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By Michael Richardson International Herald Tribune

On Asian Calendars, Year 2000 Means Less

SINGAPORE - Many of the world's 3.2 billion Asians, especially the majority who live in rural areas, are bemused at the fuss about the arrival of the new millennium being made in the West and among Western-influenced Asians.
31/12/99 The Full Story

Immigration Dominates Australia's Debate on Its Future

DARWIN, Australia - Battling to contain an increasing number of illegal immigrants, Australia is trying to figure out how large a population it needs to sustain its buoyant economic growth and enviably high quality of life in the next century.
30/12/99 The Full Story

Portugal Shows Desire for New East Timor Ties

DILI, East Timor - Carrying several large suitcases full of freshly minted Portuguese bank notes, Joao Manuel Tubal Goncalves flew by chartered helicopter from Darwin, in northern Australia, to East Timor recently to open a branch of Banco Nacional Ultramarino.
23/12/99 The Full Story

Singapore Identity Crisis?

SINGAPORE - Young Singaporeans might be expected to be uniformly proud of their identity after more than a generation of nation-building in which living standards in Singapore have flashed from Third World to First World.
20/12/99 The Full Story

Timorese Factions Are Key to Nationhood

DILI, East Timor - Now that the East Timorese independence coalition no longer has a common enemy to hold it together, there are signs that it is starting to fracture. Its political leaders meanwhile acknowledge that they must either stay united in trying to rebuild the shattered territory or start campaigning for political power in the independent democratic state they hope to achieve after 24 years of repression by Indonesia.
16/12/99 The Full Story

East Timor Energy Reserves Are a Sensitive Independence Issue

DILI, East Timor - Mari Alkatiri is one of only four surviving independence leaders in East Timor from among the group that was active when Indonesia invaded and occupied the former Portuguese colony in 1975. The rest were killed, died in jail or defected to the Indonesian side.
14/12/99 The Full Story

East Timorese Hope for Justice, but Jakarta Holds Back

DILI, East Timor - On a bright sunny day recently, Jose Ramos-Horta walked through the long grass of the Santa Cruz cemetery past tightly packed headstones to find two particular graves. One marked the resting place of his elder brother, Antonio, who died in 1994; the other belonged to Sebastiao Gomes, a student activist for independence from Indonesia whose death led to a massacre by Indonesian troops that caused outrage around the world.
13/12/99 The Full Story

UN Challenge: How to Bring East Timor Back to Life

LOS PALOS, East Timor - When Elsa Magno, a schoolteacher, stood up the other day at a crowded meeting with visiting East Timorese leaders, she raised a question that went to the heart of this soon-to-be-independent nation.
09/12/99 The Full Story

East Timor Now Looks to ASEAN

DILI, East Timor - An independent East Timor is likely to seek early membership in the Association of South East Asian Nations to improve relations with its neighbors, including Indonesia, officials of the United Nations and the East Timorese independence movement say.
08/12/99 The Full Story

Beijing Tries to Cool Spratlys Dispute

MANILA - China has indicated that it wants to avoid further conflict with Southeast Asian countries over the Spratly Islands dispute in the South China Sea even though it opposes their plan for a code of conduct in the area, Southeast Asian officials said Sunday.
29/11/99 The Full Story

China, Japan and South Korea Agree With ASEAN on Trade Cooperation

MANILA - Leaders of East Asian countries agreed on a framework for wide-ranging cooperation Sunday, in a move they said would help promote economic growth and ease political tensions in the region.
29/11/99 The Full Story

Japan Backs Standby Fund for Southeast Asia

MANILA - Southeast Asian countries and Japan have taken the first step toward the creation of a standby fund to help prevent a recurrence of the financial crisis that engulfed the region in 1997, Philippine officials said Friday.
27/11/99 The Full Story

Japan Endorses Standby Fund To Stabilize Southeast Asia

Wary of Rivals, East Asia Weighs Closer Integration

MANILA - Wary of being marginalized as Europe and North America form powerful trading and negotiating blocs, East Asian countries are considering significant moves toward closer integration, including a giant free trade zone for the region, officials said Thursday.
26/11/99 The Full Story

Army Wants Aceh Under Martial Rule

SINGAPORE - The Indonesian military on Tuesday openly challenged the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid to impose martial law in the restive province of Aceh, warning that failure to do so could lead to the disintegration of Indonesia.
24/11/99 The Full Story

India and China Set Sights on Piracy

SINGAPORE - India and China are taking tough action to crack down on one of the greatest menaces facing commercial shipping companies operating in Southeast Asia - armed gangs of pirates who hijack vessels and their crews.
23/11/99 The Full Story

Upstart Winemakers From Down Under

TABILK, Australia - The gnarled vines on one small patch of the Chateau Tahbilk vineyard seem more like the skeletons of arthritic kangaroos than living plants.
22/11/99 The Full Story

Asia Looks to Zhu for Sign Of Backing Off on Spratlys

SINGAPORE - When Portugal hands Macau back to China next month, the Chinese mainland will be reunited for the first time in almost 450 years, following the return of British-ruled Hong Kong in July 1997.
22/11/99 The Full Story

Oil's Mixed Blessing for Jakarta

SINGAPORE - The sharp rise in oil prices this year has provided a windfall for Indonesia's beleaguered economy, lifting exports and government revenue just when extra earnings were most urgently needed.
19/11/99 The Full Story

Lord Howe Island, Palm Supplier to the World

LORD HOWE ISLAND, Australia - In 1876, the Gardener's Chronicle in England noted that among the hardier palms from tropical climes, the kentia (Howea forsteriana) deserved special mention ''because it is so well adapted for cultivation in a cool house.''
18/11/99 The Full Story

Southeast Asians Fear A Breakup of Indonesia

SINGAPORE - As demands for independence in the rebellious province of Aceh intensify, fanning separatism in other parts of Indonesia, neighboring countries are increasingly concerned that disintegration of the world's largest island-nation could destabilize Southeast Asia.
16/11/99 The Full Story

Trade Opening to Israel Vexes Indonesians

SINGAPORE - President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia, a reformist Muslim, left Jakarta on Thursday for the United States, leaving behind a country deeply troubled by his decision to open trade ties with Israel and permit a vote on independence in the province of Aceh, an Islamic stronghold.
12/11/99 The Full Story

