Extracts.
China Issues New Military Training Code. The Chinese military and armed police will carry out military training this year under a new general outline which was just issued by the Headquarters of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA). The Chinese military and armed police will carry out military training this year under a new general outline which was just issued by the Headquarters of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA). The general outline sums up the experiences the PLA gained fromits intensive military training programs in the past three years, and is a revolutionary leap forward compared with traditional theories on military training. Under the scheme outlined, officers and soldiers will receive separate training. In the past they was no difference in their training. Now officers will be taught more command skills. The new training method will focus on improving the quality of training, instead of focusing on how much time is used in training. In addition, the outline is in loose-leaf type so that its contents can be revised and supplemented if necessary. Militarists here say that the outline is a milestone in China'smilitary training. It shows the PLA has shifted its focus to the quality of training in a bid to boost its fighting capacity with modern science and technology. **** '10th Five-year Plan' for National Environmental Protection Approved. It is learnt from State Environmental Protection Administration that the State Council has formally approved the "10th Five-year Plan" for National Environmental Protection. The Plan includes the following main contents: China's State Council has formally approved the "10th Five-year Plan" for National Environmental Protection. The Plan includes the following main contents: Grasp the pollution-control work in the valley of the "three rivers and lakes" (the Huaihe, Haihe and Liaohe rivers and Taihu, Dianchi and Chaohu lakes), the control areas of pollution by acid rain and sulfur dioxide, as well as in the Bohai Sea area and Beijing Municipality, come to firm grips with the water pollution in the Three Gorges areas and the regions along the South-to-North Water Diversion Project; further intensify efforts to prevent and control pollution to the macro-environment, speed up the elimination of backward production technology and equipment, shut down enterprises causing heavy pollution within a specified time, with the emphasis placed on comprehensively preventing pollution to water and atmosphere, and pollution caused by garbage and noise in key cities, earnestly strengthen ecological construction and protection and curb artificial damages. We should see to it that by the year 2005, the volume of pollutants discharged should be reduced by 10 percent from 2000, the worsening tendency of the ecological environment be initially checked, urban and rural environmental quality, particularly the environmental quality of large and medium-sized cities will be improved. **** Pakistanis are Responsible and Peace-Loving Nation: Musharraf. "Pakistanis are a responsible and peace-loving nation but let there be no illusion that in case of any aggression we will respond with complete national will and resolve," President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday. "Pakistan is are a responsible and peace-loving nation but let there be no illusion that in case of any aggression we will respond with complete national will and resolve," President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday. He was addressing the Corps Commanders Conference at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan. Musharraf added that the defense of the country is a sacred duty and by the grace of Allah, the Pakistani Army is capable of meeting all types of challenges. The conference was attended by Corps Commanders and Principal Staff Officers of the Pakistani armed forces. The participants were given a detailed update by President Musharraf about his visits and discussions with leaders of Iran, Turkey, France, Britain, the United States, China and the SAARC Conference at Kathmandu. **** Eritrean President Meets Chinese Foreign Minister. Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki on Wednesday spoke highly of Eritrea-China close cooperation and China's sincere support to the Eritrean economic construction. Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki on Wednesday spoke highly of Eritrea-China close cooperation and China's sincere support to the Eritrean economic construction. Isayas made the remarks when he met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan in the capital of Asmara. He expressed the belief that China's success in its reform and opening up to the outside world was a great encouragement for the developing countries, saying that it is his hope that the Chinese people would make greater achievements. Tang said that Eritrea is a young country in Africa and China established its diplomatic relations with Eritrea on the day when it was founded. He noted that China and Eritrea had conducted fruitful cooperation in the political, economic, health, cultural and educational fields over the past eight years. Tang stressed that the Chinese government had attached great importance to the deepening of its cooperation with Eritrea and was willing to strengthen consultations and cooperation and further cement close bilateral ties. The Chinese government had also encouraged and supported Chinese companies to actively participate in Eritrea's economic construction, he said. Tang said he was sure that with the common efforts, the Sino- Eritrean friendly cooperation would be grown continuously. On Wednesday, Tang also held talks with Eritrean External Affairs Minister Ali Said Abdella. They exchanged views on bilateral relations and situation in Africa and reached a consensus on a wide ranging of issues. The two countries also signed several documents of cooperation including bilateral economic and technological cooperation agreement. **** Afghan Army Units Ordered to Leave Kabul in Three Days. Afghan military units in Kabul have been ordered