Extracts. China Calls on UN to Continue to Scrutinize NMD Development. China Monday called upon the United Nations to continue to scrutinize the US efforts to develop the National Defense System (NMD) and take necessary steps to prevent this dangerous situation from going further. The statement was contained in the speech by Wang Yingfan, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, at the 56th General Assembly session, which considers "the Report by the UN Secretary on the Work of the Organization." "A series of negative development in recent years in the field of international security have led the multilateral disarmament and arms control process into a stalemate, a situation that caused wide concerns in the international community," he said. In his report, Annan said that the deployment of NMD will constitute a threat to the current and future disarmament and nonproliferation efforts. "China agrees with the secretary-general 's analysis of the deployment of NMD and its consequences in his report," Wang said. The efforts to develop and deploy NMD will surely undermine the Anti-Ballistic Treaty (ABM Treaty), signed by the United States and the then Soviet Union in 1972, which long serves as the cornerstone for maintaining the strategic balance and stability in the world. "The ABM Treaty not only involves the signatory countries but also bears great importance and relevance to maintaining global strategic balance and stability as well as promoting international disarmament and nonproliferation process," Wang said. "The success of the international disarmament and nonproliferation efforts depends on the maintenance and observance of this treaty." Both the 54th and 55th sessions of the General Assembly have adopted resolutions on "Preservation of and Compliance with the ABM Treaty," with an overwhelming majority, demonstrating that most countries in the world demand that the concerned countries must maintain and strictly abide by the ABM Treaty, he said. "The development of anti-missile system using the outer-space as a base, which will bring the arms race from the land and oceans to the outer-space, has very serious consequences," he said. "Therefore, it has become an urgent and relevant task to reach through negotiations an international legal instrument on the prevention of arms race in outer-space," he said. The General Assembly has, for each of the past many years, adopted with an overwhelming majority a resolution on the prevention of arms race in the outer-space, he said. "The Conference on Disarmament should make this an issue of priority and start relevant negotiations immediately." "It is the common aspiration of people of all countries in the world as well as an important task for the international community to promote nuclear disarmament process and realize a nuclear- weapon-free world at an early date," he said. NMD (National Missile Defense) is the program developed by the Department of Defense of the United States as the effort to defend against long range ballistic missiles. A Joint Program Office, headed by the NMD Program Executive Officer, manages the NMD Program and has the responsibility to achieve multi-service interoperability. The key NMD components include ground based interceptors (GBI), an X-band radar (XBR), Upgraded Early Warning Radars, Battle Management/Command, Control and Communications (BM/C3) and space sensor technology. **** Muslim World Wants Evidence before US Military Action. There are growing signs that support for the US-led war on terrorism is wavering in the Muslim world as it waits for concrete proof of Osama bin Laden's alleged complicity in the attacks on New York and Washington. US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday the evidence fingering bin Laden would be made public soon, but with US forces already massing for an expected strike on Afghanistan, patience in many Muslim nations is wearing thin. "We will put before the world, the American people, a persuasive case that there will be no doubt when that case is presented that it is al Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, who has been responsible" for the attacks, Powell said on the ABC network. But officials in Pakistan say the only information they have received from the United States on bin Laden's links to terrorism has been related to the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. To date, nothing solid has been communicated regarding evidence collected on the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which has sheltered bin Laden since 1996, has said it would be willing to consider putting the Saudi-born dissident on trial if the United States provided convincing evidence of his guilt. Washington has firmly rejected the Taliban's stance, insisting that it hand bin Laden into US custody immediately or face the consequences. At the same time the US authorities have fended off the requests for evidence, citing the importance of discretion in conducting its investigation into the terrorist atrocities. The initial outpouring of sympathy from the Muslim world for the victims of the attacks on the United States has in recent days been replaced by a concern bordering on hostility over the scope of the planned retaliation. Former Pakistan foreign minister Sartaj Aziz said Sunday the issue of evidence was crucial given US preparations for military action against Afghanistan and possible reprisals against targets in other Muslim countries. Given the religious sensitivities inherent in the current crisis, Aziz said the United States ought to present its findings to some international judicial body before unleashing its military machine. He pointed out that a thick dossier had been compiled against former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic prior to his transfer to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Arab League chief Amr Mussa warned in Jordan on Sunday that US strikes against any Arab states would be unacceptable. "There are different ways of fighting against terrorism and it must be the subject of consultations" among Arab countries, the head of the 22-country grouping told reporters. "Clearly, we would never accept a strike against an Arab country, no matter what the circumstances," he said. Meanwhile, the Gulf monarchies said Sunday that the United States must clearly define the framework of the proposed war on terrorism, also pledging their support for efforts to track down the perpetrators of the attacks. "Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are ready to take part in any action in a communal framework with well-defined objectives," Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Mubarak al-Khalifa said at the closed-door Gulf foreign ministers' meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah. Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan also underlined the need for Washington to take the world into its confidence. "We have said, and many world leaders have said, that evidence should be shared with the international community," Khan said. Pakistani officials have commented in private on the fact that arrests arising out of the US investigation so far have mostly been of people linked to Arab networks in the Middle East, and have questioned when concrete proof will emerge of a direct link with bin Laden. According to Aziz, the "war frenzy" emanating from Washington was seen by many Muslim countries as carrying an anti-Islamic bias, despite assurances from the US administration that its enemy was terrorism and not Islam. The accusations the United States has levelled against the Taliban in Afghanistan and regimes in other Muslim countries suspected of harbouring terrorists were "very, very serious," Aziz said. "If this is pursued, it will force countries and groups to polarise along religious lines," he added. **** Taliban Embassy in Islamabad - Window of Communication With Outside World: Pakistani Official. Taliban's embassy in Islamabad is a window of interaction between the Taliban authorities and the international community, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Riaz Muhammad Khan said here on Saturday. Khan was responding to a question at a press briefing whether Pakistan plans to sever ties with the Taliban authorities as done by the United Arab Emirates. Khan said Pakistan has been maintaining skeleton staff in Kabul. He said Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan returned to Islamabad a couple of months ago. He said Taliban maintains an embassy in Islamabad. "This embassy has served as a useful window for Taliban with the rest of the world and for the international community to interact with Taliban who controls not just Kabul but most of Afghanistan." In Islamabad, he said, the Taliban representative can listen what the rest of the world is asking for and expecting from Taliban. Following the U.N. Security Council's anti-Taliban resolutions, the spokesman said, Pakistan has asked Taliban to scale down its presence and it had done so. **** China Refutes Rumor on Laden's Fleeing to China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao refuted Saturday as "totally ungrounded" the report by a British newspaper saying that Osama bin Laden is in China. The British newspaper Guardian reported that Osama bin Laden had fled Afghanistan and entered China. It said that Osama bin Laden was hiding out somewhere in China. Zhu said that the report by the Guardian is "totally ungrounded. " "I wonder what motive the newspaper's reporter harbors in disseminating such a rumor at this moment," Zhu said. FM Spokesman Refutes Distorted Reports on China's Anti-Terrorism Stance Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao Thursday refuted some distorted media reports on China's anti-terrorism stance, reiterating its unconditional support for all the anti-terrorism activities. Some reports claimed that according to the September 18 press conference, China's cooperation with the United States to combat terrorism is on the condition that the U.S. support China against separatists. Zhu pointed out that some media reports patched up his answers to different questions and seriously distorted China's position. China has made clear its anti-terrorism stance, which was clearly stated in the phone conversation between President Jiang Zemin and leaders of countries concerned on September 18, he said **** "Strike Hard" Drive to Go Deeper: Official. A senior Chinese official has called for greater sense of responsibility, more determination and stronger measures to push forward the "Strike Hard" campaign against severe crimes. Luo Gan, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the call Friday in a speech at a national teleconference on the issue. Luo is also a state councilor and secretary of the Committee of Political Sciences and Law Under the CPC Central Committee. According to Luo, since April this year, law-enforcement departments, with the help of local people, have cracked down on a number of criminal groups. However, he noted, the security situation in some areas has remained very serious and features the existence of organized crimes. In the next stage, the "Strike Hard" campaign will be focused on striking criminal groups and punishing severe crimes. Efforts will be made to deal with major criminal cases and chase the escaping criminals, so as to achieve an obvious improvement in social security within two years, he said. Meanwhile, Luo also stressed the need to study the changes in the situation of fighting terrorism in the world and in China. He called for greater efforts to prevent terrorist activities. **** China's Social Security System Making Progress. China's social security system, which has experienced sound progress in recent years, has played a vital role in the country's reform and development. According to a meeting on social insurance held Sunday in Dalian, a coastal city in northeast China's Liaoning <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/liaoning.html> Province, 95 percent of the 23 million workers laid off from state-owned enterprises nationwide were guaranteed basic living allowances over the past three years. At the same time, 15 million of them were got re-employed. Last year, 99.3 percent of the 30 million retired workers received their pensions on time. Officials attending the meeting, which was jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the State Administration of Taxation, agreed that social security is an endeavor of great significance which requires the most diligent efforts to ensure the further development and better management of social insurance. Statistics show that by the end of June this year, the number