Extracts.
Monday, November 27, 2000, updated at 07:56(GMT+8)
Overseas Chinese Urge Taiwan Authorities to Accept
One-China Principle
The Global Chinese Alliance for the Unification of
China urged the Taiwan authorities November 26 to
accept the one-China policy as early as possible to
pave the way for political dialogues across the
Taiwan Straits.
Winding up a two-day convention which opened in
Washington November 25, the US-based alliance of
overseas Chinese opposing an independent Taiwan
adopted a declaration which denounces any attempt to
split China and calls for early peaceful unification
of the motherland.
The declaration said it has been proved that
cross-Taiwan Straits exchanges and cooperation will
go smoothly when the one-China principle is adhered
to, and that such exchanges have so far not only
facilitated mutual understanding between compatriots
but also promoted economic development on the two
sides of the Taiwan Straits.
But a handful of politicians in Taiwan, including the
new Taiwan authorities, have so far refused to accept
the one-China principle, and even declined to
identify themselves as Chinese.
This not only hurts the national feelings of all
Chinese people and strains cross-Taiwan Straits
relations, but also jeopardizes peace and stability
in the Asian and Pacific region.
Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits,
as well as over 30 million overseas Chinese, are
resolved to oppose any attempt to split China, the
declaration noted.
It called for unity of overseas Chinese in urging the
Taiwan authorities to accept the one-China policy and
commit themselves
to cross-Taiwan Straits dialogues for the eventual
peaceful unification of China.
The declaration also denounced the US government for
selling advanced weapons to Taiwan, saying that the
arms sale is detrimental to world peace and the
development of mankind.
Nearly 600 representatives of overseas Chinese from
over 40 countries and regions around the world
attended the convention, the second of its kind since
the first convention was held in Berlin in August.
Participants of the Washington convention agreed at
the closing session Sunday that the third convention
of the alliance will be held in Japan in mid-2001.
****
Monday, November 27, 2000, updated at 09:01(GMT+8)
UN Sanctions Create Health Problems in Afghanistan:
Taliban
The ruling Taliban militia has said that the United
Nations sanctions including air embargo on
Afghanistan have created a lot of problems to the
Afghans in health sector.
Director General of Taliban's Health Ministry Abdul
Hakimi told international media in Kabul that these
curbs are creating hurdles in the treatment of
different diseases, according to reports reaching
here Sunday.
Afghanistan, he said, has to approach foreign
countries with regard to diagnosing epidemic
diseases. But this too requires special conditions
and could be done through aircraft service.
"We have fought out the diseases within the framework
of available resources but the curbs on Ariana Afghan
Airline has deprived the patients suffering from
serious diseases of the chance to be taken abroad for
treatment," he added.
He said that the doctors are also not being allowed
to go abroad and do research work in health sector.
Hakimi said, tuberculosis has registered increase in
the recent years. Approximately 10 to 15 percent of
the people in Afghanistan are suffering from TB.
Malaria has also assumed an alarming proportion. It
is feared that the disease may spread to other
countries in the region, he added.
****
Monday, November 27, 2000, updated at 09:21(GMT+8)
Philippine Government Declares "State of Alert"
The Philippine government declared a "state of alert"
November 26 in anticipation of possible violence
arising from next week's protests by various groups
pressing for the resignation of President Joseph
Estrada.
The government's move came after reports from the
police and the military that "dubious characters and
groups" are out to create havoc by joining militant
groups which would spearhead the week-long mass
actions, Press Undersecretary Antonio Seva said in an
interview with the ABS-CBN news channel.
"A state of alert has already been declared by the
government for all the local government units, the
police and the military to be vigilant," Seva said.
Seva, however, was quick to douse off speculations
that the declaration of a "state of alert" is a
prelude to the declaration of martial law.
Military and police intelligence reports confirmed a
plan of the rebel New People's Army to sow terror
during the mass actions by using its members to
infiltrate protesters reportedly planning to encircle
the Presidential Palace, said the ABS-CBN.
Earlier, Press Undersecretary Mike Toledo said a
"substantial" number of the rebel groups had arrived
in Metro Manila to create violence by participating
in the series of protest actions against the
government to push for their own political agenda.
Some 18,000 cops and soldiers will reportedly be
fielded in different parts of Metro Manila to ensure
peace and order during the week of mass actions.
President Estrada, facing an impeachment trial which
will start early next month, appealed to the people
Saturday not to join protest actions next week,
saying sobriety, not emotionalism, is needed to ride
out the present political crisis.
The crisis stemmed from allegations by a provincial
governor that the president received more than US$11
million in illegal gambling payoffs and tobacco tax
kickbacks in nearly two years in the past.
