Author: Tejinder Singh
8 December 2008 - Issue : 811
A fter addressing an overflowing house of European Parliament December 4, the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, appeared at a joint press conference with Hans-Gert Poettering, the President of the only directly elected European institution, the European Parliament. Wit, humour, serenity and positive vibes were present in the packed environs of the Anna Politkovskaya European Parliament press room, named after the slain Russian journalist, as the Dalai Lama was at ease with international journalists.
Answering a question about economic crisis, the spiritual leader explained the ongoing market crisis around the world. Saying, “Market itself is a creation of human beings,” the Buddhist leader asked, “What is the real cause of this sort of economic crisis?” Citing answers from his business friends, the Dalai Lama told journalists: “Too much speculation and ultimately greed,” adding, “The pot - ential to help is: reduce greed and (increase) self-discipline. “Economic crisis is something urgent so it will be helpful to reduce some other conflict (that are going on) in the name of faith and nationality.”
Going down memory lane, the Dalai Lama listed the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, and Burma and North Korea as some of the instances that could not have happened or are still happening without China nodding its approval. Citing the “uncomfortable people of Hong Kong,” “reunification of Taiwan,” and the separatist factions in the southwestern Chinese province of Xinjiang as areas where such a moral authority should be displayed, the Buddhist leader insisted he only wants meaningful autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule.
The leader from Tibet told journalists, “actually the whole world knows we are not separatists and also many Chinese writers and thinkers and many Chinese students if they have the opportunity to know the reality really support it and are in fact very critical of their government policy. “If Chinese government still accuse us of being splitists, we ourselves are confused. We are not ‘splittists,’ but the Chinese government still accuses us of being ‘splittists,’” he said.
China cancelled the annual EU-China Summit slated for December 1 when French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced he would meet the Dalai Lama in Poland. Sarkozy also represents the EU Presidency as France holds the rotating EU Presidency till the end of the year before handing it over to the Czech Republic for next six months.
When asked to comment on his meeting with Sarkozy, the Dalai Lama, with a cheerful smile said, “I have met the wife (Mrs. Sarkozy) and will be meeting the husband.” Praising the Chinese people for their diligence and perseverance and citing “manpower, economic and military power” as positive desired contributors for China to becomes “a superpower,” the Dalai Lama pointed out, “Now one important factor is moral authority and that is lacking. “Because of its very poor record on human rights and religious freedom and freedom of expression and freedom of the press — too much censorship — the image of China in the field of moral authority is very, very poor,” he said.
“The sensible Chinese realise China should now give more attention to this field to get more respectability in world affairs,” the Nobel peace laureate said, adding, “My faith in Chinese people has never shaken,” while the top echelons of Chinese leadership is divided into hard liners and soft approach advocates.
The Dalai Lama called the Chinese regime a “capitalist totalitarian regime,” and urged the importance of trust and transparency telling journalists, “trust is the key factor and for that transparency (is) really very much needed.” Calling upon the Chinese authorities to “adjust to new reality,” the Buddhist leader suggested that the Chinese authorities also can change to fit into the changing world scenario. Earlier, he addressed the European Parliament during his second day in the Belgian capital, where he was greeted by loud applause and Tibetan flags.
President Poettering, assured that the parliament would “continue to defend the rights of the Tibetan people to their cultural and religious identity.” He called on Chinese leaders to hold meaningful talks with representatives of the exiled Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India, and has sought “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet since he had to leave his homeland following a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, nine years after Chinese troops invaded the region. Ruled by China since the 18th Century, Tibet became independent in 1911, but the new Communist regime in China reasserted control in 1951, and installed a Communist government in 1953.
Showing posts with label NORTH KOREA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NORTH KOREA. Show all posts
Monday, December 8, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
EU looks forward to taming Asian giants at ASEM Beijing Summit
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current holder of rotating EU Presidency on Tuesday (October 21) announced his intentions to bring China and India to the international negotiating table slated for next month to streamline global financial reforms aimed at international financial institutions including International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Addressing the Plenary Session of the European Parliament at its Strasbourg seat, Sarkozy said, “With (European Commission) President (Jose Manuel) Barroso, we are going to visit China, the aim being also to convince China and India to take part in this summit.”