Opening to Israel Vexes Indonesians

Indonesians Warn Against Aceh Referendum

SINGAPORE - Indonesia's two most senior legislative officials joined the military Wednesday in warning President Abdurrahman Wahid that the country will disintegrate if the government fails to defuse separatist demands in the province of Aceh.
11/11/99 The Full Story

Mahathir Calls Early Election In Malaysia

SINGAPORE - Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia called early general elections Wednesday, saying that his governing coalition was ''very confident'' it would retain its two-thirds majority in Parliament.
11/11/99 The Full Story

Unrest in Aceh Forces Wahid To Shorten Trip

SINGAPORE - President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia cut short on Tuesday his first overseas trip since taking office, returning home to deal with an intensifying separatist movement in Aceh Province and calls for immediate action by the government.
10/11/99 The Full Story

Gerald Segal: An Appreciation

- Gerald Segal, 46, a frequent contributor to these pages, died of cancer on Nov. 2. In his writing about Asia, he often defied conventional wisdom, reaching conclusions others could not see or did not dare to express. That is why he was a valued contributor to the International Herald Tribune.
09/11/99 The Full Story

Indonesian Reassures Asians on Islam

SINGAPORE - As the new president of Indonesia continued a tour of Southeast Asia on Sunday, he carried a message that many countries in the region want to hear: He will strongly oppose any move to turn Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, into an Islamic state.
08/11/99 The Full Story

Indonesians Plan a Drive To Recover Role in Asia

SINGAPORE - Indonesia will start a diplomatic campaign Saturday to reclaim its place as a major Asian power after being marginalized for more than two years by a series of political and economic crises at home - including a violent withdrawal from East Timor that aroused worldwide condemnation.
06/11/99 The Full Story

Aborigines Facing Rebuff at the Polls

SYDNEY - Furious debate in the campaign on a referendum on Saturday over whether Australia should become a republic or remain a constitutional monarchy has overshadowed a second question: Will Australians approve a preamble to their constitution that honors Aborigines for the first time?
05/11/99 The Full Story

Growing Australian Battle Cry: God Save the Queen!

SYDNEY - With about 70 percent of its trade now done in the Asia-Pacific region and the non-British component of its population up sharply in recent years, Australia seems ripe to cut its last remaining constitutional ties to Britain and become a republic.
04/11/99 The Full Story

East Timor Leaders Oppose a Malaysian-Led Force

SINGAPORE - The East Timorese leadership has effectively vetoed a proposal by Malaysia, which prides itself as a champion of Third World causes, to take command of the United Nations-sanctioned force that will help prepare the territory for independence within three years, diplomats said Tuesday.
03/11/99 The Full Story

Indonesia's Withdrawing Army: Were Lessons Learned?

SINGAPORE - As the last Indonesian soldiers withdrew from East Timor on Sunday, ending a 24-year occupation marked by brutal oppression, their return home raised a key question: Has the military in Indonesia learned lessons from its abuses of power?
01/11/99 The Full Story

A Warning on Trade Talks

SINGAPORE - With an ambitious new round of world trade negotiations scheduled to begin next month, Asian officials are warning that disputes between major trading powers and neglect of the interests of developing countries are making it increasingly likely that the round will fail.
23/10/99 The Full Story

UN Role in Timor Is Put at 3 Years

SINGAPORE - East Timor will need hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid and up to three years of UN oversight before it becomes independent, UN and Western officials said Wednesday after Indonesia annuled its claim of sovereignty in the territory.
21/10/99 The Full Story

New Timor Force Raises Questions

SINGAPORE - The Australian-led multinational force in East Timor could be replaced by United Nations peacekeepers by the end of the year, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer of Australia said Tuesday, but some Western officials are already worried that possible Asian replacements may not have the political will to enforce their mandate.
20/10/99 The Full Story

Doubts Over an Asian-Led Timor Force

IMF Official Has Warning for Asians

SINGAPORE - As Asian stock markets fell again Monday, reacting to fears of rising interest rates in the United States, the International Monetary Fund warned the region that it risked a new financial crisis unless it pressed ahead with painful reforms.
19/10/99 The Full Story

Ambush May Be Start Of Long War in Timor

SYDNEY - The ambush of Australian soldiers in East Timor this week near the border with Indonesian West Timor could be the start of a protracted guerrilla war against foreign forces mandated by the United Nations to restore peace in the territory, some Australian officials and analysts said Friday.
09/10/99 The Full Story

Timor Ambush: Start of a Long War?

Doubts on UN Timor Plan

MELBOURNE - Australian officials cautioned Wednesday that an ambitious UN military and civilian operation to prepare East Timor for independence within three years could be delayed by a shortage of money.
07/10/99 The Full Story

IMF Ready to Deal With a New Jakarta Government

- With B.J. Habibie's chances at a second term as president of Indonesia looking increasingly slim, the International Monetary Fund is signaling that it is prepared to deal constructively with a new government in Jakarta so that vital loans can be renewed.
06/10/99 The Full Story

Australia Presses UN To Send Timor Force

MELBOURNE - Concerned about the heavy diplomatic and financial costs of its lead role in the multinational military operation in East Timor, Australia is urging the United Nations to hasten plans to put an interim administration and a UN peacekeeping force in the territory.
05/10/99 The Full Story

A Deal Sours in China

SINGAPORE - It seemed like a fine idea when Singapore agreed with China in 1994 to build a giant $30 billion industrial park in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou to serve as a model for attracting foreign investment to the world's most populous nation.
01/10/99 The Full Story

Disarm Timor Militias, U.S. Warns Indonesia

SINGAPORE - As soldiers of the Australian-led force in East Timor prepared to move toward the sensitive border with Indonesia, Defense Secretary William Cohen of the United States warned the Indonesian military Thursday that it must disarm militias responsible for violence in the disputed territory.
01/10/99 The Full Story

U.S. Likely to Increase Military Support

SINGAPORE - The United States expects to increase its military support for the Australian-led intervention force in East Timor, U.S. officials say.
28/09/99 The Full Story

