NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Recommended Citation

"NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, February 22, 2005", NAPSNet Daily Report, February 22, 2005, https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-daily-report/napsnet-daily-report-tuesday-february-22-2005/

NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, February 22, 2005

NAPSNet Daily Report Tuesday, February 22, 2005

I. United States

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. DPRK on Nuclear Talks

Washington Post (“NORTH KOREA’S KIM SIGNALS A POSSIBLE RETURN TO TALKS”, 2005-02-22) reported that the DPRK’s leader told a visiting PRC official that Pyongyang would return to negotiations over its declared nuclear arsenal if conditions were “mature” and the US showed “sincerity,” the PRC and DPRK announced Tuesday. “We will go the negotiating table any time if there are mature conditions for the six-party talks thanks to the concerted efforts of the parties concerned in the future, he said, expressing hope that the United States would show trustworthy sincerity and move,” the government-run KCNA said, referring to Kim.

(return to top) New York Times (“NORTH KOREAN SAID TO BE WILLING TO RESUME TALKS”, 2005-02-22) reported that the DPRK’s leader, Kim Jong Il, has told a PRC envoy that he would be willing to resume diplomatic negotiations over his country’s nuclear program, but only when “conditions are ripe,” according to state media reports in the PRC and DPRK. Mr. Kim also said the DPRK would return to the talks only if the US showed “sincerity.” (return to top) Los Angeles Times (“N. KOREA HINTS IT COULD RETURN TO NUCLEAR TALKS”, 2005-02-22) reported that the DPRK’s mercurial leadership announced today that it would participate in international talks on its nuclear program if conditions are right, climbing back from an announcement earlier this month that it had atomic weapons and was not prepared to negotiate. The rapid reversal seemed to indicate that the envoy from the PRC, the DPRK’s only major ally, effectively rapped Kim on the knuckles for inflaming tensions in the region. (return to top)

2. DPRK on DPRK-US Relations

Washington Post (“THREE LITTLE WORDS MATTER TO N. KOREA; BUSH HAS AVOIDED ‘NO HOSTILE INTENT'”, 2005-02-22) reported that three little words — “no hostile intent” — and the fierce tussle within the Bush administration over them as officials tried to develop a policy to confront the DPRK’s nuclear ambitions. What does “no hostile intent” mean? As with a lot of diplomatic shorthand, a precise definition can be elusive, in part because the phrase’s meaning depends largely on the ear of the beholder. For DPRK leaders, diplomats say, the phrase goes beyond a pledge not to invade, conveying an implicit message of respect between two peer nations.

(return to top)

3. PRC on DPRK Nuclear Talks

The New York Times (“CHINESE RELUCTANT TO LEAN ON NORTH KOREA”, 2005-02-22) reported that the visit of a high-level PRC envoy to DPRK this weekend aimed at getting that country to return to talks over its recently declared nuclear weapons arsenal would seem to be an ideal moment for a fast-emerging superpower to make its expanding diplomatic influence felt. Beijing remains reluctant to take major risks in its diplomacy on the DPRK, convinced that its longtime ally, a country that PRC soldiers shed blood in large numbers to defend, will never turn on its patron. Analysts say, however, that Beijing’s priority is to maintain quiet on its frontier, and that it could take a far more aggressive tack if tensions between Washington and Pyongyang escalate seriously.

(return to top) The Associated Press (“CHINESE ENVOY URGES N. KOREA TO JOIN TALKS”, 2005-02-21) reported that a top PRC envoy Monday sought to persuade the DPRK to rejoin nuclear disarmament talks. Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party’s international department, had planned to meet DPRK leader Kim Jong Il over the weekend, the official China Daily newspaper reported. The Russian ITAR-Tass news agency reported from Pyongyang that Wang met Sunday with Kim for nearly three hours. It cited unidentified foreign experts in the DPRK’s capital as saying that the length of the meeting suggested the “sides might have had serious contradictions.” (return to top) Xinhua (“CHINA, DPRK STICK TO NUCLEAR-FREE KOREAN PENINSULA STANCE”, 2005-02-22) reported that both the PRC and the the DPRK want a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, said PRC Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan here Tuesday at a regular press conference. Kong made the remark when commenting on a PRC senior official Wang Jiarui’s visit to the DPRK, which began Saturday. Kim Jong-il, the DPRK’s top leader, met with Wang, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Monday. (return to top) Itar-Tass (“CHINA READY TO INCREASE OIL DELIVERIES TO NKOREA”, 2005-02-22) reported that the PRC is ready to increase oil deliveries to the DPRK if it returns to the six-nation talks on its nuclear program, a source close to the PRC embassy in Pyongyang told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. Other options of engaging the DPRK in the negotiation process were discussed at the meeting, including economic moves. After Pyongyang had declared its suspending the talks on the nuclear issue indefinitely, the PRC drastically decreased oil deliveries to the DPRK. (return to top)

