China, Norway train link may speed up freight to US

Asian Defense News: The northern Norwegian port of Narvik might serve as a new rail transport hub for freight en route from China and Russia to the US, a Norwegian cabinet member said Friday.'Several countries are in serious talks, including China, Sweden, Russia, Finland and Norway.
It is really exciting,' Transport Minister Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa told broadcaster NRK.The distance between Narvik and Beijing is some 6,000 km.
But moving freight by train to Narvik and reloading it onto ships would cut the transport to the eastern seaboard of the US by 14 days.Current sea transports from China take 40 days, Kleppa said.
Narvik is ice-free due to the Gulf Stream that flows past Norway, and the port has for years been important for ore shipments from neighbouring Sweden.
China National News Friday 29th January, 2010

President of Sri Lanka Is Re-elected by Wide Edge

Asian Defense News: COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s president, was re-elected by a wide margin, election officials here said Wednesday, defeating the newly retired army general who had tried to lay claim to Mr. Rajapaksa’s biggest political victory, the defeat of the Tamil Tiger insurgency.

Official results gave Mr. Rajapaksa an 18-point advantage over his nearest opponent, Sarath Fonseka, the general who carried out the successful military operation against the Tigers. General Fonseka rejected the result, saying that the campaign had been marred by violence and irregularities in the vote counting. “The enthusiasm of the people we noticed in the campaign is not reflected in the result,” he said at a news conference.
Independent Sri Lankan election monitors said there was no evidence of major fraud in the voting, but left open the possibility of problems in the counting.
More broadly, election observers and advocacy groups have questioned the fundamental fairness of the campaign, accusing Mr. Rajapaksa of using state resources to run his campaign. State-owned news media all but shut out opposition candidates.
The election results illustrate the still yawning ethnic and religious divides that plunged Sri Lanka into civil war in the first place, and underscore the difficulties that Mr. Rajapaksa will face in trying to reconcile the country after 26 years of conflict.
General Fonseka spent the day secluded in a five-star hotel, which the government surrounded with commandos, saying they had been placed there for security reasons. He said he feared for his safety. “They are trying to make me a prisoner,” General Fonseka said, addressing a conference room packed with journalists. “They have made things very clear today.”
Lucien Rajakarunanyake, a government spokesman, rejected the suggestion that General Fonseka was in danger, saying that the troops outside the hotel were merely for his safety. “He is free to leave at any time,” the spokesman said.
The Tamil Tiger insurgency fought to create a Tamil homeland in the north and east of Sri Lanka, separate from the Sinhalese majority. But over the years the group became little more than a criminal enterprise famous for its cruel tactics, human rights groups say, like holding civilians as human shields as well as using child soldiers and female suicide bombers.
While Mr. Rajapaksa won a big majority, Tamil and Muslim voters largely rejected him. Mr. Rajapaksa pledged to be a president for all Sri Lankans, not just those who voted for him, an apparent effort to reach out to Tamil voters who shunned him in large numbers.
“Six million people voted for me,” Mr. Rajapaksa said at a news conference on Wednesday evening. “Even the people who voted for other candidates, I have to look after their interests.”
It had been an ugly and sometimes violent campaign between two men who had once been close allies. The evidently exasperated elections commissioner, Dayananda Dissanayake, described numerous transgressions by the government during the campaign, concluding that “state institutions operated in a manner not befitting state organizations.” Guidelines for the state media to behave fairly toward both candidates were ignored, he said, adding that the stress of overseeing the election had taken a toll on his health.
A long night of counting ballots confirmed that turnout in northern Tamil areas was very low, in the single digits in some war-hit areas, while voters had flocked to the polls in Mr. Rajapaksa’s southern stronghold.
Dayan Jayatilleka, a political analyst who was Sri Lanka’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva until the government fired him last year, said that the Tamil political parties had lost touch with the electorate during the war. “They have been engaging in the politics of exile,” Mr. Jayatilleka said. “They have not done the hard yards of rebuilding their political network.”
But election observers said that explosions and other disturbances, along with the heavy militarization of the northern and eastern Tamil areas, had also suppressed the vote.
The other political parties in General Fonseka’s coalition also struggled to bring in voters. The center-right United National Party failed to deliver the capital, Colombo — its stronghold — for General Fonseka. And the Marxist party known as the J.V.P., the Sinhalese acronym for People’s Freedom Party, seemed to make little headway against the president in its southern Sinhalese bastions.
General Fonseka, who ran on his record of winning the war against the Tamil Tigers, had counted on support from Tamil voters, who he hoped would choose him over Mr. Rajapaksa as the more palatable of the two options. Though General Fonseka led the military campaign that may have killed thousands of Tamil civilians, he portrayed himself as committed to healing ethnic divisions and allowing communities a greater measure of self-rule.
He also sought to capitalize on dissatisfaction with Mr. Rajapaksa in some quarters of the Sinhalese majority. Voters expressed concern about the concentration of state power within Mr. Rajapaksa’s family. One of his brothers is the powerful secretary of defense, another is a senior adviser, and many members of his extended family work in senior government positions.
But Mr. Rajapaksa emerges from the election in many ways stronger than ever. He ran on his war record, arguing that if he delivered on his pledge to win the war he could also bring a peace dividend and heal the nation’s ethnic rifts.
“The president keeps his promises,” said Gamage Banduwathie, a voter who left the United National Party to support Mr. Rajapaksa. “I hope that he will be a savior for Sri Lanka.”