Reiterating, “This is a global crisis so the response can only be global,’’ the EU Council President asked, “Who will take part in this summit?”
“There are a lot of different schools. I believe the most straightforward thing would be the G8, obviously with Russia. We need to add the G5 to that, obviously with China and India,’’ Sarkozy said answering his own question.
Beijing is hosting the 7th ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) on October 24-25 and with the formal acceptance of six new members, Bulgaria, India, Mongolia, Pakistan, Romania and the ASEAN (Association of the Southeast Asian Nations) Secretariat, the gathering is set to swell the membership to 45.
According to political pundits, with the presence of Asian economic heavy weights China and India along with arch-rivals Pakistan and India, the Summit will be more a testing ground for the new arrivals with agenda being overshadowed by ongoing global financial events.
Yeo Lay Hwee, senior research fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Relations and Associate Director of the EU Centre in Singapore warned, “we must not expect too much or we will be disappointed,” as ASEM is “not a venue for negotiations,” but “an ideal platform for testing new and evolving ideas.”
Addressing a select gathering of diplomats, academics and journalists at an event titled, “Injecting new momentum into ASEM, an uphill struggle?” organised by Brussels based think-tank “European Policy Centre,” (EPC) on Monday (October 20), Lay Hwee pointed that there was no doubt that China will deliver “a superbly organised and executed meeting.”
Quoting the theme of the Summit, “Vision and Action --Towards a Win-Win Solution,” she said, “Taking ASEM for what it is, an informal dialogue form, one should be realistic and not expect anything beyond a talk fest, the outcome of which will be more declarations noting the challenges ahead and stating common positions on some of the issues.”
Going down the memory lane, Lay Hwee said, “Ten years ago, the EU agreed to help (Asian) member states affected by the Asian financial crisis and today we have another financial crisis.” Citing, “crisis brings opportunity,” she added, “ASEM, not to look irrelevant, must make an impact.”
“We expect to consolidate progress made at the Helsinki (Summit) in 2006,” hoped Geoffrey Barret, senior advisor for Asia at the European Commission. Addressing the audience Barret said, “ASEM is based entirely on political will,” and outlined four building blocks of the ASEM platform:
Climate negotiations, Development co-operation on Millienuium Development Goals, Labour employment and social cohesion, Human rights.
BURMA IN, NO NORTH KOREA
On the question of Burma, Lay Hwee said, “the EU changed attitude saying better to engage than to leave them alone.”
Professor Xing Hua, senior researcher and director, Centre for EU studies, CIIS, added, “If we are patient and skillful, we can help Burma to seek solutions to their internal problems.”
No speaker on the panel responded to the question of participation of North Korea in ASEM as China, the mentor of North Korea was holding the Summit.
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE
Moreover, Barret said he expected another declaration on international financial development adding that ASEM 7 will be the largest event ever hosted by the Chinese after the Olympic games representing 60 percent of the world population and 60 percent of global trade.
Founded in 1996, with 27 members, ASEM is going to be 45 members strong at Beijing and is looked at as the main multilateral channel for communication between Asia and Europe and six summits have taken place till date.
According to figures released on Monday (October 20) by the European Union’s statistics bureau Eurostat, the EU exports between 2000 and 2007, to the 16 Asian countries in ASEM rose from 146 billion Euro to 228 billion, while imports increased from 285 billion to 459 billion Euro.
The Asian countries accounted for more than a quarter of the EU's total external trade in goods in 2007. However, their trade with EU showed very different patterns between 2000 and 2007.
Among the 16 Asian countries, China was not only the leading destination for EU exports in 2007, accounting for 31 percent of the total, but also the leading source of EU imports, according to Eurostat.
Addressing the Plenary Session of the European Parliament at its Strasbourg seat, Sarkozy said, “With (European Commission) President (Jose Manuel) Barroso, we are going to visit China, the aim being also to convince China and India to take part in this summit.”
Reiterating, “This is a global crisis so the response can only be global,’’ the EU Council President asked, “Who will take part in this summit?”