of employees taking pension insurance and unemployment insurance policies reached 105.9 million and 102.5 million, respectively. The meeting also called for renovation of the medical security system, improvement of the social insurance system and a solution to unemployment. **** Reform of Household Register Is Imperative: Interview. Following is an interview by People's Daily reporter Zhang Yi with Li Tie, director of the China Small Town Reform and Development Center. Highlights: Accelerating the process of the reform of the household register management system helps promote the shift of surplus rural labor power; increase the consumption demand for agricultural products and manufactured industrial goods, stimulate infrastructure construction and the development of real estate industry; promote the raise of China's urbanization level and speed up the pace of the strategic readjustment of the national economy. Reporter: Recently, household register has been decontrolled in the country's small towns as well as in some small and medium-sized cities one after another. The household register management system featuring the separation between towns and countryside that has been in force for as long as over 40 years in China has broken the hard ice, what do you think is the most important significance? Li Tie: In the late 50s, China began to institute the household register management system featuring the partition of towns from the countryside as well as the systems of employment, land and public welfare featuring the differences between towns and the countryside. After the introduction of the reform and opening up policy and in the process of stepping into a socialist market economy, the national economy underwent rapid growth and urban construction and the quality of cities experienced changes from day to day, whereas there was no fundamental change in the household register management system that restricted the rural population from entering cities and towns. Such being the case, the present household register reform which is more open has enabled China's rural reform to have finally broken the traditional, mutually closed relationship between town and countryside, the rural economy has begun to carry out the reorganization of production elements in a broader space. Reporter: When the repeatedly called upon household register reform is surging forward, many people still ask: Are conditions ripe for the reform? Li Tie: With the beginning of the 21st century, China's urbanization has developed to a crucial period. Accelerating the process of the reform of the household register management system is conducive to promoting the transfer of redundant rural labor force, raising the agricultural labor productivity, optimizing the rural economic structure and increasing farmers' income; it helps change the consumption methods of farmers entering the cities, increase consumption demands for agricusltural products and manufactured industrial goods, stimulate infrastructure construction and the development of real estate industry; it also helps raise China's urbanization level and speed up the pace of the strategic readjustment of the national economy, reduce the differences between industry and agriculture and between city and countryside and bring about progress and long-term stability of social civilization of the country's cities and countyside. Viewed from the current situation, implementation of household register reform is a must. First, the balanced supply of and demand for farm produce with surplus in good years and the general excess of industrial production capacity make it possible to satisfy the demand for various types of commodities following farmers' entry into cities and towns. Second, there have been large numbers of people engaged in non-agricultural industries in rural areas, most of them hope to live permanently and steadily in cities and towns and enjoy the civilization of modern cities. Third, failing to timely reform the current system that separates towns from countryside and to raise the level of urbanization, it will be subjected to the restriction of more real cost factors. In addition, after two years of trial implementation of household register reform, fairly mature experiences have been gained, which facilitate the popularization and development of the reform nationwide. Reporter: The implementing scope covered by the present reform of the household register management system mainly encompasses all small towns including county-level urban districts. At the same time, some provincial capital cities have also adopted corresponding measures. In cities such as Beijing and Shanghai , there has been louder and louder voice demanding further relaxation of the current household register system. Li Tie: The domicile reform should not be carried out with undue haste in big cities. First, the grade of infrastructure construction is higher in big cities, the amount of government public expenditure needed for an increase of every urbanite is large, before fundamental reform of investment and fund-raising methods for infrastructure facilities is carried out, it is financially impossible for the city government to support the large numbers of newly added low-level rural employed population under the condition of investment in high-level infrastructure facilities. Second, because the per-capita public welfare level in large and medium-sized cities is fairly high and the influx of large numbers of outside population, it is bound to share out these public welfre outlays, proceeding from the angle of maintaining social stability in cities, before substantive progress is achieved in the reform of State-owned enterprises and the urban social security system, it is temporarily unsuitable to pursue the policy of decontrolling the household transfer in large and medium-sized cities. In the near future, at least from the 10th Five-year Plan period to 2010, in the reform of the domicile management system, it is necessary to make full use of small cities, particularly small towns. the cost of infrastructure construction in these regions is relatively low, and the cost and risk involved in the transfer of labor force is small and it is possible to absorb redundant rural labor force and avoid a series of social problems brought about by population blindly puring into big cities