International and Bilateral Issues

Pakistan eyeing China's new 1,000-MW reactor

China's state-run nuclear energy company, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), said this week its recently-unveiled 1,000-MW reactor, first of its kind in China, had passed safety inspections and was ready for use
Recent media reports in Pakistan, citing government documents, said the CNNC was in talks with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission over setting up two 1,000-MW plants at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant, Kanupp-2 and Kanupp-3.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry is yet to confirm agreements for any of the three proposed 1,000-MW reactors.
first 1,000-MW pressurised water reactor
The CNNC said the successful inspection of the Fuqing unit 1, which was designed by the Nuclear Power Institute of China, reflected a significant landmark for the CNNC's design capabilities, giving the go-ahead to manufacture more 1,000-MW reactors.
nuclear power would remain a key component of China's sources of energy, with the country planning to reduce its carbon emissions and raise the proportion of non-fossil fuels in its primary energy consumption to 11.4 per cent in the next five years, up from 8.3 per cent.
But as China slows down on expanding its domestic nuclear power sector, its companies, such as CNNC, have renewed efforts to spread their presence overseas.
Pakistan has so far been CNNC's biggest overseas market, with the company already building two reactors — Chashma-1, which opened in the year 2000, and the 300-MW Chashma-2, which went into operation this year.
CNNC's deals for two additional reactors, Chashma-3 and Chashma-4, signed in 2009, triggered controversy as they were agreed to after China joined the 46-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which prohibits the sale or transfer of nuclear technology by its members to countries who have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Chinese officials have justified the deals signed by CNNC and other companies with Pakistan, saying China's cooperation was for civilian purposes, subject to IAEA safeguards and likely to go forward, with or without exemptions.

China to address monks' difficulties

Chinese officials have announced a number of welfare measures for monks in Tibet's monasteries, including pensions, living allowances and access to public services, in an effort to boost stability and “national unity” in the region.
The measures come weeks after a series of self-immolations by Tibetan monks and nuns, with at least 11 people setting themselves on fire to protest religious policies.
the government “will take great pains” to ensure that public services such as electricity, water, telecommunications, radio and television stations would be provided to local monasteries and their “living difficulties” would be addressed
The report said a “managing committee” would be set up in monasteries to “better regulate Buddhist activities, property, and the management of their cultural relics”

Monti to form Italian government

Economist Mario Monti accepted on Sunday the monumental task of trying to form a new government that can rescue Italy from financial ruin, expressing confidence that the nation can beat the crisis if its people pull together.
His selection came a day after Silvio Berlusconi reluctantly resigned as Premier
Mr. Berlusconi quit after the Italian Parliament approved new reform measures demanded by the European Union

Enough is enough, Obama tells Beijing

United States President Barack Obama lashed out at Chinese authorities over the alleged undervaluation of the Yuan, saying most economists estimated it was devalued by 20 to 25 per cent and that it was time for China to move towards a market-based system for their currency.
He underscored his intention to ensure that China played by the rules of the game, especially since, in addition to the currency valuation issue, intellectual property rights and protections for U.S. companies in China were also proving problematic.
China has repeatedly said the issue is a red herring and that the U.S. economic woes stem from deeper, domestic causes.
The U.S. Senate last month passed a bill, the “Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011”, aimed at punishing China for allegedly manipulating its currency and holding it at an artificially low level.
Earlier this year Chinese President Hu Jintao deflected criticism away from China's currency, suggesting instead that efforts by the U.S. Federal Reserve to stimulate growth through huge bond purchases were fuelling inflation in emerging economies.