“There are a lot of different schools. I believe the most straightforward thing would be the G8, obviously with Russia. We need to add the G5 to that, obviously with China and India,’’ Sarkozy said answering his own question.
Beijing is hosting the 7th ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) on October 24-25 and with the formal acceptance of six new members, Bulgaria, India, Mongolia, Pakistan, Romania and the ASEAN (Association of the Southeast Asian Nations) Secretariat, the gathering is set to swell the membership to 45.
According to political pundits, with the presence of Asian economic heavy weights China and India along with arch-rivals Pakistan and India, the Summit will be more a testing ground for the new arrivals with agenda being overshadowed by ongoing global financial events.
Yeo Lay Hwee, senior research fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Relations and Associate Director of the EU Centre in Singapore warned, “we must not expect too much or we will be disappointed,” as ASEM is “not a venue for negotiations,” but “an ideal platform for testing new and evolving ideas.”
Addressing a select gathering of diplomats, academics and journalists at an event titled, “Injecting new momentum into ASEM, an uphill struggle?” organised by Brussels based think-tank “European Policy Centre,” (EPC) on Monday (October 20), Lay Hwee pointed that there was no doubt that China will deliver “a superbly organised and executed meeting.”
Quoting the theme of the Summit, “Vision and Action --Towards a Win-Win Solution,” she said, “Taking ASEM for what it is, an informal dialogue form, one should be realistic and not expect anything beyond a talk fest, the outcome of which will be more declarations noting the challenges ahead and stating common positions on some of the issues.”
Going down the memory lane, Lay Hwee said, “Ten years ago, the EU agreed to help (Asian) member states affected by the Asian financial crisis and today we have another financial crisis.” Citing, “crisis brings opportunity,” she added, “ASEM, not to look irrelevant, must make an impact.”
“We expect to consolidate progress made at the Helsinki (Summit) in 2006,” hoped Geoffrey Barret, senior advisor for Asia at the European Commission. Addressing the audience Barret said, “ASEM is based entirely on political will,” and outlined four building blocks of the ASEM platform:
Climate negotiations, Development co-operation on Millienuium Development Goals, Labour employment and social cohesion, Human rights.
BURMA IN, NO NORTH KOREA
On the question of Burma, Lay Hwee said, “the EU changed attitude saying better to engage than to leave them alone.”
Professor Xing Hua, senior researcher and director, Centre for EU studies, CIIS, added, “If we are patient and skillful, we can help Burma to seek solutions to their internal problems.”
No speaker on the panel responded to the question of participation of North Korea in ASEM as China, the mentor of North Korea was holding the Summit.
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE
Moreover, Barret said he expected another declaration on international financial development adding that ASEM 7 will be the largest event ever hosted by the Chinese after the Olympic games representing 60 percent of the world population and 60 percent of global trade.
Founded in 1996, with 27 members, ASEM is going to be 45 members strong at Beijing and is looked at as the main multilateral channel for communication between Asia and Europe and six summits have taken place till date.
According to figures released on Monday (October 20) by the European Union’s statistics bureau Eurostat, the EU exports between 2000 and 2007, to the 16 Asian countries in ASEM rose from 146 billion Euro to 228 billion, while imports increased from 285 billion to 459 billion Euro.
The Asian countries accounted for more than a quarter of the EU's total external trade in goods in 2007. However, their trade with EU showed very different patterns between 2000 and 2007.
Among the 16 Asian countries, China was not only the leading destination for EU exports in 2007, accounting for 31 percent of the total, but also the leading source of EU imports, according to Eurostat.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
First hand glimpse into North Korea
During my first visit to North Korea, the commonly used short name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK), I fully agreed with the statement that North Korea is the closest thing the world has to a hermetically sealed society.
With “no connection” for my BlackBerry, my laptop and other accessories which connect me to the rest of the world and which form an essential part of my everyday existence, I was face to face with skinny North Korean soldiers, wearing old Soviet-style uniforms at a North Korean customs and immigration centre. Under North Korean law of military first, every male must spend 10 years in the military. Women spend seven.
As I had followed the advice at the South Korean side of “Rules in North Korea are made to be followed,” with special emphasis on “no outside newspapers,” “no communication devices” and “no cameras with telescopic or long lenses,” the clearance came fast but with a stern warning to wear “the identity badge” all the time and “not to take” pictures of ordinary North Koreans.