to withdraw to their barracks outside the capital within three days, to allow Afghan police and multinational peacekeepers to patrol the city, interior ministry officials said Wednesday. Afghan military units in Kabul have been ordered to withdraw to their barracks outside the capital within three days, to allow Afghan police and multinational peacekeepers to patrol the city, interior ministry officials said Wednesday. "(Interior Minister Yunis) Qanooni has decided that all these military units affiliated to the defence ministry that took part in the conquest of Kabul should evacuate the city within three days," said Din Mohammad Jorat, chief of the law and order departement at the ministry. "After that the peacekeeping force along with our police force will be patrolling the city," he told AFP. Jorat said clearance permits for carrying weapons have already been prepared, to prevent "irresponsible" people from bearing weapons inside the city. The Afghan police force and the Kabul Garrison units were supervising the withdrawal of military units to locations outside Kabul, he said. "There is no need for the international force to conduct the operation of pulling out the military units. Our police force and Kabul Garrison has been doing it." The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is being led by Britain for the first three months of its six-month term, is expected to number some 4,500 troops by the end of this month. Under an agreement signed between ISAF and the Afghan interim administration, the force is confined to Kabul and its environs and its powers are strictly limited. Its main function "is to assist in the maintenance of the security" in Kabul and surrounding areas, according to the Military Technical Agreement (MTA) signed last week. **** US Nuclear Policy Review Changes Deterrent Strategy: Official. A classified Pentagon review of U.S. nuclear policy calls for fundamental changes to the country's nuclear deterrent, shifting from high dependence on nuclear weapons to wider use of conventional weapons and building of a missile defense system, a top Pentagon official said Wednesday. A classified Pentagon review of U.S. nuclear policy calls for fundamental changes to the country's nuclear deterrent, shifting from high dependence on nuclear weapons to wider use of conventional weapons and building of a missile defense system, a top Pentagon official said Wednesday. The new policy will cut the number of offensive nuclear weaponswhile increasing the options the Bush administration will have, said J.D. Crouch, assistant defense secretary for international security. He made the remarks at a news briefing on the Nuclear Posture Review made by the Ministry of Defense. The policy report, the first review of U.S. nuclear deterrent since 1994, was submitted to Congress on Tuesday. Crouch said the review changes the strategy from the traditional threat-based approach to a capabilities-based approach. "Under the threat-based approach, the size of our force was primarily a reflection of a specific threat. There was an emphasison nuclear offensive forces," he said. "The capabilities-based approach argues that there may be multiple contingencies and new threats that we have to deal with. We're focusing on how we will fight, how we will have to fight, not who or when, and we don't really know." "We have to have capabilities that would deal with a broad range of the potential capabilities that adversaries may array against us," he said. Given the changed international security environment, the Cold War approach to deterrence that was highly dependent on offensive nuclear weapons is no longer appropriate, he said. Nuclear weapons are still a key part of the deterrent strategy,"but we also believe that other kinds of capabilities will be needed in the future," he said. These other capabilities include advanced conventional capabilities, missile defense and better command, control, intelligence and planning, he added. Under the new plan set in the review, the U.S. nuclear arsenal of about 6,000 warheads will drop to around 3,800 by fiscal 2007 and to between 1,700 and 2,200 operationally deployed warheads by fiscal 2012, a pledge President George W. Bush made to Russian President Vladimir Putin in November last year. "This means we will deploy the lowest number of nuclear weaponsconsistent with U.S. security requirements," Crouch said. But instead of calling for a total destruction of the weapons removed, the review proposes that some warheads be made inactive, meaning that they would be simply put in storage, where they couldbe reactivated on relatively short notice, he said. Some warheads would be destroyed, but officials have not decided how many or when, Crouch said. The U.S. needs to keep the warheads in reserve in case the world situation changes and most previous arms control treaties donot require that warheads be destroyed, he noted. Many Democrats and arms control advocates contend that unless the nuclear warheads are completely dismantled, proposals to cut the stockpile will do nothing to encourage the Russians to reduce their arsenal of about 6,000 warheads. The review also calls for the destruction of 50 Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in Wyoming, and the removal of four Trident submarines from strategic service, according to Crouch. The Air Force's B-1 bomber would not be nuclear capable. More importantly, the U.S. would remove some warheads from operationally deployed ICBMs and submarine-launched missiles. Crouch argued that a missile defense system, designed to destroy missiles before they reach their targets, would offer the U.S. more options in its military strategy. In an effort to build a controversial missile defense system, Bush announced on December 13 that the U.S. would withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which banned such a system. "What we have here is a concept of reductions of our nuclear forces, but the introduction of some new elements will help to mitigate risks as we introduce new elements to the force," Crouch said. _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