Asians Criticize Australia for Playing Role of 'U.S. Deputy'

SINGAPORE - Australia, which is leading the multinational intervention force in East Timor, is coming under intense criticism from Southeast Asian countries, for acting, according to the critics, as a peacekeeping deputy to the United States in the region.
27/09/99 The Full Story

Bank Scandal and Timor Crisis Hurt Indonesia Recovery

SINGAPORE - The crisis in East Timor and a banking scandal with major political implications have undermined the confidence of international creditors and investors in the government of President B.J. Habibie of Indonesia, to the point of jeopardizing the recovery of the badly battered economy and financial system of the world's fourth most populous nation.
25/09/99 The Full Story

A Longer Stay in Timor Looms for Australians

SINGAPORE - After just six days in East Timor, the Australian-led intervention force now realizes that it will have to stay considerably longer than Australian officials had predicted.
25/09/99 The Full Story

Auckland Sparkles for America's Cup

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - On a sunny weekend, thousands of people flock to a section of this port city's waterfront that seemed irredeemably run down and dirty until just a few years ago. The area, Western Viaduct wharf, was a jumble of crumbling docks, old warehouses, boat sheds and berths for fishing boats, dating from 1929.
24/09/99 The Full Story

Singapore Expected to Sign New Contract to Buy Natural Gas From Indonesia

SINGAPORE - Despite the East Timor crisis and political uncertainty in Indonesia, Singapore is expected to sign a new long-term contract Wednesday for a supply of Indonesian natural gas estimated to be worth $7 billion.
22/09/99 The Full Story

Peace Operation In Timor Enters Critical Phase

SINGAPORE - The arrival Tuesday in East Timor of the first Australian Blackhawk helicopters and light armored vehicles for carrying troops indicates that the most dangerous phase of the peace-enforcement operation is about to begin: the attempt to take control of the area between Dili and the border with Indonesian West Timor.
22/09/99 The Full Story

Australia Faces Economic Fallout From Timor

SINGAPORE - As troops from the Australian-led intervention force started landing in East Timor on Monday, executives and analysts warned of potentially heavy economic and commercial fallout in Australia.
21/09/99 The Full Story

Australia Faces Economic Fallout From Timor

Asians Move to Join UN Timor Force

SINGAPORE - Alarmed at the rise of xenophobic nationalism in Indonesia over its failure to control East Timor, Asian nations are rushing military personnel to Darwin, Australia, so that they can join the multinational force that is expected to start landing in the territory Monday.
20/09/99 The Full Story

Grim Risks for Timor Force

SINGAPORE - The Australian-led intervention force is due to enter East Timor on Monday with an overwhelming show of firepower, but officials warned Sunday that pro-Indonesian militias might be planning a hit-and-run guerrilla war that could keep it tied down for months and prevent aid from reaching hundreds of thousands of refugees from the violence.
20/09/99 The Full Story

With a Warning to Jakarta, UN Force Prepares to Land in East Timor

SINGAPORE - The first contingent of an 8,000-soldier multinational force made final preparations Friday to embark from Australia on a mission to restore order in East Timor as Prime Minister John Howard of Australia warned that any attacks by Indonesian troops would ''provoke a massive reaction from other parts of the world.''
18/09/99 The Full Story

Australians Are Warned: Casualties Likely in Timor

SINGAPORE - Australians were warned by their political and military leaders Thursday to expect casualties among their troops when they enter East Timor, probably on Sunday or Monday, under a robust mandate approved by the United Nations Security Council.
17/09/99 The Full Story

Peacekeeping Wrangle

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Concern about the humanitarian crisis in East Timor increased Monday, but wrangling over the leadership and composition of the proposed international peacekeeping force for the territory threatened to delay its arrival for a week and possibly longer, officials said.
14/09/99 The Full Story

Peacekeeping Wrangle

Clinton Pledges An Open Market

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - President Bill Clinton promised Sunday to keep the U.S. market open to surging imports from Asia despite increasing demands for protectionist measures in his country.
13/09/99 The Full Story

World Warns Jakarta: No Conditions on Troops

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Countries planning to contribute to the international peacekeeping force for East Timor urged Indonesia on Sunday not to impose any conditions that would delay its entry into the ravaged territory or undermine its effectiveness.
13/09/99 The Full Story

Indonesia Makes an Appeal on Aid

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - The chief economic minister of Indonesia appealed Friday to the international community not to withhold loans and aid because of the violence in East Timor, warning that such a move could plunge the world's fourth most populous nation and the region into economic turmoil.
11/09/99 The Full Story

APEC Countries Defer to UN on East Timor

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - A meeting of 20 nations on the crisis in East Timor urged Indonesia on Thursday to end the violence in the disputed territory, but stopped short of taking any concrete action.
10/09/99 The Full Story

Slower Asian Growth Is Predicted

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Growth in Asian and Pacific economies, once probably the fastest in the world, will slow over the next 15 years, a report to be presented Thursday to trade ministers from the region says.
09/09/99 The Full Story

APEC Summit's Goal Is One Voice on Trade

- Foreign and trade ministers of the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, or APEC, begin their annual meeting Thursday in Auckland, before heads of government hold summit talks on Sunday and Monday. The chairwoman of the summit meeting, Prime Minister Jenny Shipley of New Zealand, discussed the agenda with Michael Richardson of the International Herald Tribune.
09/09/99 The Full Story

World Can't Agree on What to Do

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - The world community appeared divided Wednesday over whether to seek UN military intervention in East Timor despite Jakarta's refusal to accept foreign troops.
09/09/99 The Full Story

Report for APEC Cites Barriers to E-Commerce Growth

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - While electronic commerce promises new growth opportunities for developing countries in Asia and the Pacific, there are ''formidable barriers'' to overcome before the region can fully harness this business potential, according to a report prepared ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting that starts Thursday.
08/09/99 The Full Story

U.S. and Allies Conferring on An East Timor Peace Force

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - The U.S. secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, and the British foreign secretary, Robin Cook, flew to Auckland on Tuesday to attend international crisis talks on the violence in East Timor.
08/09/99 The Full Story

