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31 dead, 82 trapped in China mine blast

AFP — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:40:00 GMT

Beijing: An explosion at a coal mine in northeast China early Saturday killed 31 workers and left 82 trapped, state-run China Central Television (CCTV) said, the latest deadly incident to hit the industry.

The blast happened at 2:30 am (1830 GMT Friday) at a mine in Heilongjiang province, according to a statement issued by the State Administration of Work Safety.

A total of 528 miners were working in the pit, near Hegang City, when the blast occurred, the state administration said.

The previous toll given by CCTV was 15 dead and 114 trapped.

The mine, which produces 1.45 million tonnes of coal a year, is owned by the Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group, based in provincial capital Harbin.

Xinhua said vice premier Zhang Dejiang was going to the scene of the incident to direct rescue operations. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao had given instructions on the rescue work.

According to the company’s website, in 2009 it was ranked 12th out of the top 100 Chinese mining companies and seventh in terms of production volume, without giving further details.

China has a dismal work safety record, with thousands of people dying every year in mines, factories and on construction sites.

Its coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with safety standards often ignored in the quest for profits and the drive to meet surging demand for coal — the source of about 70 percent of China’s energy.

Beijing has tried for several years to modernise its collieries to control the leakage of gas, particularly methane, a pollutant responsible for several mine explosions.

The government provides some two billion yuan ($300 million) of subsidies for mines developing technology for collecting methane, Huang Shengchu, the president of the China Coal Information Institute, told AFP recently.

In October four owners of an illegal colliery in Guizhou province in the southwest went on the run after 14 workers died when a mine collapsed. The four were later caught by authorities.

And an explosion at a mine in central Henan province in September left more than 50 people dead. The work safety administration said mine shafts had been destroyed after a gas explosion at the pit in the city of Pingdingshan.

Official figures show that more than 3,200 workers died in collieries last year, but independent labour groups say the actual figure could be much higher, as many accidents are covered up in order to avoid costly mine shutdowns.

Due to the country’s heavy use of coal to power its fast-paced economic growth, it has become one of the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases alongside the United States.

Pakistan ex-army officer may have had links to Headley, Rana

David Johnston and Eric Schmitt / NYT — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:28:00 GMT

Washington: The arrests last month of two Chicago men accused of planning an attack on a Danish newspaper have widened into a global terrorism inquiry that has led to arrests in Pakistan and implicated a former Pakistani military officer as a co-conspirator, government officials said on Wednesday.

In India, where the pair from Chicago are said to have wanted to attack the country’s national defence college, investigators are trying to determine whether the two men played a role in attacks a year ago in Mumbai in which nearly 160 people were killed. Officials said they had not clearly established a connection.

The case is one of the first criminal cases in which the federal authorities seem to have directly linked terrorism suspects in the US to a former Pakistani military officer, though they have long suspected connections between extremists and many members of the Pakistani military. Intelligence officials believe that some Pakistani military and intelligence officials even encourage terrorists to attack what they see as Pakistan’s enemies, including targets in India.

The two men, David Coleman Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, were accused in complaints unsealed on 27 October of plotting against the employees of a newspaper in Copenhagen which published cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in 2005 that offended many Muslims.

The complaints suggested that Headley—who was accused of the most serious charges, attempting to murder and maim in a foreign country —had cooperated with the authorities after his arrest on 3 October as he boarded a plane on the first leg of a trip to Pakistan. The officials, who asked not to be identified because they were discussing a continuing inquiry, now say that the investigation has widened further in part because of the wealth of information supplied by Headley.

John Theis, a lawyer for Headley, and Patrick W. Blegen, a lawyer for Rana, would not comment on who was suspected of being the co-conspirator or other matters in the case. Randall Samborn, a spokesman for Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the US attorney in Chicago, also declined to comment. Headley and Rana are in custody pending further proceedings. Each is scheduled to appear at a detention hearing in early December.

A spokesman for the Pakistani embassy in Washington also declined to comment, citing the continuing inquiry.

Headley, who changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006, is a US citizen who lived in Pakistan, but recently was mainly a resident of Chicago. Rana is a Canadian citizen who has lived legally in Chicago, where he operated a travel agency and other businesses.

Headley and Rana are graduates of a military academy in the town of Hasan Abdal in Pakistan, and they maintained email contact with other former students, including officers in Pakistan’s military. They belonged to a group of the school’s graduates who referred to themselves as the “abdalians” in Internet postings, according to government affidavits.

Headley and Rana were accused in the complaints of reporting to Ilyas Kashmiri, an Islamic militant commander associated with both Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group suspected in the deadly attacks in Mumbai.

The officials declined to name the other former military officer in the case who is said to have recently left the Pakistani army and held the rank of colonel or brigadier general, higher ranks than Kashmiri held.

Prosecution documents in the case said the officer was arrested earlier this past summer in Pakistan on unspecified charges and later released. However, another official said the officer was discharged only after his associates put pressure on the Pakistani authorities to free him.

In the complaints against Headley and Rana, the officer is identified as an uncharged conspirator by the letters “A” and “B”. The complaints describe him as “associated with Kashmiri, as well as with Lashkar-e-Taiba”.

One official who has been briefed on the investigation said Pakistani authorities had arrested as many as five other people in connection with the plot in recent weeks, including some former or current Pakistani military officials. Those people remain in custody, but it was unclear what role they played in the expanding plot.

US military and intelligence officials said the case involving Headley and Rana reflected a new and evolving pattern of individual militants with different backgrounds and experience, rather than terrorist groups, teaming up to plot and carry out attacks.

“In a lot of ways, it’s moving beyond the mainline activities of individual groups to elements of various militant groups or terrorist organizations that have spent time together, have fought together, maybe trained together, that now have associations with certain facilitators that now come together to plan and execute attacks,” said a defence department official who is following the case closely.

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Asia helps feeble West in global recovery: OECD

Brian Love / Reuters — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:01:00 GMT

Paris: Asia is leading the global economy out of the deepest downturn in decades but the recovery will be marred by high unemployment and huge government debt across the industrialised countries, the OECD said on Thursday.

Central banks and governments in major Western economies should prepare for a gradual upwards shift in ultra-low interest rates and for fiscal consolidation once recovery is stronger, but they will only need to move in late 2010 at the earliest given that inflation is so low, it said in its Economic Outlook.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development raised its global growth forecast for next year to 3.4% from the 2.3% it was predicting as recently as June, after an estimated contraction of 1.7% in 2009.

