Written by Although negotiations are in the early stages, officials from both governments said they are favorably inclined toward a deal. They are scheduled to intensify their discussions Thursday and Friday in Washington prior to higher-level meetings in March. If an arrangement is reached, it would follow other recent agreements to base thousands of U.S. Marines in northern Australia and station Navy warships in Singapore.
Posts in category Asia-Pacific
Philippines may allow greater U.S. military presence in reaction to China’s rise
Protesters Block Van Carrying Govt Report! No Cops Pepper Spraying & Beating Them! Backwards Country
Indonesian Punk Head Shaving Decried at L.A. Demonstration
Demonstrators were gathering outside the Indonesian Consulate in L.A. today to decry authorities treatment of punk rockers in the island nation last week.
A concert in Banda Aceh was raided and 65 fans were arrested and brought to a police camp for “reeducation.” Perhaps most notoriously, however, the peacock hair of the punk rockers was shaved by authorities.
VIVAnews – The Governor of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Irwandi Yusuf, backs up measures taken up by the police in Aceh following arrest of dozens of young men and women of so-called punks in the province. The governor claimed the action has no relation with the implementation of Islamic law in Aceh.
“People often relate this with the Sharia law in Aceh. In fact, it has nothing to do with it,” Irwandi said today, Dec 20.
Police, said Irwandi, only wanted the punkers to attend school, work and go home to their parents.
“It’s true that they have their rights. But, the government must also think about their future,” said Irwandi, who is running for the second term of Aceh Governor’s office.
Regarding the method, Irwandi said, that it is up to police standards. For instance, to join the police, students need to be shaved, soaked in water, and other disciplinary acts.
“To be more precise about it, ask the Police Chief,” Irwandi said.
Irwandi said that the measure was not against Human Rights.
“Who will think about their rights in the future? They cannot live like this forever, sleeping on sidewalks,” said Irwandi. “All I’m asking is that for them to live a normal life even if they have to sleep in parks.”
“If they make mistakes, they should be offered help. Even if they violate the law by falsifying documents and using illegal drugs, although not all of them use drugs, but they still need to be corrected by the police,” said Irwandi. “About the head shaving and being immersed in pool, well, that’s the police’s method.”
Dozens of young men and women have been detained for being “punk” and disturbing the peace in Aceh, Indonesia’s most devoutly Muslim province. They are being held in a remedial school, where they are undergoing “re-education”.
The 64 punks, many of whom are from as far away as Bali or Jakarta, were picked up on Saturday night during a local concert.
Japan says some tsunami reconstruction funds going to whaling
Tokyo (CNN) — The Japanese government has affirmed that $29 million from its budget for post-earthquake and tsunami reconstruction is going toward extra security measures for the country’s whaling fleet, angering environmental activists like Greenpeace.
The whaling industry is “siphoning money away from the victims of the March 11 triple disaster, at a time when they need it most,” Junichi Sato, executive director of Greenpeace Japan, said this week, referring to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis that struck Japan in March.
But Tatsuya Nakaoku, an official from the Japanese Fisheries Agency, said Thursday he funds would help “support the reconstruction of a whaling town and nearby area,” which was devastated by the natural disasters.
Radiation traces found in Japanese baby formula
Traces of radiation spilled from Japan’s hobbled nuclear plant were detected in baby formula in the latest case of contaminated food in the nation.
Major food and candy maker Meiji Co. said Tuesday it was recalling canned powdered milk for infants, with expiration dates of October 2012, as a precaution.
The levels of radioactive cesium were well below government-set safety limits, and the company said the amounts were low enough not to have any affect on babies’ health even if they drank the formula every day.
Experts say children are more at risk than are adults of getting cancer and other illnesses from radiation exposure.
“There is no problem because the levels are within the government limit,” Kazuhiko Tsurumi, a Health Ministry official in charge of food safety, said of the radiation in Meiji milk.
