Extracts. Former Falun Gong Practitioners Write Letter to Ministry of Justice. Some 110 former Falun Gong practitioners recently wrote a letter to China's Ministry of Justice, expressing their gratitude to the ministry for saving them from the clutches of the cult. The letter says that they had been brainwashed by cult leader Li Hongzhi's fallacious preaching and had done things to violate Chinese laws. However, a re-education program by the government has helped them realize the error of their ways. The ministry sent workers to counsel the practitioners, who are now living in a re-education institute in the northern city of Tianjin, the letter says. At first, some of the followers described the ministry workers as "demons," but finally they were convinced the workers were good people after the workers explained to them the values of life. Some workers even bought medicine for practitioners who were ill, and arranged entertainment activities for them, according to the letter. Such generosity caused the practitioners to regard the workers as friends -- even family -- and their words and actions have touched the followers at their emotional core, the letter adds. "It is they who let us know the principle of serving the people wholeheartedly, and the importance of maintaining a peaceful society," the letter says. The authors of the letter, on behalf of all Falun Gong practitioners, called on all of Chinese society to learn from their experiences, and to distance themselves from Li Hongzhi's theories. **** CPC Central Committee Congratulates KMT on Representatives'Congress The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) sent a message Sunday congratulating the central committee of Kuomintang (KMT) and its chairman Lien Chan on convening its 16th representatives' congress. The CPC Central Committee said in the message that it hopes the KMT will keep its position of abiding by the One-China principle, opposing the "Taiwan Independence", and seeking for the country's reunification. The CPC Central Committee also hopes that KMT will make contributions to promoting relations across the Taiwan Strait and the process of peaceful reunification. Totally 2,001 people, including 1,467 representatives, attended the KMT congress held on Sunday in Taipei. Former KMT chairman Lee Teng-hui was not invited to attend the congress. **** Northeast Asian Nations to Enhance Ties in Environmental Protection Six northeast Asian countries worked out new policies and measures to promote regional environmental cooperation at an international meeting in Beijing from July 25 to 28. Environment officials from China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Republic of Korea and Russia discussed progress in regional environmental cooperation -- achievements as well as problems -- at the Seventh Meeting of Senior Officials on Environmental Cooperation in North-East Asia. They also talked about issues related to the core fund of the North-East Asia Sub-regional Program for Environmental Cooperation in an effort to support the project of technological cooperation in environmental protection. Representatives from Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific(ESCAP), United Nations Environment Program, United Nations Development Program, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, as well as Secretariat of UN Convention on Combating Desertification, were present at the meeting. During the period, the officials and the representatives, as well as invited NGO representatives, attended the Intergovernmental Meeting for North-East Asia in Preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, reviewing Agenda 21 passed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). Reports adopted by the meeting will be delivered to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which is to take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, in September 2002. Meeting of Senior Officials on Environmental Co-operation in North-East Asia was launched by ESCAP in 1993, as an action to implement decisions of UNCED. **** Kim Jong Il Continues Train Trip Across Russia Kim Jong Il, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is continuing his train trip across Russia and is to make a stop Sunday in Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Russian Republic of Buryatia, en route to Moscow, said the national Itar-Tass news agency. In Ulan-Ude, Kim Jong Il will be welcomed according to the local Buryatian tradition. He will be presented with a special ribbon for honorary guests, known as the "khadak", and a tray of national dairy products. Buryatian musicians will give a short concert for the DPRK delegation after which Kim will continue his train trip that started on July 26, Itar-Tass said. His first stop was at Hasan station, 300 kilometers off the Russian far eastern city of Vladivostok. There Kim met the Russian presidential envoy in the Far Eastern Federal District Konstantin Pulikovsky, who is now accompanying the guests to Moscow. From the Hasan station the 21-car train railed along the Hasan spur of the Trans-Siberian Railway and switched over to the main road near Ussuriisk. Kim will visit other Russian cities, including Omsk, en route to Moscow. During his stay in Omsk Kim will visit a transport machine plant which produces modern tanks and other military hardware. Kim Jong Il will arrive at Moscow's Yaroslavsky railway station on August 3. His talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled on August 4 in the Kremlin. A joint statement and other key documents are expected to be signed. >From Moscow, Kim Jong Il will travel to St.Petersburg where he will visit local landmarks and industrial enterprises. The DPRK leader will start his return journey on August 8. **** Jordanian King Abdullah to Pay Official Visit to Russia Jordan <http://web3.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/jordan.html> ian King Abdullah Bin Hussein will travel to Moscow on August 27 for a two-day official visit, his first trip to Russia <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/russia.html> since he ascended to the throne two and half years ago, the semiofficial Jordan Times reported on Sunday. The monarch is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials to boost bilateral ties and salvage the floundering Middle East peace process, the English daily quoted an unnamed senior Jordanian official as saying. Russia and the United States <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/usa.html> co-sponsored the 1991 Madrid Middle East peace conference which resulted in peace talks between Israel <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/israel.html> and its Arab foes, and the conference also laid the cornerstone for the peace process in the region for the past decade. Abdullah's trip to Moscow will be his first since he took the throne in February 1999 after his father King Hussein Ibn Talal died of cancer. He has visited the United States, most