“We are looking at a scenario where disaster has been avoided but we’re still looking at a scenario which involves slow growth and high unemployment,” the OECD’s chief economist, Jorgen Elmeskov, told Reuters television in an interview.

In the twice-yearly report, the OECD lowered its estimates of the scale of this year’s recession and substantially raised most of its forecasts for growth in 2010, when it said the economy would remain dependent on government life-support.

US growth, measured by gross domestic product, should rise 2.5% in 2010 after a contraction of 2.5% in 2009, and rise a further 2.8% in 2011, the OECD said.

Euro zone GDP should rise 0.9% in 2010 and 1.7% in 2011 after a downturn of 4.0% in 2009, it said.

Japan could expect GDP growth of 1.8% in 2010 and 2.0% in 2011 after a drop of 5.3% in 2009, it said.

In June, the OECD was predicting growth of less than 1% in 2010 in all three regions and for the 30 OECD member countries as a whole. It now sees GDP growth of 1.9% in 2010 and 2.5% in 2011, after a contraction of 3.5% in 2009.

“The upturn in the major non-OECD economies, especially in Asia and particularly China, is now a well-established source of strength for the more feeble OECD recovery,” said the OECD, whose only two Asian members are Japan and South Korea.

The OECD’s global growth forecast includes emerging giants China, Brazil, India and Russia with the mostly industrialised economies of its own 30-country membership and in all covers some 80% of world output.

The OECD said it expected world trade to grow 6.0% in 2010 and 7.7% in 2011 after a plunge of 12.5% this year, and economist Elmeskov said the OECD might if anything be underestimating the demand from fast growers such as China.

Feeble and indebted west

Compared to a GDP forecast of 1.9% next year for the mostly industrialized countries of its own membership, the OECD forecast growth of more than 10% in China this year due in large part to massive stimulus that it believes maintained GDP growth at more than 8% in 2009, when output was shrinking across the West.

India, which likewise weathered the crisis with growth of an estimated 6.1% in 2009, could expect 7.3% growth next year and a bit more in 2011, while Brazil, another fast developer, was headed for growth of 4.8% in 2010.

Government spending to stimulate the Chinese economy had not driven China’s public finances into the parlous state that most governments in the developed economies will have to tackle when the recovery is more sure-footed, the OECD said.

Gross government debt in the OECD countries could on average exceed GDP in 2011, the Paris-based organization said.

“Stopping the rot is clearly necessary and will call for fiscal consolidation that is substantial in most cases and drastic in some,” the OECD report said.

“That said, and countries facing acute problems aside, consolidation should not proceed at a pace that undermines the recovery.”

On the jobs front, the OECD forecast further increases in the OECD-wide unemployment rate, to 9.0% in 2010 and 8.8% in 2011 from 8.2% in 2009.

It predicted the US jobless rate at 9.9% next year and dropping to 9.1% in 2011 after 9.2 this year, while it saw the rate in the euro zone hitting 10.6 in 2010 and moving up again in 2011 to 10.8%, after 9.4% in 2009.

Karzai sworn in, US critical on corruption

Reuters — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:02:00 GMT

Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, battling to rebuild a tarnished reputation, was sworn into office for a second five-year term on Thursday, as he faced renewed criticism from Washington over corruption.

Karzai’s inauguration came against the backdrop of a rising Taliban insurgency, doubts over his legitimacy after an election tainted by fraud and complaints his government is riddled with corruption and mismanagement.

“I swear to obey and safeguard the provisions of the sacred religion of Islam, to observe the constitution and other laws of Afghanistan and supervise their implementation,” Karzai said in front of foreign and Afghan dignitaries in his palace in Kabul.

Hillary Clinton, in her first visit to Afghanistan as US secretary of state, said Washington would support the new government but expected serious results in combating corruption and building an “accountable, transparent government”.

“Well, we are asking that they follow through on much of what they have previously said, including putting together a credible anti-corruption governmental entity,” Clinton told reporters en route to Kabul.

“They’ve done some work on that, but in our view, not nearly enough to demonstrate a seriousness of purpose to tackle corruption,” she said.

Kabul announced the creation this week of a major crimes task force and anti-graft unit.

A decision by US President Barack Obama on whether to send tens of thousands of extra troops to combat the Taliban partly depends on whether he can trust Karzai to press ahead seriously with reforms.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, the most prominent foreign leader at the ceremony, watched Karzai’s inauguration with foreign ministers from Britain, France and Turkey.

Security Lockdown

Kabul’s streets were deserted early on Thursday with armoured vehicles blocking off major roads. Security officers were even stopping people from walking on the streets.

The government has declared Thursday a holiday and reporters were barred from attending the swearing-in ceremony.

“They should all go to hell ... What’s happened in the last five years? It will just be the same again,” said Mohammed Shah, as he struggled to make his way back home.

Attention is focused on Karzai’s inauguration speech, which US and Western officials hope he will use to announce concrete steps to fight corruption and govern better.

Obama’s deliberations on whether to dispatch up to 40,000 more troops to fight an increasingly unpopular war proceed as death tolls mount. He said on Wednesday he sought to bring the conflict to an end before he leaves office.

General Stanley McChrystal, the top US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, wants tens of thousands of additional troops, warning that without them, the war will probably be lost.

A UN-backed probe found that nearly a third of votes for Karzai in the 20 August election were fake.

While Karzai had been expected to win anyway, the extent of the fraud in his favour severely damaged his credibility at home and among Western and other nations with troops fighting to support his government.

He has since faced tough pressure from Western leaders to clamp down on widespread corruption and replace former guerrilla leaders and cronies with able technocrats in his new government. Reports have emerged that US ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, warned Obama in leaked memos not to commit more troops unless Karzai’s government demonstrates a willingness to attack corruption and mismanagement aggressively.

Karzai was installed by the US and its Afghan allies in 2001. He won a full term in the country’s first democratic presidential election in 2004.

US wants Pakistan to act against 26/11 masterminds

Ruhi Tewari — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:25:00 GMT

New Delhi: US ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer on Wednesday said that his country wants Pakistan to bring those behind the Mumbai terrorist attacks to justice, including Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.

This matter, among others, will be discussed in greater detail between US President Barack Obama and Manmohan Singh, Roemer said, during Singh’s five-day visit to the US starting 22 November.

India and the US blamed the November 26-29 siege on Pakistan’s banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The ambassador declined to comment on a US-China joint statement on Tuesday, which included a line of support for the improvement of India-Pakistan relations.

