The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Japan PM Abe cites Thatcher reflections on Falklands war
- Mexican union boss arrest sounds warning to reform foes
- Thailand agrees to talks with southern Muslim rebels
| Japan PM Abe cites Thatcher reflections on Falklands war Posted: 27 Feb 2013 08:25 PM PST TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose country is embroiled in a row with China over tiny islands, on Thursday quoted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's reflections on the 1982 Falklands war with Argentina to stress the importance of the rule of law at sea. "Our national interests have been immutable. They lie in making the seas, which are the foundation of our nation's existence, completely open, free and peaceful," Abe said in a prepared policy speech to parliament covering a wide range of issues.
Abe went on to quote a remark from Thatcher's memoirs, reflecting on the Falklands war, in which she said Britain was defending the fundamental principle that international law should prevail over the use of force. The war over the remote South Atlantic archepelago began when Argentine troops landed on the Falkland islands on April 2, 1982, and ended 74 days later with their surrender. The conflict killed about 650 Argentine and 255 British troops. Continuing in his own words, Abe said: "The rule of law at sea. I want to appeal to international society that in modern times changes to the status quo by the use of force will justify nothing." Tokyo's ties with Beijing chilled sharply after the Japanese government last September bought the rocky islands in the East China Sea, which are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China, from a private owner, sparking violent protests in China. A flare-up in tensions in the territorial row has raised fears of an unintended military incident near the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. The United States says the islets fall under a U.S.-Japan security pact, but Washington is keen to avoid a clash in the economically vital region. The hawkish Abe, who took office in December after his conservative party's big election win, reiterated in his speech that the islands are Japanese territory, and urged Beijing not to escalate tensions. He added, however, that Sino-Japanese relations were vital for Japan and said his door was always open to dialogue. Abe also stressed the importance of the U.S.-Japan security alliance days after his summit with President Barack Obama. Calling the U.S. alliance the axis of Japan's diplomacy and security policies, Abe said: "It is only logical that, in the open oceans, the United States, which is the world's largest marine state, and Japan, Asia's largest maritime democracy, form a partnership, and to fortify this constantly is necessary." (Reporting by Linda Sieg, Tetsushi Kajimoto and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Ken Wills) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Mexican union boss arrest sounds warning to reform foes Posted: 27 Feb 2013 08:18 PM PST MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The arrest of Mexico's best-known trade union leader on fraud charges has thrown down the gauntlet to powerful interests standing between President Enrique Pena Nieto and his plans to shake up Latin America's second-biggest economy.
For a generation, even presidents shied away from taking on teachers' union boss Elba Esther Gordillo, making her Mexico's most prominent female politician and a formidable enemy to those who accused her of fostering corruption rather than education. Pena Nieto, who has been in office for less than three months, crossed that line on Tuesday when police arrested Gordillo and three other people with her at Toluca airport near Mexico City. Mexican television showed Gordillo, 68, wearing a prison uniform and standing behind bars as a state prosecutor formally charged her with embezzling around $200 million from union coffers and using the money to pay for U.S. property, luxury goods, designer clothes, works of art and plastic surgery. She is not allowed to apply for bail under the charges. Gordillo, who deferred comment to her lawyers, faces a maximum jail sentence of 30 years, though prisoners can apply to be moved to house arrest at age 70. "It is clearly a criminal case," Attorney General Jesus Murillo said in a television interview. "The case is very solid." A former grandee of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, Gordillo has denied accusations of corruption. She was snared a day after Pena Nieto signed a law aimed at improving education standards that she had opposed because it would weaken her union's clout. Pena Nieto said on Wednesday that he would work with the teachers' union to improve the education system and promised not to interfere in the investigation of Gordillo. "This probe must be seen through to the end in strict adherence to the law at all times," he said in a televised address. The Mexican president is preparing to launch a series of ambitious measures that aim to overhaul taxes, open up state oil giant Pemex to more private capital and ease tycoon Carlos Slim's tight grip on Mexico's telecommunications industry. "The fundamental point is that resistance by the de facto powers to reform will be confronted with energy and determination," Federico Berrueto, director general of Mexican polling firm GCE, said after Gordillo's arrest. In Mexico, the "de facto powers" refer to various entrenched interests that include Slim's business empire and dominant broadcaster Televisa, run by Emilio Azcarraga. Both have repeatedly fought off regulatory efforts to loosen the control they wield over their respective markets. The government is due to unveil a major telecommunications proposal in the next few days, while separate initiatives on overhauling Pemex and boosting Mexico's weak tax take are expected to go to Congress during the second half of 2013. The education law signed by Pena Nieto on Monday still faces a fight from Gordillo's union because it requires a secondary law to be implemented. Changes to the energy sector could face resistance from the Pemex union so Gordillo's arrest was also interpreted as a government warning to other labour bosses that they too might