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan sent three reactors into meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi plant, which have been spewing radiation into the air and ocean.
Some of that radiation has crept into food, such as rice, fish and beef. But this was the first time radiation was reported in baby formula.
Declassified Memo Hinted of 1941 Hawaii Attack
Three days before the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt was warned in a memo from naval intelligence that Tokyo’s military and spy network was focused on Hawaii, a new and eerie reminder of FDR’s failure to act on a basket load of tips that war was near.
In the newly revealed 20-page memo from FDR’s declassified FBI file, the Office of Naval Intelligence on December 4 warned, “In anticipation of open conflict with this country, Japan is vigorously utilizing every available agency to secure military, naval and commercial information, paying particular attention to the West Coast, the Panama Canal and the Territory of Hawaii.”
The memo, published in the new book December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World went on to say that the Japanese were collecting “detailed technical information” that would be specifically used by its navy. To collect and analyze information, they were building a network of spies through their U.S. embassies and consulates.
China sees trade war if U.S. passes currency bill
BEIJING (CNN) — A bill that will penalize China for allegedly manipulating its currency to gain a trade advantage is headed for a vote in the U.S. Senate Tuesday, adding pressure on China to appreciate the yuan.
China opposes the bill and warns of a trade war if the bill is passed.
“Should the proposed legislation be made into law, the result would be a trade war and that would be a lose-lose situation for both sides,” said Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai.
“It would be detrimental to the development of economic ties and might have an adverse impact on bilateral relations.”
BEIJING (CNN) — A bill that will penalize China for allegedly manipulating its currency to gain a trade advantage is headed for a vote in the U.S. Senate Tuesday, adding pressure on China to appreciate the yuan.
China opposes the bill and warns of a trade war if the bill is passed.
“Should the proposed legislation be made into law, the result would be a trade war and that would be a lose-lose situation for both sides,” said Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai.
“It would be detrimental to the development of economic ties and might have an adverse impact on bilateral relations.”
Freed China dissident was tortured in custody, say rights groups
A Chinese dissident writer who was freed this week after five years in jail for alleged illegal business activities has said he was wrongly imprisoned and subjected to treatment “beyond people’s imagination”.
Yang Maodong said the charges against him were trumped up and that during his time in custody his interrogators questioned him only about his pro-democracy activities, and not business matters.
“I am innocent,” he said. “It’s a political case and I was called a political prisoner in the places where I was detained. All of this is political persecution of me because I promoted democracy.”
Arrested in September 2006 and sentenced in November 2007, Yang was released from prison on Tuesday. The writer’s advocacy group, International PEN, has said Yang was targeted for writing the book Shenyang Political Earthquake, which allegedly exposed official corruption in a north-eastern province.
Human rights groups have said Yang, also known as Guo Feixiong, was tortured by police in his home province of Guangdong and in Shenyang, and was mistreated in prison in Guangdong.
The New York-based advocacy group Human Rights in China said Yang was interrogated for 13 days and nights without sleep, tied to a wooden bed for 42 days with his arms and legs shackled, and hung from the ceiling by his arms and legs while police electrocuted his genitals with a high-voltage baton. At the Meizhou prison in Guangdong, he was beaten by an inmate while 200 others watched, it said.
WikiLeaks founder Assange should be sent to mental asylum: Mayawati
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Tuesday rubbished the allegations made against her by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks that she had sent a special jet to Mumbai to bring in her favourite sandals.
Calling it a political conspiracy ahead of elections, the BSP chief said WikiLeaks owner has either gone mad or supporting her opponents.
Mayawati said Assange needs to be admitted in a mental asylum. “And, if there is no such asylum in his country, they can send him to UP and I will make arrangements for his admission in the mental asylum in Agra,” she said.
Mayawati said that media reports based on the WikiLeaks about her right hand man and party general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra and cabinet secretary Sheshank Shekhar Singh were baseless and distorted and were a part of a conspiracy to break the unity of the BSP and defame her government.
