Georgia Asian Times Vol 9 No 11

Covering The Multicultural Asian American Community in Georgia

www.gasiantimes.com June 15-30, 2012 Vol 9. No 11

Kalayaan

114th Annivesary of Philippines Independence

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2012

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GAT Calendar of Events (For latest & updated events, visit www.gasiantimes.com)

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3rd annual US-India Business Summit Date: June 21-22, 2012 Venue: GTRI Conference Center For more info: Ani Agnihotri 404-394-6678 Gwinnett Judicial Candidate Forum Date: Sunday June 24 Time: 6:00 pm Venue: Korean Community Presbyterian Church 2534 Duluth Highway Duluth GA 30097 For more info: helen@aalegal.org GAT 25 Most Influential Asian Americans in Georgia Awards Presentation Date: Thursday, July 12 Time: 6:30 pm Venue: Happy Valley Restaurant For more info: Adrian West 678-971-9388 19th Asian Cultural Experience (ACE) Date: Sat-Sun; July 28-29, 2012 Time: 10:00 am-8:00 pm, 11:00 am-7:00 pm Venue: Gwinnett Center Admission: $10 (adult) $6 (students) Free (child under 5 years) For more info: www.asianculturalexpericneinga.com Hong Kong Dragon Boat - Atlanta Date: Saturday Sept 8, 2012 Time: 7:00 am Venue: Clarks Bridge Olympic Rowing Facility Lake Lanier For more info: dragonboatatlanta.com

JapanFest Date: Sept 15-16, 2012 Time: 10 am -6 pm; 10 am - 5 pm Venue: Gwinnett Center For more info: www.japanfest.org Vietnamese American Community of Georgia - Mid Autumn Festival Date: Saturday Sept 29, 2012 Time: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm Venue: Hong Kong Supermarket For more info: Trish Nguyen, 678.820.8822 8th Atlanta Asian Film Festival Date: Oct 5-20, 2012 Venues: Emory University, GPC-Dunwoody, GSU-Cinefest For more info: www.atlaff.org

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June 15-30, 2012 Georgia Asian Times

METRO ASIAN NEWS

Filipinos Celebrates “Kalayaan” 114th Anniversary of Independence Atlanta, June 12, 2012 -- Members of Filipino community in metro Atlanta and Georgia celebrates the 114th Anniversary of Philippines Independence.

The celebration started in Athens and Monroe, Georgia with a series of activities ranging from a 5K run, picnic, and culminating with a dinner banquet.

“The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Ang Pilipino Ay Ako’. We wanted to express our passion and love for our country by nurturing our values and heritage, by working cohesively within our community, by reaching out to the broader American community and being a unified force in Georgia’ social, economic, and political growth,” said Dr. Cecile Bregman, MD, Chairperson of this year’s festivities.

Governor Nathan Deal delivered an official proclamation which was read out loud to the audience at the dinner banquet.

The Honorary Philippine Consul General presented a consular award to Victor E. Romero for his community work and selfless dedication to promoting Filipino language and culture.

Guests of the banquet were treated to a special performance by Grammy award winning artist Jennifer Holliday. Ms. Holliday recently performed with Jessica Sanchez at the latest American Idol show.

“I am privileged and honored to make new friends in the Filipino community. Since my performance with Jessica Sanchez, I have a large following of Filipino fans following my tweets,” said Holliday.

Guests were also treated to a range of Filipino cultural dances and performances. A luchen “Filipino Roast Pig” dish were served to guests of the evening.

Free Japanese Culture Summer Camp for 6th Graders The office of Japanese Consulate General in Atlanta is offering free summer camp for children enrolled in sixth grades starting from July 9 through July 13.

The summer camp will start from 9:05 am - 11:45 am at Phipps Tower, 2nd floor conference room, 3438 Peachtree Rd NE, Atlanta GA 303261555.

Children will be exposed to Japanese culture, including writing Japanese characters with calligraphy brush, traditional tea ceremony, appreciation of shamisen (Japanese banjo), folding paper cranes, Japanese flowers arrangement, and karate self defense.

The camp is limited to the first 35 students to register and spaces will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

For more information, visit www. atlanta.us.emb-japan.go.jp/summercamp2012post.html

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2012

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METRO ASIAN NEWS Governor Deal and Indian Ambassador Rao to inaugurate third annual US-India Business Summit Atlanta, June 15, 2012 -- Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and Her Excellency Ms. Nirupama Rao, Ambassador of India to the United States, will open one of the top U.S.-India business conferences in the nation on Thursday, June 21, at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) in Atlanta.

The USA-India Business Summit (UIBS) and the 18th annual Georgia Tech Global Business Forum will be held June 21-22 at the GTRI Conference Center, and will feature numerous dignitaries who will address the future of the Indian economy and the trade and investment relationships between the United States and India.

The summit will be attended by a host of dignitaries, including the Honorable Ajit Kumar, Consul General of

India, Atlanta; Duriya Farooqui, Chief Operations Officer, City of Atlanta; Dr. P.M. Murali, President of the Association of Biotech Led Enterprises (ABLE), India and Managing Director, Evolva Biotech; and David A. Dodd, CEO, VaxyGen. The focus of the summit will be on trade and investment opportunities as well as new developments, challenges and success stories in science, technology and healthcare. More than 40 speakers will cover topics appealing to both small and large companies, ranging from how to penetrate India’s markets to identifying emerging entrepreneurial opportunities in both India and the U.S. For more information, visit www. usaindiabusinesssummit.com

AREAA Atlanta Host “Reinvesting Atlanta” Real Estate Conference Norcross, June 14, 2012 -- Asian Real Estate Association America (AREAA) Atlanta chapter organized a one day conference on commercial and residential assets in metro Atlanta and Georgia.

“Reinvesting in Atlanta,” the theme of the conference aims to address sustainability and affordable housing for Asian Americans home buyers and community. The conference features several prominent real estate experts including Kathy Tsao, AREAA National Chairperson, Ivan Choi, SVP, Matt Martin Real Estate Management, Stephanie Williams, Housing Program Specialist HUD, and Vaughn D. Irons, CEO of APD Solutions.

Breakout sessions focuses on issues pertaining to property management and latest on financing real estate transactions.

An insightful panel discussion focused on closing cultural gap with ethnic home owners and buyers. Jessica Kennett Cork, Adviser for Educational and Cultural Affairs, Japan Information Center, Consulate General of Japan, Jeong-Hwa “June” Lee Towery, President of the Southeastern Korean American Chamber of Commerce, Partner at Nelson Mullins, Patricia Boezio, Honorary Consul working with The General Consulate of Ecuador were the featured speakers in the session.

