Li Peng draws
\nKazakhstan protest<\/p>\n
ALMA-ATA (Reuter): Premier Li Peng drew the first open protest
\nof his landmark tour of Central Asia and Kazakhstan yesterday, as
\nactivists slammed China's nuclear tests near this region's
\nborder.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Premier Li signed an historic accord delineating a
\n1,700 km (1,050 mile) border between China and Kazakhstan. Li
\nalso granted the former Soviet republic a 50 million Yuan credit.<\/p>\n
In another development, a Chinese spokesman said Kazakh
\nPresident Nursultan Nazarbayev agreed to halt activities of
\ngroups in Kazakhstan working for independence for China's
\nnorthwestern Xinjiang region.<\/p>\n
At the protest, about 150 anti-nuclear activists voted to send
\nan open letter to Li saying that regular nuclear tests since 1963
\nin Xinjiang had \"tortured\" the earth and were affecting people in
\nKazakhstan.<\/p>\n
\"We call on you premier Li to join the anti-nuclear movement
\nfor the sake of keeping life on Earth...(and) to prolong until
\nthe year 2005 the moratorium on nuclear weapons testing,\" said
\nthe letter.<\/p>\n
\"We are seriously worried because this affects the health of
\nKazakhstan's people and the future of their children,\" added the
\nletter, signed by leaders of the Nevada-Semipalatinsk anti-
\nnuclear movement and its affiliated Lop Nur committee.<\/p>\n
Joint Russian-U.S.
\nexercises in doubt<\/p>\n
MOSCOW (Reuter): President Boris Yeltsin, bowing to
\nnationalist pressure, moved yesterday towards calling off
\nunprecedented joint exercises with U.S. troops scheduled to take
\nplace on Russian soil in July.<\/p>\n
Chief Kremlin spokesman Vyacheslav Kostikov said Yeltsin
\nshared the doubts of parliament members over manoeuvres agreed
\nlast year under a bilateral military cooperation deal.<\/p>\n
\"The president advised the defence ministry to carry out
\nadditional consultations with the American side, taking into
\naccount...(also) criticism by the Russian public,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said Yeltsin had acted in the spirit of \"constructive
\ndialogue\", a signal the compromise was one of a series aimed at
\ndrawing political parties into a Civic Peace pact.<\/p>\n
The president plans a signing ceremony for the pact,
\neffectively a two-year \"political ceasefire\", in the Kremlin on
\nThursday. But several major parties, including the communists,
\nseem likely to abstain.<\/p>\n
The planned exercises, widely seen as a breakthrough in
\ncooperation between the erstwhile Cold War foes, were scheduled
\nto take place on steppeland near the Volga river, not far from
\nthe central Russian city of Orenburg.<\/p>\n
Russian military officials have said they would be aimed at
\ndeveloping cooperation in peacekeeping operations.
\nEach side would provide 1,500 troops for what is largely a
\ncommand exercise. There were no plans to use heavy armour.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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