STOCKHOLM: India has been the world’’s biggest weapons importer over the last five years, Swedish think-tank SIPRI reported Monday, naming four Asian countries among the top five arms importers. The report also highlighted how the world’’s major arms supplying countries had in recent years competed for trade in Libya, and in other Arab countries gripped by the recent wave of pro-democracy uprisings. “India is the world’’s largest arms importer,” the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said as it released its latest report on trends in the international arms trade. “India received nine percent of the volume of international arms transfers during 2006-10, with Russian deliveries accounting for 82 percent of Indian arms imports,” it said. Its arms imports jumped 21 percent from the previous five-year-period with 71 percent of its orders being for aircraft. India’’s arms purchases were driven by several factors, said Siemon Wezeman of SIPRI”S Arms Transfers Programme. “The most often cited relate to rivalries with Pakistan and China as well as internal security challenges,” he wrote. China and South Korea held joint second place on the list of global arms import, each with six percent, followed by Pakistan, on five percent. Aircraft accounted for 45 percent of Pakistan’’s arms imports, which had bought warplanes from both China and the United States. Pakistan’’s arms imports were up 128 percent on the previous five-year period, SIPRI noted. Greece rounded off the top-five list arms importers, with four percent of global imports. Since the lifting of a UN arms embargo on Libya in September 2003, Britain, France, Italy and Russia had all competed to win orders from Moamer Kadhafi’’s regime, said the report. Kadhafi’’s forces are currently using tanks, artillery and warplanes to reclaim territory held by the opposition forces. Egypt had received 60 percent of its major arms imports from the United States between 2006 and 2010, said the SIPRI report. They included “M-1A1 tanks and M-113 armoured vehicles of the type present during demonstrations in the country in January 2011,” it added. A pro-democracy uprising forced Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to step down on February 11, after nearly three decades of autocratic rule, after pro-democracy uprising. But the conflict left at least 384 dead and more than 6,000 injured. Russia, Montenegro, the Netherlands and China had also supplied weapons to the Mubarak regime, said the SIPRI report. The United States remained the world’’s largest military equipment exporter, accounting for 30 percent of global arms exports in 2006-10, 44 percent of which went to to Asia and Oceania, SIPRI said. The rest of the top five arms suppliers were: Russia, with 23 percent of the total market; Germany (11 percent); France (seven percent); and Britain (four percent). “There is intense competition between suppliers for big-ticket deals in Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America,” said Dr Paul Holtom, head of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme. He cited the efforts of the Eurofighter consortium to sell their plane across the world against rival warplanes, with competition particuarly fierce for the markets in Brazil and India. Britain, France, Germany and Italy were also competing for orders for naval equipment from Algeria, noted SIPRI. The think tank, which specialises in research on conflicts, weapons, arms control and disarmament, was created in 1966 and is 50-percent financed by the Swedish state. (AFP)
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TOKYO: Japan mobilised 50,000 military and other rescue personnel Saturday to spearhead a Herculean rescue and recovery effort, a day after being hit by its most devastating quake and tsunami on record. Every wing of the Self Defence Forces was thrown into frantic service, with hundreds of ships, aircraft and vehicles headed to the Pacific coast area where at least 1,000 people were feared dead and entire neighbourhoods had vanished. As emergency staff in the quake-prone archipelago dug through rubble and plucked survivors off the roofs of submerged houses, Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned that day one after the catastrophe was a crucial window for survivors. “I realized the huge extent of the tsunami damage,” the centre-left premier said after taking a helicopter tour of the apocalyptic scenes, before meeting his cabinet ministers for an emergency meeting in Tokyo. “What used to be residential areas were mostly swept away in many coastal areas and fires are still blazing there,” he told them. The United States, with almost 50,000 troops stationed in Japan, sent aircraft carriers to waters off the disaster zone — just one of scores of nations that has offered assistance since Friday’’s monster quake. US forces on Friday helped Japan rapidly react by delivering a cooling agent to a nuclear plant where malfunctions threatened a dangerous meltdown. In the utter bleakness on the east coast of Japan’’s main Honshu island, where at least 3,600 houses were destroyed by the 8.9-magnitude quake, there were some rays of hope amid the carnage of smashed towns and shattered lives. Army helicopters airlifted people off the roof of an elementary school in Watari, Miyagi prefecture, and naval and coastguard choppers did the same to rescue 81 people from a ship that had been hurled out to sea by the tsunami. But for every piece of good news, there were more reminders of nature’’s cruelty against this seismically unstable nation — including the latest of a series of strong aftershocks in the morning, measuring a hefty 6.8. In large coastal areas, entire neighbourhoods were destroyed, with unknown numbers of victims buried in the rubble of their homes or lost to the sea, where cars, shipping containers, debris and entire houses were afloat. The coastal city of Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture was almost completely destroyed and submerged, said the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Japan’’s military started its mass deployment Friday, when it dispatched 300 planes and an armada of 20 naval destroyers and other ships, while some 25 air force jets flew reconnaissance missions over the disaster zone. The Tokyo and Osaka police forces and the health ministry also all quickly dispatched medical and rescue teams. Among the international help pledged, a team from South Korea, with five rescue personnel and two sniffer dogs, was set to arrive Saturday. Japan said it had been offered help by scores of other governments — among them Australia, China, New Zealand, Israel, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Russia, Turkey, Germany, France, Belgium, Ukraine, Slovakia, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Jordan, Britain, the European Union, Chile, Spain, Greece, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Argentina and Iceland. The United States, which occupied Japan after World War II and is the country’’s main security ally, has many of its forces stationed on the southern island of Okinawa, far from the quake zone. Two aircraft carriers were en route to the disaster zone — the USS George Washington, which is based near Tokyo, and the USS Ronald Reagan, which was on its way to South Korea for exercises and has been redirected to Japan.(AFP)
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan ranks third in negative influence in the world, according to a survey conducted by a British media outlet. According to the survey, Iran is the country seen as having the most negative influence in the world, according to an annual survey of the broadcaster. The Islamic Republic was followed by North Korea and Pakistan in the survey of negative and positive views of people in 27 countries based on events in 2010. Germany was the most positively viewed nation, but Brazil was the big winner as its status as an emerging power was confirmed with a positive rating which rose from 40 percent to 49 percent, leaving it ranked seventh in the positive stakes. In the year when it hosted the football World Cup, the proportion who rated South Africa positively rose to 42 percent from 35 percent last time. Israel was ranked as the fourth most unpopular country. The pollsters said that while views of Israel overall have not changed substantially over the past year, there had been “significant increases” in negative views of the country among Americans and Britons. A total of 28,619 people were interviewed face-to-face or by telephone in December last year and on February 4 this year, meaning the survey was done before the overthrow of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
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KARACHI: The five-day multinational naval exercise ”Aman-2011” was formally inaugurated by Commander Pakistan Fleet, Vice-Admiral Abbas Raza, on Tuesday. The naval exercises will continue till March 12 in the Arabian Sea under the arrangements of Pakistan Navy. “The exercise will enable all the participating countries to interact with each other on operational capabilities,” he said addressing the inaugural ceremony at Dockyard. The exercise will focus on issues related to piracy, sea terrorism, human trafficking, protection to marine interests and international trade, he added. “It will be our collective goal to provide conducive environment for sea trade and safeguard maritime interests,” he said. He said presently the piracy was confined to sea off Somali region which may grow over the period and there was need to face this challenge jointly. Admiral Abbas Raza further hoped that a feedback will be given by the participating countries on conclusion of the exercise. An exchange of information on exercise experience will pave way for improvement in this regard, he said. The participating countries, besides, Pakistan include Australia, China, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, UK and USA. The observer countries include Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Oman, the Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Sudan, Thailand, UAE, Ukraine and Yemen.(APP)
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PARIS: Governments worldwide scrambled Thursday to get their nationals out of the chaos of Libya, as Italy warned of a ‘biblical’ exodus of up to 300,000 migrants and anger built among trapped foreigners. Fears of a full-scale civil war in the North African country prompted countries from Canada to China to charter ferries and planes to get their citizens to safety despite poor communication and violent clashes. Thousands of foreigners packed Tripoli’’s airport hoping to leave the widening chaos behind, with those who managed to flee describing anarchic scenes with food and water supplies running low. As Libya’’s defiant leader Moamer Kadhafi clung to power, China ramped up a massive air, sea and land operation to evacuate more than 30,000 of its citizens, with over 4,000 transferred to the Greek island of Crete Thursday. Thailand, which has more than 23,000 workers in Libya, said it was making preparations to get its citizens to Malta, but warned it may be safer for them to stay in their compounds than to travel to a port. “I have received information that the route is dangerous due to looting,” said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. “They are safe in their camps now.” Hundreds of American nationals and other foreigners have boarded a US-chartered ferry in Tripoli but high seas delayed their departure for Malta. Turkey evacuated upwards of 6,000 of its nationals over three days by air, sea and land in a massive operation, but thousands were still waiting to leave with an estimated 25,000 Turks based in Libya. The logistical challenges were especially