Sanctions for Indonesia Could Spark a Nationalist Backlash, Analysts Say

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - With foreign demands against Indonesia increasing, political analysts said Tuesday that outside pressure could spark a nationalist backlash or even a military takeover in the world's fourth most-populous nation.
08/09/99 The Full Story

Coffee Industry Embroiled in a Tug of War

ESTADO, East Timor - Beneath the shade of the forest, the steep hillsides are quilted with the dark green leaves of the coffee trees. Mist curls through the canopies, and a fine rain soaks the undergrowth.
27/08/99 The Full Story

Report on SilkAir Crash Alludes to Pilot Suicide

SINGAPORE - Indonesian investigators have concluded that ''unlawful interference'' may have caused the mysterious crash of a Singapore jet in December 1997 that killed all 104 people on board, the Singapore government said Wednesday.
26/08/99 The Full Story

Report on Jet Crash Hints At Suicide by SilkAir Pilot

Money-Sharing Plan Likely to Test Jakarta

SINGAPORE - As debate over whether to seek independence or autonomy reaches a critical point in parts of Indonesia, some analysts are concerned that moves by the government of President B.J. Habibie to hand more money back to the provincial and district authorities will create a backlash in the country's powerful military and civilian bureaucracy.
25/08/99 The Full Story

A Harsh Corner of Australia That Didn't Let Life Take Root

CAMDEN HARBOR, Australia - They call this ''heartbreak harbor.'' Even now, in the relatively cool winter months, a visitor can see why. Instead of green grass on the hills, there is a freak bean-stalk variety that grows higher than a man in places, but is so dry and lacking in nutrition that it rustles in the wind.
25/08/99 The Full Story

Singapore Sounds Electronics Alarm

SINGAPORE - Although Singapore's economic growth has rebounded further than expected this year, to a range of 4 percent to 5 percent, a senior official sounded a warning Monday about weakness in the electronics sector, an area of crucial importance to its manufacturing industry.
24/08/99 The Full Story

Timor Vote Result Will Resound in Aceh

SINGAPORE - Indonesia faces a critical week, with major tests of its national unity looming at opposite ends of the world's largest island-state - in predominantly Christian East Timor and in staunchly Muslim Aceh.
23/08/99 The Full Story

Tasting the Kimberley's Rugged Power

TALBOT BAY, Australia - The inflatable zodiac bucked wildly and its powerful outboard motor struggled to make headway in the rushing water as we approached the cutting in the cliff face. It was here, shortly after starting a 10-day journey along the Kimberley coast, that I first felt the raw power of nature that has shaped this remote and rugged region of northwestern Australia.
20/08/99 The Full Story

One Candidate Allowed In Singapore Election

SINGAPORE - The official committee that screens presidential candidates in Singapore said Tuesday it had approved only one of three applicants - S.R. Nathan, a former Singapore military intelligence chief and ambassador to the United States.
18/08/99 The Full Story

No Contest for Singapore

Will Scandal Bar a 2d Habibie Term?

SINGAPORE - Although dubbed Indonesia's ''Baligate'' by some sections of the country's media, no hard evidence of money politics has yet emerged following the recent disclosure that PT Bank Bali, formerly a leading commercial bank, paid a huge fee to a firm owned by a senior official of the governing Golkar party for an unnecessary debt-collection service.
17/08/99 The Full Story

Habibie: No More Fragmentation of Indonesia

SINGAPORE - Although Indonesia is offering East Timor self-determination this month, Jakarta will not allow any other part of Indonesian territory to secede, President B.J. Habibie said Monday.
17/08/99 The Full Story

East Timor Vote Must Be Fair, U.S. Reminds Indonesia

SINGAPORE - As East Timor prepared to start campaigning Saturday for a self-determination vote amid concerns that it might be sabotaged by pro-Indonesian hard-liners, the United States issued a strongly worded warning to Indonesia to accept the outcome.
14/08/99 The Full Story

In Remotest Australia, a Slice of Movie History

BROOME, Australia - As night falls and people begin to line up for tickets, the light bulbs that illuminate the words Sun Pictures in pale blue lettering on the roofline at the front of the movie theater are switched on.
13/08/99 The Full Story

Once Again, Indonesia Faces Menace of Fires

SINGAPORE - As the annual dry season sucks the moisture from tropical forests and scrubland in Indonesia, satellite photographs show clearly the ominous spread of fire, which two years ago caused an environmental and economic disaster in Southeast Asia.
11/08/99 The Full Story

Jakarta Probes 'Fee' in Bank Reform

SINGAPORE - Authorities in Jakarta are investigating an unusual ''fee'' paid by a recently nationalized bank to a company headed by a senior member of Indonesia's governing party, in a case that has caused concern among foreign investors about possible corruption in reforming the country's financial system.
10/08/99 The Full Story

East Asia Warned of New Smog Disaster

SINGAPORE - As much of East Asia battles devastating floods, dry weather in parts of Indonesia has rekindled an outbreak of forest fires, causing smoke pollution in neighboring countries.
07/08/99 The Full Story

Singapore Economy Bouncing Back

SINGAPORE - Buoyed by cost-cutting and stronger demand in its major markets, Singapore's economy should grow by between 4 percent and 5 percent this year, much faster than officially forecast, the U.S. Embassy says in its latest report on economic trends in the island-state.
05/08/99 The Full Story

Protect Migrant Rights, APEC Members Urged

SINGAPORE - A leading regional research organization has called on countries in Asia to take more effective measures to protect the rights of ''many millions'' of low-paid migrant workers.
04/08/99 The Full Story

Possible Armed Peacekeepers for Timor

SINGAPORE - The United States, Australia and some European countries, concerned about a possible surge of violence in East Timor after a bitterly contested self-determination vote at the end of this month, are discussing a contingency plan with the United Nations to send an armed peacekeeping force to the disputed territory, Western officials say.
03/08/99 The Full Story

UN Burma Mission Set for September

SINGAPORE - Burma will definitely allow a long-delayed visit by the United Nations to take place in September, Foreign Minister Win Aung said Wednesday.
29/07/99 The Full Story