NYTimes By LYDIA POLGREEN Published: January 27, 2010

China plans $5.9 bln industrial zone for aviation

Asian Defense News: BEIJING, Jan 28 (Reuters) - An ambitious 40 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) industrial zone for aircraft parts is being planned in South China to produce up to a quarter of the supply for big Chinese planes, a provincial official said on Thursday.
Jiangxi province has begun seeking investors, including foreign firms, for the 25 square-kilometre zone with an eye toward breaking ground in two years, Yao Mugen, director of the provincial Development and Reform Commission, told Reuters.
The province will draw on talent from an aviation research institute and two universities plus interest among three local aircraft manufacturers, Yao said.
Output could equal 25 percent of all parts made in China for large Chinese aircraft, he said.
"Jiangxi is now designing a big national aircraft production base drawing on the province's infrastructure and advantages to develop the aviation parts industry," Yao said in an interview.
The 40 billion yuan would cover the zone's infrastructure and equipment for manufacturers, he said.
The province is talking to aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing about an investment in the zone, Yao said. Boeing (BA.N) already makes 747-8 commercial airliner parts in Jiangxi, the company's China spokesman Wang Yukui said.
China, like other countries, is keenly interested in aviation in part because of the large impact airplane exports can have on a nation's balance of trade. [ID:nHKG104281]
Beijing has declared its goal to manufacture large passenger jets with more than 150 seats and freighters capable of handling more than 100 tonnes of cargo, with the explicit aim of taking on Boeing and Airbus (EAD.PA).

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Taiwan companies push e-book readers but lack Chinese-language content

Asian Defense News: TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwan leads the world in development of readers for the fast-growing electronic book market, but when it comes to satisfying the e-appetites of the island's highly literate population, it seems distinctly pre-digital.
The problem: A gaping lack of appealing Chinese-language content.
At this week's 18th annual Taipei Book Exhibition, cutting-edge gadgets offered by Taiwanese tech companies were loaded with little beyond translations of classical Western literature and well-known Chinese standards like The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Compelling material to entice contemporary-minded readers was conspicuously absent.
And while buyers of devices like the nReader K60 — made by Taiwanese PC maker BenQ — are given the opportunity to purchase additional material from affiliated Web sites, the selection is limited and best sellers are almost nowhere to be found.
The problem arises partly because publishers are uncertain what impact e-books may have on their revenues, said Albert Hsu, a manager in the e-Publishing Service Platform Department of Taiwan computer maker Acer Inc.
"One major problem is that publishers are worried that if they sell books in their electronic format, it could hurt the sale of paper copies," Hsu said.
Hsu added that publishers are also concerned the content could be more easily shared — and sales suffer — if books are published in electronic format.
One company trying to buck the dull content trend is Yuan-Liou Publishing Co., a Taipei-based firm cooperating with e-book reader developer Koobe Inc. to produce an e-reader that will feature the works of a renowned writer of Chinese martial art novels.
Yuan-Liou assistant marketing supervisor Ophelia Chen said her company's reader will come with all 36 books by Hong Kong-based Louis Cha — better known as Jin Yong — in their electronic format.

By DEBBY WU , Associated Press Last update: January 28, 2010 - 4:07 AM

China bans dog and cat meat

Asian Defense News: China has decided to ban consumption of dog and cat meat in the country through a new law which seeks a fine of $730 and up to 15-day detention for offenders.
A proposed draft of China's first law on animal welfare, being prepared by a panel of legal experts, has provision of a fine of up to 5,000 yuan ($730) and up to 15 days' detention for the guilty.
Those found guilty of selling the meat can be fined anywhere between 10,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan, China Daily reported quoting Beijing-based Mirror Evening News.
'There are still many difficulties to overcome before (legislators) include the article against consumption of dog and cat meat into the draft law,' Chang Jiwen, head of the legal panel was quoted as saying.'
I hope the problem can be solved as soon as possible, although it will be solved sooner or later,' he said.
Chang said the prohibition, however, would not affect the lives of common Chinese a lot as very few people eat dog or cat meat in the country.
He said the proposed draft, which focuses on preventing animal mistreatment, protects six categories of animals -- those on farms, in laboratories, pets, working animals, animals for entertainment purposes, and wild animals.
The proposed draft will be submitted to relevant government departments in April.
China National News Wednesday 27th January, 2010

