Category Archives: Asia

It’s all kicking off

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Turkish troops have entered Iraq in a move that can not be good for anyone.

No Turkish official is willing to put their name to the story confirming the operation, while the Foreign Minister has openly denied anything happened. But as Selcan Hacaoglu of the Associated Press notes, the nation’s authorities rarely acknowledge such activity.

Estimates of the number of troops ranges from thousands to several hundred — initial speculation put the figure at 50,000, which was the case in 1997 — but what runs consistent is that the military is pursuing Kurdish fighters.

It may only have been a couple of miles across the frontier, but it is troubling.

The military has for some time been pushing for a large-scale incursion to tackle the Kurdish separatists, the PKK, which Turkey considers terrorists. The Turkish army has been massing along the border in preparation; last week the country’s top general, Yasar Buyukanit, said his forces were awaiting government permission to cross into Iraq.

Turkey’s alliance with the US will grant it some degree of protection should it decide to step up its campaign against the PKK, which launches attacks from bases in Iraq. However, a full-scale incursion can only add to Iraq’s instability.

The introduction of this hostile actor in such a volatile stage will have unpredictable and uncontrollable results. The Kurds — who dwell in a stretch of territory that includes south-eastern Turkey and northern Iraq — will be squeezed into a corner. The Iraqi government will be in an intolerable position: if it allows a Turkish incursion its claim to govern its national territory will be null and void, while if it resists it faces provoking a conflict with its neighbour.

I am struck by the absence of international condemnation.

Imagine the outcry if the US was pushing for a military operation inside Canada, or China in Japan, or Britain in Ireland.

Big cats to bow out

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The game may be up for wild tigers.

According to a report in the June issue of BioScience, the animals now occupy only 7% of their traditional territories, with the areas known to be occupied by the big cats down 41% in the past 10 years. The felines once roamed from the Caspian Sea to Indonesia.

The study, compiled by 16 co-authors including Dr Eric Dinerstein of the World Wildlife Fund, says: “While the tiger as a wile species will most likely not go extinct with the next half-century, its current trajectory is catastrophic. If this trend continues, the current range will shrink even further, and wile populations will disappear from many more places, or dwindle to the point of ecological extinction.”

There are about 5,000 tigers — all of which require a lot of territory — left in the wild, their numbers having been hit by the trade in body parts for medicine as well as humans moving into the animals’ habitat.

The report recommends the establishment of large conservation areas linked by wildlife corridors, as is the case in north-west India and southern Nepal.

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Fast fact: in 2004, the tiger was voted the world’s favourite animal in a poll for the Animal Planet television channel. It beat the dog into second place.

Does the punishment fit the crime?

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China has sentenced the former head of its food and drug safety agency to death. He had pleaded guilty to corruption and accepting bribes.

According to Xinhua, Zheng Xiaoyu, aged 62, was accused of taking about E630,000 in bribes in exchange for approving drug-production licences. The court said the sentence was appropriate given the “huge amount of bribes involved and the great damage inflicted on the country and the public by Zheng’s dereliction of duty”.

However, the International Herald Tribune quite rightly points out that this impending execution comes amid outcry over China’s food safety. Earlier this year, two Chinese firms were accused of shipping contaminated pet food ingredients to the US, leading to the deaths of animals across the country and subsequently a massive recall.

Meanwhile, a chemical used to make antifreeze made it into cough medicine and toothpaste exported to Central America. More than 100 people died last year in Panama after taking cough medicine containing diethylene glycol, which left China marked “glycerin”. Last week, the same ingredient was found in toothpaste in Panama, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

That China has a shoddy record when it comes to food and drug safety is putting it mildly. Counterfeit medication is rampant and mass food poisonings are common. However, I can’t shake the feeling that Zheng is taking the heat for a wider problem in the nation. His actions — if indeed he did what he has been accused of — have led to the suffering of many and the deaths of some from sub-standard medicine.

But I have to ask you: does Zheng’s punishment fit his crime?

Tragedy without end

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The warring factions in Sri Lanka agreed a ceasefire five years ago. Officially, both the government and the Tamil Tigers say it’s still in place and they are observing the truce. In reality, the war rages anew.

About 65,000 people died during the war proper (1983-2002). More than 3,000 have died in the last year. About 160,000 have been forced to leave their homes. There have been allegations of human rights abuses and the killing of civilians by both sides. It seems the hopes raised by Norwegian-brokered peace talks five years ago have been dashed.

The conflict dates back to independence from Britain in the late 1940s. The new regime was Sinhalese-speaking and Buddhist in orientation, while the Tamils, who are largely Hindu with Christian and Muslim minorities, suffered widespread discrimination. War broke out when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam stepped up their low-level offensive into an armed campaign for a separate Tamil state on the island of Sri Lanka (incidentally, the vast majority of Tamils live in India).

The Tamil fight has stepped up dramatically in recent months. Having lost strategic territory to the military in September, the Tigers killed at least 130 government soldiers in one day of fighting (the number of Tamil casualties is disputed). They followed up the battle with a suicide attack on a naval convoy which killed about 100 soldiers. Bus bombings came next.

Then, in March, the rebels carried out their first airstrike. A second strike last week briefly knocked out the power to the island’s capital, Colombo. Previously, the Sri Lankan government had held total air superiority; the military continues to bomb rebel positions. The island’s only international airport is now closed at nights.

Despite the continuous artillery bombardment by the government, the Tamils operate a de facto state. There are Tamil laws, courts, police and even a forestry department. But they only continue to operate in the absence of government control of the north of the island, where the Tamil Tigers are strongest.

The stated goal of the Tigers — who are listed as a terrorist organisation by the EU and the US — is a Tamil state in the north and east of the island. The current Sri Lankan offensive has largely driven the rebel forces out of the east, which leaves the fortified northern heartland. There is no telling how bloody the fighting will be if and when the government launches a final assault to crush the rebels.

Matthew Rosenberg, who has covered the conflict extensively for the Associated Press, was given special permission to cross the frontier into rebel territory. You can read his report, which details how Tamil civilians are steeling themselves for war, here.