Mayawati also condemned news channels and newspapers which had published one-sided reports based on the WikiLeaks and without her party’s reaction. “The reports are totally baseless,” she said.
Slip-Up in Chinese Military TV Show Reveals More Than Intended
A standard, even boring, piece of Chinese military propaganda screened in mid-July included what must have been an unintended but nevertheless damaging revelation: shots from a computer screen showing a Chinese military university is engaged in cyberwarfare against entities in the United States.
The documentary itself was otherwise meant as praise to the wisdom and judgment of Chinese military strategists, and a typical condemnation of the United States as an implacable aggressor in the cyber-realm. But the fleeting shots of an apparent China-based cyber-attack somehow made their way into the final cut.
The screenshots appear as B-roll footage in the documentary for six seconds—between 11:04 and 11:10 minutes—showing custom-built Chinese software apparently launching a cyber-attack against the main website of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, by using a compromised IP address belonging to a United States university. As of Aug. 22 at 1:30pm EDT, in addition to Youtube, the whole documentary is available on the CCTV website.
The screenshots show the name of the software and the Chinese university that built it, the Electrical Engineering University of China’s People’s Liberation Army—direct evidence that the PLA is involved in coding cyber-attack software directed against a Chinese dissident group.
The software window says “Choose Attack Target.” The computer operator selects an IP address from a list—it happens to be 138.26.72.17—and then selects a target. Encoded in the software are the words “Falun Gong website list,” showing that attacking Falun Gong websites was built into the software.
A drop-down list of dozens of Falun Gong websites appears. The computer operator chooses Minghui.org, the main website of the Falun Gong spiritual practice.
The IP address 138.26.72.17 belongs to the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB), according to an online trace.
The shots then show a big “Attack” button on the bottom left being pushed, before the camera cuts away.
Full Article
‘Stealth’ warships to test China’s nerve
THE US is deploying a new generation of high-speed stealth warships to the disputed waters of the South China Sea, in a move that is bound to raise tensions with Beijing.
The vessels, which cost $US440 million ($422m) each, will be deployed in the shipping lanes between Hong Kong and Singapore, where four nations are at odds with China over who owns vast areas of ocean rich in oil and gas.
The ships are designed to fight in shallow waters. They carry three helicopters and special forces units with armoured vehicles that can roll off a ramp into action, while fast gunboats can be launched from the stern.
The latest version, built by General Dynamics, is an aluminium-hulled trimaran, the USS Independence. Launched last year, it is protected by Mk 110 57mm guns made by BAE Systems, plus missiles for air, land and underwater targets.
The warships’ sleek silhouettes reflect their stealth technology, while the stable trimaran design suits the South China Sea, which is swept by typhoons every summer.
Computer lab’s Chinese-made parts raise spy concerns
A U.S. supercomputer laboratory engaged in classified military research concluded a recent deal involving Chinese-made components that is raising concerns in Congress about potential electronic espionage.
The concerns are based on a contract reached this summer between a computer-technology firm and the National Center for Computational Engineering at the University of Tennessee, whose supercomputers simulate flight tests for next-generation U.S. military aircraft and spacecraft, and simulate submarine warfare for the Navy.
The storage system for the contract calls for using software from U.S. cybersecurity firm Symantec installed over devices made by Huawei Technologies, a Chinese telecommunications giant that U.S. officials have said has close ties to China’s military. Huawei and Symantec formed a joint venture in 2008, with Huawei owning 51 percent of the shares of the enterprise.
Last week, four Republican senators and one member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence urged the Pentagon and Energy Department in a letter to review the contract for potential risks to national security.
The lawmakers’ request highlights tensions between the intelligence community and high-technology companies on how sensitive computer servers, microchips and software that are designed or produced in foreign countries can provide foreign intelligence services backdoor access to sensitive information systems.