face close scrutiny. BAD BLOOD Although Gordillo is unpopular in Mexico, her arrest has also stirred fears that Pena Nieto could be leaning toward the authoritarian past of the centrist PRI, which ruled Mexico continuously from 1929 to 2000. Brasil Acosta, a PRI congressman from Pena Nieto's home turf, the State of Mexico, said the party had to be careful that the case against Gordillo was not brought for the wrong reasons. "If it isn't legally proven, we'll be looking at an act of political repression, which would be dangerous," he said. Carlos Salinas, who was president from 1988 to 1994, removed two troublesome union leaders as he embarked on his own historic reform drive, but his administration ended mired in allegations of graft. Appointed by Salinas in 1989, Gordillo became one of the most controversial figures in Mexico. She has been widely criticized for her lavish lifestyle and she became more vulnerable after splitting with the PRI ahead of the 2006 presidential election, when the party suffered its biggest-ever defeat. "I imagine he (Pena Nieto) was looking to land a decisive blow against someone, and she was the easiest target," political analyst Denise Dresser told Mexican television. Gordillo was taken to Santa Martha Acatitla women's prison on the edge of Mexico City on Tuesday night. NO GAMES The PRI, reviled by many Mexicans as corrupt and heavy-handed by the time it lost power in 2000, pledged to mend its ways after Pena Nieto recovered the presidency last year. The former State of Mexico governor vowed to usher in greater accountability and transparency, and his allies are portraying the investigation into Gordillo as part of the new PRI's broader efforts to clean up Mexico. "They send a clear message. We're not playing games when it comes to governing," said Alejandra Del Moral, a 29-year-old PRI congresswoman. Gordillo has long been a symbol of the PRI's cosy relationship with trade unions and established interests, which critics blame for fomenting inefficiency and helping to keep the economy lagging behind its emerging market peers. Opposition lawmakers quickly argued that to realize lasting change Pena Nieto must go further than just arresting Gordillo. "Today we're going to demand that Pena Nieto carries on with the others in the way he started with Elba Esther," said Armando Rios Piter, a senator for the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD. "There are hundreds and perhaps thousands who represent this model of corruption." Among these, he said, is Carlos Romero Deschamps, head of the oil workers' union at Pemex and also a PRI senator. Revamping the state-run Pemex is one of the toughest tasks facing Pena Nieto. Created when the PRI nationalized the oil industry in 1938, the company became a symbol of Mexican self-reliance and his party has been very reluctant to touch it. Romero Deschamps has denied taking part in corruption and fought off such allegations in the past, and both the PRD and the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, called for an investigation into his wealth after Gordillo's arrest. With no outright majority in Congress, Pena Nieto needs support from opposition parties for any major reform of Pemex. They are likely to seek concessions in exchange for votes. (Additional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Kieran Murray, Simon Gardner and Xavier Briand) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Thailand agrees to talks with southern Muslim rebels Posted: 27 Feb 2013 07:29 PM PST KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 Reuters) - Thailand's government agreed on Thursday to start talks with a major Muslim rebel group, marking a breakthrough in efforts to end a worsening conflict in the country's south that has claimed over 5,000 lives since 2004. The agreement, signed in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, by senior Thai security officials and members of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) group, opens the way for the first formal peace talks with rebels in the south.
The document launches a "dialogue process" for peace in the southern border provinces. Successive Thai governments and the military have made contact with rebel groups and claimed some success in tracking down key operatives but they have never openly held talks with the various militant groups that operate in the south. "This is a major milestone," said Anthony Davis, a Thai-based analyst at security consulting firm IHS-Jane's. "This is not just business as usual. This confers a level of legitimacy on the armed opposition in southern Thailand, from which realistically there is no going back." Malaysia, which helped broker a peace deal between the Philippine government and Muslim rebels in October, has brought the Thai rebel groups to the table and appears set to play a mediation role in the talks. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, are due to hold a joint news conference in Malaysia later on Thursday. Thai authorities say the attacks in the south are organised by the BRN Coordinate, an offshoot of the Patani Malay National Revolutionary Front established in the 1960s to seek greater autonomy. "We'll do our best to solve the problem. We'll tell our people to work together to solve the problem," said Hassan Taib, who was described in the document as the BRN liaison officer for Malaysia. Hassan is described as "a senior separatist figure" in a December 2012 report by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank. The agreement follows an escalation of violence in recent months. Sixteen insurgents were killed in an attack on a Thai marine base on February 13, with no loss of life among the marines. Rebels hit back with a string of counter-attacks including an explosion in Pattani province that killed two security volunteers. Resistance to Buddhist rule from Bangkok has existed for decades in the predominantly Muslim provinces, waning briefly in the 1990s before resurfacing violently in January 2004. (Reporting by Siva Sithraputhran; Additional reporting by Andrew Marshall and Amy Sawitta Lefevre in Bangkok.; Writing by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alan Raybould) Copyright © 2013 Reuters |
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