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. _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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