Arab and Western European countries. **** Palestinians Slam Israel for Laying Temple Cornerstone A senior Palestinian official on Sunday slammed as "a dangerous intention" Israel's move to lay the cornerstone for a new Israeli temple in East Jerusalem. "This step is aimed at angering the Palestinian people through provocative measures and is tantamount to adding fuel to fire," Saeb Erekat, Palestinian chief negotiator, told Radio Cairo over phone from the Palestinian city of Gaza. Earlier in the day, 21 Palestinians were wounded when they clashed with Israeli policemen in protest of the symbolic cornerstone-laying ceremony, planned by a right-wing Israeli religious group in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest shrine. Erekat, also Palestinian minister of local government, blamed the Israeli government for the worsening situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. "The Palestinian National Authority has asked the world community, in particular the United States and the European Union, to help block such an Israeli provocative action," he added. Erekat expressed hope that the U.S., together with Egypt, will do its utmost to help implement the Mitchell report recommendations and make Israel give up its aggressive policy against the Palestinians. The Mitchell report, released by an international panel led by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell in May, calls on Israel and the Palestinians to end violence, take confidence-building measures and finally resume their peace talks. More than 650 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed since the eruption of the bloodshed between the Palestinians and Israelis last September, triggered by Israeli violation of Al- Aqsa Mosque. **** Iraq Says Nearly Hits US F-15 Jet, Not U-2 Spy Plane Iraqi air defenses have nearly hit a US F-15 jet overflying Iraq's southern no-fly zone on Tuesday, rather than a U-2 spy plane as claimed by the US, an Iraqi military spokesman said Saturday. In a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA), the spokesman said that Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery, by using upgraded Russia-made missiles, just missed a U.S. F-15 plane flying at an altitude of 11 kilometers over southern Iraq on Tuesday. Yet U.S. President George W. Bush and Pentagon officials said on Thursday that Iraqi forces tried to shoot down a U-2 spy plane as it flew a reconnaissance mission Tuesday over southern Iraq, the spokesman said. The U-2s usually fly at altitudes greater than 60,000 feet (20, 000 meters). Iraqi air defense system has not targeted U.S. and British warplanes flying at altitudes of 70,000 feet (21,000 meters) , the spokesman said, adding that Iraqi artillery have often opened fire at U.S. and British F-14, F-15 and F-16 warplanes which fly at a much lower height. The intention of the U.S. was "to justify itself for launching more air attacks against Iraqi radar and air defense installations in the future," the spokesman said. Two no-fly zones were set up in northern and southern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, claiming to protect the Kurds in the north and Shi'ite Muslims in the south from possible attacks by Iraqi government troops. Baghdad does not recognize the air exclusion zones and have regularly fired at aircraft patrolling them since joint U.S.- British air strikes against Baghdad on December 1998. **** Iran to Start Gas Exports to Turkey Iran is to Start exporting natural gas to Turkey on Monday in line with their agreements signed in recent years, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Sunday. "The project for the supply of Iranian natural gas will be inaugurated Monday," a statement of Iran's Oil Ministry confirmed. Iran and Turkey originally signed a 20-billion-dollar agreement in August 1996, under which Iran, beginning from 1999, is to supply Turkey with 3 billion cubic meters (140 billion cubic feet) of gas per year over a 22-year period. But the initial delivery has been delayed mainly due to Turkey's delay in completing pipeline construction. The two sides singed an additional agreement last year. According to it, the volume of Iran's gas exports to Turkey should gradually increase and reach 10 billion cubic meters (350 billion cubic feet) per year from initial 3 billion cubic meters by 2007. While the contract was extended from 22 to 25 years, Iran's total supply would also increase to 228 billion cubic meters (8,000 billion cubic feet) from the initial 192 billion cubic meters (6, 800 billion cubic feet). Iran has the world's second largest natural gas reserves estimated at 20,000 billion cubic meters (700,000 billion cubic feet). Bordering northwest with Turkey, gas-rich Iran is a favorable supplier for Turkey to meet domestic demands. **** Fire Exchanged in Fresh Belfast Riots in Northern Ireland Police exchanged fire with a gunman as fresh violence erupted in Belfast, northern Ireland, injuring 4, police said on Sunday. Local media reports said policemen returned 4 shots when a burst of automatic gunfire from the loyalist Glenbryn Drive area was directed at police lines at midnight Saturday in the Ardoyne district, north Belfast. Three police officers were injured, including one who received an eye injury while tending to a colleague who had been knocked unconscious by a brick. A man has been treated for stab wounds to the chest during disturbances at Gunnell hill, but his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening, police said. A bus was hijacked by youths and set on fire on the Ardoyne road. The violence flared following a police operation earlier on Saturday night, during which 30 primed petrol bombs and almost 200 bottles were seized in planned raids on both loyalist and nationalist areas of north Belfast. Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid appealed to people living in the area not to be manipulated by elements plotting to wreck the peace process. Reid's call came after violent clashes between rival loyalist and republican gangs on Friday night, which left a man hospitalized with bullet wounds to his face. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern said on Friday that they have finalized their package of proposals aimed at breaking the deadlock in Northern Ireland's political process. The two premiers had hoped to present their package on decommissioning, demilitarization, policing and the future stability of the political institutions to the pro-peace agreement parties this week. Following the resignation of Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble as Northern Ireland first minister on July 1, there were six weeks available to the parties to find a resolution by August 12. At the end of that period, if there has been no deal, the British Government will have to either suspend the assembly -- even if only for a short period to give more room for maneuver -- or call an assembly election. _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