acute for Asian countries with over 150,000 low-paid workers trapped — including some 60,000 Bangladeshis and 30,000 Filipinos. Migrante International, a support group for overseas Philippines workers, said Filipinos had been left to fend for themselves, as Vice President Jejomar Binay planned to fly to the region to review emergency plans. Migrante chairman Gary Martinez complained that the government had “really messed up”. “When we spoke to one group of construction workers last night, they said they will try to make it across the border to Egypt by bus today (Thursday), because they haven”t heard from any government official,” he said. India said a 1,000-capacity passenger ship had arrived on the Libyan coast to begin evacuating some of its 18,000 nationals to Egypt, adding that the operation had been hampered by poor communications. An official at the Vietnamese embassy said it was trying to get its 10,000 nationals out, but warned that they were short of food and water. A flight from Tripoli with 150 stranded oil workers arrived in London. Britain’’s government rebuffed criticisms over its rescue mission, saying it would send as many flights as necessary, possibly including military planes. Oil worker James Coyle said he was one of 90 Britons trapped in a desert camp among 300 people, including Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Germans, Austrians and Romanians. “We are living a nightmare and we have asked the British government and they have just totally ignored us,” he said. “They don”t reply to emails, they have cut off the phones to Tripoli. We told them the situation three days ago — they never even replied to us.” Brazil, Canada and South Korea were among other countries striving to get their nationals out by ship or plane. The EU’’s executive arm said it would provide “extra evacuation capacity” including by sea to help bring out an estimated 10,000 stranded Europeans. Two planes carrying around 500 French nationals arrived in Paris early Wednesday while more than 300 Russian railroad and oil workers and their families returned to Moscow aboard three planes. “They burned down a police station next to our house. There is a lot of gunfire at night — rounds of machine-gun fire. We spent sleepless nights,” one woman told Russian state television on arrival. Already grappling with a mass influx of immigrants from Tunisia since the fall of its veteran ruler, Italy warned that the exodus from Libya could be far larger. “We know what awaits us when the Libyan regime falls: a wave of 200-300,000 immigrants,” Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.(AFP)
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TOBRUK: Moamer Kadhafi’’s regime has lost vast swaths of Libya’’s east to an insurrection, it emerged Wednesday, as the West braced for a mass exodus from a “bloodbath” in the oil-rich African state. As Kadhafi sought to cling on to his four-decade grip on power, US President Barack Obama condemned the Libyan leadership’’s blooody crackdown on anti-regime protests and orders to shoot protestors as “outrageous”. Thousands of Libyans and foreigners fled the north African country, leaving Kadhafi increasingly isolated as estimates suggested that 640 to more than 1,000 civilians were killed in the backlash by his forces. Europe readied sanctions and warning it would hold to account those responsible for the bloody crackdown. At London’’s Gatwick airport, Britons airlifted to safety said Tripoli had descended into war-like scenes. “Last night I”ve never been so scared in all my life,” said Jane Macefield, an expatriate teacher. Oil sold in New York crossed the symbolic $100 a barrel level, hitting prices not seen since 2008, amid fears over supplies from Libya. On the ground, Kadhafi opponents appeared in control of Libya’’s coastal east, from the Egyptian border through to the cities of Tobruk and Benghazi, with government soldiers switching sides to join the uprising. Tobruk is located about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the border and Benghazi, the epicentre of protests, some 400 kilometres further west — both in the Cyrenaica region. Journalists saw regime opponents — many of them armed — all along the highway that hugs the Mediterranean coast. Soldiers were declaring their support for the uprising, residents said, but the regime asserted it was still in control via a text message sent on the Libyan national mobile telephone network. “God give victory to our leader and the people,” the message said, promising a credit in cellphone time if it were forwarded to other mobile telephone users. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said “Cyrenaica is no longer under the control of the Libyan government and there are outbreaks of violence across the country,” using the name for the province covering the eastern half of the country. In the country’’s third city of Misrata, Kadhafi loyalists fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at demonstrators, killing several people with fears that they could attack again, witnesses said. Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Khaim said Al-Qaeda had set up an Islamic emirate in Derna, between Tobruk and Benghazi, headed by a former Guantanamo Bay inmate. But local residents dismissed the reports as the Libyan government trying to “scare Europe.” In the capital Tripoli, streets were mainly empty, barring a few dozen Kadhafi backers, despite his nationally televised call on Tuesday for a show of popular support. Only Green Square — a Kadhafi stronghold since the revolt against his four decades of iron-fisted rule broke out on February 15 — pulsed with activity as pro-regime supporters staged a demonstration. Libyan authorities said food supplies were available as “normal” in the shops and urged schools and public services to restore regular services, although economic activity and banks have been paralysed since Tuesday. “The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous, and it is unacceptable,” Obama said at the White House, saying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would attend a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In an angry rambling speech on Tuesday, Kadhafi, 68, threatened to purge opponents “house by house” and “inch by inch.” The International Federation for Human Rights said at least 640 people although Kadhafi’’s former protocol chief, Nouri el-Mismari, said the death toll had surpassed 1,000. “This is the end of Moamer Kadhafi,” he told AFP. “Moamer Kadhafi does not even have five percent of the country behind him,” he said. Libya’’s bar to the entry of foreign news media has complicated the chronicling of events there, but several correspondents have entered the east of the country from Egypt. Kaim declared that they were “outlaws” and said they would be arrested if they did not turn themselves in. Libyans are fleeing, with a UN spokesman saying about 5,000 people have arrived at the border with Tunisia and 15,000 at the border with Egypt. China, the European Union, France, India, South Korea and the United States, among others, scrambled to evacuate people from the turbulent nation, as the international community expressed outrage at the crackdown. UN chief Ban Ki-moon demanded international action against attacks on civilians and warned that Libya was now at a dangerous juncture, welcoming moves by to set up a “possible international inquiry into events in Libya.” Army, police and militias have killed unarmed demonstrators indiscriminately, even to the point where air force planes strafed civilians, according to widespread reports. In response, Peru suspended diplomatic ties with Libya, the first nation to do so, and numerous ministers, diplomats and military officers have announced their support for the rebellion. The turmoil in Libya, which has Africa’’s largest oil reserves, is the continent’’s fourth-largest producer and where many Western oil companies have suspended operations, has sent crude prices soaring. (AFP)
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DHAKA: Bangladesh said Tuesday that the Libyan ambassador to Dhaka had resigned, apparently in protest at the crackdown on anti-government protesters by Moamer Kadhafi’’s regime. “We have received a note from the Libyan embassy that its ambassador Ahmed A.H. Elimam has resigned,” Bangladesh’’s Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes said. Elimam did not respond to calls from AFP on Tuesday and the Libyan embassy and staff at Bangladesh’’s foreign ministry said they did not know where he was. Fears also grew for the safety of around 50,000 Bangladeshis who work in Libya. Bangladeshi media reported Monday that some 100 Bangladeshis were being held hostage, possibly by armed anti-government protesters, in the Libyan port city of Darnah, east of Benghazi, since Friday. A hostage, named as Shafiuddin Bishwas, told bdnews24.com Monday that 30 to 40 armed people had been holding 300 foreign construction workers who were working for a South Korean construction firm. The hostages were taken to a mosque, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the camp where they were captured, Bishwas said, adding they were moved to community centres the following day. Foreign Secretary Quayes said the government had no confirmation of the reports, while Labour Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain expressed concern about the “unofficial” information. “Our priority is the safety and security of our Bangladeshi nationals in Libya,” Quayes said. On Monday, some 500 Libyans looted a South Korean construction site west of Tripoli, injuring South Korean and Bangladeshi workers, Seoul’’s foreign ministry said. (AFP)
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SEOUL: Military officers from the rival Koreas met at their heavily armed border on Tuesday for their first talks since North Korea attacked a southern island in November, with analysts skeptical about the North’’s motives. The talks clear one of the roadblocks to a possible resumption of six-way talks aimed at ending North Korea’’s nuclear-weapons program, last held more than two years ago when the North walked out, announcing the process dead. North Korean Colonel Ri Son-kwon patted his counterpart from the South, Col. Moon Sang-gyun, on the shoulder and they shook hands before they started negotiations at the Panmunjom truce village, video footage showed. They have met several times over the years. “When they (North Korea) need something, which usually means money, they first drive tensions high, then switch to the charm offensive and start talks in order to get something,” said Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Kookmin University in Seoul. “If they do not get what they need, they turn the switch back to the confrontational mood.” The meeting is the first between the rivals since November, when the North bombarded the island of Yeonpyeong in disputed waters off the west coast killing four people. South Korea also accused the North of torpedoing one of its navy ships, killing 46 sailors, in March. Pyongyang denied involvement and says the South provoked the shelling of Yeonpyeong by firing artillery rounds into its water during a military drill. The defense ministry in Seoul gave no further details about Tuesday’’s meeting. Seoul and Washington want the U.N. Security Council to punish the North for the program because it contravenes past resolutions, whereas Beijing favors dealing with the matter in the six-party talks which also involve Japan and Russia. Tuesday’’s colonel-level talks are aimed at setting the time and agenda for higher-level dialogue, possibly between their defense ministers. Officials say it may take several rounds of working-level talks to prepare for the senior meeting.