The bus ride to Kaesong, the North Korean city was itself an experience. The buses being led by military escorts through a countryside with hardly any visible human presence except North Korean soldiers standing guard on empty roads along the route. When I asked about the presence of these soldiers, the North Korean guide emphatically pointed that those soldiers were there for our safety. But we could not take any pictures from the bus nor were allowed to take pictures anywhere except where we were designated to use the cameras.
Arriving in the city the downtown appeared like a post-card picture from the past, North Koreans hurrying to nowhere either walking or riding bikes. The bicycle riding lanes on both sides of the broad streets reminded me of North Europe but there were hardly any automobiles on the streets. Our buses and unmarked military vehicles were the only competitors for road space with bikes and pedestrians.
Everyone has their lapels adorned with pictures of late Kim II Sung and his son Kim Jung II. I had been warned earlier by the South Koreans not to but I still ask why do they (North Koreans) wear those. I escape only with a look and an explanation that these are signs of their loyalty and commitment to their country and people.
The most ironic part of the day is the lunch where a feast is provided: bowl of rice with 14 side dishes, served in heavy brass wares. After having read hundreds of reports about recent famine killing millions and there being a constant food scarcity, I feel nauseated at all this food.
The historic places in the city are quite well maintained and at every point there is more than one traditionally dressed North Korean girl giving out historic background punctuated with praise of the present regime.
Most of the public squares have a huge bust or a statue of the North Korean leader with inscriptions in the local language saying propaganda slogans like, “We are winning.” In a way that is true, as the North Korea uses its nuclear card with shrewd expertise of a gambler, the global forces including US have to keep changing its approach.
Tejinder Singh
in North Korea
(more in coming days)
With “no connection” for my BlackBerry, my laptop and other accessories which connect me to the rest of the world and which form an essential part of my everyday existence, I was face to face with skinny North Korean soldiers, wearing old Soviet-style uniforms at a North Korean customs and immigration centre. Under North Korean law of military first, every male must spend 10 years in the military. Women spend seven.
As I had followed the advice at the South Korean side of “Rules in North Korea are made to be followed,” with special emphasis on “no outside newspapers,” “no communication devices” and “no cameras with telescopic or long lenses,” the clearance came fast but with a stern warning to wear “the identity badge” all the time and “not to take” pictures of ordinary North Koreans.
The bus ride to Kaesong, the North Korean city was itself an experience. The buses being led by military escorts through a countryside with hardly any visible human presence except North Korean soldiers standing guard on empty roads along the route. When I asked about the presence of these soldiers, the North Korean guide emphatically pointed that those soldiers were there for our safety. But we could not take any pictures from the bus nor were allowed to take pictures anywhere except where we were designated to use the cameras.
Arriving in the city the downtown appeared like a post-card picture from the past, North Koreans hurrying to nowhere either walking or riding bikes. The bicycle riding lanes on both sides of the broad streets reminded me of North Europe but there were hardly any automobiles on the streets. Our buses and unmarked military vehicles were the only competitors for road space with bikes and pedestrians.
Everyone has their lapels adorned with pictures of late Kim II Sung and his son Kim Jung II. I had been warned earlier by the South Koreans not to but I still ask why do they (North Koreans) wear those. I escape only with a look and an explanation that these are signs of their loyalty and commitment to their country and people.
The most ironic part of the day is the lunch where a feast is provided: bowl of rice with 14 side dishes, served in heavy brass wares. After having read hundreds of reports about recent famine killing millions and there being a constant food scarcity, I feel nauseated at all this food.
The historic places in the city are quite well maintained and at every point there is more than one traditionally dressed North Korean girl giving out historic background punctuated with praise of the present regime.
Most of the public squares have a huge bust or a statue of the North Korean leader with inscriptions in the local language saying propaganda slogans like, “We are winning.” In a way that is true, as the North Korea uses its nuclear card with shrewd expertise of a gambler, the global forces including US have to keep changing its approach.
Tejinder Singh
in North Korea
(more in coming days)
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