ARAB TIMES, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2015

15INTERNATIONAL

Chinese military personnel march into position ahead of a military parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender during World War II held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing onSept 3. (Inset): China’s President Xi Jinping (right), is joined by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (2nd right), South Korea’s Park Geun-hye (3nd right), and other leaders as they watch a military parade

in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Thursday, to mark the 70th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II. (AP/AFP)

Tourists wearing traditional Japanesesummer kimonos or ‘yukata’ take aselfie at Sensoji Temple in Asakusa

District in Tokyo on Sept 3. (AP)

Australia

Terror alert upped

IS worse thanNazis: AbbottSYDNEY, Sept 3, (AFP):Australian Prime Minister TonyAbbott was slammed by Jewishgroups Thursday after saying thatIslamic State militants in Iraq andSyria were worse than Nazis asthey “boast about their evil”.

The Australian leader, who isconsidering extending Australia’s

air campaignagainst IS in Iraqinto Syria fol-lowing a requestby the UnitedStates, made thecomments afterdescribing thejihadist group’sactions as“ u n s p e a k a b l e

evil” and “medieval barbarity”.“I mean, the Nazis did terrible evil

but they had sufficient sense of shameto try to hide it. These people boastabout their evil,” Abbott told Sydneycommercial radio station 2GB.

“This is the extraordinary thing —they act in the way that medieval bar-barians acted — only they broadcastit to the world with an effronterywhich is hard to credit and it just addsa further dimension to this evil.”

His comments were criticised bythe head of the Executive Councilof Australian Jewry Robert Goot as“injudicious and unfortunate”.

Goot said in a statement that IS’scrimes were horrific but “cannot becompared to the systematic round-up of millions of people and theirdispatch to purpose built deathcamps for mass murder”.

“Acts of terrorism are necessarilydone in the full glare of publicity fortheir propaganda effect,” he added.

Responsible“In contrast, those responsible

for ordering and implementing sys-tematic state-sponsored genocideare high government officials whooften operate in secret not out ofany sense of shame, but to avoidbeing held criminally responsiblefor their actions.”

Abbott defended his remarks at aMelbourne press conference laterand said he was “not in the businessof trying to rank evil”.

“But I do make this point, thatunlike previous evil-doers, whetherwe’re talking about Stalin, Hitler orwhoever that tried to cover up theirevil, this wretched death cult boastsabout it,” he said.

“Every day we see new atrocitiesbroadcast to the world, atrocities ofan unspeakable inhumanity.

“And that’s why it’s absolutelyvital that the decent people of theworld unite against this death cult anddo everything we reasonably can, asquickly as we can to disrupt, degradeand ultimately destroy (the group).”

Australia joined the US-led cam-paign against IS in Iraq last year,contributing military jets and spe-cial forces troops.

The government estimates thatsome 120 of its nationals are stillfighting with IS in Iraq and Syria,while at least 30 have been killed.Another 160 sympathisers arebelieved to be supporting jihadistsfrom home.

In response, Canberra has raisedits terror threat alert level to high,introduced new national securitylaws and conducted several count-er-terrorism raids.

AttacksAustralians should be prepared

for more small-scale and “lonewolf” attacks as the threat of terror-ism evolves, Attorney-GeneralGeorge Brandis said Thursday, inan address to the first internationalforum on countering improvisedexplosive devices (IEDs).

The forum aims to boost collabo-ration between police and govern-ment officials in preventing IEDattacks, and comes just weeks afteran explosion at a Bangkok shrineinvolving an IED killed 20 people.

Brandis said societies now “livein an age more dangerous than wehad ever imagined before ... whereextremist groups operate withoutregard for national boundaries andhave a footprint in most countries,including our own”.

“It is an age when all you need tocommit an act of terror is a knife, amobile phone and a victim,” he toldmore than 300 delegates from 70nations at the Canberra conference,organised by Interpol and Australia’sfederal police and defence agencies.