“AREAA Atlanta is pleased to be able to highlight key issues relating to today’s property market. We hope to be able to assist Asian American and minority home buyers reach their American dream of being a home owner,” said Dao Malaythong, President of AREAA Atlanta chapter.

L-R: Tim Hur, Kathy Tsao, Yangsook Ku, Dao Malaythong, Kathy Nguyen

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June 15-30, 2012 Georgia Asian Times

BUSINESS Napster creators launch video service via Facebook

NEW YORK, June 5, 2012 (AFP) - The creators of the original Napster music-sharing site on Tuesday launched a new video service which allows people to chat online using their Facebook accounts.

The service called Airtime was launched by Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning along with a host of celebrities at a New York event.

The browser-based video chat allows users to share live video without downloading any programs, by using Facebook and a webcam.

I would have never become friends.

As we move from a social graph to an interest graph, there are great possibilities for our world. That’s what we’re trying to tap into with Airtime.”

Entertainment stars including Jim Carrey, Alicia Keys, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Snoop Dogg helped demonstrate the features of Airtime.

“We look at Airtime as if it were a smart and engaging host,” said Fanning. “Airtime is a service that does everything it can to help you find the people that you should know, and then guide your conversations further.

These are connections that wouldn’t be possible in the real world.”

In addition to supporting seamless video chat with friends, Airtime connects users based on location and shared Facebook interests. Once connected, the users are anonymous until they decide to reveal themselves.

Napster was launched in 1999 as a peer-to-peer file-sharing service, becoming one of the most popular sites on the Web before it was shut down by the US courts in 2001, and eventually acquired by software firm Roxio.

“There’s something exciting about bringing spontaneity to the Internet,” said Parker.

“All of your interactions online are constrained by the people you already know. That wasn’t always the case. If it weren’t for the Internet, Fanning and

Parker and Fanning later invested in other startups, Parker notably becoming an early stakeholder in Facebook.

Philippines faces money laundering blacklist Manila, June 6, 2012 (AFP) - The Philippines may face international financial sanctions after its parliament failed on Wednesday to pass a bill aimed at stopping terrorist funding, senators said.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino warned parliament in March to pass all three required bills or risk getting the country blacklisted by the FATF.

The Senate approved two bills expanding the powers of a state agency that investigates funds kept in banks for illegal activity, but failed to pass a crucial third one to allow it to look into money channelled elsewhere.

Those that fall into the 35-member FATF’s blacklist of “non-cooperative countries and territories” could face financial sanctions from individual task force members, such as the United States.

The Senate now goes into a recess hoping the Financial Action Task Force, a multilateral body which aims to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, will not push ahead with sanctions, said Senator Teofisto Guingona.

Drilon said the most vulnerable to such sanctions would be the nine million Filipinos working abroad, who send about $20 billion a year to their relatives back home.

“Since the Philippine (Senate and House of Representatives) are showing we are doing something, we will appeal to the FATF to delay the blacklisting,” Guingona, co-author of the stalled bill, said in a statement.

Senate finance committee chairman Franklin Drilon said the senators did not have time to look at the third bill before the recess because of a legislative backlog.

The FATF, which made the blacklist threat this year, is due to evaluate Philippine compliance in strengthening its laws to fight such crimes at its next meeting starting June 18.

The Philippines passed an antimoney laundering law in 2001, but the FATF considered it inadequate.

It called for the passage of the three bills to make it easier to scrutinize bank accounts as well as non-bank entities, such as casinos and foreign exchange or precious metals traders.

Drilon said the Philippines’ AntiMoney Laundering Council will appeal to the FATF for more time to pass the last bill.

The Philippine parliament’s next session begins on July 27.

Georgia Asian Times

June 15-30, 2012

China says plans new rules for banks’ capital Shanghai, June 6, 2012 (AFP) - China said Wednesday it would set new rules for banks’ capital requirements from January next year, in line with international moves aimed at reducing risk.

China’s “systemically important” banks must maintain a capital adequacy ratio -- the proportion of capital that banks must have to support their operations -- of 11.5 percent and other banks 10.5 percent, the government said in a statement.

The requirement was “unchanged” from China’s existing regulatory rules, the official Xinhua news agency said in a separate report, but gave no details.

China circulated draft rules last year that set capital ratios at those same

levels, but previously all banks only had to maintain 8.0 percent, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

China’s powerful State Council, or cabinet, said the new requirement for Chinese banks was in keeping with implementation of the so-called Basel III rules from 2013 to 2019, the government statement said.

Global regulators drew up tougher Basel III capital rules in a bid to prevent a repeat of the 2008-2009 financial crisis when governments were forced to bail out banks.

Adopted in September 2010, Basel III requires banks to raise their highquality core capital to 7.0 percent of total assets from the current 2.0 percent.

Indian economy in ‘turbulent weather’: PM NEW DELHI, June 6, 2012 (AFP) - India’s prime minister on Wednesday conceded the domestic economy was heading into “turbulent weather” with slowing growth and high inflation.

Manmohan Singh told a meeting of his ministers and secretaries that the government must strive to revive flagging business and shore up confidence among investors in India’s economy.

“After achieving remarkably high growth rates over the past eight years... we are now running into more turbulent weather,” a statement from Singh’s office quoted him as saying.

Economic growth figures published last week showed the Indian economy growing at 5.3 percent in the JanuaryMarch period, the slowest quarterly growth figure in nine years.

Singh blamed India’s economic woes mainly on the eurozone debt crisis and “rising international petroleum and commodity prices”.

“In these difficult times, we must do everything possible to revive business and investor sentiment (and) we must work to create an atmosphere which is conducive to investment and to removing any bottlenecks to growth,” he said.

Singh’s government is also under pressure to rein in subsidies and other spending after its budget deficit widened to 5.75 percent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year ended March 31.

For 2012/13, the government is targeting a deficit of 5.1 percent, but analysts say this is based on a very optimistic growth estimate of 7.6 percent and under current spending plans the gap could be much larger.

India’s other indicators are also a source of worry: the rupee is at historic lows against the dollar and annual inflation remains high at around 7.0 percent.

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AirAsia head set to move to new Indonesia center KUALA LUMPUR, June 13, 2012 (AFP) - Budget carrier AirAsia is setting up a strategic planning centre in Indonesia, away from its Malaysian headquarters, with head Tony Fernandes expected to expand regional operations from there.

Fernandes, chief executive officer of AirAsia and currently head of its Malaysia operations, is expected to move to the centre in Jakarta, a spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

“Shifting AirAsia’s emphasis to a regional strategy is, we believe, not just good business, but also a move that will keep us ahead of the inevitable competition that is heading our way,” Fernandes said in a statement.

