Extracts. UN Security Council Puts off Decision on Palestinian Plea The UN Security Council put off a decision Thursday on considering a third Palestinian plea for UN protection for civilian in the West Bank and Gaza, saying action now could harm diplomatic efforts to end Middle East violence and revive peace talks. James Cunningham, the president of the 15-nation Security Council, made the statement at the end of a closed-door emergency meeting at the request of Arab Group members. "The council members met this morning to discuss the request by the members of the Arab Group for a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East," Cunningham said in a statement read to reporters here. "They expressed their great concern with the continuing levels of violence and desire to do what is possible to promote resumption of dialogue to stabilize the situation." "There was widespread agreement in the council that it wasn't appropriate to take a decision at this time" on fixing a date for a meeting on the Palestinian request, said Cunningham, the acting U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations. But he repeated in his national capacity that the United States would oppose any resolution at this time. "I expressed the national view that we don't think a meeting at this time would be helpful," he said, adding that the United States wanted to "focus on the high-level contacts that are on- going." He said that if a council member submitted a draft resolution to the council and asked for it be put to the vote, he would use the U.S. power of veto to defeat it. The United States is one of the five permanent members with veto power on the Security Council. Almost 540 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed since the violence exploded in Israel and the Palestinian territory in late September last year. On Wednesday, the Arab Group of states at the United Nations wrote to Cunningham to ask for an immediate council meeting "to discuss the continuous escalation of repressive practices against the Palestinian population by Israel, the occupying power, in addition to its policy of premeditated assassination." Israeli troops killed five Palestinian policemen in the West Bank on Monday in an attack condemned by Palestinian officials as a "cold-blooded execution". The latest Palestinian request came as senior Palestinian officials threatened to intensify the conflict that broke out since September last year. A resolution in December last year failed to get the required nine votes in the Security Council, thereby sparing the United States the use of its veto power. In a second attempt in late March, the Palestinians lined up the necessary votes, leaving Washington to kill the measure. That resolution called on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to consult on creating "an appropriate mechanism to protect Palestinian civilians, including through the establishment of a United Nations observer force." **** Senior CPC Official Meets Brazilian Guests China is ready to work with Brazil to further upgrade their bilateral strategic partnership on the basis of the five principles of peaceful co-existence, a senior official of the Communist Party of China said. Wei Jianxing, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks Thursday in a meeting with Luis Inacio Lula Da Silva, the honorary president of the Brazilian Workers' Party (BWP). Wei, who is also a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, said that China and Brazil have maintained close and friendly cooperation since the establishment of diplomatic ties 26 years ago. The two countries have had fruitful cooperation in various areas and have supported each other in international affairs, Wei said. The frequent visits by the state leaders of both countries have deepened bilateral ties, he noted, emphasizing that Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his Brazilian counterpart Fernando Henrique Cardoso decided to set up a long-term stable and mutually- beneficial strategic partnership between the two countries. Jiang visited Brazil not long ago and the two heads of state reached an important consensus on pushing forward the Sino- Brazilian strategic partnership, Wei said, adding that the consensus serves as guidance for the further development of bilateral ties. Wei said that China and Brazil, the biggest developing countries in Asia and Latin-America respectively, should strengthen cooperation and seek common prosperity. Enhancing bilateral cooperation serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples and will also play a positive role in promoting the development of Asia and Latin-America, as well as South to South cooperation, Wei said. Da Silva said that both Brazil and China are influential developing countries in the world, adding that the new century will witness the rise of the many developing countries. The BWP believes that the maintenance of world peace and the common development of all nations call for the opposition to hegemonism, the realization of democratization in international relations, and the promotion of a multi-polarization of the world, Da Silva said. Da Silva noted that the BWP attaches great importance to its friendly relations with the CPC and is willing to work with the CPC to further the cooperation between the two countries and to further deepen their strategic partnership. Da Silva said that his Party and the Brazilian people fully understand and support the just position of the Chinese government in dealing with the incident of the U.S. surveillance plane collision with the Chinese military plane. Brazil will also continue to support China's policy on the Taiwan and human rights issues, Da Silva said. The Brazilian guests are here at the invitation of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee. **** Angola Receives Aid From China The Angolan government