Common foes: US ambassador Timothy Roemer says the US would work ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with India in preventing terror strikes. Atul Yadav/PTI

India on Wednesday said it needs no external help to improve ties with Pakistan. “A third country role cannot be envisaged nor is it necessary,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Describing the LeT as a global threat, Roemer said Pakistan should recognize the internal threat and dismantle the terror infrastructure existing on its soil.

He added that discussions on cooperation in counter-terrorism and issues concerning the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan will be high on the agenda during the meeting between Singh and Obama on 24 November. The US would work “shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand and hour to hour” with India in preventing terror strikes, Roemer said.

The two leaders will also discuss the implementation of the civil nuclear agreement between them and related issues such as liabilities, licensing and reprocessing that are yet to be sorted out. “We are optimistic and pushing hard to see a successful completion of the agreement as soon as possible,” the ambassador said.

Others issues for discussion would include climate change, education and a sustainable global economy.

Roemer also said India had not yet asked for the extradition of David Coleman Headley, a suspected LeT operative held in the US for plotting terror attacks in India.

(‘Reuters’ ‘PTI’ and ‘AFP’ contributed to this story.)

Obama vows Afghan exit; battered Karzai to take oath

Reuters — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:55:00 GMT

Kabul: US President Barack Obama aims to bring the Afghan war to an end before he leaves office, he said on Wednesday, the eve of a swearing-in ceremony Western officials hope can help salvage Hamid Karzai’s tattered reputation.

Hillary Clinton arrived in Kabul to attend the re-elected Afghan president’s inauguration, her first visit as US secretary of state and the most senior visit by a member of Obama’s administration, which has kept Karzai at arm’s length.

Karzai takes his oath on Thursday, three months after a vote marred by widespread fraud. The election, intended to bolster the government’s legitimacy, had the opposite effect, driving a wedge between Karzai and Western countries whose troops defend him.

Clinton, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, British foreign secretary David Miliband and French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner will be among 300 foreign dignitaries to attend the ceremony at Kabul’s presidential palace.

In an interview with CNN, Obama said he would soon announce the results of a long-awaited review, which would include an exit strategy to avoid “a multi-year occupation that won’t serve the interests of the United States”.

“The American people will have a lot of clarity about what we’re doing, how we’re going to succeed, how much this thing is going to cost, what kind of burden does this place on our young men and women in uniform and, most importantly, what’s the end game on this thing,” he said.

“My preference would be not to hand off anything to the next president. One of the things I’d like is the next president to be able to come in and say I’ve got a clean slate.”

In eight years of war the Taliban insurgency is now at its deadliest, the Western force protecting Karzai is at its largest, and the Afghan leader’s own reputation is at its lowest, wrecked by election fraud, corruption and weak government.

Security for the inauguration in Kabul will be extreme, with roads closed in the capital. The government declared Thursday a holiday and told citizens to stay off the streets. Reporters will be barred from attending the swearing-in ceremony itself.

The centrepiece will be Karzai’s inauguration speech, with Western officials hoping to hear a specific programme to combat graft, improve performance and limit the influence of warlords.

“We would like some sort of roadmap. We want some clear direction given here,” a European diplomat said.

Fake votes

A UN-backed probe concluded nearly a third of votes for Karzai in the 20 August poll were fake, meaning he failed to win the 50% needed to avoid a second round. He was declared the winner anyway when his opponent quit before the run-off.

“No one can change the fact that Karzai won the election through fake votes and support from notorious warlords in return for ministerial and high-ranking posts,” said white-bearded Abdul Shukoor as he entered a Kabul mosque for noon prayers.

“When the government is based on cheating and compromise, I can guarantee you there won’t be any improvement for many years.”

Obama has yet to visit Afghanistan as president, and halted predecessor George W. Bush’s practice of regular phone calls with Karzai. In the CNN interview, Obama gave a lukewarm endorsement of Karzai, saying his focus was on the government as a whole.

“I think that President Karzai has served his country in important ways. If you think about when he first came in, there may not have been another figure who could have held that country together,” Obama said in the CNN interview.

“He has some strengths, but he’s got some weaknesses. And I’m less concerned about any individual than I am with a government as a whole that is having difficulty providing basic services to its people in a way that confers legitimacy on them.”

In Western countries, public support for the war has tumbled as the insurgency spreads and death tolls soar.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Tuesday found that 52% of Americans now believe the war is not worth fighting, although 55% believe Obama will choose a strategy that will work.

Obama has already presided over a massive escalation of the war. There are now nearly 110,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including 68,000 Americans, more than half arriving this year.

Obama’s commander in Afghanistan, general Stanley McChrystal, has requested tens of thousands of additional troops, warning that without them, the war will probably be lost.

Karzai’s government announced anti-graft measures this week, including a new major crimes police task force, prosecutors’ unit and tribunal — steps welcomed in the West, although it remains to be seen if they will be more effective than previous efforts.

Karzai was installed by the United States and its Afghan allies after they helped drive the Taliban from power in the wake of the 11 September attacks in 2001. He won a full term in the country’s first democratic presidential election in 2004.

Hamid Karzai looks to restore shattered Western trust

AFP — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:17:00 GMT

Kabul: Eight years after he took power, Afghan leader Hamid Karzai will have to work hard to restore shattered Western faith in his leadership when he is sworn in for another five-year mandate on Thursday.

His reversal of fortunes was as rapid as his rise to international acclaim when US-led troops invaded Afghanistan in 2000—the last year has seen him adrift in the tempest of increasing violence and weathering a change in the US administration.

“I don’t know anyone who is more admired and respected in the international community than President Karzai for his strength, for his wisdom and for his courage,” Condoleezza Rice said in June 2006 then US secretary of state.

Last month, a pallid Karzai flanked by US Senator John Kerry and UN envoy Kai Eide grudgingly bowed to diplomatic pressure and agreed to stand in a run-off after massive fraud ruined a second presidential election in August.

The years since Karzai was lauded by the international community have seen security drastically deteriorate, the Taliban insurgency gain momentum to inflict record Western casualties and endemic corruption proliferate from the top down.

“Karzai is corrupt, OK,” French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner was quoted as telling The New York Times with astonishing frankness.

But at home the shifting perceptions of the Afghan leader have come as less of a surprise.

“Karzai hasn’t changed. He’s the same old Karzai. The difference is the West knows him better. Now things have got serious, the West has realised he’s not that good,” said political analyst Waheed Mujda.

“Karzai is very good at making deals with maliks (tribal leaders) and warlords. The Americans had no knowledge about him so they believed he was something he was not,” he said.

The international community propelled Karzai to power in late 2001 and he went on to win the country’s first direct presidential election in 2004.