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BEIJING: Asia rang in the Year of the Rabbit on Thursday with blasts of fireworks, colourful lion dances and prayers that the bunny will live up to its reputation for happiness and good fortune in 2011. From Sydney to Singapore to Pyongyang, the Lunar New Year was marked by a thundering barrage of firecrackers, by family feasts, musical performances — and rabbits galore. In Beijing and Shanghai, as in cities and towns across China, fireworks lit up the sky at midnight as millions of revellers celebrated the arrival of the new year. The salvo rumbled on through the early hours of Thursday. Fireworks are set off to ring in the year and ward off evil spirits but each year hundreds are reported hurt or killed in accidents across the nation of 1.3 billion people, and firefighters in tinder-dry Beijing were on high alert. “We let off firecrackers to chase away the ”nian”, a bad animal in Chinese legend. That way, it will not come and disturb you…. It’’s tradition,” said Wang Kuang, one of many visiting the huge temple fair in Beijing’’s Ditan Park. A five-star hotel in the northeastern city of Shenyang was gutted by fire early Thursday, in what police said was a blaze triggered by the festive explosives, Xinhua news agency reported. No one was hurt. Snow and chilly weather across much of China did not dampen the cheer of an estimated 700 million merry-makers who had travelled home for the holiday or were on the move — an annual exodus that swamps the nation’’s transport grid. The holiday, which runs through next week, is the only time that many of the country’’s estimated 230 million migrant workers are able to visit their parents, husbands, wives or children. Families typically gather for several days of feasting and partying, while youths receive cash gifts of red envelopes, or “hong bao”. People also visit temples, burning incense and praying for health and wealth. Amid public concerns about soaring food and housing prices, Premier Wen Jiabao pledged in his New Year’’s message this week that the country’’s leaders would work to keep inflation in check and curb real estate speculation. The Internet is driving a Chinese New Year rabbit-related spending frenzy, with thousands of online discounts offered for everything from alcohol to food and trips. People are also rushing to buy bunnies as pets, but animal rights activists fear the cuddly creatures could suffer from neglect or be abandoned once the novelty has worn off. The rabbit, occupying the fourth position in the Chinese zodiac, is closely linked to the moon and symbolises happiness and good fortune. In Taiwan, those hoping to try their luck early in the new year are snapping up lottery tickets, with the jackpot, due to be unveiled on Friday, expected to reach Tw$1 billion (US$33 million) after eight consecutive rollovers. US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent Lunar New Year greetings, with Clinton pledging that Washington would “forge constructive relationships” throughout the Asia-Pacific region. In Sydney, organisers were planning a vibrant street parade for Sunday night expected to draw 100,000, and dragon boat races in the city’’s Darling Harbour. In South Korea, more than 31 million people, or 62 percent of the population, were expected to be on the move this week. Highways were jammed and flights sold out. Relatives separated by the world’’s last Cold War frontier will gather near the border with North Korea for annual events publicising the plight of divided families. In the North, where the holiday was only restored in 1989, leader Kim Jong-Il attended a Lunar New Year concert symbolising “the indomitable heroic spirit” of the communist state’’s army and people, official media said Thursday. Many — including brokerages — are banking on the sensitive rabbit to usher in a calm 12 months after the Year of the Tiger brought a spate of deadly natural disasters to China such as earthquakes and mudslides. But the bunnies in a video cartoon that went viral on the Chinese Internet were anything but tranquil. Their revolt against brutal tiger overlords — a thinly veiled swipe at China’’s communist rulers — was a huge hit before the video was yanked by online censors. And in Malaysia, flash floods have ruined the holiday mood, with key roads closed to traffic and the train service to Johor state and neighbouring Singapore cancelled. “How do you expect me to think of Lunar New Year celebrations?” Lim Jun Den, a businessman in Segamat town who estimates he lost nearly $100,000 worth of electronics merchandise, was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.