UN Is Biased, Jakarta Says

SINGAPORE - Foreign Minister Ali Alatas of Indonesia accused the United Nations on Tuesday of bias in favor of independence for East Timor and said it had failed to move fast enough to establish an effective presence to monitor an election in the disputed territory.
28/07/99 The Full Story

Tough Threat on Missiles

SINGAPORE - North Korea will be hit with punitive economic sanctions and lose a major opportunity to improve relations with Washington and its two main allies in Asia if Pyongyang tests another powerful ballistic missile, the foreign ministers of the United States, South Korea and Japan said Tuesday.
28/07/99 The Full Story

Forum in Asia Raises the Heat On North Korea Over Missiles

SINGAPORE - Foreign ministers from Asia, the Pacific and Europe warned Monday that North Korea's ballistic missile program was a threat to regional stability and could create a new crisis in Asia.
27/07/99 The Full Story

India and Pakistan: Time to Get Back on the Bus to Peace

- The nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan faced their worst crisis in 30 years this summer when armed intruders crossed from Pakistan's section of the disputed territory of Kashmir into the Indian-controlled section, prompting an air and ground assault by Indian forces to evict them. Shortly before he met U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Singapore on Sunday, Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh of India discussed the conflict over Kashmir and India's relations with Pakistan and the United States with Michael Richardson of the International Herald Tribune.
26/07/99 The Full Story

Clinton Sets Talks With Jiang Over Strained Ties

SINGAPORE - Presidents Jiang Zemin and Bill Clinton will meet in September in an effort to repair a major breach in relations caused by the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, officials said Sunday.
26/07/99 The Full Story

Call to Stay the Free-Trade Course

SINGAPORE - Protectionism in Southeast Asia and its major markets in the West could abort the region's nascent recovery, Southeast Asian officials warned Friday.
24/07/99 The Full Story

Asia-Pacific Tensions on Display in Singapore

SINGAPORE - Despite a promising start to economic recovery in the region, Southeast Asian countries are concerned that tensions could undermine stability and renewed growth, officials said Friday.
24/07/99 The Full Story

On Eve of Annual Talks, ASEAN Members Are Split Over Spratlys Dispute

SINGAPORE - On the eve of annual talks opening Friday, the Association of South East Asian Nations is divided over how to deal with potentially explosive ownership disputes in the Spratly Islands involving several members of the group, as well as China and Taiwan.
23/07/99 The Full Story

On Eve of Annual Talks, ASEAN Members Are Split Over Spratlys Dispute

Feeling the Warm Pulse of the Outback At a Carnival-Like Racetrack Event

BROOME, Australia - A bumpy dirt road through the scrub leads to the Broome racetrack. When motor vehicles use the road, as they are doing in large numbers this week, clouds of brown dust billow high into the air, creating the illusion of smoke from a raging bush fire.
21/07/99 The Full Story

Australian Oil Firms Keep Eye on Timor

DARWIN, Australia - Two idle oil rigs anchored in the aquamarine waters of Darwin harbor form part of the panoramic view from Jim Godlove's office.
08/07/99 The Full Story

Pacific Rim Seeks Wider Trade Talks

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Senior officials from 21 Asian and Pacific nations announced Wednesday that they would seek to broaden the next round of worldwide negotiations on cutting trade barriers to include industrial products, as well as agriculture and services.
01/07/99 The Full Story

Vote Delay Seen Aiding UN in Timor

SINGAPORE - By delaying the self-determination vote in East Timor, Secretary-General Kofi Annan hopes to give the United Nations more time to become an effective watchdog in the disputed territory while prevailing on Indonesia to honor its promise to provide security necessary for a free and fair ballot, analysts said Wednesday.
24/06/99 The Full Story

Violence in East Timor Spoils Vote Momentum

LIQUISA, East Timor - In the sun-scorched hills not far from this town, a group of officials from the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross witnessed uniformed soldiers with guns accompanied by armed irregulars moving recently through a village, beating and driving people from their homes, as smoke rose from the ruins.
23/06/99 The Full Story

UN Is Expected to Delay Vote in Timor for Weeks

DILI, East Timor - Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the United Nations, is expected to announce on Monday or Tuesday that he will delay by several weeks East Timor's self-determination vote, which is scheduled Aug. 8.
21/06/99 The Full Story

Megawati Party Adviser Calls for Fixed Rate

JAKARTA - The chief economic adviser to the Indonesian party that is leading in the vote count from the parliamentary elections called Monday for a stronger currency reinforced by a fixed exchange rate.
15/06/99 The Full Story

U.S. Firm Targets Reusable Rockets

SYDNEY - Kistler Aerospace Corp. of the United States has chosen to make Australia a key part of its program in the race to develop reusable rockets for launching communication satellites at a substantially lower cost than using today's expendable rockets.
14/06/99 The Full Story

Indonesia's Military Is Down, but Not Out

JAKARTA - The Indonesian armed forces, for many years a bastion of political support for the authoritarian government of former President Suharto, declared that they were neutral in parliamentary elections held last week, helping to make the polls a genuine contest for the first time since 1955.
14/06/99 The Full Story

Asian Carriers Turn To Global Alliances

SINGAPORE - Forced to cut costs by the economic crisis that struck the region in mid-1997, Asian and Pacific airlines that previously prided themselves on being independent national carriers are forging alliances with other operators to do more for less, while preserving their identities.
12/06/99 The Full Story

Timor Leader Warns of 'Intimidation'

JAKARTA - The East Timor independence leader Xanana Gusmao urged the United Nations on Thursday to speed up the stationing of international monitors, police advisers and military liaison officers in the territory to prevent militias backed by the Indonesian Army from using ''intimidation'' and other ''sinister maneuvers'' to sabotage the self-determination vote on Aug. 8.
11/06/99 The Full Story

Indonesian Markets Rocket Higher

JAKARTA - Indonesian financial markets surged Tuesday after generally peaceful elections, hopes of a reformist opposition coalition's taking power and some upbeat indicators that made investors bet on a faster-than-expected economic recovery.
09/06/99 The Full Story

Muslim Vote Watched in Indonesia

JAKARTA - As the results of Indonesia's parliamentary elections flood in, politicians, business interests and foreign governments are watching to see whether Islamic political parties gain ground in the world's largest Muslim nation.
08/06/99 The Full Story