The carrier will name Fernandes’ replacement for its Malaysia operations next Monday. The group headquarters will remain in Malaysia, officials confirmed.

Asia’s largest budget airline has boomed from a decade ago, when it only had two aircraft.

But even now it still has only 18 planes in Indonesia -- which has a population of 240 million -- compared to 24 in Thailand and 58 in Malaysia, the firm said in the statement.

The Jakarta base will also help it lobby the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, whose secretariat is in the Indonesian capital, it added.

AirAsia Indonesia is planning to list on the Jakarta Stock Exchange by the end of 2012, and Fernandes said the company was looking to form five more joint ventures with regional airlines over the next two years.

When he took over the then ailing carrier a decade ago it had two Boeing 737s, six domestic routes and a staff of 250 Malaysian nationals.

The group now includes six airlines -AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Indonesia, Philippines’ AirAsia, AirAsia Japan and AirAsia X -- serving 80 destinations, more than 100 Airbus A320s and around 10,000 international staff.

S&P revises Vietnam outlook to stable HANOI, June 6, 2012 (AFP) - Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday revised Vietnam’s outlook to stable from negative, citing the government’s successful drive to bring down sky-high inflation.

The ratings agency said in a statement that it affirmed Vietnam’s long-term sovereign credit rating at BB- with a stable outlook and the short-term rating at B. “The outlook revision reflects our assessment of a reduction in the risks to macroeconomic and financial stability in Vietnam,” the statement said.

Last year, Vietnam refocused efforts from economic growth to stabilization to deal with price rises and other challenges, including dwindling foreign reserves, a yawning trade deficit and downward pressure on the dong currency.

By repeatedly hiking rates over the course of 2011, the government reined in inflation from a high of 23 percent last August to 8.34 percent year-on-year this May.

S&P said that the risks of macroeconomic and financial instability “have subsided somewhat since early 2011,” due to this tight credit policy.

“We expect Vietnam to maintain these improvements as the government has expressed its intention to keep price stability high on its policy priorities,” said S&P credit analyst Kim Eng Tan in the statement.

Fiscal tightening has also caused economic growth to slow to 4.0 percent in the first quarter of 2012, the weakest pace in three years, forcing the central bank to slash interest rates three times this year already.

Vietnam’s economy grew 5.9 percent last year, just below the six percent target. The government is aiming for a 6.0 to 6.5 percent expansion this year.

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June 15-30, 2012 Georgia Asian Times

FOCUS From left to right, US haunted by ‘decline of empire’ WASHINGTON, June 3, 2012 (AFP) – In the annals of history, new powers have challenged the old on blood-soaked battlefields, in chandelier-decked negotiating rooms and through the brandishing of ahead-ofthe-curve technology.

And then there’s Muscatine, Iowa, a quiet town on the Mississippi River once home to Mark Twain.

When Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visited Muscatine in February, he was seizing on his connection to the town forged during a study excursion 27 years earlier to stage a made-for-television US trip.

While his tone was friendly, the visit may eventually be remembered as a historical marker — Xi is expected to become China’s top leader next year and, sometime during his presidency, his country is forecast to surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy.

Behind the ubiquitous red-whiteand-blue flags that proudly dot the American landscape, a passionate debate is under way on whether the United States has already seen its best days.

The United States is saddled with historic debt after a decade of war and the Great Recession yet leaders are rarely able to agree on much other than that the political system is dysfunctional. Unemployment rates in recent years have been at their worst in three decades and income inequality is by some accounts at modern highs.

For a tangible case study in the theory of decline, one need only fly from an aging US airport to one of Asia’s glittering new air hubs.

And yet students from around the world flock to US universities. Few objective observers can argue that the country that invented the airplane,

the Internet and “The Simpsons” is short of innovation and creativity.

And that is to say nothing of the staggering gap in military spending between the United States and every other country.

Sole, indispensable power Talk of US decline is hardly new — the Vietnam War and Japan’s meteoric economic rise were also both, to some eyes, the beginning of the end of the American moment. And yet the question is shaping out to be a defining national debate in this election year.

Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee to seek the White House, has relentlessly attacked President Barack Obama for what he charges is a focus on managing decline instead of asserting the “exceptionalism” of the United States.

In the early days of the Obama administration, some aides — while careful not to assert that the United States was in decline — said they were studying the lessons of previous global transitions, such as the US eclipse of Britain as the top power a century ago, in hopes of avoiding conflict with China.

That tone has changed. In January, Obama said that his commitment to working with other nations had restored “a sense of America as the sole, indispensable power.”

In a recent speech, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered a robust defence of an active US role in the world and assured that 2012 “is not 1912″, when friction between a declining Britain and a rising Germany set the stage for global conflict.

Decline has also become a favourite theme for prominent US scholars.

In new books, Robert Kagan of the

Brookings Institution and former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski both argue that US decline is exaggerated and that the world is far better off with a strong United States.

Yet whatever the reality, the very perception of US decline has effects.

In a widely read recent essay, Wang Jisi, one of China’s top experts on the United States, said that Chinese policymakers are convinced of US decline and increasingly see US actions — even longstanding policies such as urging more respect for human rights and selling weapons to Taiwan — as signs of a diminished power trying to keep down a rising China.

China seen from Iowa Which brings us back to Iowa. Despite all of the historic talk of China’s rise and America’s fall, the people of Muscatine expressed views that are arguably more nuanced than those of many politicians. Numerous people in the town of 23,000 said that they had visited China, either for work or study, and the local high school offers instruction in Mandarin.

When I asked residents about China, several voiced concern about human rights in the communist state but just as many saw China’s economic growth as beneficial. No one, when asked, seemed to be losing sleep about China overtaking the United States.

Muscatine is not a fluke. Recent nationwide surveys have shown that more Americans than not believe that China will replace the United States as the top power. Yet polls also consistently show that most Americans see China favorably.

With a population more than four times that of the United States and consecutive years of rapid growth, it would seem inevitable that China will emerge as the world’s largest economy.

Yet even many Chinese support a strong United States — if nothing else, as a consumer market for its products. On the other side of the Pacific, meanwhile, any leader who openly renounces the country’s role as a world leader is seen as committing political suicide.

And so, regardless of Americans’ boundless self-confidence and Xi Jinping’s conciliatory words, the United States and China seem destined for more friction, not necessarily on the battlefield or even in the marketplace, but in beneath-the-surface moments in quiet places like Muscatine.

The idea of US decline is hotly contested, but the debate itself is at no risk of declining.

