DATE=3/29/02

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=E-A-P WEEK IN REVIEW

NUMBER=5-51347

BYLINE=DON BENSON

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO:

Indonesia's president encourages North Korea to reopen talks with South Korea. China is angered by recent U-S moves on Taiwan. And a United Nations report says Burma is slowly headed toward a more open society. Those stories highlight news from East Asia and the Pacific this week, as VOA's Don Benson reports.

TEXT:

Indonesia President Megawati Sukarnoputri this week began an Asian tour, stopping in Pyongyang to urge that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il reopen talks with South Korea to consolidate peace on the divided peninsula. Ms. Megawati met with the reclusive North Korean leader behind closed doors. At a state dinner hosted by parliament chief Kim Yong Nam, the Indonesian leader said peace on the Korean Peninsula is important for the stability of the Asia-Pacific region. She said North and South Korea must maintain brotherhood in the face of a crisis. Before her trip, Ms. Megawati had agreed to deliver a South Korean request for the North to revive stalled peace talks.

A South Korean emissary will go to North Korea next week to discuss easing tensions on the divided peninsula. The trip marks the resumption of a dialogue on improving bilateral relations. In a joint statement, North and South Korea announced they would restart official talks that stalled last year.

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China said this week it is still planning to send Vice President Hu Jintao to the United States, despite anger over recent U-S contacts with the government of Taiwan. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Beijing said the two governments are making preparations for the Hu visit, expected in April. At the same time, China's official media said the country feels betrayed by a series of what they call offensive actions by the United States, adding that the euphoria over President Bush's Beijing visit in February is gone. Topping the list of China's concerns is the U-S decision to allow Taiwan's defense minister to attend a private conference in the southern state of Florida earlier this month. During his visit, the defense minister met with senior U-S officials, including Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

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A United Nations special investigator this week said Burma is in the process of becoming a more open society and he said the international community should encourage those efforts. But, in a report submitted to the U-N Human Rights Commission, the investigator said the process of change in Burma is fragile and that gross violations of human rights persist. The human rights investigator, Brazilian Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, called for the release of all political prisoners in Burma. He said he does not agree with the Burmese government's contention that an estimated 16-hundred political prisoners are criminal offenders. He said many people are detained simply for having peacefully exercised their political opinions.

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The U-S military said this week it will close or relocate about half its bases over the next 10 years in a consolidation agreement with South Korea. The commander of U-S forces in South Korea, General Thomas Schwartz, and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Dong-shin signed the land partnership agreement in Seoul. South Korea's rapid development over the past few decades has raised calls for the relocation of U-S military facilities, which once occupied remote areas but now take up prime real estate in cities. U-S officials stressed the agreement will have no effect on the number of American troops stationed in South Korea.

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Indonesia said this week it will shift the locations of the trials of the youngest son of former President Suharto and of parliament speaker Akbar Tanjung to an exhibition center, in order to accommodate the many spectators. Interior Minister Hari Sabarno told the official Antara news agency the trials will move from Central Jakarta district court to the suburban Jakarta Expo Center. Tommy Suharto is accused of ordering the killing of a judge and of possessing weapons and explosives. He could face the death penalty if convicted. Mr. Tanjung is accused of corruption over the embezzlement of four million dollars in state funds that were slated for the poor.

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Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh arrived in China late in the week for a five-day visit amid signs of warming of relations between the two Asian neighbors. Mr. Singh flew from New Delhi to Beijing aboard a China Eastern Airlines plane, which arrived in the Indian capital earlier on the first direct commercial flight between the two countries in decades. Chinese and Indian officials have described the direct air link as a big event that will boost bilateral ties. They say the twice-weekly flight serving New Delhi, Beijing and Shanghai can serve as a bond connecting people of the world's two most populous countries.

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Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen this week said he is considering a U-S offer to grant asylum to about one thousand refugees who fled to Cambodia last year from Vietnam. The Cambodian leader was responding to a U-S statement offering the Vietnamese refugees resettlement in the United States if they qualify, and if they wish to be moved. A senior advisor to the prime minister said the government has agreed on resettling the refugees, a hilltribe people known as Montagnards, in a third country, but has not yet decided to accept the U-S proposal. Vietnam is demanding that Cambodia return the refugees. They fled Vietnam early last year, after security forces cracked down on local demonstrations calling for more religious freedom and land rights.

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Russia this week said it plans to complete its withdrawal from the strategic Cam Ranh Bay naval base in Vietnam by July first. Russia's prime minister confirmed the date during a visit to Hanoi, where he pledged 350-million dollars in loans to Vietnam. At a news briefing with his Vietnamese counterpart, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov confirmed the July first deadline for pulling troops and military hardware out of Cam Ranh Bay. But Mr. Kasyanov denied the withdrawal from the base is symbolic of Russia's declining influence in Asia. (Signed)

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