All Asia Watches Indonesian Vote

JAKARTA - The outcome of voting in Indonesia on Monday will be a critical test case of the durability and effectiveness of democracy not only in the world's fourth most populous nation, but also throughout a region that has long been told by some of its rulers that strong government is the surest way to economic prosperity.
07/06/99 The Full Story

Freer Airwaves In Indonesia Give Big Push To Democracy

JAKARTA - For weeks now, as campaigning has intensified for parliamentary elections Monday, Indonesian journalists working at a private radio news network based in eastern Jakarta have sent regular national news bulletins to 23 local radio stations across this island-nation via the Internet for rebroadcasting.
05/06/99 The Full Story

Some Investors Worried Over Indonesia Election

JAKARTA - Indonesia wraps up the campaigning Friday for its freest elections in more than 40 years, a measure of the progress it has made in bouncing back from an economic crisis that had threatened to tear the country apart.
04/06/99 The Full Story

Jakarta Puts Debtors In Election Spotlight

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government and its bank rescue agency unveiled new measures Tuesday against corruption and companies with political connections that refuse to pay billions of dollars in debts.
02/06/99 The Full Story

Shipowners Say It's a Matter of Time Before Pirates Cause Disaster in Asia

SINGAPORE - Following the economic slump in Southeast Asia and cuts in spending on naval patrols by many countries, including Indonesia, commercial shipowners in the region are complaining that robbery by pirates at sea is becoming increasingly frequent and violent.
01/06/99 The Full Story

East Timor Becoming Indonesia Ballot Issue

JAKARTA - East Timor and its move to break away from Indonesia will become an issue in the Indonesian elections for the first time Tuesday when a leading presidential contender, Megawati Sukarnoputri, makes a surprise visit to the territory.
01/06/99 The Full Story

Megawati Injects East Timor Into Elections

Asian Officials Hopeful On U.S.-China Relations

SINGAPORE - Asian officials maintained an upbeat public tone Thursday even as U.S.-Chinese recriminations intensified following the release of a congressional report alleging systematic Chinese theft of American nuclear weapons secrets for 20 years.
28/05/99 The Full Story

Resist Nationalist Pressures, ASEAN Chief Urges

SINGAPORE - In an unusually blunt warning, the secretary-general of the Association of South East Asian Nations has said that members of the group must resist the temptation to turn away from regionalism at a time of economic and political stress in Southeast Asia.
27/05/99 The Full Story

China Criticizes Washington's Asian Allies as Tensions Rise

SINGAPORE - China criticized two Asian allies of the United States on Tuesday, as relations between Beijing and Washington came under new pressure with the publication of a congressional report accusing China of stealing U.S. nuclear secrets.
26/05/99 The Full Story

China Lashes Out at U.S. Asian Allies as Tensions Rise

Militia Violence Threatens Timor Vote

SINGAPORE - United Nations and Western officials are warning with increasing vehemence that the voting scheduled for Aug. 8 on East Timor may have to be called off unless the Indonesian military takes action to improve security in the territory.
25/05/99 The Full Story

Timor Vote Threatened By Violence Of Militias

U.S. Moves To Temper Asia Role

SINGAPORE - In a gesture of goodwill toward China, the top U.S. military commander in Asia and the Pacific has urged stronger multilateral security arrangements in the region - something Beijing has long demanded to reduce the dominant role of U.S. bilateral alliances with Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Australia.
24/05/99 The Full Story

U.S. Commander Urges Security Role for China

Amid Caution, Singapore Says The Recession Is Behind It

SINGAPORE - Singapore's short-lived recession officially ended Wednesday when the government said that the economy had started to expand again at a ''modest'' rate of 1.2 percent in the first three months of the year.
20/05/99 The Full Story

Storm Alert for the Spratlys

SINGAPORE - With relations between the United States and China strained following the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade and subsequent violent demonstrations in China, some officials and analysts say that Beijing will pursue a more assertive Asian policy to show that it is a rising power that must not be taken for granted.
19/05/99 The Full Story

Australia Takes Steps to Halt Illegal Immigrants

SYDNEY - Australia's reputation for having an easygoing, affluent lifestyle has its downside, especially when many countries in Asia and the Middle East are struggling with economic difficulties and political tensions.
18/05/99 The Full Story

Affluent Australia Now Looks Askance at Asia

MELBOURNE - Buoyed by having ridden out the nearby Asian economic crisis unscathed, Australia may now be tempted to turn away from the region to avoid involvement in its messy problems, analysts say.
13/05/99 The Full Story

Asian Nations Seek to Temper China's Anger

MELBOURNE - Anxiety about the accidental NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade continued to grow Monday among Asian and Pacific countries that see nonhostile relations between the United States and China as vital to regional stability and prosperity.
11/05/99 The Full Story

Australia Edgy As Kosovars Start to Arrive

SYDNEY - The first of 4,000 Albanian refugees from Kosovo arrived here Friday at the start of an airlift that, officials emphasized, shows a compassionate face of Australia but which also reflects the volatility of the country's multiethnic population and politics.
08/05/99 The Full Story

Indonesia's Army to Face Scrutiny in Timor Voting

SYDNEY - Now that Indonesia, Portugal and the United Nations have agreed on how the self-determination vote in East Timor will be organized and secured, the Indonesian Army and police will come under intense international scrutiny to see whether they - and local militia groups that have close links with them - observe the terms of the accords, analysts said Thursday.
07/05/99 The Full Story

Australia Widens Role In East Timor's Future

SYDNEY - Despite concern that Australians may become casualties of the political violence in East Timor, the government of Prime Minister John Howard is making preparations for Australia to play a major role in a United Nations operation to supervise the vote on self-determination in the territory on Aug. 8.
06/05/99 The Full Story

Cash Offer for Frozen Shares

SINGAPORE - When Malaysia shocked foreign investors by imposing currency controls in September, some 170,000 Singapore-based investors were stung by the news that Kuala Lumpur would no longer recognize offshore trading in the Malaysian shares they held.
03/05/99 The Full Story

