In Asia bitter enemies gear up for peace

In Asia bitter enemies gear up for peace

Tim Sullivan, Associated Press, New Delhi

Asia heads into 2004 with two of its bitterest enemies dancing delicately around a novel concept: peace. But while India and Pakistan reach out tentatively to one another, issues ranging from terrorism to SARS to sluggish economies remain driving concerns across much of the continent.

Countries that have faced recent terrorist attacks will be on the watch for further violence in the new year. In Indonesia, authorities blame Jamaah Islamiyah, a group linked to al-Qaeda that seeks to create a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia, for the August bombing of the J.W. Marriott Hotel that killed 12 people. A suicide bomber in Karachi, Pakistan, killed 14 Pakistanis near the U.S. consulate in June.

In Afghanistan, where elections are scheduled for June, the deposed Taliban militia has shown signs of resurgence. And the search for terror mastermind Osama bin Laden continues along the remote, mountainous border with Pakistan.

Tensions over North Korea's nuclear program remain high after the isolated, autocratic state pulled out of the global nuclear arms accord and said it was preparing to build a "nuclear deterrent force," widely interpreted to mean its own atomic arsenal. Six-nation talks on the issue ended with little progress, and the countries involved have been scrambling to arrange another round -- which now appears as if it won't happen until at least mid-January.

China begins its first full year under President Hu Jintao, who heads a new generation of leaders dealing with continuing economic restructuring, trade tensions with the United States and a rising regional profile. Looming large this winter are fears of SARS, the virus that spread from southern China around the world until it faded with summer.

October brought one of China's greatest modern triumphs -- its entry into the exclusive group of spacefaring nations with the successful launch and safe return of Shenzhou 5 and its "taikonaut," Yang Liwei. China turned immediately to its next plan -- a space station.

In Taiwan, President Chen Shui-bian is under enormous pressure from China and the United States to cancel a March 20 referendum asking voters to demand that China remove hundreds of missiles pointing at the island. China sees it as a possible first step to independence for Taiwan, against the mainland's wishes for unification.

There's a new leader in Malaysia, where Mahathir Mohamad set off a storm of Western criticism in the final days of his 22 years in power with his statement that "Jews rule the world by proxy." Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a former deputy of Mahathir's, has pledged to keep a tough stance against the insurgents that plague his country.

In South Asia, two years after an attack by Islamic militants on the Indian parliament nearly set off another war between India and Pakistan, the countries have begun talking. Their steps, while limited so far, have been significant for the nuclear-armed rivals: reopening land borders, the expected resumption of train and air links, and a scaling back of forces along the frontier.

Sri Lanka's efforts to forge a lasting peace with the Tamil Tiger rebels stalled, however, largely due to a standoff between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The war has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.

The Himalayan kingdom of Nepal faces another year of battling a Maoist-inspired rebel movement that has intensified its attacks on both civilian and government targets since peace talks collapsed in August. More than 8,200 people have been killed in the conflict.

India will hold parliamentary elections in 2004. Indonesia will have its first direct presidential election in April -- a milestone in its tumultuous transition to democracy. In the Philippines, presidential elections will see Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was sworn in when Joseph Estrada was forced from power in 2001, seeking her own six-year term. There are at least three other announced candidates so far, including an action film star who is a close friend of Estrada's.

In Singapore, the son of founding father Lee Kuan Yew is expected to play an increasingly important political role. Singapore, which in 2003 battled SARS, a slow economy, its worst unemployment in 17 years and continuing terror fears, announced in 2003 that Lee Hsien Loong would take over as prime minister by 2005.

While Asian countries did not play leading roles in the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein, the deployment of troops to Iraq since then has become a major issue in places like South Korea and Japan. In early December, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet approved sending about 1,000 soldiers to help in Iraq's reconstruction -- the largest overseas deployment of Japanese troops since World War II.