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2012

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ENVIRONMENT Bamboo points way to green construction in Indonesia’s Bali SIBANG KAJA, Indonesia, June 10, 2012 (AFP) - Strong, light and cheaper than steel poles, bamboo is ubiquitous across Asia as scaffolding.

So much so that in recognition of the material’s versatility, the Indonesian island of Bali has made it an emblem of sustainable construction, replacing buildings of concrete and steel with far greener alternatives.

An entire school, luxury villas and even a chocolate factory are the latest structures to rise from bamboo skeletons as the plant’s green credentials and strength are hailed.

on,” said Ripple, an American from Connecticut. “Our factory can be packed up and moved in days, so if we decided to shut it down one day, we’re not going to damage the rice paddies we sit on.”

The 100 hectares (247 acres) of paddies sit inside a so-called “bamboo triangle,” with the factory, school and villas standing at each of the three points.

Such ambitious bamboo projects in Bali are mostly driven by eco-conscious foreigners.

With studies showing construction to be one of the world’s least sustainable industries -- eating up around half of the globe’s At Sibang’s nearby Green School, the 240 students -- most of them children of expatriates -- learn in semi-outdoor classrooms decked with bamboo furniture.

The school, which opened in 2008 and was the magnet for the other two projects, has 25 bamboo buildings, the main one being a stilt-structure constructed with 2,500 bamboo poles, or culms.

“In Hong Kong and China, they make new skyscrapers of concrete and glass using bamboo scaffolding. But here, the workmen stood on steel scaffolding to build this bamboo building. That’s always seemed funny to me,” said Green School admissions head Ben Macrory, from New York.

The factory, which opened last year and produces organic drinking chocolate and cocoa butter, is the latest in a string of buildings on the island, including homes and businesses, to be built of bamboo.

Erected in the village of Sibang Kaja between the resort island’s smoggy capital Denpasar and the forests of Ubud, the factory is the initiative of specialty food firm Big Tree Farms, which claims the 2,550-square-meter (27,500-square-foot) facility is the biggest commercial bamboo building in the world.

“Bamboo is unmatched as a sustainable building material. What it can do is remarkable,” said Big Tree Farms cofounder Ben Ripple, 37.

“It grows far more quickly than timber and doesn’t destroy the land it’s grown

non-renewable resources -- sustainable construction is slowly taking root around the world.

It is among the key topics for discussion at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which opens June 20 in Rio de Janeiro.

In Sibang, the tawny brown bamboo buildings with their grass thatched roofs appear to be rising from the earth.

The three-story chocolate factory is pieced together using a complex system of scissor trusses and bolts, thanks to clever architecture.

It resembles the traditional longhouses found on Borneo island and was made with more than 18,000 meters (59,000 feet) of bamboo from Bali and Java.

“In most parts of Asia, bamboo is seen as the poor man’s timber.”

Not, however, in Sibang, where the bamboo villas that nestle between the palm trees are worth $350,000 to $700,000 each.

Like decadent tree houses for adults, they have semi-outdoor areas and include innovative bamboo flooring that resembles smooth timber and jellybean-shaped coffee tables made from thin bamboo slats.

Bamboo -- technically a grass -- has been used in building for centuries because of its impressive strength-to-weight ratio.

Jules Janssen, an authority on bamboo in the Netherlands, says that the weight

of a 5,000-kilogram (11,000-pound) elephant can be supported by a short bamboo stub with a surface area of just 10 square centimeters (1.5 square inches).

One reason bamboo is so environmentally-friendly is the speed at which it grows, according to Terry Sunderland, a scientist at the Centre for International Forestry Research in Indonesia.

“In China, eucalyptus can grow at three to four meters (10-13 feet) a year, which is very impressive for timber. But building-quality bamboo will grow between six and 10 meters (20-33 feet) in that time,” he said.

And unlike trees that rarely grow back once felled, bamboo will continue to produce new shoots even after cutting.

But even bamboo has its drawbacks.

Without intensive treatment, it is prone to rotting after exposure to water. It also catches fire relatively easily, which is why many countries limit bamboo structures to just a few storys.

Ripple acknowledged that building with bamboo was not foolproof, but expressed optimism that the technology to protect it from the elements will improve.

“A friend we work with here always says bamboo needs a hat, rain jacket and boots,” he said. “We’re lacking on the rain jacket a bit, but we’re looking at non-toxic materials to give it some protection.”

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June 15-30, 2012 Georgia Asian Times

EVENTS

Kalayaan - 114th Philippines Independence Celebration June 12, 2012 Photos: Ben Hioe

Alicia Villareal Zerrudo Lundquist, a performer of national stature, sharing a classic Filipino tune with the audience.

Banga dance performed by Filipiana Dance Troupe.

Dr. Cecile Pasion-Bregman, Chair of Kalayaan 2012, welcomes guests to the celebration.

Singkil dance perforemd by Filipiana Dance Troupe.

Grammy award artist Jennifer Holliday delighting the crowd with a special performance.

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2012

Page 11

FOCUS Everest Sherpas swap danger for luxury watchmaking KATHMANDU, June 1, 2012 (AFP) – In a modern, airy workshop located in a fashionable Kathmandu shopping hub frequented by Nepal’s rich and famous, two skilled craftsmen assemble some of the world’s most exclusive luxury watches.

For Namgel and Thundu Sherpa, the sedate, intricate world of precision watchmaking is about as far removed as possible from their previous lives as Himalayan guides working in deeply hostile, often life-threatening conditions.

Their unlikely career change followed a stint as guides for British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Michael Kobold, founder of the USbased Kobold watch company who scaled Everest with his wife Anita in 2010.

“Namgel saved my life twice,” said Kobold, recounting how the sherpa had corrected a critical problem with his oxygen supply in the “death zone”

as they neared the Everest summit.

On the descent, Namgel again intervened to prevent a summit-bound climber unhooking Kobold’s carabiner from a safety line as they passed on a narrow ledge above a sheer 10,000 foot drop.

An even more dire situation arose when they descended to Camp Two and Kobold’s wife collapsed and stopped breathing.

“A doctor declared her dead,” Kobold said.

“But with the help of the doctor and Namgel and Thundu, we managed to get her back to life a few minutes later. She is perfectly fine today thanks to their quick response.”

Keen to translate his gratitude into practical help, Kobold decided to act on an idea first suggested by Fiennes of providing Namgel and Thundu with a safer career.

In 2008, Fiennes had observed the two sherpas watching Kobold, who had brought his tools and parts, assemble a watch at Everest Base Camp.

“Their inquisitive nature and excitement over a mechanical watch were very much on display,” said Fiennes . “This is when the thought occurred to me that maybe Mike could teach them how to make watches.”

Kobold took Namgel and Thundu to the United States, housed them for a year with his family in Pittsburgh and trained them at a cost of more than $300,000 to make a “Made in Nepal” version of his highend timepieces.

A limited edition of just 25 of the new Nepal range will contain elements rock collected from the Everest summit and retail at $16,500.

The Sherpas recall a “challenging” year in the US, when they missed their families and had to learn enough information for a two-year course in just 10 months.

“Learning to make watches in the US was very difficult at first because with a mechanical watch like this everything has to be perfect,” said Namgel, 27.

“But our job as sherpas was very hard. We had to carry a lot of things and we didn’t use oxygen until 8,000 metres. People would say we had big lungs and a big heart. So compared to that watchmaking for us is not so difficult.”

Namgel and Thundu, 38, have scaled Everest seven and nine times respectively.

But their vast experience did little to soothe their families’ concerns each time they embarked on a new expedition.

“I have one daughter and Thundu has two sons and our families were very worried about our job because it was so dangerous,” Namgel said.

“We feel lucky because we don’t

have to climb anymore. I love climbing but I’m glad my family don’t have to worry anymore.”

The parts for the Sherpa’s watches will be shipped from Kobold’s business in the US, but assembled from scratch in Nepal.

Namgel and Thundu will use the Kobold brand but the enterprise will be entirely theirs — they aren’t being charged franchising fees and will keep all profits.

Kobold estimates they will have to sell just two watches a month to earn a respectable living with cash left over to gradually grow the business to a point where they will be able to manufacture their own parts in Nepal.

The 33-year-old believes the highpressure, high-risk lives of Himalayan guides has provided Namgel and Thundu with advantages in the their new career.

“They are superior watchmakers in the sense that… their hands don’t tremble but are perfectly steady.

“This is an obvious and considerable advantage when assembling mechanical watches that consist of hundreds of tiny little parts.”

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June 15-30, 2012 Georgia Asian Times

ART

From Hiroshima to Hawaii, artist Teraoka looks to Asia SYDNEY, June 5, 2012 (AFP) – Japanese-born artist Masami Teraoka remembers the bombing of Hiroshima as the day when he saw two suns rising — one in the east as usual, the other an orb burning eerily in the west.

“Two suns, that’s for sure. That’s my memory,” he explained from a Sydney gallery where his confrontational images of geishas ripping condom packets open with their teeth and naked women frolicking with priests are being exhibited.

“I’m not looking at the mushroom cloud at all, but from a distance it looked like the sun. The diameter was the same size as the sun,” he said of the massive atomic explosion he viewed some 45 miles (70 miles) from Hiroshima.

Teraoka has thought a lot about the reliability of his schoolboy recollection since that day in August 1945, but he believes it is possible that his memory, even then highly attuned to the visual, is genuine.

He believes his move to Los Angeles in the early 1960s, where he studied at the Otis Art Institute, allowed him to develop.

“Actually if I stayed in Japan, I would have become a businessman,” the artist, now in his mid-70s, said.

“Japanese culture is very much a conformist culture and I kind of doubt I would have blossomed the way I have blossomed and matured as an artist in the States.”

More than 70 solo exhibitions later, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Washington’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution and San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, Teraoka said China is now tackling art on a scale unseen elsewhere.

“I think Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai are leading contemporary arts scenes from now on,” he said.

His art has also reflected the changing times — beginning with traditional Japanese ukiyo-e “floating world” drawings and prints, admittedly with a modern take such as his 1974 “Burger and Chopsticks” about creeping western influence.

Since his move to the US in 1961, he has continued to marry East and West, with his paintings sometimes reminiscent of Northern European work from the late 15th century.

His latest pieces, which focus on sex abuse among the clergy, feature fullfigured nude women and bishops and priests in large-scale paintings that subvert traditional religious iconography with modern symbols such as traffic lights, gyms, and IVF equipment.

“The themes that I am dealing with are pretty tough themes: religion and sexuality and ethics and human rights and also power against powerless people,” he explained.

“So all these issues are underneath my clergy sex abuse issue paintings.

“What I am focussing on in my series is something that is not even recorded and documented but the more I kind of look into my references and historical books there are so many records… that there are many women who were abused.”

Based in Hawaii since 1990, Teraoka’s work is in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, London’s Tate Modern, and the Singapore Art Museum.

“So I may not be totally crazy, I think this is totally right,” the chatty, long-haired artist said with a laugh.

His pieces on display in Sydney command prices of up to US$385,000.

Teraoka left Japan when he was 25, after studying at Kobe’s Kwansei Gakuin University, and while he credits his move away as crucial to his development, he now sees Asia at the forefront of the contemporary art scene.

But he says Japanese geishas are now making a return to his work — including in an AIDS series in which they can feature as ghosts.

Back then, moving to the United States allowed him to follow his passion rather than run the kimono shop owned by his father and grandfather.

“But recently geisha is becoming part of the scenario or narrative, in a sense I might be coming back to Asia, or Japan, if you would like to say that.

That might be part true.”

“I haven’t really used the geisha image for a while,” he says.

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2012

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SPORTS Kagawa backed to shine for United TOKYO, June 6, 2012 (AFP) – Japan’s Shinji Kagawa was strongly backed to make an impact for Manchester United on the field as well as off it Wednesday as he prepared to become the English Premier League’s most expensive Asian player.

Pacquiao wants rematch after split-decision stunner LAS VEGAS, Nevada, June 10, 2012 (AFP) – Manny Pacquiao wants another shot at Timothy Bradley, and next time he doesn’t plan to give the American a chance to win over any judges.

“I want a re-match,” Pacquiao declared after Bradley claimed his World Boxing Organization welterweight world title with a split decision victory that stunned many.

“That makes me become a warrior in the ring, this coming re-match, because in the re-match my thinking is I don’t want to finish the whole 12 rounds.”

Pacquiao, considered by many the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, had won 15 straight fights dating back to 2005.

The unbeaten Bradley — the WBO light welterweight champion — absorbed punishing blows in almost every round, while rarely appearing able to hurt the Filipino superstar.

Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said he was surprised when the first judge’s score was read out, giving it 115-113 to Pacquiao — which he thought was a little close.

“It wasn’t a good start,” Roach said.

“It wasn’t as bad as the other two.”

The two other ringside judges

scored it 115-113 for Bradley — prompting a chorus of boos in the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Pacquiao said he was so sure he had won the fight that he wasn’t even paying attention when the result was read out.

Roach said he didn’t know if Pacquiao’s narrow decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in his last fight in November worked against him on this night.

“I’m not sure if our last fight had something to do with it because our last fight was a very close fight and a little controversial.