Estrada has denied the charges and rejected calls for
his resignation. The president will be removed from
office if at least two thirds of the 22-member Senate
vote to convict him.
****
Sunday, November 26, 2000, updated at 17:08(GMT+8)
Iraq to Ask UN to Include Palestine in Oil-for-Food
Deal
Iraq has decided to send a formal memorandum to the
United Nations to include the Palestinians in the UN
oil-for-food program, which began in late 1996 to
alleviate the crippling impacts of the sanctions on
Iraq.
The official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported on
Sunday that at a cabinet meeting concluded late
Saturday night, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
ordered to submit a formal request to the UN Security
Council as well as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The request will list "Palestinian brothers" in the
spheres of food and medicine of the oil-for-food
program.
This means that if approved by the UN, Iraq will also
use its oil revenue under the UN humanitarian deal to
provide food and medicine for the Palestinians who
have been under the "embargo" of Israel, as termed by
the Iraqi president.
But the INA report did not say when Iraq will
formally put forward this to the world's leading
body.
This has been regarded as one of the most important
decisions made by the Iraqi government to support the
intifada (uprising) of Palestine against Israel.
More than 270 people, mostly Palestinians, have been
killed and thousand wounded in the surge of
Israeli-Palestinian violence over the past two
months.
Iraq on Saturday dispatched a third medical team to
Amman, capital of Jordan, to help treat the
Palestinians wounded in the conflicts with Israel
soldiers.
In response to the call by the Iraqi government for a
holy war to liberate Palestine from Israeli
occupation, more than 6.5 million Iraqis have
volunteered to go to Palestine to fight along with
their Palestinian brothers against Israel.
Moreover, demonstrations have been held all over the
country recently to condemn the "Israeli butchery"
against the Palestinians.
****
Sunday, November 26, 2000, updated at 22:01(GMT+8)
Jordan's King in Cairo for Talks with Mubarak on
Mideast Situation
Jordan's King Abdullah II arrived in Cairo November
26 on a one-day visit to Egypt for talks with
President Hosni Mubarak on the latest situation in
the Palestinian territories, the official Middle East
News Agency reported.
The two leaders were expected to focus on the ongoing
Palestinian-Israeli clashes, characterized by
Israel's continuing attacks on Palestinians, as well
as on making efforts to halt the Israeli excessive
use of force.
Jordan, the only Arab country apart from Egypt to
have signed a peace treaty with Israel, has grown
increasingly critical of the Jewish state's actions
with regard to the Palestinians.
It has withheld from dispatching its new ambassador
to Tel Aviv as a replacement to the previous envoy
who retired.
The Jordan leader's visit came one day after
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met with him in
Amman and Mubarak in Cairo respectively to brief the
two leaders on the results of his visit to Moscow.
Arafat paid a visit to Russia on Friday, during which
President Vladimir Putin brokered a telephone
conversation between the him and Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak, the first such contact in three
weeks.
Arafat and Barak pledged to study the details of a
new Russian initiative to end the two-month
Palestinian-Israeli clashes, which have killed over
270 people, mostly Palestinians, and injured
thousands more.
Putin has proposed to send international observers to
the trouble spots to help end the violence.
****
Sunday, November 26, 2000, updated at 20:47(GMT+8)
Mubarak Meets Barak's Special Envoy on Mideast Crisis
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met Sunday with
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's security advisor
Danny Yatom, the official Middle East News Agency
reported.
Ossama el-Baz, Egyptian presidential advisor, told
reporters following the 45-minute talks that Yatom
conveyed a message from Barak to Mubarak, whose
content was not disclosed.
The Israeli envoy had gone back with one message from
Mubarak, el-Baz said, without giving further details
about the meeting.
The two sides had been expected to focus on ending
the violence in the Palestinian territories and
improving dialogue between Israel and Egypt in light
of the recall of Egyptian ambassador to Tel Aviv
Mohammed Bassiouni.
Mubarak decided on Tuesday to summon the Egyptian
ambassador to Israel in protest of the Jewish state's
"excessive use of force" against the Palestinians,
following a massive Israeli air raid on the Gaza
Strip Monday which killed four Palestinians.
But the Egyptian leader has still continued mediation
efforts. He met with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
Saturday and will host Jordan's King Abdullah II
later Sunday.
Egypt, the first Arab state to establish diplomatic
ties with Israel after signing a peace treaty in
1979, has been playing a mediatory role in the
Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
More than 270 people, mostly Palestinians, have been
killed and thousands more wounded in the
Palestinian-Israeli clashes that erupted on September
28.
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