The nation’s first law officer saidthe conflict in Syria and the activi-ties of jihadist groups such asIslamic State showed the changingnature of terrorism and a shift intactics, from large-scale Sept 11-style attacks to smaller, “lone wolf”plots.

“As well as our efforts to stemthe exodus of would-be foreignfighters (to the Middle East), weshould be prepared for more ofthese types of attacks in Australia,”he said.

The Australian government hasraised its terror threat level to high,introduced new national securitylaws and conducted several count-er-terrorism raids to address theconcerns.

Asia

Nation to ink deal: The Philippinesand Vietnam will sign a “strategic partner-ship” agreement by the end of the year,officials have said, as common neighbourand rival China flexes its military musclein disputed waters.

Both governments said the agreementwould bolster defence, political and eco-nomic ties between the two SoutheastAsian nations most critical of China’sclaims over most of the South China Sea.

“As strategic partners, we aim to deliv-er results... a cooperation at the highestpossible level,” Philippine ForeignSecretary Albert del Rosario toldreporters late Wednesday.

“We will deepen our cooperation inorder to solve all the issues concerning theSouth China Sea in a most peaceful way inaccordance with international law,”Vietnamese Ambassador to the PhilippinesTruong Trieu Duong told reporters.

The deal would make Vietnam thePhilippines’ second “strategic partner”after Japan, with which the Philippines isalso bolstering military ties.

Maiden naval drills with Japan wereheld in quick succession this year andnegotiations are underway to transferJapanese defence equipment, includinganti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft andradar technology, to the Philippines. (AFP)

❑ ❑ ❑

Philippine children stunted:Children in the Philippines suffer from“sub-Saharan levels” of malnutrition thatstunts growth in a people who have tradi-tionally been considered short because ofgenetics, a campaign group said Thursday.

Although economic growth has surged inrecent years, chronic malnutrition means thecountry has more stunted children thanEthiopia or the Republic of Congo, the Savethe Children Fund said in a new report.

“The assumption has always been thatFilipinos are just genetically short butwhat we actually see now are generationsof stunted and malnourished children,”said Amado Parawan, the group’s healthand nutrition adviser.

About one in three children under fiveyears of age is suffers from stunting saidthe charity.

“Sometimes, the families may hidesuch children out of shame that they can-not feed them,” Parawan told AFP.

“Because ‘shortness’ is considered aracial trait, it is not seen as a serious con-cern (but) stunting is more than just beingshort, it impacts children’s future becauseit hinders physical and mental growth,”Parawan told a news conference. (AFP)

❑ ❑ ❑

Australia keen to join India, US:Australia wants to join India, the UnitedStates and Japan in joint naval exercises

China

Abbott

Xi says will cut troop levels by 300,000

Beijing holds massive military paradeBEIJING, Sept 3, (RTRS): PresidentXi Jinping announced on Thursday hewould cut troop levels by 300,000 asChina held its biggest display of mili-tary might in a parade to commemo-rate victory over Japan in World WarTwo, an event shunned by mostWestern leaders.

China’s confidence in its armedforces and growing military assertive-ness, especially in the disputed SouthChina Sea, has rattled the region anddrawn criticism from Washington.

Xi, speaking on a rostrum overlook-ing Beijing’s Tiananmen Squarebefore the parade began, said Chinawould cut by 13 percent one of theworld’s biggest militaries, currently2.3-million strong.

The Defence Ministry said the cutswould be mostly complete by the endof 2017. The move is likely part oflong-mooted military rationalisationplans, which have included spendingmore money on high-tech weapons forthe navy and air force. Troop numbershave been cut three times alreadysince the 1980s.

“Prejudice and discrimination,hatred and war can only cause disasterand pain,” Xi said under a clear bluesky. “China will always uphold thepath of peaceful development.”

He then descended to Beijing’smain thoroughfare and inspected rowsof troops, riding past them in a blacklimousine and bellowing repeatedly:“Hello comrades, hard-working com-rades!”

More than 12,000 soldiers, mostlyChinese but with contingents fromRussia and elsewhere, then marcheddown Changan Avenue, led by veteransof World War Two carried in vehicles.

They were followed by ballistic mis-siles, tanks and armoured vehicles,many never seen in public before.Advanced fighter jets and bombers flewoverhead in a highly choreographedspectacle that lasted around 90 minutes.

Among the weapons China unveiledfor the first time was an anti-ship bal-listic missile, the Dongfeng-21D,which is reportedly capable ofdestroying an aircraft carrier with onehit.

Also shown were several interconti-nental ballistic missiles such as theDF-5B and the DF-31A as well as theDF-26 intermediate range ballisticmissile, dubbed the “Guam killer” inreference to a US Pacific Ocean base.

Greg Austin, a professorial fellow atthe East-West Institute in New York,said the troop cuts had nothing to dowith curbing military power.

“It’s a determination to expand mil-itary power by redirecting money tohigher impact, higher technologies,which can have more strategic effect,”he said, referring to the maritime,cyber and space frontiers.

Peng Guangqian, deputy head of

China’s Council for National SecurityPolicy Studies, said the equipment ondisplay was intended to show the com-bat readiness of the People’sLiberation Army (PLA).

“This indicates a change of the PLAtraining strategy; with more focus onactual combat,” Peng told the officialXinhua news agency.

China is also building two aircraftcarriers that will be the same size as itssole carrier, a 60,000-tonne refur-bished Soviet-era ship, according to areport on the PLA by the DefenceMinistry in neighbouring, self-ruledTaiwan, which China claims as itsown. Chinese state media have hintednew vessels are being built.

For Xi, the parade was a welcomedistraction from the country’s plung-ing stock markets, slowing economicgrowth and recent blasts at a chemicalwarehouse that killed at least 160 peo-ple.

Xi was joined by Russian PresidentVladimir Putin and leaders of severalother nations with close ties to China,including Sudanese President OmarHassan al-Bashir, who is wanted forwar crimes by the InternationalCriminal Court.

Also:TAIPEI: China is building two air-craft carriers that will be the same sizeas its sole carrier, a 60,000-tonnerefurbished Soviet-era ship, accordingto a new Taiwanese Defence Ministryreport on the capabilities of thePeople’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Little is known about China’s aircraftcarrier programme, which is a statesecret, although Chinese state mediahave hinted new vessels are being built.The Pentagon, in a report earlier thisyear, said Beijing could build multipleaircraft carriers over the next 15 years.

One of the new vessels is beingbuilt in Shanghai and the other in thenortheastern city of Dalian, said theTaiwanese report, which was obtainedby Reuters.

It gave no estimate for when con-struction would be finished.

The Chinese Defence Ministry didnot immediately respond to a requestfor comment. China is on a three-daynational holiday to commemorate vic-tory over Japan in World War Two.

❑ ❑ ❑

TAIPEI: Taiwan has allocated T$3

billion ($92.55 million) over fouryears, beginning next year, to launch along-awaited programme for theisland to build its own diesel-electricsubmarines.

The expected allocation is the firstfor a plan that has been talked aboutsince the early 2000s, when a dealwith the United States for eightdiesel-electric submarines got boggeddown because of technical and politi-cal constraints.

The spending was set out in thedefence ministry’s budget for 2016and seen by Reuters.

The plan come as other navies in theregional expand their submarine fleetsin part to create a strategic deterrentagainst China’s growing navalassertiveness in Asian waters.

Taiwan has four aging submarines,including two that date to World WarTwo, although its military is otherwiseconsidered generally modern.

China has about 70 submarines,along with dozens of surface ships anda refurbished aircraft carrier.

China sees self-ruled Taiwan as arenegade province and has neverrenounced the use of force to takeback the island.

Tokyo disappointed by Chinese leader’s WWII speech

Obama hails ties with Japan on VJ dayWASHINGTON, Sept 3, (AFP): USPresident Barack Obama used the70th anniversary of the end ofWorld War II in the Pacific to honorthe US war dead and heraldremade ties with JapanWednesday.