“Did they hold that against us? I’m not sure,” Roach said.

This time, Roach said: “I didn’t see that many close rounds.”

Roach was heard exhorting Pacquiao to go for a knockout in the 12th round, but he said that wasn’t because he thought his fighter was trailing.

“I like knockouts,” Roach said.

It was an especially disappointing outcome for Pacquiao given he had hoped for a decisive victory in the wake of his unconvincing win over Marquez.

He came into the fight saying he

Kagawa’s Japan team-mates said the 23-year-old deserved his move to the English giants, while experts said the versatile attacking midfielder would be an important asset for United — and not just for his marketing potential.

“Shinji deserves to be playing for a top club. He belongs,” said fellow Japan international Keisuke Honda, who plays for CSKA Moscow. “I hope he does well.”

Kagawa has caught the eye with 21 goals in 49 appearances over two seasons for Borussia Dortmund — who won the German league and cup double this year — as well as a hatful of assists.

The lively, right-sided player, who can play behind the main striker or on the left or right, and is also blessed with defensive awareness, is conhad been buoyed in body as well as spirit by re-dedicating his life to God, devoting time to Bible study and cutting out pursuits including gambling, drinking and womanizing that had stressed his marriage in the lead-up to his last bout.

While Pacquiao and Roach said the changes had made for far fewer distractions, there was an odd pre-fight episode in which Pacquiao’s entry was delayed and Roach said he couldn’t find his fighter.

Pacquiao was located in an adjoining room, warming up his crampprone calves on a treadmill after watching Miami beat Boston in game seven of the NBA Eastern Conference finals.

sidered an important acquisition as United update their team.

The 19-time English champions lost their Premier League title to neighbours Manchester City this season, and floundered in Europe. Meanwhile old-stagers Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Park Ji-Sung are in the twilight of their careers.

On Tuesday, United said they had agreed terms for Kagawa, pending a medical and visa clearance. The deal is expected to cost around £12 million ($18.4 million), dwarfing the figure United paid for Park in 2005.

By the time he made his belated entrance to the ring, Pacquiao appeared to be in full fight mode.

Although Bradley admitted he was impressed by Pacquiao’s speed and power, he didn’t make enough of an impression on the judges.

“You know, I respect the decision, but 100 percent I believe I won the fight,” Pacquiao said.

“We have to respect my opponent also. Give credit to him. The fans, in your heart you know who won the fight, but it’s OK.”

Page 14

June 15-30, 2012 Georgia Asian Times

SPORTS However, few backed the theory that Kagawa had been brought in by United, recently rated as the world’s most popular club, simply to sell shirts and merchandise in Asia.

“Kagawa meets the club’s need to find a player who can feed decisive passes to England forward Rooney and organise their midfield,” said a commentary in Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Fresh-faced Kagawa is now set to become the Premier League’s biggest Asian signing and the most prominent player ever from Japan, eclipsing Hidetoshi Nakata who starred in Serie A a decade ago.

But he cut a reluctant figure when cornered by media in Saitama, where Japan are preparing to face Jordan on Friday.

“I haven’t put pen to paper yet,” Kagawa said, according to Kyodo news agency. “We still have two more games to play, and the entire team is focused on these qualifiers.

“I’ll talk about all of this once I’m done here. I hope people will understand.”

Asian newspapers splashed with the news on Wednesday, with Singapore’s New Paper calling Kagawa the “real deal”.

“What (Manchester United) need is a player who can change the pace of attack with ingenuity and accelerate the attack. That may be why they acquired Kagawa,” said Japan’s Nikkei business daily.

“Kagawa may well back up (striker Wayne) Rooney effectively. And he may well step up himself with the help of the sophisticated Rooney.”

Press coverage in England was also positive, although the mass-market Daily Mail dubbed him “Shinji Kagawho?” and said fans would be hoping for higher-profile signings.

“At present, Kagawa may be positioned as a ‘quasi-regular’. But there is no doubt that Kagawa will be a type of player needed by Manchester United.”

Team-mates were also in no doubt about Kagawa’s ability to find his feet at Old Trafford, despite an indifferent season for Asian players in the Premier League.

“Kagawa can keep the ball in the smallest of spaces and is a quick decision-maker,” Arsenal winger Ryo Miyaichi told Kyodo News. “He can play there (Manchester United) for sure.

“He’s Japan’s number 10, and I think he’ll be able to perform even at a glamorous side like Manchester United.”

Even for Japanese captain Makoto Hasebe, 28, Kagawa’s move was the stuff of fiction and childhood daydreams.

“For a player of my generation, moving to a big club is just a story in a manga comic,” said Hasebe, who plays for VfL Wolfsburg in Germany. “I think children of today may feel like becoming another Shinji.”

Memorial win boosts Woods for US Open

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, June 8, 2012 (AFP) – With his long victory drought behind him, Tiger Woods arrives at the 112th US Open at The Olympic Club seeking to end yet another dry spell — four years without a major championship title.

A victory at The Memorial in his final US Open tuneup had fans atwitter, but after an erratic season that has included two USPGA Tour victories, a disappointing Masters and a whiff of injury, Woods said he’ll leave it to others to make the definitive statement “Tiger’s back”.

“I won,” Woods said of the significance of his Memorial triumph, drawing a laugh.

“I’m sure by Tuesday I’ll be retired and done, and then by the time I tee it up at the US Open it might be something different. I’ll let you guys figure that out.”

A first major triumph since he hobbled to victory at the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines on an injured left leg would settle the question.

Woods snapped a 17-month win drought in March at Bay Hill. But two weeks later he finished only 40th in the Masters, his worst performance at Augusta National as a professional and the first time he had finished outside the top 25 in two straight majors as a pro.

Woods missed the cut at the US PGA Championship last August after missing both the US Open and British Open in 2011 with left knee and Achilles injuries.

compressing it higher than I did at Bay Hill.

“As I said at Augusta, I got exposed, wasn’t able to get the ball up in the air comfortably, and it showed.”

He’ll need all of that at The Olympic Club’s Lake Course, a par-70 layout that features numerous elevation changes and awkward sloping lies.

If Woods can conquer it, he’ll remain ahead of the pace Jack Nicklaus set in winning his 18 majors — a record Woods has long aimed to surpass.

Woods has played 57 major championships as a professional, while Nicklaus claimed his 15th major title in his 67th attempt, at the British Open at St. Andrews in 1978.

It once seemed inevitable that Woods would break Nicklaus’s record.

But a whirlwind of personal scandal in 2009 disrupted his professional as well as his personal life and the road back has been anything but smooth.

His glossy reputation took a hit, and as the wins evaporated his world ranking plummeted.