Fear of Fires Rekindled As Jakarta Is Distracted

SINGAPORE - Recent satellite images show an ominous increase in forest fires in Indonesia, raising concerns in neighboring Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei that the choking blanket of smoke-borne pollution that covered much of the region in 1997 and early 1998 - disrupting tourism and transport and endangering public health - may soon return.
30/04/99 The Full Story

Hopes Grow In East Timor Of Disarming Militias Soon

SINGAPORE - Appearing to fall in line with orders from the Indonesian government and top commanders, the military chief in East Timor said Wednesday that pro-Jakarta militias - which have been widely blamed for killing and terrorizing supporters of independence in the disputed territory - would soon be disarmed.
29/04/99 The Full Story

Australia Seeks Disarmament of Rival Timor Factions

SINGAPORE - Australia will press Indonesia on Tuesday to disarm rival factions in East Timor and free the East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao to help pacify the disputed territory before a vote organized by the United Nations is held on its future, probably in early August, officials said.
27/04/99 The Full Story

Australia Seeks Disarmament in Timor

Large UN Presence Would Help Calm Timor, Officials Say

SINGAPORE - Despite reports of continued political killings and plans to partition East Timor by armed supporters of groups that want it to remain part of Indonesia, senior Australian and United Nations officials said Sunday that a proposed large-scale UN presence in the disputed territory would help calm tensions.
26/04/99 The Full Story

Jakarta Decentralizing To Head Off Separatism

SINGAPORE - New autonomy laws approved by Indonesia's Parliament will shift a significant amount of economic and political power away from the central government toward the provinces in the world's largest island-nation, officials and analysts said Friday.
24/04/99 The Full Story

ASEAN Struggles to Change Its Reputation as Weak, Helpless and Divided

SINGAPORE - Even as Southeast Asian countries prepare to complete their formal political unity this month with the admission of Cambodia as a member of the Association of South East Asian Nations, officials are calling for new steps to restore the group's credibility.
22/04/99 The Full Story

Indonesia Military Backs East Timor Peace Accord

SINGAPORE - In a move to end a series of political killings in East Timor, the military chief of Indonesia, General Wiranto, said Wednesday that he would enforce a truce between warring East Timorese groups that was signed earlier in the day.
22/04/99 The Full Story

New Unrest Fuels Fears Of Breakup in Indonesia

SINGAPORE - Indonesian officials, fearing that violence could sabotage the country's first democratic elections in more than 40 years and strain national unity to the breaking point, appealed for calm Tuesday following the bombing in Jakarta of the country's largest mosque and a retaliatory attack by Muslims on a Roman Catholic church complex in eastern Ujung Pandang.
21/04/99 The Full Story

New Unrest Fuels Fears Of Breakup In Indonesia

SINGAPORE - Indonesian officials, fearing that violence could sabotage the country's first democratic elections in more than 40 years and strain national unity to the breaking point, appealed for calm Tuesday following the bombing of the country's largest mosque in Jakarta and a retaliatory attack by Muslims on a Roman Catholic church complex in eastern Ujung Pandang.
21/04/99 The Full Story

Singapore Set to Liberalize Bank Laws

SINGAPORE - Singapore banks, long protected in their small domestic market, are being warned by the government that they must prepare for greater foreign competition.
20/04/99 The Full Story

Timor Militia Killings Raise Doubts on Future

SINGAPORE - A bloody weekend rampage by militiamen who want East Timor to remain part of Indonesia threatens to undermine talks this week on the future of the territory and raises new doubt about whether the Indonesian government can control the military, foreign officials say.
19/04/99 The Full Story

Indonesia Seeks Panel To Broker Timor Peace

SINGAPORE - In a move to prevent violence in East Timor from spiraling out of control, the Indonesian government said Tuesday that it would set up a broadly representative commission to restore peace in the disputed territory.
14/04/99 The Full Story

Indonesia Calls for Cease-Fire In Timor

For Asians, Battle for Kosovo Is Distant

BANGKOK - About a week into NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, the United States' recently arrived ambassador to Thailand, Richard Hecklinger, made his first public appearance before a group of journalists. The only question he was required to field about the fighting came from Izvestia's man in Bangkok.
14/04/99 The Full Story

Jakarta Hears Chorus Of Criticism on Timor

SINGAPORE - As Indonesia and Portugal prepare to resume talks on the future of East Timor next week, foreign governments, the United Nations and human-rights groups alarmed by the recent rise in violence in the disputed territory are increasing pressure on Jakarta to end the conflict.
12/04/99 The Full Story

Military Role Raises Fears Amid Unrest In Indonesia

JAKARTA - Persistent reports of abuses by the military in handling Indonesia's separatist and sectarian conflicts are raising concern among some senior officials, as well as analysts and foreign diplomats, that the armed forces are contributing to a dangerous cycle of national violence.
10/04/99 The Full Story

Indonesian Armed Forces Under Suspicion in Unrest

Singapore Blazes a Trail In Retraining Workers

SINGAPORE - A path is being blazed here in worker retraining that could become a model for other Asian nations grappling with unemployment.
08/04/99 The Full Story

A High-Risk Gamble in East Timor

SINGAPORE - By calling for an armed uprising in East Timor against pro-Indonesian forces, the rebel leader Xanana Gusmao is adopting a high-risk tactic to get a United Nations peacekeeping contingent into the disputed territory as quickly as possible, analysts and associates of Mr. Gusmao said Tuesday.
07/04/99 The Full Story

New Political Challenges For Southeast Asians

JAKARTA - Preparations for what are supposed to be Indonesia's first free and fair general elections since 1955 got off to a shaky start Monday as voter registration began amid more reports of violence and concern that neither the commission organizing the polls nor the government of President B.J. Habibie would be neutral referees.
06/04/99 The Full Story

Indonesia Seen on Mend With a Rebound in '99

JAKARTA - Indonesia's badly battered economy appears to be stabilizing and could return to growth before the year is out, according to officials and analysts who have been tracking it.
01/04/99 The Full Story

Fight Over Fish Poaching Stirs Up Icy Southern Sea

MELBOURNE - Bitterly cold, terrifyingly remote and frequently lashed by gale force winds and mountainous waves, the Southern Ocean seems an unlikely Eldorado for poachers.
26/03/99 The Full Story