Island of democracy in Central Asia

Kyrgyzstan's former Prime Minister Almazbek Atambaev was officially declared winner in a crucial presidential election held two weeks ago.
Even though international monitors criticised faulty voter lists, cases of multiple voting and ballot stuffing, they applauded the free and peaceful election that reconfirmed Kyrgyzstan's status as an “Island of Democracy” in Central Asia.
The presidential poll marked a crucial stage in Kyrgyzstan's daring experiment of building a western-type democracy in an undemocratic regional environment. All other former Soviet states in Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — have authoritarian or downright dictatorial regimes.
The democratic experiment in Kyrgyzstan began even before the fall of the Soviet Union, when mathematician Askar Akayev, former president of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences, was elected the country's first President in 1990.
Economic reforms undertaken according to International Monetary Fund prescriptions finished the job the disintegration of the single Soviet economic machine started — they destroyed Kyrgyzstan's industry, which was the most developed in Central Asia, and plunged the country into poverty.
In 2005, people's anger against the greedy ruling clan fuelled by western human rights organisations erupted in violent riots that forced President Akayev to flee the country.
A steep hike in fuel prices last year provoked the popular revolt that topped the Bakiyev regime.
It was the eighth time the Constitution was rewritten in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. The new Constitution won praise from the Venice Commission, the constitutional law advisory body of the Council of Europe, but was greeted with scepticism in Moscow.
Kyrgyzstan's transition from a presidential to parliamentary republic that began with the election of a new Parliament in October 2010 will be completed in December, when interim President Otunbayeva steps down and makes room for Mr. Atambaev.
It will be a milestone for the Kyrgyz democracy: the country, for the first time, will see power change hands through orderly, contested elections rather than turmoil and violence. Kyrgyzstan today is not only the only democracy in Central Asia but has a more democratic political system than Russia and many other former Soviet states.
Some experts, however, think Kyrgyzstan has chosen the wrong path to democracy.
“The introduction of the parliamentary form of government in a vastly unprepared, politically and economically unstable society that is torn by tribal, clan and regional divisions is fraught with a power vacuum, anarchy and ochlocracy [mob rule], and may lead to the loss of statehood,” the expert wrote in a recent article.
Kyrgyzstan should adopt the so-called “Asian model” of transition to democracy “through authoritarianism and institutionalisation of authoritarian forms of democracy,” which has worked so well in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan.
The expert is convinced that Kyrgyzstan needs a strong government to cope with soaring crime, massive drug trafficking, rampant corruption, extreme ethnic enmities that take violent forms and authorities that practise double standards and lack public trust.
The Parliament elected last year is split as regional, clan-based and faction-torn parties struggle to form shaky coalitions. The state administration is paralysed by corruption and incompetence.
Last year, the southern provinces saw the worst-ever ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan's history, provoked by supporters of the ousted President Bakiyev.
As Kyrgyzstan stumbled through chaotic regime changes, its population sank deeper into poverty. According to the U.N. World Food Programme, about 1.4 million people, or nearly one-third of its 5.5-million population, suffered from malnutrition in 2010 and the number has since grown.
Chronic poverty and lack of jobs have helped turn Kyrgyzstan into a major transit route for Afghan heroin.
Russia and the U.S., both of which have military bases in Kyrgyzstan.
The U.S. orchestrated the “tulip revolution” in Kyrgyzstan that toppled Mr. Akayev, while Russia reportedly had a hand in the ouster of Mr. Bakieyv after he reneged on his pledge to close the U.S. airbase in Kyrgyzstan.
Mr. Atambaev has indicated he is going to ally Kyrgyzstan closer to Russia.
He reaffirmed his country's intention to join the customs union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, and at his very first post-election press conference promised to shut down the U.S. airbase when its lease expires in 2014.

Mossad linked to Iran military blast

A series of news reports linking Israel's intelligence agency the Mossad to a blast at a military facility in Iran, in which 17 people were killed and a further 15 wounded
U.S. blogger Richard Silverstein claiming the Mossad had teamed up with Iranian militant group Mujahideen e-Khalq (MEK) to execute the alleged attack.
Mossad carried out the attack in an attempt to stall Iran's development of a nuclear weapon.
The blast at the base, which is reported to have been a storage facility for long-range missiles, was so powerful that it was said to have been felt 50km away in the capital, Tehran.
Among those killed was Major General Hassan Moghaddam, the Revolutionary Guard Commander charged with “ensuring self-sufficiency” in armaments, and described by Iranian media as a pioneer in Iranian missile development.
Israel's Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, responded to news of Moghaddam's death by saying: “May there be more like it.”
I will say God bless those who were behind it, because the free world should be doing its best to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear military capability.
A recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report, based on the intelligence of 10 governments, presented images, letters and diagrams that suggested Iran was secretly working on nuclear weaponry.
Iran's envoy to the IAEA says any nuclear development is for peaceful means and that the material evidence against has been fabricated by the U.S.
Israel has been linked to several previous incidents in Iran similar to Saturday's explosion, including an explosion at a Shahab facility in south-western Iran in 2010 and a bomb attack earlier that year in Tehran, in which Iranian physicist Masoud Ali Mohammadi was killed.

