by-week, district-by-district basis. Nonetheless, keeping emergency powers has come under fire. William Burns, the third most senior official in the US State Dept. spoke at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University on July 16, saying that the retention of emergency powers “not healthy for a democratic system”
Thailand’s already-shaky press freedom is coming under renewed pressure. According to the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), 26 more radio stations were recently closed by authorities using the emergency powers. Many of these are linked to the redshirts and stand accused of fomenting protestors to come to Bangkok to take part in the March 12-May 19 rallies, which turned violent on April 10 when black-clad ‘ronin’ seemingly-allied to the protestors fought with Thai troops near one Bangkok’s best-known backpacker haunts. (more…)