New Chief Has Work Cut Out as BHP Tries to Overcome Commodity Cycle

MELBOURNE - When Paul Anderson, the new chief executive of Broken Hill Pty. addressed shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting recently, he made a point of noting that four of the six members of his top management group have been with the company for less than four years.
25/03/99 The Full Story

New-Generation, but Noisy, Australian Submarines Under Attack

SYDNEY - It was touted as the most advanced nonnuclear submarine in the world - a silent, potent leviathan capable of staying submerged for 70 days and patrolling over long distances.
20/03/99 The Full Story

Rough Sailing For New Sub In Australia

Australia's Blueprint Could Help the Rest of Asia Build a Recovery

SYDNEY - A decade ago, Australia was dismissed by some Asian officials as the laggard of the Asia-Pacific region as its economy threatened to sink in a morass of crony capitalist deals and corporate takeovers gone wrong.
16/03/99 The Full Story

Fear Grows in East Timor As Area Weighs Its Future

SINGAPORE - When United Nations officials arrive in East Timor later this week to start preparations for a ballot on whether the disputed territory should have autonomy within Indonesia or independence, they will face a daunting task.
16/03/99 The Full Story

Limited Choice On a President Could Doom Australia Vote

MELBOURNE - If public opinion is any guide, a majority of Australians will vote later this year for their nation to become a republic by severing their last constitutional links with Britain, the former colonial ruler.
15/03/99 The Full Story

As Demand Shrivels Up, Deflation Is Asia's Worry

SINGAPORE - When East Asia's financial crisis began in July 1997, officials and economists worried that it would cause runaway inflation. Now, they are more concerned about the specter of deepening deflation.
11/03/99 The Full Story

For Australia, Timor Is a Delicate Issue

SYDNEY - As Indonesia and Portugal prepare to resume talks Wednesday on an Indonesian offer of autonomy for East Timor that is likely to be rejected by the Timorese, Australia is trying to ensure that any transition instead to independence is gradual, peaceful and does not poison its sensitive relations with Indonesia.
10/03/99 The Full Story

Singapore Woos Top Schools With Vision of Regional Hub

SINGAPORE - Despite recession and uncertainty clouding Asia's future, Singapore has made a strong start in implementing a plan to attract up to 10 ''world-class'' academic institutions within a decade to help turn the island-state into a regional education hub.
15/02/99 The Full Story

Singapore Quickly Denies An Assertion of 'Racism'

SINGAPORE - Reported remarks by the president of Indonesia that Singapore is a country of ''real racists'' has triggered angry denials from an island-state that feels increasingly vulnerable as neighboring nations battle recessions far more painful than its own.
12/02/99 The Full Story

Economists Say Singapore May Allow Currency to Weaken

SINGAPORE - Concerned about a darkening trade picture, Singapore may attempt to engineer a weakening of its strong currency to boost the competitiveness of its products overseas and help lift the island nation out of recession, economists say.
10/02/99 The Full Story

New Test for Indonesia

JAKARTA - Despite a deep recession and chronic violence, Indonesia is preparing to hold general elections on June 7 that seem likely to be the freest and fairest since the country's last, short-lived experiment with democracy in 1955.
10/02/99 The Full Story

East Timor Vote May Be Scrubbed

JAKARTA - Indonesia might cancel local elections in East Timor in June to avoid inflaming the conflict between groups favoring independence and those that oppose it.
08/02/99 The Full Story

Under Strains, Indonesia Ponders a Federal State

JAKARTA - An Indonesian proposal to consider independence for East Timor if the disputed territory refuses to accept autonomy is a high-risk strategy that could encourage other restive parts of Indonesia - the world's largest island-nation - to break away or loosen the bonds holding it together, in the view of some analysts and officials in neighboring countries.
06/02/99 The Full Story

Critics Take Aim at Jakarta's Bank-Bailout Plan

JAKARTA - The government's program to revive its crippled banking system at a cost of around 300 trillion rupiah ($35 billion) has gotten off to a shaky start, with Indonesia's newly assertive Parliament threatening to withhold approval for the annual budget unless the government agrees to revise the plan.
05/02/99 The Full Story

Second Thoughts About East Timor

JAKARTA - Far from pacifying rebellious East Timor, Indonesia's offer of independence is fanning a cycle of violence that could make early sovereignty impossible, diplomats and aid workers said Wednesday.
04/02/99 The Full Story

Singapore Activist Retests Speech Law

SINGAPORE - A Singapore opposition activist campaigning for free speech said Wednesday that if he is fined for breaking public speaking laws in a trial next week, he will refuse to pay and be prepared to go to prison instead.
28/01/99 The Full Story

Jakarta Suggests a Free East Timor

SINGAPORE - Indonesia said Wednesday that it was prepared to consider giving independence to East Timor - the first time officials have acknowledged such an option since Indonesian forces invaded the former Portuguese colony 24 years ago.
28/01/99 The Full Story

Despite Job Losses, Singapore Stays Calm

SINGAPORE - Joblessness is rising in Singapore after more than a decade of virtually full employment, but, in contrast to some of its Asian neighbors, there is little sign here of incipient social or political unrest.
22/01/99 The Full Story

Philippines Is Stymied In Dispute With China

SINGAPORE - When the Philippines takes the unusual step of convening its National Security Council on Thursday to discuss tension with China over conflicting claims to ownership of Mischief Reef close to Philippine territory, it will have to acknowledge that its military and diplomatic options are limited.
21/01/99 The Full Story

Ecology: Cambodia's Next Man-Made Disaster

PHNOM PENH - The floating casino moored at the edge of this city, where the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers meet, symbolizes the readiness of those who wield power and influence in Cambodia to gamble with its fragile environment and economic future, development specialists say.
15/01/99 The Full Story

Jobs for Cambodians - or Sweatshops?

PHNOM PENH - At dawn each day, hundreds of shift workers file into garment factories dotted around a city that just over two decades ago was virtually an empty shell.
12/01/99 The Full Story

With Khmer Rouge Collapse, