China. People´s Daily Dec 10
Extracts. US Will Not Succeed in Toppling Saddam: Iraqi Minister. The United States will not be able to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power, just it had tried, but failed, in the past to topple the Iraqi strongman, Iraqi Minister of Culture Hamed Yussef Humadi said on Saturday. The United States will not be able to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power, just it had tried, but failed, in the past to topple the Iraqi strongman, Iraqi Minister of Culture Hamed Yussef Humadi said on Saturday. They (the US) have been trying this for the past 20 years and they admitted for many times that they did not succeed. They are not going to succeed because Saddam has the whole (Iraqi) population behind him, Humadi said after attending the opening ceremony of a Chinese photo exhibition in the capital Baghdad. US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said recently that toppling the Saddam regime remained as an aim of the US foreign policy. When asked about the possibility of the US attacks on Iraq, Humadi said that the US has been attacking Iraq over the past years, referring to US air strikes on targets in two no-fly zones in Iraq set up by the US-led Western allies after the 1991 Gulf War. The US and Britain have been enforcing the two air exclusive zones since the Gulf War with the claimed aim of protecting the Kurds in the north and Shiite Muslims in the south from the persecution from the Iraqi government. Humadi also reiterated Iraq's rejection of the return of UN arms inspectors. We reject spies and intelligence people to come (to Iraq) as arms inspectors, and they are not allowed back. He claimed that such accusations that the arms inspectors served as spies and intelligence people were not made by Iraq, but by Richard Butler, former head of the now-defunct UN Special Commission in charge of Iraq's disarmament. Butler has acknowledged ... he worked for the (US) Central Intelligence Agency, Humadi said. Iraq has repeatedly rejected the return of the arms inspectors, who withdrew from Iraq ahead of four-day U.S.-British military strikes against Baghdad in December 1998. US Senate Approves 318 Billion Dollar Defense Bill. U.S. Senate on Saturday approved a 318 billion dollar defense bill for fiscal 2002 and a 20 billion dollar compromise anti-terror package which was attached to the defense bill. U.S. Senate on Saturday approved a 318 billion dollar defense bill for fiscal 2002 and a 20 billion dollar compromise anti-terror package which was attached to the defense bill. The defense bill, which was passed on a voice vote early on Saturday, provides the military 27 billion dollars more than the fiscal 2001 measure, but the amount is still 1.9 billion dollars below President George W. Bush's budget request. The bill grants 7 billion dollars for development of the missile defense plan and gives Bush the option of using an additional 1.3 billion dollars for missile defense or switching it to homeland security. It increases the pay for the troops by five percent and boosts health care and retirement benefits for them. The measure also provides 61 billion dollars for new weapons procurement and allows the Air Force to lease up to 100 Boeing 767s to replace an aging fleet of KC-135 air tankers. The Senate killed a Democratic-written 35 billion dollars anti- terror package but approved the 20 billion dollars alternative submitted by the Democratic Party. Bush, who repeatedly threatens to veto anything exceeding 20 billion dollars, congratulated the passage of the smaller anti- terror package, saying the measure honored the agreement he reached with the Congress and resisted unnecessary nondefense spending. We have ensured the funding necessary to recover from the September 11 attacks and to protect and defend our homeland, Bush said in a written statement. Three days after the September 11 attacks, Congress approved 40 billion dollars emergency spending bill. According to the bill, President Bush controls half of the money, but lawmakers must vote anew on the details of the second 20 billion dollars. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved a 318 billion dollars defense bill and a 20 billion dollars anti- terrorism package last week. The Senate and the House must work out the differences between the two measures in a conference. The 20 billion dollars package approved by the Senate early Saturday shifted about 7 billion dollars that Bush wanted for defense and other programs to efforts tightening domestic security and helping New York and other areas recover from the September 11 attacks. Congressional sources said one reason Democrats agreed to a smaller anti-terrorism package is that they were unwilling to delay indefinitely a wartime spending bill for the military. According to the new, smaller Democratic anti-terrorism plan, 8. 5 billion dollars will be allocated for countering bioterrorism and other domestic security programs, 4.1 billion
China. People´s Daily Dec 10
DPRK Condemns Japan for Buying New Warships The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has warned Japan against its decision to buy two large frigates, saying the move will spark an arms race in the Asia-pacific region and seriously disturb the overall stability there. The Japanese maritime self-defense force will reportedly buy two warships of aircraft carrier type in the period of the next arms buildup plan (2001-2005). The purchase will increase Japanese anti-submarine combat capacity and perform the function of commanding a fleet, the Korean Central News Agency said Saturday in an editorial. The planned building of such warships is aimed at render defunct Japan's peace constitution, which bans its overseas expansion, said the article, adding that the new frigates will increase its capacity to carry out military operations in any part of the world. The decision shows that Japan is turning itself into a military power and speeding up militarization for "overseas aggression," it noted. "If Japan escalates its arms buildup and its preparations for overseas aggression, it will not be able to escape deserved punishment," the editorial warned. Korean Reunification May Take Decades, Kim Dae-jung Says The winner of the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, predicted on Saturday that the reunification of the North and South of the Korean Peninsula could take decades to achieve, Swedish media reported. Kim, who is in the Norwegian capital of Oslo for the awards ceremony, was quoted as telling reporters that he doubted the reunification could happen during his term in office, which will end in February 2002. It may take 10 years, or 20 years, perhaps even longer to achieve the reunification, said Kim. But he also pointed out that five decades of division on the Korean peninsula after centuries of unity was "an aberration" and reunification was the "ultimate dream." South Korea will work harder with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to help more separated families get reunions, Kim added. Kim, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his reconciliation efforts on the Korean peninsula by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in October, will receive 9 million Swedish crowns (929,300 U.S. dollars). New Anti-blockade Protest in Cuba More than 50,000 Cubans staged a protest rally on Saturday in the city of Colon, western Cuba, demanding an end of the four-decade U.S. blockade to their country. Students, doctors, feminist leaders, teachers and peasants joined the protest. Some made speeches criticizing El Salvadoran President Francisco Flores and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. During the Ibero-American summit held in Panama City last month, Cuban leader Fidel Castro rejected a proposal raised by Flores for condemning Spain's Basque separatist group ETA's use of violence, arguing that the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba should also be condemned as terrorism. The protesters also requested the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles, who had been accused by Castro of plotting to assassinate him and then was arrested with three other complices in Panama City during the regional summit. The Cuban government has accused Carriles of being involved in several terrorist actions, including the 1976 bombing of a Cuban plane, which killed 73 people on board, and the 1997 bomb campaign. At the summit, Castro also criticized Flores for allowing Carriles to reside in his country. Cuban Vice President and Defense Minister Raul Castro also participated in the protest. Reports of US Company Entering Shanghai Postal Service Market Untrue A spokesman from the State Post Bureau (SPB) said in Beijing Friday, December 8, that recent reports about a US company being approved access to the postal service market in Shanghai do not tally with facts. Earlier reports on the Internet said that the US company Postnet has entered Shanghai's post service market, with support from Shanghai's post department. The spokesman said that the reports are groundless as Chinese laws stipulate that no companies or individuals are allowed to be involved in the mailing of letters or any similar activities without approval from the SPB. Postnet is a franchise business from Nevada State providing post, communications and commercial services as an alternative to government postal services, but its branch in Shanghai opened a so-called mailbox renting business which is, in fact, a form of mail delivery service. "Such activities are strictly prohibited by Chinese laws, as postal services concern a state's sovereignty, information security and its citizens' privacy," the spokesman said. Therefore, this branch is not in a position to do such business nor can it use the special mark EMS, he said, adding that the Shanghai Municipal Post Bureau has launched an investigation into the case. Non-CPC Parties Informed of Anti-Corruption Campaign