Thursday received in Luanda an aid worth more than 600,000 US dollars from China, which is aimed at helping the country alleviate the sufferings of the displaced people by the heavy floods earlier this year. Speaking at a handover ceremony, Angolan Minister of Assistance and Social Reintegration Albino Malungo expressed his appreciation of the aid from China, saying that the assistance is of great importance for the 115,000 displaced people in the country. The Chinese aid, including 100 tons of rice, 24,000 tins of beef and luncheon meat, cooking utensils and other daily necessities, will be distributed to the displaced in the central Bie Province, the minister said. Chinese Ambassador to Angola Jiang Yuande said that the donation shows the traditional friendly relationship between China and Angola. Meanwhile, Jiang also expressed the hope that peace can be restored in Angola as early as possible. **** FM Spokesman on US Report on New Asia Strategy Any proposition on besieging China through strengthening military deployment is detrimental to the historical trend, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi today. "Such a proposition is erroneous, and is no solution," Sun told a regular press conference when asked to comment on a recent US policy report, which calls for a southward shift of focus in US military deployment in East Asia to meet the changing security situation in the region. Sun said that the Chinese government has taken note of the report, adding that China is committed to the independent foreign policy of peace, and safeguarding peace and stability of the Asian- pacific region and the world. EP-3 spy plance not allowed to fly out China repeated on Thursday its refusal to allow a damaged US Navy spy plane to fly home and said it had not received a formal request to remove the plane by cargo aircraft. "We have already said that it is impossible for it to fly back," Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said. Sun said the two countries were working through diplomatic channels to solve the dispute over the return of the crippled EP-3 surveillance plane, stranded on China's Hainan island since an April 1 mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter, which crashed. Sun said he had seen reports of proposals the United States charter a cargo plane to fly out the dismantled EP-3, but declined further comment because "there has been no formal request from the United States". Washington has demanded the return of the US$80 million aircraft, forced to make an emergency landing at a Chinese military base after the collision in international airspace off China. On Wednesday, British-based Antonov Airlines said it was in talks with the US government to charter a giant Antonov cargo plane to airlift the grounded EP-3 from Hainan to Okinawa, Japan. "We've been approached by the US government to charter the An-124," an executive for the freight airline told Reuters. The An-124-100 is the largest cargo plane in commercial use. "If a decision is taken to fly out the EP-3 (in an An-124), the wings and possibly the tail fin will first be removed and then stored inside the Antonov's wide cargo hold," the executive said. **** Britain Urges Lifting Iraq Sanctions In a major policy shift expected to get U.S. backing, Britain has proposed lifting U.N. sanctions on civilian goods entering Iraq <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/iraq.html> but toughening enforcement of the decade-old arms embargo against Saddam Hussein's government. The British proposal, which is being incorporated into a Security Council resolution, was developed in consultation with Washington and is part of a broader review of Iraq policy by both countries, a British official said Wednesday. If approved by the powerful Security Council, the British proposal would mark the first significant easing of sanctions that have been in place since the Iraqi army invaded Kuwait <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/kuwait.html> in 1990. Britain said it got a positive response to the proposal from the three other council members with veto power, France <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/france.html> , Russia <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/russia.html> and China, as well as from Iraq's neighbors. The United States <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/usa.html> and Britain seek to prevent Iraq from reviving its weapons-building programs while ensuring that sanctions don't hurt Iraqi citizens, the British official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The British plan would allow all goods to enter Iraq except those on a U.N. list of military-related items, and it would allow the resumption of all commercial and cargo flights in and out of the country as long as they are inspected at the departure points, the British official said. At the same time, the proposal seeks to restrict Iraq's ability to rebuild its military arsenal by tightening border controls and cracking down on Baghdad's efforts to get control of its oil money through smuggling and illegal surcharges, the official said. Under the British plan, the United Nations will continue to maintain strict control over the billions of dollars Iraq earns annually from oil sales and will pay all suppliers of humanitarian goods to Iraq. The current six-month phase of the oil-for-food program expires June 3, and the British want their proposal incorporated into the extension of the program. The official said a draft resolution will be circulated to Security Council members next week. Iraq has campaigned for an end to the sanctions, saying the embargoes have perpetuated the suffering of Iraqis�� a claim that has received sympathy in many quarters. The British proposal is in part a response to this growing criticism, Western diplomats said. **** China Urges US to Stop Using Tibet