as the case in some developing countries. **** Polish Opposition Party Wins Landslide Victory. Polish voters have handed victory to the opposition Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), a party with roots in the country's former communist regime, exit polls show. The Democratic Left is set to take around 45% of the vote, which would enable it to form Poland�s first single party government since the collapse of Communism in 1989. The elections also marked the political extinction of the Solidarity bloc (AWS), which failed to win any seats, according to two separate exit polls. Solidarity was the party that led Poland out of communism, but a BBC correspondent in Warsaw says its four-year rule has been marked by lower economic growth, higher unemployment and a series of scandals. Preliminary results reported on Polish television showed the SLD winning 44.9% of the vote, enough for 231 seats in the 460-seat parliament, the Sejm. The opposition is now made up of a clutch of small parties. Civic Platform, which like the Democratic Left strongly supports Poland's bid to join the European Union, came second with about 13% of the vote. But the exit polls suggest that about a quarter of seats will go to parties opposed to EU membership. The preliminary results included nearly 10% support for a radical fringe party called Self-Defence which objects to joining the EU and which has in the past organised roadblocks to protest at government policies. The Peasant Party, a long-established farmers grouping garnered 9.9%, while Solidarity won just 4.4% - it needed 8% to stay in parliament. Turnout appeared low reflecting a docile campaign which was overshadowed by the recent attacks in the US, which led to political parties cancelling major rallies and other events. **** Foreign Exchange Control System Not to Change: Official. China has not made any commitment to Renminbi convertibility under capital project in the WTO negotiation process and China will maintain the foreign exchange control system under capital project pointed out Ma Delun, deputy Director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) recently. Ma disclosed that a new foreign exchange managing system centered on banks would be established in a move to bring facilities to enterprises and improve efficiency after China's participation into WTO. The current foreign exchange system is basically in line with WTO rules and international routines and the impact and policy adjustment of WTO membership itself would be limited. However, China's WTO participation would bring more risks to the country's direct integration into international economic and financial markets as well as the ability to bear the risks brought about by economic integration and opening-up. As to foreign exchange management, the entry into WTO would not mean give free rein to opening without any restriction but active adjustment to WTO rules to integrate the country into economic globalization in a more flexible and effective way and to maintain international payments equilibrium and foreign-related economic security. **** Killing of Israeli Woman Casts Shadow on Peres-Arafat Meeting. The 48-hour period of absolute quiet, a precondition set by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the Peres-Arafat meeting, was broken again as gunfire was echoing in the West Bank Monday morning. An Israeli woman was shot dead and her husband sustained minor wounds in a Palestinian drive-by shooting attack earlier Monday morning, when the couple was driving near the town of Mekhola in the Jordan Valley, Israel radio reported. Israeli security forces have reportedly set up roadblocks in the area and closed roads leading to the West Bank city of Nablus, in an attempt to capture the murderers. The killing has undoubtedly cast shadow on the long-anticipated meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which was again cancelled by Sharon on Sunday with the excuse of the Palestinian failure of committing to ceasefire. However, Sharon, under huge pressure from Peres and the United States, would give the green light to the meeting if there was no violence on Monday, said an Israeli diplomat. Peres is angry at Sharon's cancellation of his meeting with Arafat scheduled for Sunday at the Gaza International Airport, and announced that he is considering of taking a "vacation" as of Monday evening in protest. Peres' supporters in the Israeli cabinet, mostly Labor Party ministers, warned Sunday that Peres would resign from the coalition government if he was not allowed to meet with Arafat within the next two days. US Secretary of State Colin Powell phoned Sharon after learning his cancellation of the meeting, saying that the US wants a meeting soon between Peres and Arafat, as part of Washington's efforts to build up an international anti-terrorism coalition that includes the Arab world. The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said Monday morning that the meeting would take place only after the Jewish day of fasting Yom Kippur later this month. **** Establishment of Palestinian State Possible: Sharon. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that Israel might accept the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, the website of an Israeli leading daily Ha'aretz reported Monday. In a statement issued Sunday evening, Sharon said that Israel wants to give the Palestinians "what no one else has heretofore given them -- the possibility of establishing a state." Sharon's statement is the strongest indication so far by a standing Likud prime minister of accepting the concept of Palestinian statehood. Sharon added in the statement that "we (Israelis) are not fighting the Palestinians, we are fighting terrorism," according to the report. Analysts regard Sharon's statement as a positive signal to the Mideast peace process, especially to the Israeli-Palestinian peace track, which was officially launched in 1993 with the signing of the Declaration of Principle on Palestinian Interim Self-Rule. Sharon, known as one of the toughest hawks against the land-for- peace policy, has consistently insisted on Israeli absolute sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza Strip and opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state in the territories. _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