4. US – PRC on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Kyodo (“CHINA, U.S. AGREE ON NEED FOR EARLY RESUMPTION OF 6-WAY NUKE TALKS”, 2005-02-22) reported that the PRC Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agreed Tuesday night that six-nation talks on the DPRK’s nuclear ambitions should resume at the earliest possible time, Xinhua News Agency reported. The official PRC news agency said Li and Rice reached the agreement during a telephone conversation.

(return to top)

5. US – Japan on DPRK Nuclear Issue

www.state.gov (“U.S.-JAPAN JOINT STATEMENT ON NORTH KOREA”, 2005-02-22) reported that the following joint statement was agreed upon by the US and Japan on February 19, 2005: The US Secretary of State and the Japanese Foreign Minister made clear their deep concern over the DPRK Foreign Ministry Statement dated February 10, 2005, which publicly declared that the DPRK would suspend its participation in the Six-Party Talks for an indefinite period and that it had manufactured nuclear weapons. The Ministers, while reconfirming their fundamental policy toward the DPRK, reiterated their commitment to continuing to seek a peaceful diplomatic resolution of the nuclear issue through the Six-Party Talks.

(return to top)

6. Japan on DPRK Nuclear Talks

Kyodo News (“JAPAN WELCOMES NORTH KOREA’S REPORTED READINESS FOR TALKS”, 2005-02-22) reported that Japan gave a guarded welcome Tuesday 22 February to reports that the DPRK is ready to return to stalled six-party talks on its nuclear program. Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told reporters that while the government has only just learned about the news, Japan would “welcome” it if the DPRK really wants to return to the talks.

(return to top) Agence France-Presse (“JAPAN PRESSES NKOREA TO RETURN TO NUCLEAR TALKS WITH NO CONDITIONS”, None) reported that Japan pressed the DPRK to return to six-nation talks on its nuclear program with no conditions and said it was baffled by a PRC report that Pyongyang had denied pulling out of dialogue. “They must respond to our calls and return to the talks without asking for conditions,” Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told reporters. (return to top)

7. DPRK on DPRK-Japanese Relations

Reuters (“NORTH KOREA DENOUNCES TOKYO ATTITUDE AS ‘PLOT'”, 2005-02-22) reported that the DPRK on Sunday called recent Japanese moves to change its defense policy a plot to “reinvade” it and said Tokyo had joined with the US in a hostile policy against it. The accusations, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), came a day after Japanese and US cabinet officials met in Washington and expressed “deep concern” over the DPRK’s refusal to negotiate over its nuclear arms programs.

(return to top)

8. ROK on DPRK on Nuclear Talks

Chosun Ilbo (“KIM JONG-IL’S REMARKS ‘POSITIVE’: FM BAN”, 2005-02-22) reported that Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called “a positive message” DPRK leader Kim Jong-il’s remarks that his country will return to six-party talks on its nuclear program “if the conditions are mature.” “While the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s Feb. 10 statement focused on not attending the talks, the remarks this time around appear to focus on attending them – though conditions are attached,” Ban told the National Assembly’s Unification, Foreign Affairs and Commerce Committee.

(return to top)

9. DPRK on Nuclear Program

Yonhap (“NUCLEAR POSSESSION IS ‘DIPLOMATIC VICTORY’ OVER U.S.: N.K. MEDIA”, 2005-02-22) reported that a DPRK broadcaster on Saturday called the DPRK’s announcement of having nuclear weapons a “diplomatic victory” over the US. The DPRK Foreign Ministry stunned the world on Feb. 10 by declaring that it holds nuclear weapons and will indefinitely not attend the six-party talks aimed at resolving the nuclear crisis.

(return to top)

10. US on DPRK Nuclear Program

Yonhap (“N. KOREA MAY HAVE 15 NUCLEAR WEAPONS: U.S. INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL”, 2005-02-22) reported that the DPRK may have up to 15 nuclear weapons, an official from the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was quoted as saying Sunday. The report by Newsday.com said an anonymous source in the intelligence arm of the US Department of Defense speculated that Pyongyang may have a stockpile of 12-15 atomic weapons.

(return to top)

11. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Program

Choson Ilbo (“N. KOREA REPROCESSED 1,500 FUEL RODS: DEFENSE MINISTER”, 2005-02-22) reported that Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said Monday he estimated that the DPRK had reprocessed more than 1,500 of its 8,000 previously capped spent fuel rods, extracting 20kg of plutonium, according to lawmakers on the National Assembly’s Defense Committee. 20kg of plutonium would be enough to make two or three nuclear weapons. Yoon gave the estimate during a closed session of the National Defense Committee in response to questions from lawmakers. He said the number was the result of a comprehensive evaluation by intelligence agencies.

(return to top)

12. Inter-Korean Meeting on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Donga Ilbo (“THE TWO KOREAS HAD CONTACTED IN NEW YORK REGARDING NK’S NUCLEAR ISSUE”, 2005-02-22) reported that it was reported on February 21 that the ROK and DPRK discussed a plan to resolve the DPRK’s nuclear program through diplomatic channel several times in New York after the DPRK declared its possession of nuclear weapons on February 10. Grand National Party member Won Hui-ryong claimed at the general meeting of the Committee on Unification, Foreign Affairs, and Trade, “According to the reliable source, North Korea’s U.N. Deputy Ambassador Han Song-ryul and South Korea’s representative (relevant official) held talks about the North’s possession of nuclear arms and the resumption of the six-party talks.”

(return to top)

13. ROK, US, Japanese Meeting on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Korea Times (“TRILATERAL MEETING ON NUKES DUE THIS WEEK”, 2005-02-22) reported that top nuclear negotiators from the ROK, the US and Japan will meet in Seoul this week for consultations on measures to drag the DPRK back to the multilateral negotiations on its nuclear weapons program, officials said Monday. “Chief nuclear negotiators, including Japan’s Kenichiro Sasae as well as Hill and Song, will meet in Seoul, possibly on Thursday or Friday,” a diplomatic official said. “They will focus on ways to resume the six-party talks as soon as possible.” Hill, recently named as an assistant US secretary of state for Asian affairs, called for “coordinated approaches” between Seoul and Washington last Friday, indicating the allies slightly differ on ways of pressuring the DPRK.

(return to top)

14. ROK on UNSC Role in DPRK Nuclear Issue

Yonhap (“SEOUL OPPOSES REFERRING NUCLEAR ISSUE TO SECURITY COUNCIL”, 2005-02-22) reported that the ROK government on Tuesday reaffirmed its opposition to referring the nuclear standoff over the DPRK’s drive to develop nuclear arms to the UN Security Council. Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said his country is not considering any follow-up measures in case ongoing international efforts to resolve the dispute peacefully through dialogue end in failure.

(return to top)

15. US on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Donga Ilbo (“UP TO 67 PERCENT OF AMERICANS OPPOSE SENDING U.S. FORCES TO N.K. TO SETTLE NUCLEAR ISSUES”, 2005-02-22) reported that two out of three Americans are against the commitment of US forces to the DPRK as solution to the nuclear crisis. A poll conducted on February 14 to 17 by Zogby International said Monday that only 18 percent of a total of 921 American respondents favor US military involvement in the DPRK, where the possibility of a war exists due to nuclear issues. On the other hand, 67 percent said no, showing that a greater number of US people favor a peaceful solution to this matter.

(return to top)

16. DPRK on DPRK-US Relations

Yonhap (“N. KOREA HOLDS MASSIVE RALLY AMID NUCLEAR ROW”, 2005-02-22) reported that the DPRK held a large public rally in Pyongyang and vowed to “crush” any enemy attempts to bring down its regime, the DPRK’s state-run media said Tuesday. The DPRK’s radio and television outlets did not specify who they were referring to, but the DPRK usually lists the US as its No. 1 enemy.

(return to top)

17. DPRK on DPRK-Japanese Trade Relations

Yonhap (“N. KOREA WARNS JAPAN AGAINST RESTRICTING FERRY ACCESS”, 2005-02-21) reported that the DPRK transportation authorities warned Japan they would respond in kind to any restriction on the regime’s sole ferry route between the two nations, a pro-DPRK media outlet in Japan reported Monday. According to an online version of the Chosun Shinbo, published by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or “Chongryon,” Kim Seong-chul, vice director of the DPRK’s transportation ministry, said that, “If Japan continues to restrict our Mangyongbong-92, we will make a law counteracting against it.”

