Asia vows to make 2002 better than 2001<\/p>\n
Jo Biddle, Agence France-Presse, Hong Kong, China<\/p>\n
Asian nations ushered in 2002 on Tuesday amid a ray of hope that
\nnuclear rivals India and Pakistan may be pulling back from the
\nbrink of war, and pledges to work to ease regional tensions.<\/p>\n
Despite no sign of an imminent end to the economic gloom and
\nbloody unrest which rattled many countries last year, there was a
\nsense of renewed hope for the coming 12 months.<\/p>\n
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee led the way,
\nstressing the world's second most populous nation did not want to
\ngo to war with neighbor Pakistan.<\/p>\n
\"Shed your anti-India mentality and take effective steps to
\nstop cross-border terrorism, and you will find India willing to
\nwalk more than half the distance to work closely with Pakistan to
\nresolve, through dialog, any issue, including the contentious
\nissue of Jammu and Kashmir,\" Vajpayee said in a New Year article.<\/p>\n
New Delhi has welcomed the arrests by Pakistan of dozens of
\nmilitants from two groups blamed by India for attacking its
\nparliament, the first positive sign since the Dec. 13 assault
\nwhich plunged ties to their lowest ebb in three decades.<\/p>\n
Afghanistan meanwhile, which saw tumultuous changes at the end
\nof 2001 with the ousting of the hardline Islamic Taliban after
\nfive oppressive years, was not marking the New Year on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Under the Islamic calendar Afghanistan will celebrate the new
\nyear on March 21 -- a date also being considered for the return
\nof former king Zahir Shah, who has been in exile since being
\ndeposed in July 1973.<\/p>\n
But most foreign organisations were holding discreet
\ncelebrations in Kabul.<\/p>\n
\"We know some people would be shocked by the fact that we are
\ndrinking and having a good time in a city in ruins,\" said one
\nofficial.<\/p>\n
\"It's easy to criticize. But we work hard and we also deserve
\nto celebrate a day like this.\"<\/p>\n
Other countries used the start of a new year to appeal for an
\nend to old enmities and to pledge greater cooperation in 2002.<\/p>\n
Taiwan, which formally became the 144th member of the World
\nTrade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday, pledged to promote better
\nties with arch-rival China.<\/p>\n
\"We will not only fulfill our obligations as a member of the
\nglobal community, but also view future cross-strait relations
\nfrom a perspective of cooperation,\" President Chen Shui-bian said
\nin a message.<\/p>\n
China was also seeking to break down barriers, President Jiang
\nZemin hinted in a televised speech.<\/p>\n
\"China is opposed to terrorism in any form and is willing to
\ncooperate with other countries, and use the United Nations to the
\nfull, to join in cracking down on terrorism,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The leaders of South Korea and Japan also vowed active
\ncultural and human exchanges to make this year's World Cup
\nfootball tournament -- to be co-hosted by the prickly neighbors
\n-- a success.<\/p>\n
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi described 2002 as a
\n\"historic year\" for the two countries and promised to improve
\nTokyo-Seoul ties, which hit a low last year over several
\ncontroversies.<\/p>\n
In response, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung sent a
\nmessage to be broadcast on Japan's NHK television network saying
\nSeoul would promote \"future-oriented partnership and co-
\nprosperity\" with Tokyo.<\/p>\n
North Korea however stuck to its isolationist, entrenched
\nline, vowing a \"do or die\" campaign to guard its socialist system
\nfrom any attack by the United States and its allies.<\/p>\n
\"No matter what storm may roar, the Korean army and people
\nwill firmly defend our idea, system and cause,\" the North's
\nruling party, government and military newspapers said in a joint
\neditorial.<\/p>\n
And elsewhere old conflicts continued to fester.<\/p>\n
Four churches in Palu, a town in the eastern Indonesian island
\nchain of Sulawesi which has been gripped by sectarian tensions,
\nwere rocked by New Year bomb blasts leaving three people
\npolicemen injured. A man was also killed by a grenade blast in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
And as U.S. stock markets finished their second year of
\nconsecutive losses amid the global economic slow-down, many
\nleaders warned of further hard times ahead.<\/p>\n
Japan's Emperor Akihito, only a month after the long-awaited
\nbirth of the first child of his son Crown Prince Naruhito, said
\nin a New Year's statement: \"Today Japan is faced with various
\ndifficult problems, but remembering that the wisdom and efforts
\nof the people overcame the postwar hardships, I am confident the
\npeople will surmount these difficulties.\"<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, weary Australian firefighters now in their second
\nweek of desperately fighting bushfires encircling Sydney were
\nback at their posts as new fires broke out.<\/p>\n
No property has been destroyed for the last four days, but 150
\nhouses were destroyed and thousands of people forced to flee
\ntheir homes around Australia's largest city at the start of the
\ncrisis.<\/p>\n
And for many the partying just got way out of hand. In the
\nPhilippines one person died and more than 500 were injured in
\ntraditionally raucous revels, while in Thailand the holiday death
\ntoll rose to almost 400.<\/p>",
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