Extracts.
War is Not Solution to Solve Terrorism: Mahathir. ASEAN should not be participating in a war, if one does break out, because the war is not solution to solve terrorism, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Tuesday. "We should really not participate in war. If we do, we will only help to escalate the problems because an all-out war is the wrong solution, because many innocent people are going to be killed," he said during an interview with four ASEAN journalists on the "In Conversation" program aired over TV3 Tuesday night. Elaborating, Mahathir said outsiders might not like the Taliban government in Afghanistan and this might well be the case for Afghan people themselves. "But they have no means of overthrowing the government. In a war, those who dislike the Taliban are also going to be killed. So it is not fair to have an all-out war against them," he said. The Taliban rulers of Afghanistan have admitted that they are hiding Osama bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire Washington has named as the "prime suspect" of the deadly attacks on American soil on September 11. Apart from war and terrorism, Mahathir also fielded a wide variety of questions on ASEAN, the economy, attempts by certain people to establish an Islamic state in Malaysia and globalization, among others. Strictly speaking, international actions should be initiated by the United Nations and not by any one country, Mahathir said. "But there is a tendency for people to bypass the U.N. and this happens especially with the big powers, strong powers. And because of that, decisions are made which are not really reflecting the interest of the world as a whole," the Malaysian prime minister said. Mahathir said the upcoming meeting of ASEAN heads of government in Brunei Darussalam would likely discuss events in the U.S. and its repercussions to this region. "I think whether we like it or not, we will have to discuss what happened in the U.S., simply because ASEAN is actually a trade bloc and our prosperity depends on trade. When a market is hurt or not doing well, we will suffer," he said. "So we will need to discuss this in order to find ways and means of overcoming that and putting in place new plans, alternatives that will help the economy to recover," Mahathir said. **** China Buys 30 Boeing 737 Jetliners. A purchase agreement worth nearly 1.6 billion U.S. dollars was concluded in Washington Tuesday between four Chinese airlines and the Boeing Company. The contract has been the biggest one for Boeing since the terrorist attacks hit New York and Washington on September 11. Under the agreement, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Shanghai Airlines will purchase 30 newly-developed Boeing 737 jetliners, 20 of which will go to Southern Airlines. The airplanes will be delivered 2002 through 2005. Representatives from the Chinese airlines and Alan Mulally, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes sighed the agreement. The agreement was closed at a signing ceremony at the Department of Commerce, in the presence of Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans, Vice Chairman of the Chinese State Development Planning Commission Zhang Guobao. Zhang Guobao said the agreement was the biggest one for Chinese civilian aviation industry in recent years and a symbol of close relations between China and Boeing. Secretary Donald Evans said that the contract will bring together U.S. and China closer. **** National Day Celebrations Go On in China. Parks in the Chinese capital of Beijing has crowded with tourists since Monday, the country's National Day. The joyful celebrations will last till the weekend. Among those National Day celebrators, there are local residents and tourists coming from other places of China. Sun Guoqing, coming from east China's Ningpo City, was deeply impressed by the neat and clean city, especially the peaceful and progressive atmosphere around here. "The sky is blue, the meadow is green and the flowers are in blossom and, first of all, there are happy people all around," he said. Sun was born on the same day as the People's Republic of China was founded 52 years ago. He and his wife came to Beijing to visit their son, a student in a Beijing university. All the major parks in Beijing are well decorated with a variety of flowers and trees, where colorful flags and ribbons are flying in the breeze. In the Temple of Heaven Park, two parterres were build to welcome the 2008 Olympic Games, that many residents regarded as a pleasure to the National Day celebrations. "We wish our country become stronger and more beautiful and our life happier," said Wang Xi, a taxi driver, who came to the Fragrance Hill Park in the western suburbs of Beijing with his family. _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