(return to top)

18. Australia on DPRK Nuclear Issue

Yonhap (“AUSTRALIA MAY SEND DELEGATION TO N. KOREA: SEOUL’S ENVOY”, 2005-02-22) reported that Australia is ready to play a bigger role in multilateral efforts to solve the DPRK nuclear crisis, Seoul’s top envoy to Australia said on Sunday. “There is a possibility that the Australian government will send a delegation to Pyongyang in the near future,” Cho Sang-hoon, the ROK ambassador to Australia, said in an interview.

(return to top)

19. Cuba on DPRK Nuclear Program

Yonhap (“CUBA SUPPORTS N. KOREA’S NUCLEAR POSSESSION”, 2005-02-22) reported that the DPRK appears to have at least one friend in its high-risk nuclear gambling, namely Cuba. The (North) Korean Central Broadcasting Station reported Sunday that Cuba’s Foreign Minister Felipe Perez expressed sincere support for Pyongyang’s latest declaration.

(return to top)

20. Japan on DPRK Defectors

Yonhap (“JAPAN CHANGES POLICY ON NK DEFECTORS”, 2005-02-22) reported that Japan has revised its policy on DPRK defectors, deciding not to disclose any information on fleeing DPRK defectors under its protection, its Foreign Ministry said.Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi was quoted as telling local media on Monday that Tokyo will now keep secret all information on DPRK defectors in the custody of its overseas diplomatic missions.

(return to top)

21. DPRK Assembly Session

Korea Times (“NK’S SUPREME ASSEMBLY SESSION DUE”, 2005-02-22) reported that the DPRK’s legislature early next month will endorse the Foreign Ministry’s announcement last week that the nation has nuclear weapons and will boycott the six-nation nuclear talks, a DPRK expert predicted Friday. The expert’s analysis came hours after the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) will hold the third session of the 11th SPA, the first of the year, in Pyongyang on March 9.

(return to top)

22. ROK on Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation

Korea Times (“KEPCO TO SUPPLY ELECTRICITY TO KAESONG COMPLEX IN MARCH”, 2005-02-22) reported that despite increasing tension over the DPRK nuclear issue, the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) will supply electricity to the Kaesong industrial complex in the DPRK, located about 60 kilometers north of Seoul, in early March. “We will supply electricity to the site early next month, considering the development of the construction of power supply facilities in the complex,” an official of the KEPCO North-South power cooperation division said.

(return to top)

23. ROK on DPRK Aid

Joongang Ilbo (“AID TO NORTH NOT TIED TO 6-WAY NUCLEAR TALKS”, 2005-02-22) reported that giving fertilizer aid to the DPRK is a separate issue from the six-party talks on nuclear disarmament, said Chung Dong-young, the unification minister, yesterday. Pyeongyang had requested 500,000 tons of fertilizer earlier this month. At the committee on unification, foreign affairs and trade, Mr. Chung said the DPRK and the ROK needed to negotiate and fertilizer aid would be discussed during bilateral talks. He noted that the government could not make a decision on its own as the amount of aid requested was so large, and it therefore needed united support.

(return to top)

24. EU on DPRK Human Rights

Chosun Ilbo (“SEOUL BRACES FOR EU-SPONSORED RESOLUTION ON N. K. HUMAN RIGHTS”, 2005-02-22) reported that Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday it was likely the European Union will again submit a resolution on DPRK human rights record to the UN’s Human Rights Commission when it meets in Geneva next month. Ban said the EU had submitted similar resolutions for several years. When the Human Rights Committee adopted the EU’s DPRK resolution in 2003, the ROK stayed away from the vote, and last year Seoul abstained. Ban dodged the question what his government will do this year, saying only that although human rights were a universal value, each country could take a different approach to improving them.

(return to top)

25. ROK on DMZ Security

Arirang TV (“DEFENSE MINISTRY TO INSTALL ALERT SYSTEM ALONG DMZ”, 2005-02-22) reported that the ROK government plans to install electronic monitoring devices along the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas to detect DPRK infiltrators. In a report to the National Assembly, South Korea’s Defense Ministry says it will install the detection devices and closed circuit television cameras at observation outposts by 2011 with a budget of W100 billion, roughly US$98 million. The ministry also plans to replace barbed-wire fences and install additional guard posts by next June in an effort to beef up surveillance along the 248km buffer zone.

