Military

DATE=9/21/01

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=EAP WEEK IN REVIEW

NUMBER=5-50174

BYLINE=DON BENSON

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

CONTENT=

INTRO: East Asia and Pacific nations voice support for President Bush's effort to form a global coalition against terrorism. North and South Korea hold their first high-level talks in six months. And Indonesia's president travels to Washington. Those stories highlight news from East Asia and the Pacific this week, as V-O-A's Don Benson reports.

TEXT: The Bush administration's push to form a global coalition against terrorism won the support of several countries in the East Asia-Pacific region this week. Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was preparing for a possible visit to Washington and talks with President Bush. Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri met with Mr. Bush this week and repeated her condemnation of last week's terrorist attacks. Several East Asian and Pacific countries and territories said their nationals are missing from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In a list compiled by the French News Agency, Japan has as many as 44 people not accounted for after the attacks. Cambodia has 20, Hong Kong has 19 and South Korea has 15.

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In other news this week, North and South Korea held their first high-level talks in six months, agreeing to hold more reunions of families separated by the Korean War. A joint statement issued after the meetings in Seoul said the family reunions will be held in mid-October. They will involve 100 people from both sides, and will be the fourth such exchanges since last year's historic summit of Korean leaders. The statement also said the two Koreas will move forward in efforts to reconnect a cross-border railway, and will revive other initiatives that emerged from the June, 2000, summit in Pyongyang. A new round of cabinet-level meetings is scheduled for late next month in the North Korean capital. There was no mention in the statement of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's promise to visit Seoul.

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Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's trip to the United States took her to the White House and then to Congress this week. She met with members of the House and Senate foreign affairs committees, and later talked to International Monetary Fund and World Bank officials, ahead of a visit to United Nations headquarters in New York City. The head of the world's most populous Muslim country met President Bush, who offered new assurances that the international coalition against terrorism is not aimed at Muslims or Arabs. In turn, she reaffirmed her condemnation of last week's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Also, the United States announced it will expand the number of Indonesian products to be exempt from import duties.

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A group of asylum seekers denied entry into Australia last month went ashore this week on the tiny island nation of Nauru, where their requests to be granted refugee status are to be processed. Four hundred-33 mostly Afghan asylum seekers were rescued from a sinking Indonesian ferry in the Indian Ocean in August. A Norwegian freighter took the refugees toward Australia, but Canberra denied them entry. The refugees were then transferred to the Australian navy ship, which picked up an additional 230 migrants from another Indonesian vessel September seventh. Australia agreed earlier this month to pay Nauru 10-million dollars to house more than 500 refugees until their application process for asylum is completed by the United Nations refugee agency. New Zealand agreed to take 150 women and children among the refugees.

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Taiwan's worst tropical storm in decades left a trail of destruction across the island this week, with at least 80 people killed and 20 others missing. The storm, called Nari, made its mark from the capital, Taipei, southward into the heart of the island. It also set a record for rainfall, while hovering over Taiwan longer than any storm in its history. Parts of Taipei and other northern cities were flooded, forcing offices, schools and the local stock exchange to close for two days. The subway system was battered, and there was widespread damage to buildings, farms, livestock and fisheries. Officials say most of the deaths were caused by flooding, landslides or fallen power lines.

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The World Trade Organization this week cleared China and Taiwan for membership. China was voted in first, then Taiwan. Terms for the admission of Taiwan were completed a year and a-half ago. But the formal vote was delayed because of a 1992 agreement that China would join first. China and the global trading authority reached a formal agreement that ended 15 years of often tough negotiations to bring the mainland into the organization. The agreements for both China and Taiwan -- called Chinese Taipei by the W-T-O -- are expected to be adopted by trade ministers who will meet in Qatar in November.

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A high-level International Labor Organization team went to Burma this week, to assess how much progress the military government has made to end forced labor. The four-member multinational team, headed by former Australian Governor General Ninian Stephen, met with military officials as well as Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Details of the talks were not given. After wrapping up talks in the capital, Rangoon, the team was to spend the remainder of its three-week trip to Burma traveling around the country on field inspections. A Burmese Foreign Ministry official promised full cooperation with the team, saying the government would not interfere in the I-L-O's work or restrict its movements.

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And East Timor's first all-Timorese government was sworn in this week. The transitional cabinet, known as the Council of Ministers, is made up of 10-cabinet ministers and several vice ministers and advisors. It will oversee the running of East Timor until full independence early next year. The cabinet is dominated by the former pro-independence Fretilin Party, which last month won 55 of 88 seats in the territory's first freely elected legislature. That assembly is to draft a constitution by December, paving the way for a presidential election next year, to be followed by full independence. The new Council of Ministers replaces an earlier transitional body consisting of United Nations officials and representatives of East Timor.

NEB/DLB/KBK