“Karzai entered the arena as a popular face: people were tired of past leaders who were involved in wars and conflicts, his father was a well known and respected person,” said political science lecturer Nasrullah Stanikzai.

“But later the West, the United States, made huge mistakes in Afghanistan and to justify their mistakes they started to blame Karzai, who stood against some of their orders and instructions,” he said.

Yet there have always been two sides to Karzai.

His Western flair made him a favourite in Washington and London, where he received an honorary knighthood in 2003. But in Afghanistan, he consorted with warlords and suspected drug traffickers, including his brother.

The international community eagerly awaits Karzai’s inauguration address on Thursday, hoping to hear a detailed programme of government followed by radical changes in his cabinet, to be announced in the coming weeks.

Opponents ridicule Karzai as the “mayor of Kabul” whose remit stops at the gates to the capital, and who is overpowered by feudal strongmen in the provinces.

“The international community has been quite vocal in recent weeks about its expectations. And the first signals were very disappointing, like his first public appearance with Khalili and Fahim,” said one Western official.

These former warlords are his picks for the vice president positions—Karim Khalili from the Hazara community and Tajik marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, suspected of war crimes, drugs trafficking and corruption.

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Copenhagen deal should have immediate effect: Obama

Reuters — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:33:00 GMT

Beijing: US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that climate talks in Copenhagen next month should fix a new deal which has “immediate operational effect”, even if an original goal of a legally binding pact is out of reach.

Obama’s remarks came after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, who has pushed for a strong outcome at Copenhagen and refused to back a proposal to rekindle stalled negotiations by aiming for a scaled-down political deal.

Together the US and China account for 40% of world emissions, so their support is vital to any agreement.

“Our aim there ... is not a partial accord or a political declaration but rather an accord that covers all of the issues in the negotiations and one that has immediate operational effect,” Obama said of the Copenhagen talks.

The international community had set a December deadline to agree a framework to tackle global warming from 2013, but a rift has opened between developed and developing nations over who should cut emissions, by how much, and who should pay for it.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, in a last-ditch bid to dispel growing gloom about the talks he will host from 7-18 December, has proposed a delay in a legally binding pact until 2010 or later and aim for a political deal first.

Obama, who advocates strong action on climate change but is struggling to get legislation mandating domestic action through the US Congress, backed that plan.

But his call on Tuesday for a wide-ranging agreement that would take effect immediately suggests he is keen to walk away from the talks with more than just a piece of paper.

China has said only that it is “studying” the proposal.

Beijing has invested large amounts of diplomatic capital in reaching a new deal. Hu earlier this year unveiled the country’s first pledge to curb carbon emissions at a UN summit.

And some in China, and other developing nations, are suspicious that the push for a delay is a rich nation ploy to defer facing costly responsibilities for decades of emissions.

After his talks with Obama, Hu said the two sides had committed to working more closely on tackling global warming and called for a “positive outcome” from the talks, although experts admit that time has essentially run out to fix a legal deal.

Hu emphasised a long-standing global agreement that states countries have a shared responsibility for tackling warming but should take on different levels of commitment depending on their economic and social situation.

Obama said the world’s top two carbon emitters had committed to take “significant” action to mitigate their output of carbon dioxide, and agreed to cooperate in areas including renewable energy, cleaner coal and electric vehicles.

Obama asks China to resume talks with Dalai Lama

PTI — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:59:00 GMT

Beijing: Describing Tibet as part of China, US President Barack Obama on Tuesday supported the early resumption of talks between Beijing and representatives of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama.

“We did note that while we recognize that Tibet is part of the People’s Republic of China, the US supports the early resumption of dialogue” between the Dalai Lama’s representatives and Beijing, Obama said after his meeting with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao here.

China, which has governed Tibet since its troops occupied the territory in the 1950s, has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of leading a campaign to split the Himalayan region from the rest of the country.

The 74-year-old Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, has denied the allegations.

The last formal talks between the Dalai Lama’s envoys and Chinese officials, the seventh since 2002, ended in an impasse in July last year, with China demanding that he prove that he did not support Tibetan independence.

Relations have been particularly tense this year after large scale riots in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, in which hundreds of shops were torched and Chinese civilians were attacked.

Obama, who is here on his maiden state visit to the Communist nation, warned Iran that it faced “consequences” if it failed to show greater openness on its nuclear programme.

“Iran has an opportunity to present and demonstrate its peaceful intentions but if it fails to take this opportunity, there will be consequences,” he said.

The US President said he and Hu want climate change talks in Copenhagen next month to result in a global deal that has “immediate operational effect.”

We “agreed to work toward a successful outcome in Copenhagen,” Obama told reporters.

“Our aim there is... not a partial accord or a political declaration, but rather an accord that covers all the issues in the negotiations and one that has immediate operational effect,” he said.

On North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, Obama said the six-party talks process should resume “as soon as possible”.

“We agreed on resuming the six-party talks process as soon as possible,” Obama said.

On his part, Hu said that both sides were “committed to dialogue and consultation in resolving the Korean peninsula nuclear issue.”

Hu said that the two countries “will continue to have consultations on an equal footing to properly resolve economic and trade frictions.”

Obama nudges Hu on yuan; agree to ease trade tensions

Caren Bohan and Patricia Zengerle / Reuters — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:55:00 GMT

Beijing: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday nudged Chinese President Hu Jintao to allow the yuan currency to appreciate at a summit where they agreed to work to ease trade and economic frictions between the two giants.

Hu did not mention the yuan, China’s currency policy or the dollar during remarks following a meeting with Obama in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

However, Obama referred fleetingly to an issue which has provoked testy exchanges in recent days between US and Chinese officials, with Washington arguing that an undervalued yuan is stoking global economic imbalances. The yuan has been effectively pegged against the dollar since the middle of last year.

“I was pleased to note the Chinese commitment made in past statements to move toward a more market-oriented exchange rate over time,” Obama said as Hu stood next to him on a podium with Chinese and U.S. flags in the background.

“I emphasised in our discussion, as have others in the region, that doing so based on economic fundamentals would make an essential contribution to the global rebalancing effort.”

Investors betting the yuan will soon rise may be disappointed as Beijing is likely to keep the currency on a tight leash at least until mid-2010 to cement China’s recovery. At the same time, U.S. pressure on China to act makes it hard for Beijing to move because it could be seen as bowing to Washington’s demands.

The Chinese leader said both sides saw signs of a global economic recovery but noted there was some way to go.

In a joint statement released after the summit they said they were “determined to work together to achieve more sustainable and balanced global economic growth”, echoing the position of the G20 on ironing out dangerous imbalances.

Hu, saying the talks went “very well”, said Beijing and Washington would continue to have “consultations on an equal footing to properly address their economic and trade frictions”.

“I stressed to President Obama that under the current circumstances our two countries need to oppose and reject protectionism in all its manifestations in an even stronger stance,” Hu said, a veiled reference to Chinese frustration at recent US trade measures against Chinese goods.

Emerging Power

Hu expressed appreciation that Obama, who arrived in China on Sunday night, had welcomed a “strong, prosperous and successful China that plays an even greater role on the world stage”.

Obama said he told China that all minorities should enjoy human rights and urged China to resume talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.

Obama did not meet the Dalai Lama when he was in Washington in early October. But the Dalai Lama has said they may meet after Obama returns from China, which condemns the Buddhist monk as a separatist for demanding Tibetan self-determination.

The two leaders also discussed diplomatic headaches such as Iran and North Korea.

Chinese media have avoided fawning over Obama, in contrast to the effusive receptions he has received in Europe. Several websites deleted comments championing Internet freedom that he made at a town hall talk with students in Shanghai on Monday.

Trade ties have surged since China opened up to the world and introduced market reforms in the late 1970s after decades of virtual isolation under Mao Zedong, founder of communist China.

But that has sparked tensions because of a huge surplus in China’s favour. Chinese exports to the United States were $337.8 billion in 2008 compared to US exports to China of $69.7 billion.

China is sending more students to the US

Tamar Lewin / NYT — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:26:00 GMT

American universities are enrolling a new wave of Chinese undergraduates, according to the annual Open Doors Report.

While India was, for the eighth consecutive year, the leading country of origin for international students—sending 103,260 students, a 9% increase over the previous year—China is rapidly catching up, sending 98,510 last year, a 21% increase.

“I think we’re going to be seeing 100,000 students from each for years to come, with an increasing share of them being undergraduates,” said Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice-president of the Institute of International Education, which publishes the report with support from the state department.

Overall, the number of international students at colleges and universities in the US increased by 8% to an all-time high of 671,616 in the 2008-09 academic year—the largest percentage increase in at least 25 years, according to the report.

With the current recession, the influx of international students has been especially important to the American economy, according to Allan E. Goodman, president of the institute.

“International education is domestic economic development,” Goodman said.

Washington not trying to contain China: Obama

Caren Bohan and Patricia Zengerle / Reuters — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:53:00 GMT

Shanghai: US President Barack Obama said on Monday that Washington was not trying to contain China’s rise but said trade between the two giants needed to be more balanced.

Addressing students at a town hall-style meeting in Shanghai on the first full day of his first trip to China, Obama said the notion that Washington and Beijing must be adversaries was not pre-destined.

Obama faces tensions with China over trade and Tibet on his visit to the emerging superpower for a summit that will grapple with economic imbalances and the future of the yuan currency. He arrived in Shanghai, China’s commercial hub, late on Sunday.

“We do not seek to contain China’s rise,” Obama said before taking questions from the audience as well as from Chinese over the Internet.

“On the contrary we welcome China as a strong and prosperous and successful member of the community of nations -- a China that draws on the right strengths and creativity of individual Chinese.”

“We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation but we also don’t believe the principals we stand for are unique to our nation.”

Chinese state-run Internet sites have asked the public for questions to quiz Obama at the youth meeting, and many had urged him to explain if he plans to meet the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader whom Beijing brands a separatist.

These events will be a warm-up for Obama’s summit with President Hu Jintao in the capital on Tuesday that will cover trouble-spots such as North Korea and Iran, and efforts to forge a new climate pact.

Obama has said he will also raise the sensitive subjects of human rights, and sometimes tense trade ties and China’s yuan currency, seen by US industry as significantly undervalued and stoking unsustainable global economic imbalances.

Obama noted that in 1979, when Washington established ties with the People’s Republic of China, trade was worth several billion dollars, compared to more than $400 billion now.

“This trade could create even more jobs on both sides of the pacific ... as demands becomes more balanced it can lead to even more prosperity,” Obama said.

At a gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders in Singapore over the weekend, Hu pointedly ignored international calls for his government to raise the value of the yuan and make Chinese exports relatively more expensive.

He and other senior Chinese officials have instead accused other countries -- implicitly including the United States -- of embracing damaging trade protectionism aimed at Chinese goods.

A senior Chinese official on Monday made a fresh, thinly veiled criticism of Washington for running lax monetary and fiscal policies that risk undermining the dollar.

But having already made their gripes clear before the summit, Obama and Hu may avoid sharp public jabs as they focus on building goodwill between the the world’s biggest and third biggest economies.

Obama said both Washington and Beijing must take “critical steps” to tackle global climate change.

Other countries are waiting to see what the United States and China will do ahead of a UN meeting in Copenhagen, Obama said.

China is considered the world’s biggest annual emitter of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from human activity.

Beijing has said developing countries should not accept internationally binding ceilings on emissions while they focus on economic growth and escaping poverty.

China has had a huge trade surplus with the United States, and is also the largest foreign holder of US government bonds.

The US trade deficit with China widened 9.2% in September to $22.1 billion, the highest since November 2008, according to US data released last week.

Obama seeks rebalancing; Asia warns of protectionism

Bill Tarrant / Reuters — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:18:00 GMT

Singapore: US President Barack Obama called on Saturday for a new strategy to rebalance global growth, but leaders around the Pacific rim, gathering for a weekend summit, took aim at signs of US trade protectionism.

Obama, who was due to arrive in Singapore late on Saturday for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, reiterated his call to redress the economic imbalances blamed by many for the global financial crisis.

The strategy calls for America to save more, spend less, reform its financial system and cut its deficits and borrowing.

“It will also mean a greater emphasis on exports that we can produce, and sell all over the world,” Obama said in a speech in Tokyo, his first stop on a nine-day Asian tour before leaving for Singapore. “We simply cannot return to the same cycles of boom and bust that led us into a global recession.”

Fresh government figures on the US trade deficit, which ballooned by more than 18% to $36.5 billion in September, could add urgency to Obama’s efforts to seek greater export opportunities in China and other Asian countries.

But leaders of APEC, a 21-member grouping accounting for more than half of all global output and 40% of world trade, called on the United States to show leadership on free trade, especially in jump-starting the Doha round of global talks.

A row between two APEC members, Peru and Chile, soured the mood just as the summit was getting under way on Saturday.

Peru said it would leave Singapore early after recalling its envoy from Chile over charges a Peruvian military officer had spied for the Chilean government. The spying charges emerged as tensions between the South American neighbours ran high over a maritime border dispute.

The APEC meeting is the last major gathering of global decision-makers before a UN climate summit in Copenhagen in three weeks meant to ramp up efforts to fight climate change.

However, the latest draft of a final statement showed that they had watered down their text on emissions cuts, dropping a reference to reductions of 50% by 2050, pledging instead to “substantially” cut carbon pollution by 2050.

Sniping at Washington

Although Obama proclaimed his faith in open markets, the sniping of regional leaders ahead of his arrival underlined the challenge he faces to convince them it’s more than lip service.

After taking office in January, the US president focused first on a huge stimulus to the economy and then on a domestic agenda that so far has included little attention to trade.

No end is in sight for the Doha trade round, now eight years old, despite pledges by Obama and others to get a deal by 2010.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, singling out Washington for trends “going in the opposite sense of free trade”, said protectionism was a major threat to the global economic recovery.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who followed Calderon to the podium, made the same point.

In Mexico’s neighbour the United States, “the old wrong idea of protectionism” was emerging in Congress and among other policymakers, Calderon said, citing as an example increasing “buy American” clauses in US legislation.

US inaction on trade is giving China and Asia an opening to forge trade agreements amongst themselves, said C Fred Bergsten, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

“There is a lot of activity in the region and this is all in the absence of US engagement. What the Asians are hoping is that with this trip, Obama will begin the process of re-engaging with Asian in economic terms.”

Calling himself “America’s first Pacific President”, the Hawaii-born Obama signalled a commitment to the region, but with no new specifics on how to re-invigorate his trade agenda.

He in fact missed the summit’s first day of business, after delaying his departure for Asia to attend a memorial service for soldiers killed in a mass shooting at a US military base.

Other leaders have taken advantage of the spotlight to take veiled or even direct pot shots at the world’s biggest economy.

Chinese President Hu Jintao helped set the tone, saying Beijing had done its part to lead the world out of recession but had been hit by trade probes and protectionist barriers.

Stick with Stimulus

However, China’s policy of pegging the yuan currency to a weakening dollar -- which make Chinese exports comparatively cheaper -- has also come under fire at the meeting. Obama has said he will raise the issue on a visit next week to China.

Aside from endorsing further moves toward free trade, the 21 leaders of APEC will agree to stick with economic stimulus policies until “a durable economic recovery has clearly taken hold”, according to the draft declaration.

Obama will undoubtedly be in the limelight on Sunday, the summit’s final day, and when the leaders pose for a traditional “family photo”. Some participants feel the Bush administration gave insufficient attention to the region, a point Obama addressed in Japan without mentioning his predecessor.

“I know that the United States has been disengaged from these organisations in recent years. So let me be clear: those days have passed ... the United States expects to be involved in the discussions that shape the future of this region, and to participate fully in appropriate organisations.”

US President’s first Asia visit begins with vows to deepen ties

Stephen Collinson / AFP — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:18:00 GMT

Tokyo: Barack Obama insisted on Friday that the US was a “Pacific” power and vowed to deepen its engagement in the region as he set foot in Asia for the first time as US President.

“The United States will strengthen our alliances, build new partnerships and we will be part of multilateral efforts and regional institutions that advance regional security and prosperity,” he said in Tokyo as he launched his four-nation tour.

New partnerships: Barack Obama (left) and Yukio Hatoyama in Tokyo. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

“The alliance between the United States and Japan is a foundation for security and prosperity, not just for our two countries, but for the Asia-Pacific region,” said Obama at a press conference alongside Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

The US President’s trip, just over a year after he won the election to the White House, is designed to shore up US power in a region increasingly dominated by rising giant China.

Obama seeks to counter charges that US influence has frayed in Asia, with Washington distracted by its deep economic slump and the sapping wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Tokyo, he promised Americans a “transparent” decision soon on whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, after apparent divides within his administration on strategy were leaked to the press.

The US President also sought to ease a simmering row with Japan over US bases on the southern island of Okinawa, where the US military presence is intensely controversial and has strained ties between the decades-old allies.

Hatoyama has voiced admiration for Obama and stressed similarities between their Democratic parties, which both defeated conservative governments on a promise of change.

The leaders also agreed to work together to battle climate change and the spread of nuclear weapons, including the threat posed by North Korea, which has in the past test-fired missiles across the Japanese islands.

Obama and Hatoyama said they “aspire to reduce” each nation’s greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050, and to seek a global cut of 50% by then—matching a goal set by the Group of Eight rich nations.

Asked whether he would visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the cities destroyed by US atomic bombs in World War II, Obama said: “I certainly would be honoured, it would be meaningful for me to visit those two cities in the future.”

On the next leg of his trip, Obama will meet many regional leaders for the first time at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Singapore.

He will also become the first US President to sit down with all 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including US foe Myanmar.

Obama will then head to China in the three-day centrepiece of his tour, with top global security issues, along with trade and currency differences, on the agenda, before wrapping up his trip in South Korea.

But he will not specifically mention Tibet in his speech on Asia policy on Saturday, a senior aide said, following claims Washington has downplayed the issue to avoid angering China.

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Russia keen to build more nuclear reactors for India

PTI — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:31:00 GMT

Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu: Russia, currently assisting India in the construction of two 1,000 MWe nuclear power reactors at Koodankulam nuclear plant in this district, is negotiating with New Delhi to build more reactors, its deputy Prime Minister Sergei Sobyanin has said.

“Russian Federation is prepared to construct new cost-effective nuclear reactors for India, considering its energy needs, and negotiations are going on in this direction,” Sobyanin, on a visit to the Koodankulam nuclear power plant yesterday, told reporters.

Heading a nine-member high-level delegation, Sobyanin inspected the progress of the work on construction of the 2 X 1000 MWe reactors in collaboration with Russia at a cost of Rs13,171 crore at the plant.

Russia was keen to build two more such reactors for the plant, he said.

Expressing satisfaction over the progress of the work, he said the process of installation of equipment was going on.

“Many systems have been commissioned and put into operation. The process of commissioning other systems are on.”

The first reactor of Koodankulam Nuclear Power plant would go critical next year and the negotiations for constructing third and fourth reactors were on.

Rising jobless casts shadow over world trade: Lamy

Dean Yates / Reuters — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:17:00 GMT

Singapore: Rising unemployment is the biggest threat to free trade and could spark greater protectionist policies around the globe, the head of the World Trade Organization said on Thursday.

WTO director general Pascal Lamy, who is attending a meeting of Asia-Pacific trade and finance ministers in Singapore, told broadcaster CNBC that he did not expect an improvement in the job situation in the next one or two years.

“I think the biggest threat is in the deterioration of the jobs market where unemployment is rising hard, then inevitably protectionist functions appear,” Lamy said when asked what was the biggest challenge to free trade.

Jobless queues have jumped across the industrialised world since the global economic crisis erupted a year ago and have been a prime reason nervous governments have resisted calls to start winding back stimulus measures.

The US jobless rate hit a 26- year high of 10.2% in October and economists polled by Reuters expect it to rise to 10.5% by the middle of next year.

In Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, the jobless rate in September recovered from a record high, falling to 5.3% from 5.5% in August and 5.7% in July, but job availability remained near a record low.

Lamy said protectionist tendencies so far had remained “very contained and measured”.

“The violence of the crisis has triggered protectionist reactions here and there. There has been slippage, countries with a bit of buy local, a bit of increasing the tariffs, a bit of anti-dumping, a bit of safeguards,” he said.

Ministers at the meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Singapore have agreed that stimulus policies should remain in place for now.

“They have to maintain it because there is not yet firm evidence of a sustained improvement in global private demand,” Australian treasurer Wayne Swan told reporters.

Lamy said the jury was still out on whether the Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks, stalled for eight years, could be concluded by the 2010 target date.

“For the moment, that’s the target and we are trying to accelerate, move it forward. What I got here was a certain sense of urgency, which of course has a lot to do with the necessity to keep trade open in order to exit the crisis,” Lamy said.

Washington too slow

Lamy said in an interview with an Italian newspaper this week that the United States had been slow in reaching a negotiating position in the Doha talks.

He said that after a year spent putting in place the new US administration, next year’s US mid-term elections could prove a further problem in finalizing the Doha talks.

Trade ministers are due to meet in Geneva at the end of the month to assess progress.

Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith said he did not share the scepticism of some about the Doha round, adding APEC had a role to play in reinforcing its importance.

“I am expecting a very strong communique from leaders so far as openness of markets and trade is concerned, underlining and reinforcing Australia’s and APEC’s strong view of the importance of successfully concluding that round,” he said.

The WTO’s 153 members must turn vague discussions on the Doha round into real negotiations with concrete proposals laid down on paper, Lamy said last month.

Broad agreement has been reached in many areas of the talks, launched in late 2001 to create new market opportunities and help developing countries prosper through trade.

But they are stalled over differences between exporters and importers, and rich and poor countries on how much to cut farm subsidies and industrial and agricultural tariffs.

Apec to back market-oriented currencies

Reuters — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:14:00 GMT

Singapore: Asia-Pacific governments were expected on Thursday to back stimulus plans next year and call for market-oriented exchange rates to ensure a fragile economic recovery under way can be sustained.

Finance ministers from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum began meeting on Thursday to discuss how to strengthen the post-crisis global economy to prevent asset bubbles and excess leverage with prudent macroeconomic and regulatory policies.

The latest draft communique to be issued following their meeting on Thursday calls for “market-oriented” exchange rates and interest rates.

“We will undertake monetary policies consistent with price stability in the context of market-oriented exchange rates that reflect underlying economic fundamentals,” the draft dated 11 November says.

The 21-member Pacific Rim group includes China, which is under pressure, particularly from the United States, to allow its currency to rise, having effectively pegged it against the dollar since the middle of 2008 to help fend off the global downturn.

China’s representative was at the meeting drafting the communique, a delegation spokesman said.

The ministers’ declaration also backs stimulus measures governments have put in place around the Pacific rim, including an estimated $1 trillion in Asia alone and $787 billion in the United States.

Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan told reporters on Thursday before going into the Apec meeting: “What we have to do is to make sure that we don’t withdraw global support too early.

“In Australia’s case, our economic stimulus peaked in the middle of this year and is being gradually withdrawn as we go through the rest of the year,” Swan said, adding the government was closely watching employment figures as a gauge.

Data released on Thursday showed Australian employment rose for a second straight month, pushing the Aussie dollar to a 15-month high and fueling bets the Reserve Bank of Australia would raise interest rates in December.

World Trade Organisation Director Pascal Lamy cautioned, however, of a false dawn in the recovery.

“There’s certainly a recovery happening, certainly in this region, which has suffered less from the crisis than from other regions of the planet,” he told CNBC in an interview on the Apec sidelines in Singapore. “But I would be prudent whether or not this would be sustainable six months or a year from now.”

China signals flexibility

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China provided the country’s clearest signal yet that it would allow the currency to appreciate again. It said it will consider major currencies in guiding the yuan.

Beijing’s control of the yuan is a hot-button topic. The US administration says the yuan is undervalued and is one factor contributing to economic imbalances between the first- and third-biggest economies in the world.

President Barack Obama told Reuters in an interview he would raise the yuan issue with Chinese leaders when he visits there next week.

Apec foreign, trade and finance ministers have gathered in Singapore ahead of a summit of their leaders this weekend focused on avoiding future crises, whether financial or climatic.

Apec is dominated by members of the Group of 20, including the United States, Russia, Japan and China, which has supplanted the Group of Seven as the premier forum for global policy making.

While China has been under pressure over the yuan, Washington for its part has been under pressure over the weakening dollar, which fell to a 15-month low on Wednesday.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday in Tokyo he believed in the need to maintain a strong dollar and said America was determined to get its budget deficit down.

The US Treasury chief was visiting Japan before joining the meeting of Apec finance ministers in Singapore.

Policy-makers in emerging market nations are also concerned that their currencies could be boosted against the US dollar by inflows of money to levels that would undermine exports.

Taiwan, an Apec member, imposed some capital controls on Tuesday to deter bets on currency appreciation, coming after Brazil last month imposed a tax on foreign investment in stocks to contain a stronger real.

Asia Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda said on Wednesday free-floating currencies may not be appropriate for emerging markets and in some cases they might need to manage capital inflows with controls.

Apec member economies account for 40% of the world’s population across four continents, more than half of global gross domestic product and nearly half of world trade.

But their members range from relatively poor countries such as Papua New Guinea, Peru and the Philippines, emerging markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, and rich economies, including the United States and Japan.

Focus on green trade at Apec, climate to take back seat

David Fogarty / Reuters — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:37:00 GMT

Singapore: With little prospect of any new climate change initiatives emerging at an Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting in Singapore this weekend, the climate agenda might instead focus on liberalizing trade in green goods and services.

Keeping the fragile global economic recovery on track will dominate the talks at the 21-member group meeting, but climate change is also expected to feature prominently with just weeks to go before a major United Nations (UN) climate gathering. Analysts, however, say the leaders will offer no major initiatives to give the Copenhagen talks a much needed push.

Costly disasters: A file photo of a flooded street after a tropical storm in Cainta, Philippines. Recent storms in Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines have lowered farm output and pushed up food prices. Nana Buxani / Bloomberg

The UN wants the 7-18 December Copenhagen meeting to yield a broader, and tougher, legally binding agreement by all nations to fight climate change, but negotiations have largely stalled, dimming hopes of success.

The Apec forum gathering represents one of the final opportunities ahead of Copenhagen for world leaders to try to overcome differences on the shape of a broader climate pact to fight rising seas, more chaotic weather and threats to crops and livelihoods.

Apec, which ranges from economic giants the US, Japan and China to oil-rich Brunei, accounts for at least 40% of world trade and over 60% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“I wouldn’t really expect major progress. I think it’s going to be overwhelmed by trade, financing,” said Changhua Wu, greater China director for think tank The Climate Group.

She pointed to the depressing mood that had settled over the Copenhagen talks process and the huge range of unresolved issues.

“I think we could see greater emphasis on macroeconomic stability in general this year,” said Leong Wai Ho, senior regional economist at Barclays Capital in Singapore.

But he pointed to the region being prone to costly climate disasters such as typhoons and storm surges and the predicted greater intensity of such disasters as the planet warms.

Recent storms in Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines have killed hundreds, destroyed roads, bridges, farms and homes, lowered farm output and pushed up food prices.

“This link suggests that despite the distraction from the global economic crisis, Apec leaders are widely expected to call for further cuts in energy consumption amongst themselves at the Singapore meeting,” Leong said.

Wu and other analysts said Apec might try to boost regional trade in clean-energy products and services. “Our argument would be if you want to push the economy into gear again, a very good way to do that would be through green investments because they normally imply a lot of jobs,” said Kim Carstensen, the head of conservation group WWF’s global climate initiative.

China, South Korea and Japan have large spending plans to boost the clean-energy sector and are keen to boost global market share. The US is also pushing for greater market access for its green goods.

In a draft leaders’ declaration obtained by Reuters, Apec backs limiting the global average temperature increase to within 2 degrees Celsius and for emissions to peak within the next few years and then fall by 50% from 1990 levels by 2050. The time frame for the emissions peak would be longer in developing countries, the draft says. It reinforces an earlier goal of reducing energy intensity by at least 25% by 2030 and to try to boost trade in green goods and services.

Given the fragility of the global recovery and concerns over rising unemployment in the US, bread-and-butter issues will dominate leaders’ discussions, said Song Seng Wun, senior economist at CIMB brokerage in Singapore. “First things first is to get the factories humming again and Americans start spending again with their own money,” he said.

The leaders’ final declaration needed to point to goals and benchmarks for success at Copenhagen, said Carstensen. “I would look to them to produce some signals of ambition, referring to Copenhagen as a place where results need to be achieved.”

A key climate benchmark for Apec would be the final text retaining the goal to cut emissions by half by 2050. “Normally it doesn’t survive in these kinds of circumstances,” Carstensen said, referring to past objections from China and other major developing nations on adopting a 2050 emissions target unless rich nations adopt a 2020 target as well. The draft doesn’t mention a 2020 target.

Nopporn Wong-Anan contributed to this story.

APEC ministers warn economic crisis is not over

Bill Tarrant / Reuters — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:56:00 GMT

Singapore: Asia-Pacific ministers warned on Wednesday that the global economic crisis was far from over and a current upturn was a respite rather than recovery.

Ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) have gathered in Singapore for meetings that will culminate in a weekend summit that US President Barack Obama will attend.

Obama, in an interview with Reuters, said he would work with China on his Asian visit to address the economic recovery and trade imbalances.

After foreign and trade ministers met for breakfast on Wednesday, Singapore’s representative George Yeo said they had discussed the global economic recovery, reform of financial institutions and resisting protectionism.

He said the consensus among ministers was that the global economic crisis was “by no means over”.

“The upturn that we now have is a respite. The situation is still fragile. We should still address the root cause of the problem,” he said.

Finance ministers from the 21-member Pacific rim group have a separate meeting on Thursday and, according to a draft statement, will pledge to keep up economic stimulus plans.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said he was comfortable about world growth prospects this year, but saw downside risks for 2010 and recommended governments keep stimulus measures in place through next year.

“Recovery globally is not going to be symmetrical. It’s going to be at a different pace,” he told a World Bank conference in Singapore on Wednesday.

The trade and foreign ministers also have other issues on their agenda -- including ways to mitigate the impact of climate change by promoting energy efficiency.

Foreign ministers from five of the six countries involved in North Korea diplomacy are attending, including US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and could talk about ways to restart the nuclear disarmament process on the sidelines.

Free trade models

But the centrepiece - or the elephant in their room, depending on various outlooks - is free trade.

They will look at various models for an Asia-Pacific free trade area, which leaders of the group could then discuss at their weekend summit in Singapore.

“We will continue to put in place building blocks towards a possible Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) in the future,” said a draft declaration to be issued by APEC economic ministers this week and obtained by Reuters.

The key word there is “possible”.

APEC member economies account for 40% of the world’s population across four continents, more than half of global gross domestic product and nearly half of world trade.

They all have different ideas about the pace and extent of open trade and investment.

The United States, by far the biggest economy, needs to show leadership in APEC, US Chamber of Commerce president Thomas Donohue said in an address in Singapore.

“You can’t lead and stand on the sidelines at the same time,” Donohue said, noting some 168 free trade agreements are in force in Asia on Wednesday.

APEC’s industrialized countries have yet to reach open trade goals set 15 years ago with a deadline of next year, even as the they ponder an ambitious free trade area, officials said.

The “Bogor Goals”, adopted at the 1994 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bogor, Indonesia, called for industrialized members to achieve free trade and investment targets by 2010 and for developing member economies to do so by 2020.

World Bank chief sees risk to global growth in 2010

Reuters — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:32:00 GMT

Singapore: World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Wednesday he saw some “downside risks” to world growth in 2010.

Speaking to reporters at the Singapore Foreign Correspondents Association, Zoellick also said that asset bubbles in East Asian economies could undermine confidence.

He said earlier on Wednesday that governments should not remove stimulus measures next year.