Woods, who has quietly climbed back to fourth in the world, insists the record remains within his reach.

Woods said his win at The Memorial gave him more reason for optimism than his Bay Hill victory.

“I figure it’s going to take a career,” Woods told fans in an on-line chat last month. “It took Jack 24 years. This is my 17th year into it.

“At Bay Hill I played well on that Sunday, but I just didn’t quite have the control. That was different,” he said. “I’m able to hit the ball, I think,

“I still feel like I’ve got plenty of time. It’s about giving myself the most amount of opportunities to win them on the back nine on Sunday.

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2012

Page 15

HEALTH Gene search throws up four inherited clues to migraines

Revealed: Secret of HIV’s natural born killers PARIS, June 10, 2012 (AFP) - Scientists on Sunday said they had found a key piece in the puzzle as to why a tiny minority of individuals infected with HIV have a natural ability to fight off the deadly AIDS virus.

PARIS, June 10, 2012 (AFP) - European and Australian scientists on Sunday said they had snared four more genes that highlight an inherited cause for common migraine.

In a study they said holds promise for an HIV vaccine, researchers from four countries reported the secret lies not in the number of infection-killing cells a person has, but in how well they work.

The genetic variants were spotted in a trawl through the DNA code of 4,800 people with a history of “migraine without aura,” which accounts for two-thirds of migraine attacks.

Only about one person in 300 has the ability to control the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) without drugs, using a strain of “killer” cells called cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) cells, previous research has found.

But the telltales were absent among more than 7,000 counterparts who did not suffer from these debilitating headaches.

In previous work, researchers uncovered three genes associated with migraine.

But this is the first to find genes not linked to migraine with aura -- the sensation in which patients have the impression of looking through frosted glass.

Migraine affects roughly one woman in six and one man in eight, and is a major cause of work absence.

The precise cause is unknown, but inherited vulnerability as well as environmental triggers are the suspects.

Scientists describe the condition as a brain disorder in which neurons, or brain cells, respond abnormally to stimuli.

Two of the newly-identified genes back the theory that blood vessels, and thus blood flow, play an important part in the process.

The study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, was led by the International Headache Genetics Consortium.

Taking that discovery further, scientists from the United States, Canada, Japan and Germany reported that the strain has molecules called receptors that are better able to identify HIV-infected white blood cells for attack.

Until now, it was well known that people with HIV “have tonnes of these killer cells,”

Bruce Walker, an infectious diseases expert at the Ragon Institute in Massachusetts, told AFP.

nising the infected cell. This gives us a way to understand what it is that makes a really good killer cell.”

“We have been scratching our heads since then, asking how, with so many killer cells around, people are getting AIDS. It turns out there is a special quality that makes them (some cells) better at killing.”

Walker said attempts at creating vaccines had so far failed because the T cell receptors they generated were not the efficient type.

The study looked at 10 infected people, of whom five took antiretroviral drugs to keep HIV under control while five were so-called elite controllers who remained naturally healthy.

HIV kills a type of white blood cell called CD4, leaving people with AIDS wide open to other, opportunistic and potentially deadly infections.

“What we found was that the way the killer cells are able to see infected cells and engage them was different,” said Walker.

“It is not just that you need a killer cell, what you need is a killer cell with a (T cell) receptor that is particularly good at recog-

But while the research has showed scientists how to find and measure the good cells, they still do not yet know how to generate them.

“The next step is to determine what it is about those receptors that is endowing them with that ability,” said Walker.

“HIV has revealed another one of its secrets and that is how the body is able to effectively control the virus in certain individuals.

“Each secret that HIV reveals is putting us in a better position to ultimately make a vaccine to control the virus.”

Gene search throws up four inherited clues to migraines PARIS, June 10, 2012 (AFP) - European and Australian scientists on Sunday said they had snared four more genes that highlight an inherited cause for common migraine.

linked to migraine with aura -- the sensation in which patients have the impression of looking through frosted glass.

The genetic variants were spotted in a trawl through the DNA code of 4,800 people with a history of “migraine without aura,” which accounts for two-thirds of migraine attacks.

Migraine affects roughly one woman in six and one man in eight, and is a major cause of work absence.

But the telltales were absent among more than 7,000 counterparts who did not suffer from these debilitating headaches.

The precise cause is unknown, but inherited vulnerability as well as environmental triggers are the suspects.

Two of the newly-identified genes back the theory that blood vessels, and thus blood flow, play an important part in the process.

In previous work, researchers uncovered three genes associated with migraine.

Scientists describe the condition as a brain disorder in which neurons, or brain cells, respond abnormally to stimuli.

The study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, was led by the International Headache Genetics Consortium.

But this is the first to find genes not

Page 16

June 15-30, 2012 Georgia Asian Times

Misc Asia China unearths over 100 new terracotta warriors

Beijing, June 11, 2012 (AFP) - Chinese archaeologists have unearthed 110 new terracotta warriors that laid buried for centuries, an official said Monday, part of the famed army built to guard the tomb of China’s first emperor.

The life-size figures were excavated near the Qin Emperor’s mausoleum in China’s northern Xi’an city over the course of three years, and archaeologists also uncovered 12 pottery horses, parts of chariots, weapons and tools.

“The... excavation on the 200square-meter (2,152-square-feet) site has found a total of 110 terracotta figurines,” said Shen Maosheng from the Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum -- which oversees the tomb.

“The most significant discovery this time around is that the relics that were found were well-preserved and colorfully painted,” Shen, deputy head of the museum’s archaeology department, said.

He added that archaeologists had pinpointed the location of another 11 warriors but had yet to unearth them.

The discovery is the latest in China’s cultural sector, after experts found that the Great Wall of China -- which like the Terracotta Army is a UNESCO World Heritage site -- was much longer than previously thought.

Shen said experts had expected the

colors on some of the warriors and wares uncovered at the site to have faded over the centuries, and were surprised to see how well preserved they still were.

The finds also included a shield that was reportedly used by soldiers in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), with red, green and white geometric patterns.

Qin Shihuang -- the Qin emperor who had the army built -- presided over the unification of China in 221 BC and is seen as the first emperor of the nation.

The ancient terracotta army was discovered in 1974 by a peasant digging a well. It represents one of the greatest archaeological finds of modern times, and was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

The news comes after a five-year archaeological survey found the Great Wall of China was more than double the previously estimated length.

The survey -- released to the public last week -- found the wall was 21,196 kilometers (13,170 miles) long, compared to an official 2009 figure of 8,851 kilometers.

Beijing authorities on Saturday also reiterated plans to open two new sections of the Great Wall to tourists and expand two other existing areas to help meet booming demand.