Saluting “the GreatestGeneration” of US soldiers whofought — a group which includedObama’s maternal grandfather —Obama said today’s US-Japanpartnership was “unimaginable” 70years ago.

“We remember those whoendured unimaginable suffering asprisoners of war, and we honor theultimate sacrifice of more than100,000 US service members wholaid down their lives in the Pacifictheater to defend our nation andadvance the cause of freedom,”Obama said in a statement.

“We live in freedom because oftheir brave service.”

Amid anger from China and oth-ers over Prime Minister ShinzoAbe’s alleged refusal to sufficientlyatone for Imperial Japan’s actionsduring the war, Obama markedlypraised his counterpart in Tokyo.

“As Prime Minister Abe and Inoted during his visit in April, therelationship between our two coun-tries over the last 70 years standsas a model of the power of recon-

ciliation.”“Seventy years ago this partner-

ship was unimaginable. Today it isa fitting reflection of our sharedinterests, capabilities, and values,and I am confident that it will con-tinue to deepen in the decades tocome.”

Meanwhile, Japan said Thursdayit was “disappointed” there were nosigns of rapprochement in ChinesePresident Xi Jinping’s speech tomark the 70th anniversary ofTokyo’s WWII defeat, as Beijingshowed off its growing might with ahuge military parade.

“Tokyo had requested thatBeijing make sure that the eventwas not so anti-Japanese, butinstead contain elements of rap-prochement between Japan andChina,” top governmentspokesman Yoshihide Suga toldreporters.

“It was disappointing that suchelements were not in President XiJinping’s speech today.”

Suga also hit out at China’s soar-ing military spending and reiteratedTokyo’s objection to UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon’s attendanceat the highly choreographed com-memoration events in Beijing.

“The Japanese government haslong urged Beijing to raise trans-parency about China’s military

power,” he said.“We hope the reduction in troops

... will be done with a high level ofclarity,” he added, referring to Xi’scomments that the People’sLiberation Army would be cut by300,000 personnel, in a move ana-lysts say will boost its efficiency.

Suga said that Ban’s attendanceat the parade was “disappointing”after Japan had “demanded thatthe United Nations keep a neutralposition”.

China has repeatedly insistedthe parade was not aimed at anyparticular country, including Japan,which it regularly criticises for whatit says is insufficient contrition overwartime atrocities.

In a speech at the parade, Xilauded his country as a majorpower and a force for worldpeace.

“The unyielding Chinese peoplefought gallantly and finally wontotal victory against the Japanesemilitarist aggressors, thus preserv-ing China’s 5,000-year-old civilisa-tion and upholding the cause ofpeace,” he said.

Xi described the eight-year con-flict as “a decisive battle betweenjustice and evil, between light anddarkness” and said the victory had“re-established China as a majorcountry in the world”.

in the Indian Ocean, widening participa-tion in multilateral drills as China’s influ-ence in the region grows.

Australian Defence Minister KevinAndrews said expanding the exercises toinclude more countries would help avoidmilitary mistakes in a region where Chinaand India are increasingly competing.

“Exercising together is one way toavoid some kind of miscalculation hap-pening,” he told reporters on the second

day of a visit to New Delhi.“India shares our interest in the wider

free passage of international trade.”India and the United States hold the so-

called Malabar exercises in the IndianOcean every year.

This year, Japan will take part, the firsttime since 2007 the exercises have includ-ed a third country - and a sign of closermilitary ties between allies worried aboutChinese activity in the region.

China’s increasing assertiveness in theSouth China Sea has angered neighboursthere as well as Japan and the United States,two of the major maritime powers in Asia.China also shocked India last year with twoChinese submarine visits to Sri Lanka,India’s island-nation neighbour to the south.

Andrews said on Wednesday Australiawas concerned about escalating strategicrivalry in the South China Sea, saying it putAsia at the risk of a military blunder. (RTRS)Del Rosario Andrews