Issue to Meddle in China's Internal Affairs China urged the United States <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/usa.html> Thursday to "stop using the issue of Tibet <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/tibet.html> to interfere in China's internal affairs." "The issue of Tibet is purely an internal affair of China, which no other country has the right to interfere with," Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told a press conference. Sun made the remarks in response to a report that the US administration shall appoint a high-ranking official to assume the position of special coordinator for Tibet. It is the third time the US government has nominated a so-called coordinator for Tibet, Sun said. Sun reiterated that Tibet is an inalienable part of China. "We demand that the US side adhere to its stand that Tibet is part of China and does not support the independence of Tibet," he said. **** Be Sure Not to Resurrect the Evil Souls: Commentary >From the attitude repeatedly expressed by Junichiro Koizumi about his understanding of history in less than one month after he held the post as Japan <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/japan.html> 's new Prime Minister, people cannot help feeling worries over the dangerous tendency in his understanding of history. On May 9, in his reply to questions at the Diet he indicated that he would pay respect to the Yasukuni Shrine in personal capacity. On May 14, at the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, he once again indicated that he would pay homage to Yasukuni Shrine in the capacity of Prime Minister and declared that he would not give up visit to the Shrine just because of outsiders' criticisms. As a senior politician, this Japanese Prime Minister would not be unaware of the fact that the people of Asian countries who had suffered from the aggression of Japan's militarism have always expressed opposition to and indignation at the practice of Japanese government officials paying homage to the Yasukuni Shrine, then why does he cling obstinately to his own course? First, it is against the background that the rightist trend of thought in the Japanese society has raised its head and the "Hawk" within the Liberal Democratic Party is in power. In the contest for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party, Junichiro Koizumi's main opponent was Ryutaro Hashimoto. At the crucial moment of the election, Eto-Kamei gave up his cooperation with Ryutaro Hashimoto and instead supported Junichiro Koizumi, so that Junichiro Koizumi gained the upper hand in the contest. The faction of Yoshiro Mori to which Junichiro Koizumi belongs was originated from the Kishi Nobusuke faction, has always had a strong hue of the Kawk, the Eto-Kamei faction, was also belonging to the hardline "Hauk" within the Liberaal Democratic Party, the alliance of the two "Hawks" has quickened the right-deviationist tendency of the Liberal Democratic Party. Moreover, former Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro who had the greatest influence on the Eto-Kamei faction, was the first evil doer who paid respect to the said Shrine in the capacity of Japanese Prime Minister after World War II. At the time, Obuchi and Yoshiro Mori, obeying the advice of the Dove within the Liberal Democratic Party after becoming prime ministers, resigned from their post as president of the "association of letting everyone pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine" and acted prudently in questions relating to paying homage to the Shrine. Now that the "Hauk" in the Liberal Democratic Party is on the upper hand and there is no restraint from the "Dove", so Junichiro Koizumi has gone so far as to repeatedly indicate that he would pay respect to the Shrine, this is not something out of people's expectations. Second, Junichiro Koizumi gained votes by deliberately using the souls of the deceased. The Senate election will take place in July, currently the seats of the Liberal Democratic Party in the Senate is less than half of the total, although Junichiro Koizumi does not cherish the extravagant hope of gaining over half of the seats at one stroke in the July election, the lowest standard he set is not fewer than the present seats. If it suffers a crushing defeat in the election, then Ryutaro Hashimoto, who resigned after the Senate election in 1998, will serve as a warning. At present, Japan is faced with a sluggish economy, a depressed stock market, increased unemployment and a general feeling of insecurity. Ten years have elapsed since the collapse of the bubble economy, Japan's economy is still too weak to gain a recovery .The Japanese who always have the feeling of being "the top student in the world economy" have suffered greatly in their self-respect and self-confidence. The Japanese are known worldwide for their sense of worries and hardships, when analyzing the characteristics of the Japanese nation, a famous US expert in the problems relating to Japan said that whenever Japan feels a crisis, it exhibits an extremely strong "national sense". Junichiro Koizumi's intention is conforming with the impetuous nationalist trend of thought and highlighting the strong color of preferring to be right than left, thinking this would help him get more votes. It's a pity that this device lacks the minimal political wisdom which is clear even to ordinary people and is evidently a trick used to resurrect the evil souls. The right-wing forces which instigate government officials to pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine represent an adverse current in the Japanese society. If the government deliberately panders to and guide the right-wingers and turn them into the dominant forces of the Japanese society, it is bound to arouse the vigilance of the people of the world. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