(return to top)

26. Kim Dae-Jung on Trip to DPRK

Joongang Ilbo (“KIM DAE-JUNG PREPARED TO GO TO NORTH, IF ASKED”, 2005-02-22) reported that reviving his desire to play an active role in relations between the DPRK and ROK, former President Kim Dae-jung said yesterday that if he were invited to visit Pyeongyang, he is prepared to discuss a range of issues concerning the Korean Peninsula. “Since the dialogue between the two Koreas isn’t working well, I can do my part to resolve the current stalemate in the relationship,” Mr. Kim said in an interview with MBC Radio, a ROK broadcaster.

(return to top)

27. ROK Maritime Accident

Asia Pulse/Yonhap News (“MISSING RAFTSMEN LOCATED IN N.KOREA’S EAST SEA”, 2005-02-22) reported that a ROK raft that went missing during an exploratory voyage between Russia and Japan was located in the DPRK’s eastern waters on Monday, the ROK Coast Guard said. The aircraft that detected the raft withdrew to South Korea at 6:20 p.m., while a ship manned by the local coast guard will reach the raft with the permission of the DPRK at around 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

(return to top)

28. US – ROK Military Alliance

Korea Times (“S. KOREA-US TALKS ON COST-SHARING OF USFK DUE”, 2005-02-22) reported that representatives from the ROK and the US will meet in Washington this week to discuss how much Seoul should contribute toward the cost of having US military forces stationed on its soil, officials said Tuesday. The two sides have so far met three times since early November to set this year’s amount but have failed to achieve significant progress. The prevalent view is that this week’s meeting, set for Wednesday and Thursday, will be little different from the previous ones.

(return to top)

29. Russian-Japanese Energy Cooperation

Itar-Tass (“RUSSIA TO EXPORT LIQUEFIED GAS TO JAPAN”, 2005-02-18) reported that Russia’s company Sakhalin Energy will deliver more than 26 million tons of liquefied natural gas to Japan under a 24-year contract signed with the Japanese corporation Tokyo Gasu on Friday. The company’s press service told Itar-Tass that gas deliveries would begin in November 2007. Apart from Tokyo Gasu, the Russian company had signed with the ROK’s KOGAZ, as well as Baja Mexico, Japan’s Tokyo Denrioku, Kyushu Denrioku and Toho Gasu contracts for exporting 7 million tons of liquefied gas a year.

(return to top)

30. Sino – Japanese Economic Relations

The New York Times (“JAPAN’S TIES TO CHINA: STRONG TRADE, SHAKY POLITICS”, 2005-02-22) reported that just as the PRC’s state news agency was berating Japan for its “wild behavior” in joining the US to express their “common strategic objectives” in Taiwan, the news came Monday that Japanese trade with the PRC jumped 27 percent last year, hitting a record high of $168 billion. It was only the latest example of a troubling dynamic in the countries’ relations: white hot economics and deep freeze politics.

(return to top)

31. US – Japan on Cross Strait Relations

Washington Post (“JAPAN TO JOIN U.S. POLICY ON TAIWAN”, 2005-02-22) reported that the US and Japan will declare Saturday for the first time in a joint agreement that Taiwan is a mutual security concern, according to a draft of the document. Analysts called the move a demonstration of Japan’s willingness to confront the rapidly growing might of the PRC. The US has long focused attention on the PRC government’s threat to use military force against Taiwan if the island, which the PRC views as a renegade province, moves toward independence.

(return to top)

32. China on US-Japanese Relations

The Associated Press (“U.S., JAPAN COOPERATION CONCERNS CHINA”, 2005-02-20) reported that the PRC expressed “serious concern” Sunday about military cooperation between the US and Japan, attacking a recent joint statement on Taiwan as an unwelcome intrusion into Beijing’s affairs. US and Japanese officials meeting in Washington on Saturday listed “the peaceful resolution” of the Taiwan issue as a strategic objective and reaffirmed the two countries’ security arrangements.

(return to top)

33. PRC on Cross Strait Relations

Reuters (“CHINA URGES TAIWAN AIR LINKS AFTER US-JAPAN MEETING”, 2005-02-22) reported that the PRC called for permanent direct air links with Taiwan, local media said on Monday, a day after Beijing expressed “grave concern” that the US and Japan had identified Taiwan as a security priority. Several weeks of direct charter flights over the PRC Lunar New Year holidays that ended on Sunday should become permanent, the official China Daily said, blaming officials on the self-governing island for holding up negotiations.