Malaysia likely emerged from recession: think-tank

Asian Defense News: KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - – Malaysia's economy likely emerged from recession in the fourth quarter of 2009 and will post 3.7 percent growth in 2010 as the global economy recovers, a leading think-tank said Tuesday.
Southeast Asia's third-largest economy suffered three consecutive quarters of contraction in 2009 and the government forecasts it will shrink 3.0 percent over the year before rebounding to modest growth of 2.0-3.0 percent in 2010.
"The technical recession is likely to end in the fourth quarter 2009," the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) said in a report.
"This is supported by effects of the larger public infrastructural expenditure, manufacturing turnaround, improved services trade, and higher domestic spending," the influential think-tank said.
The MIER maintained its forecast for Malaysia's export-dependent economy to contract by 3.3 percent in 2009, before growing at 3.7 percent this year and 5.0 percent in 2011.
"From 2010 onwards, we expect the economy to be on a normal track," MIER chief Zakariah Abdul Rashid told reporters, saying the services sector "will be a pillar of strength" against a stodgy manufacturing sector.
"However, the road ahead will be a bumpy one so we have to be cautious," he said, citing downside risks such as weak business and consumer sentiments, as well as volatile commodities prices that may impede a faster recovery.
Malaysia has announced two stimulus packages. The second package unveiled in March last year was billed as containing some 60 billion ringgit (17.7 billion dollars) in measures to pump-prime the economy.
The government in its 2010 annual budget slashed operating expenditure by 13.7 percent to 138.3 billion ringgit (40.7 billion dollars), to reduce the fiscal deficit from 7.4 percent in 2009 to 5.6 percent this year.

*AFP - Wednesday, January 27

PM Lee maps out 3 priorities for govt: economy, population, politics

Asian Defense News ~ SINGAPORE: Economy, population and politics are the key areas the Singapore government has marked as major priorities going forward, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Speaking at the Singapore Perspectives Conference on Monday, he said they are not one—off projects but are continuing challenges for a long time to come.
Home, Heart, Horizon — the theme of the annual Singapore Perspectives Conference went to the very heart of the issues that the prime minister wanted to discuss.
Picking up on the issue of productivity, Mr Lee said economic policy is not just about achieving the highest GDP figure but also ensuring the quality of growth.
He added: "Becoming more productive is not just a matter of working harder but also means restructuring, and change and flux, uncertainties, experiments, discontinuities.
"There will be good years when we should go faster and there will be other years which are tough where we will do more poorly. But overall, if you take over the next decade, I think five per cent will be a stretch. So MTI is now studying what is a realistic long—term growth target will be.
"Workers cannot expect to be carried along by a generally rising tide. They too have to be psychologically prepared to adopt and to change and to make the effort to upgrade themselves not just once, but again and again, continually throughout their working lives."
So Singapore’s economic policies must foster this transition, something the Economic Strategies Committee will address in its report next week. Mr Lee said the government will respond to the committee’s report in the Budget on February 22.
Mr Lee also added that a key attribute to sustaining economic growth is the importance of rejuvenating the population and also attract the best talent. He stressed that the best economic policies in Singapore will not bring about growth if the population starts to decline.
He said: "I am not sure what is the right measure to cause more babies to be born. After the mountain has moved we are waiting for the mouse to come out.
"The Korean government department has recently decided that they will have one early day off, turn off the lights, you go home and hope you have more time with family and babies to come. We have not yet tried that. I’m not sure we can overcome that."
Last year, there were 170 fewer babies born, compared with 2008. This would mean that the country’s total fertility rate would have gone down further and he added that this was perhaps because of the economic troubles.
Mr Lee noted that this was a grave trend and if unchecked, Singapore will face not just an ageing but a shrinking population. So besides more pro—family incentives, there is a continuous need to top up the population through immigration, in a calibrated way.
Finally, underpinning Singapore’s ability to tackle its challenges is having a good political system, which Mr Lee said still depends on having the right people in charge. He said leadership renewal will be a major issue at the next general election.
He said: "There is a mini general election fever in town. The general election is due sometime within the next two years but it is not imminent."
Mr Lee is confident that by the next general election, the People’s Action Party will field a team with the next generation leadership in place to assure the country’s future. — CNA/vm

*Channel NewsAsia - Tuesday, January 26