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WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao confront stubborn rifts over North Korea and bilateral economic imbalances on Wednesday when they meet amid the pomp of a formal state visit. Both presidents have vowed stronger cooperation between the world’’s two largest economies in an effort to bridge the strains of the past year over human rights, Taiwan, Tibet and the gaping US trade deficit with China. Taking major strides toward narrowing these disagreements, however, will test the depth of their partnership. Some in Washington and Beijing are treating the summit as a test of how well the two powers can work in concert as China’’s ambitions expand in line with its rapid economic growth. “We bear special responsibilities as the first and second biggest economies. We bear special responsibilities because of the threat to world stability posed by the nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Chinese television, according to a transcript issued by the State Department. “So this is a critical juncture to determine how good the cooperative relationship between our two countries can be going forward.” Hu has been reluctant to give ground to US demands to intensify pressure on China’’s ally, North Korea, to abandon its nuclear ambitions, after the North alarmed the region by shelling a South Korean island and claiming advances in uranium enrichment, which could give it a second means to make nuclear weapons. Beijing has also bristled at US demands for faster appreciation of the yuan currency, which would make Chinese goods relatively more expensive and possibly help lower China’’s trade surplus with the United States, which Washington puts at $270 billion. US lawmakers are impatient for results and a meager outcome could increase congressional pressure on China over the trade deficit and to punish China for managing its currency. “It is critical that Congress, and the rest of the world, sees results during the summit between Chinese President Hu Jintao and President Obama, particularly regarding North Korea and economic issues,” Rick Larsen, co-chair of the House of Representative’’s bipartisan US-China Working Group, said in an e-mailed statement. A survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, published hours ahead of the summit in Washington, showed a growing number of US companies say the enforcement of intellectual property rights has deteriorated in the last year and that the regulatory environment is the biggest hurdle to doing business there. [nTOE709049] Though more US companies in China expect higher revenue in 2011, nearly two-thirds of the respondents said the regulatory environment had either remained stable or deteriorated over the past year. “IPR (intellectual property rights) remains a top concern because US companies perceive a lack of IPR protection and enforcement to be a blow to their competitive advantage and is costing US companies billions of dollars in lost revenue each year,” the survey said. Hu is likely to raise his own worries about US economic and security policy, including arms sales to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China deems an illegitimate breakaway province. The arms sales to Taiwan, even at the time when cross-Strait relations are improving, is the single most important factor jeopardizing Sino-US military ties, Major-General Yao Yunzhu, a senior military researcher, wrote in the official China Daily on Wednesday. Beijing also wants the Obama administration to reassure it that China’’s big holdings of US treasury assets are not threatened because of what some critics might describe as loose US fiscal policies. SWADDLED IN CEREMONY The talks between Obama and Hu will come swaddled in ceremony, including a 21-gun salute and a grand dinner. They are unlikely to trade sharp public jabs that could upset the carefully choreographed stagecraft. The images from the White House will be a valuable diplomatic laurel for Hu as he enters into his final stretch as China’’s leader before leaving office in late 2012. Wang Lili, a research fellow at Beijing’’s Renmin University, said both needed to work much harder at their relationship. “The sad fact is, there is still a lack of strategic mutual trust between the two nations, as their military ties lag far behind their economic and political relations, and each portrays the other with a certain degree of distortion,” Wang wrote in the China Daily. China has sought to soothe US ire about job losses and the trade deficit by sprinkling business deals that could be worth over $8.5 billion in the run-up to Hu’’s visit. Raising hopes for more possible deals to come, several US and Chinese business leaders are to meet on Wednesday at the White House. Obama and Hu are scheduled to drop by that meeting. US executives due to attend the meeting include Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steve Ballmer, Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, General Electric chief executive Jeff Immelt and Boeing chief executive Jim McNerney. Hu arrived on Tuesday and will also visit Chicago before returning to China on Friday.
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IPL,
ISI,
International,
Iran,
News,
UN,
US,
War,
ad,
ads,
aid,
ban,
china,
cia,
import,
korea,
military,
results,
trade,
urdu,
uth |
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