(return to top)

34. Taiwan on Cross Strait Relations

Reuters (“TAIWAN WELCOMES U.S.-JAPAN STATEMENT ON SECURITY”, 2005-02-22) reported that Taiwan cautiously welcomed on Monday a statement from the US and Japan that identified maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait as a common security objective. “I welcome the international community’s concern and interest in peace in the Taiwan Strait,” Taiwan Premier Frank Hsieh said in a statement. “Peace in the Taiwan Strait will help security and safety on the two sides. Taiwan should take up its responsibilities as a member of the global community.”

(return to top)

35. Sino – US Relations

Donga Ilbo (“CHINA FACES THREAT OF THE U.S. IN THREE DIRECTIONS”, 2005-02-22) reported that a PRC weekly magazine issued in Beijing reported on February 21 that the PRC feels a serious security threat from the fact that the US is surrounding the PRC, its potential antagonist, from three sides: east, west, and south. The weekly says that the US considers Japan and Taiwan as the first encircling net in the east. Also, the US is nurturing Guam as it core military base in Asia, setting the island as the second encircling net. Meanwhile, the US completed the western encircling net against the PRC by setting up its military base in central Asia, while carrying out wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

(return to top)

36. US on PRC Arms Ban

Reuters (“BUSH READY TO STUDY EU PLAN TO LIFT CHINA ARMS BAN”, 2005-02-22) reported that President Bush said Tuesday he might consider a compromise on European plans to lift a 15-year-old arms embargo against the PRC provided it addressed US concerns about security on the Taiwan Strait. “There is deep concern in our country that the transfer of weapons would be a transfer of technology to China, which would change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan,” Bush told a news conference after a 26-nation NATO summit.

(return to top)

37. Chirac on PRC Arms Ban

Reuters (“CHIRAC TELLS BUSH EU INTENDS TO END CHINA ARMS BAN”, 2005-02-22) reported that the European Union intends to end its ban on arms sales to the PRC, French President Jacques Chirac said Tuesday after talks with President Bush, who highlighted Washington’s security concerns. “With regard to China, Europe intends to remove the last obstacles to its relations with this important country,” Chirac told a news conference just before all 25 EU leaders began a summit with Bush.

(return to top)

38. US on PRC-Caribbean Relations

The Associated Press (“U.S. WATCHES AS CHINA WOOS CARIBBEAN”, 2005-02-22) reproted that the PRC is waging an aggressive campaign of seduction in the Caribbean, wooing countries away from relationships with rival Taiwan, opening markets for its expanding economy, promising to send tourists, and shipping police to Haiti in the first communist deployment in the Western Hemisphere. And the US, the PRC’s Cold War enemy, is benignly watching the Asian economic superpower move into its backyard. Caribbean trade with the PRC reached $2 billion last year, a 42.5 percent increase from 2003, the PRC news agency Xinhua reported. The US has applauded the PRC’s economic offensive, seeing it as a herald of political reform.

(return to top)

39. PRC Anti-Corruption Measures

Washington Post (“CHINA TARGETS CORRUPT OFFICIALS IN A BATTLE AGAINST TEMPTATION”, 2005-02-22) reported that for seven weeks, Cai Haowen was among the PRC’s most wanted fugitives. Cai, a mid-level transport official in the northern part of the country, embezzled $332,000 and borrowed another $90,000 from companies under his supervision, police said, then gambled it away in 27 visits to a casino just across the border in the DPRK. The capture of Cai, 43, was hailed in Beijing as a spectacular success for the Communist Party’s latest campaign, a drive to eliminate big-time gambling. The party leadership said it decided to crack down after Cai’s activities became public. But for some time, senior officials worried that the PRC’s ancient vice was flourishing with new vigor, as more people got rich and temptations for official corruption trickled down the bureaucracy in the transformation to a market economy.

(return to top)

40. PRC Fever

The New York Times (“A DEADLY FEVER, ONCE DEFEATED, LURKS IN A CHINESE LAKE”, 2005-02-22) reported that had she been younger, Liao Cuiying might have been mistaken for pregnant, standing beside a watery ditch with a hard, distended belly that spoke not of imminent life but approaching death. Her village is surrounded by Dongting Lake, an immense inkblot of brown water that sustains villages of fishermen and farmers. Dongting Lake carries a complicated burden for those who depend on it: people cannot touch the water. It is infested with a water borne parasite called schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, which can penetrate a person’s skin after only 10 seconds of contact and cause serious illness, even death.

(return to top)