Asian nations hope for peace, fear worst

Asian nations hope for peace, fear worst

Geoff Spencer, Associated Press, Bangkok

Asian nations have spent months arguing against a U.S.-led war in Iraq. And, while most still say they're hoping for the best, some are clearly preparing for the worst.

A number of governments are pulling out, or preparing to pull out, diplomats from Baghdad.

"China has decided to cut off its embassy staff who were not in urgent need," its official Xinhua news agency paraphrased foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue as saying on Monday.

China -- Asia's only permanent member of the United Nations Security Council -- has continually advocated a diplomatic solution to the standoff between Washington and Baghdad, saying an Iraq war would harm the global economy and should be avoided if possible.

Beijing also demanded more time for UN weapons inspectors to look for weapons of mass destruction.

China has bitter memories of the last U.S.-led attack on what Washington had labeled a rogue state. In 1999, three Chinese were killed when NATO warplanes mistakenly bombed its embassy in Belgrade, the capital of then Yugoslavia.

A foreign minister official in New Delhi said India's embassy remains open but with a reduced staff.

Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar ordered all family members of its diplomats evacuated from Iraq on Monday. Eight embassy officials and more than 200 Malaysian students remaining in Baghdad would also leave if war broke out, Syed was quoted as saying by the national news agency, Bernama.

Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim country of 23 million people, has been one of Asia's staunchest opponents of a war in Iraq.

In the Philippines, Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said his country's acting ambassador has the discretion to suspend embassy operations in Baghdad.

"While she and her staff are prepared for any contingency, she has not closed or evacuated the embassy," Ople said.

Recently Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited Kuwait and promised the country's 1.5 million guest workers in the Middle East that she would "whatever it takes to keep you out of harm's way."

Indonesia's foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said there were "no plans as yet" to close its Baghdad embassy or evacuate its six staff members.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, is currently campaigning to help avert the possibility of war as internal opposition to a U.S.-led attack appears to harden.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of antiwar protesters marched through the streets of Jakarta and rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in the capital.

Several Asian states said they had already sent embassy staff to the safety of neighboring Jordan.

In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Seok-woo said his country keeps only one diplomat in Iraq and that official already had been evacuated to Amman, but regularly visits Baghdad. The spokesman said the foreign ministry has urged South Koreans in the Middle East to evacuate.

Japan said its embassy in Baghdad had been closed since the last Iraq war in 1991 and that its diplomatic work with Iraq also was conducted from Jordan.

Thai Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sihasak Phuanketkeow said on Monday that the Thai Embassy to Iraq is still in operation, although some of its personnel were in Amman.

"The plan is for them to mainly be stationed in Amman with a skeleton staff in Baghdad, mostly local staffers," he said. Only one or two Thai nationals will stay at the embassy.