The Indian Ocean: in need of a regional organisation to match its growing influence

The nations of this region are home to 2.6 billion people, almost 40 per cent of the world's population, accounting for 10 per cent of global GDP — and rising rapidly.
Its sea lines of communication are among the world's most important — 40 per cent of global trade passes through the Indian Ocean, including 70 per cent of the total traffic of petroleum products.
South Asia is witnessing extraordinary growth, led by the rising great power that is India. As energy security becomes a preoccupation for an ever increasing number of countries, the influence of Gulf States is growing. East Africa's economic significance is also expanding. And the nations of South East Asia, led by Indonesia, are on a strong growth path.
Australia understands all this implicitly.
Building on this, Australia is now determined to work with other Indian Ocean countries to harness a sense of community in this region by intensifying practical engagement aimed at enhancing our prosperity and security.
It is with this objective in mind that I am participating in the Council of Ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim Association of Regional Countries (IOR-ARC) in Bengaluru
however, IOR-ARC has not lived up to this potential. Some critics argue that the countries around the Indian Ocean are too distant from each other, too diverse in their economic and social make-up and too disparate in their stages of economic development to work effectively together.
We want to build and nurture the habit of joint work in the service of common purpose.
The challenge for us in Bengaluru will be to identify concrete steps towards more effective practical cooperation in areas such as: sustainable fisheries management; science cooperation on climate change, food security and ocean science; disaster management; maritime safety and security; trade facilitation; and resources and energy security.
Over the next two years, Australia will serve as Vice Chair, supporting the leadership of India as Chair. In the two years after that, we will be in the Chair
Kevin Rudd is the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs .

The Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), initially known as the Indian Ocean Rim Initiative, is an international organization with 18 member states. It was first established in Mauritius on March 1995
The Association disseminates information on trade and investment regimes
These information exchanges have been intended to serve as a base to expand intra-regional trade.

Full members	Date of accession
Australia	March 1995
Bangladesh	March 1999
India	March 1995
Indonesia	September 1996
Iran	March 1999
Kenya	March 1995
Madagascar	September 1996
Malaysia	September 1996
Mauritius	March 1995
Mozambique	September 1996
Oman	March 1995
Singapore	March 1995
South Africa	March 1995
Sri Lanka	September 1996
Tanzania	September 1996
Thailand	March 1999
United Arab Emirates	March 1999
Yemen	September 1996

‘Myanmar has taken some steps toward reform'

As expected, the polls brought to power a proxy party for the military, which ran the country since a 1962 coup.
the polls brought to power a proxy party for the military, which ran the country since a 1962 coup.
But that perception has changed in recent months, as the new government eased censorship, legalised labour unions, suspended an unpopular, China-backed dam project and began talks with Ms Suu Kyi's pro-democracy movement.
An issue of great importance to all of us who are working for democracy in Burma is that of political prisoners. Some had been released over the last year, but there are still many who remain in prison
A government-appointed human rights body on Sunday urged the president to release political prisoners or transfer them to prisons close to their families, signalling such action may be imminent.

U.S. carriers oppose American aid to Air India

Calling Air India “one of the most poorly-run airlines in the world,'' American carriers have opposed the U.S. Exim Bank's $3.4 billion support to it to buy Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
The Air Transport Association (ATA), a trade group representing America's biggest carriers, has shot off a letter to U.S. Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg opposing the decision
Exim Bank's General Counsel said the bank stood by its decisions and processes, though it would investigate some of ATA's assertions about its procedures
Air India's borrowing is backed by a sovereign guarantee of the Indian government and its business plan has been vetted by Exim Bank staff,
The official said support to foreign buyers of Boeing planes was important since if the U.S. plane maker could not sell airplanes to foreign buyers like Air India, its chief rival Europe's Airbus probably would.
These are part of the 68-aircraft order placed by the national carrier with the U.S. plane manufacturer.