Mr Bean fans warned over Indonesian film JAKARTA, June 11, 2012 (AFP) Mr Bean fans in Indonesia have been warned to beware of a locally made spoof horror film called “Mr. Bean Possessed by D.P.” that stars an unknown actor that bears a resemblance to the popular character.

The official Facebook page for Mr Bean, a comedy about a socially awkward man played by the British comedian Rowan Atkinson, said: “We have just heard that there is a new film out in Indonesia with ‘Mr Bean’ in the title.

“Please be aware that it has nothing to do with with your beloved Mr Bean or Mr Rowan Atkinson so please avoid being disappointed.”

The producers of “Mr. Bean Possessed by D.P.”, starring the wellknown actress Dewi Perssik, denied they were attempting to pass the film off as an original Mr Bean movie.

“We never mentioned Rowan Atkinson’s name. We only said the film would star Mr Bean,” producer K.K. Dheeraj, from K2K Productions, told AFP. “There are so many things called bean -- coffee, fruit. We can use the name too, if we want.

“For example, in Malaysia there are Mr Bean snacks, but that doesn’t mean they’re Rowan Atkinson’s products.”

In the movie released last week, “Mr Bean”, played by an unknown British actor, is a mummy-like ghost shrouded in white who becomes entranced by the buxom Perssik, who is commonly known by her initials D.P. Indonesian media reported last month that Perssik said Atkinson would star opposite her in the film, but the popular actress maintained on Monday that she only ever said “a Mr Bean” would play the role.

“It’s a business trick,” she wrote on Twitter in Indonesian.

Dheeraj declined to name the male star of the film, saying only that he is British, while Perssik tweeted: “I don’t know his name. I only know him as Mr Bean.”

The original Mr Bean, a television and film series that brought Atkinson international fame, is popular in Indonesia, where the character is found on mobile phone covers and pencil cases.

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2012

Page 17

Misc Asia Vietnam grants access to new areas for MIA search HANOI, June 4, 2012 (AFP) – Vietnam said Monday it would open up new areas to American teams searching for missing war-time soldiers, the latest sign of closer ties between two countries that are wary of China’s growing power.

Vietnamese Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh announced the move after talks with his US counterpart Leon Panetta, whose two-day visit has underscored Washington’s determination to shore up its influence in the face of a more assertive China.

Panetta said the United States had an “enduring commitment” to build a strong defence partnership with its former foes in Vietnam.

China tells embassies to stop issuing pollution data Beijing, June 5, 2012 (AFP) – China said Tuesday foreign embassies were acting illegally in issuing their own air quality readings and that only the government could release data on the nation’s heavy pollution.

China’s cities are among the world’s most polluted, but until recently, official air quality measurements regularly rated their air quality as good — even as data from the US embassy in Beijing showed off-the-chart pollution.

The US embassy air quality Twitter feed gained a major following in Beijing, and later in Shanghai when it was introduced at the US consulate there.

Beijing announced earlier this year it would change the way it measured air quality to include the smaller particles experts say make up much of the pollution in Chinese cities, after a vocal campaign.

“The monitoring and publishing of China’s air quality are related to the public interests and as such are powers reserved for the government,” Wu Xiaoqing, vice minister of environment protection, said at a news conference.

Wu did not name the US, but called on embassies to abide by China’s laws, saying that publishing their own air quality data

was “not in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations”.

China’s air quality is among the worst in the world, international organisations say, citing massive coal consumption and carchoked city streets in the world’s biggest auto market.

According to the latest Environmental Performance Index compiled by Yale University, China ranked 128th out of 132 countries for air quality.

Most Chinese cities base their air-quality information on particles of 10 micrometres or larger, known as PM10, and do not take into account the smaller particulates that experts say are most harmful to human health.

The government recently ordered 74 cities including Beijing and Shanghai to begin monitoring small particulates — known as PM2.5 — and publish results this year.

Wu said in March that the new requirements would be implemented nationwide by 2016 as China seeks to control the sources of particulates, such as coal burning and auto emissions.

“We have taken some very important steps in advancing that relationship in our meeting,” he said at a joint news conference.

Panetta and Thanh also exchanged artefacts — a Vietnamese soldier’s frayed diary and a collection of long lost personal letters written by a US Army sergeant — that were found by troops decades ago during the Vietnam War. The Pentagon chief, who later met Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, thanked the Vietnamese side “for their longstanding assistance in efforts to identify and locate the remains of our fallen service members and those missing in action in Vietnam”.

The three new excavation areas include two aircraft crash sites in central Vietnam and an area where a US soldier went missing in Kon Tum province bordering Cambodia and Laos.

For more than two decades, Hanoi and Washington have cooperated on the recovery of American servicemen listed as missing in the conflict, which ended in 1975 with Vietnam’s reunification.

With witnesses aging and acidic soil eating into the buried remains, the search teams are racing to find the bodies of more than 1,200 US soldiers still missing.

Investigators told Panetta Monday that they may have as little as five to seven years before all evidence is lost.

US officials said the exchange of artifacts by the two defense chiefs was the

first of its kind, and served to symbolize a healing of wounds.

The papers handed over by the Vietnamese included correspondence from Sergeant Steve Flaherty, whose letters home were used as fodder for propaganda broadcasts.

In his letters home, Flaherty, who was killed in 1969, described harrowing battles and heavy casualties.

“This is a dirty and cruel war but I’m sure people will understand the purpose of this war even though many of us might not agree,” he wrote.

The Americans handed over a small maroon diary belonging to Vu Dinh Doan, a Vietnamese soldier found dead in a machine gun nest near Quang Ngai.

Before his talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, Panetta on Sunday became the first Pentagon chief since the end of the conflict to visit southern Cam Ranh Bay — a major American base during the Vietnam War. He said the port could play a pivotal role in the American military’s shift towards the Pacific.

Panetta, who announced new plans Saturday to relocate the majority of the US naval fleet to the Pacific by 2020, said he saw “tremendous potential” for US naval ship access at Cam Ranh.

The United States does not sell lethal weapons to Vietnam due to human rights concerns, but defense minister Thanh said his country was keen to purchase American arms and hoped that Washington

would lift the restrictions.

The Pentagon’s plan to send more warships to the Pacific reflects US concern over China’s rising economic and military might, particularly in the South China Sea. But Panetta, on a nine-day tour of Asia, has insisted the strategy is not a challenge to Beijing.

“Our goal is to work with all nations in this region, including China,” he said.

Thanh denied any friction with Beijing, saying China was “a comprehensive and strategic partner of Vietnam”.

Georgia Asian Times June 15-30, 2012

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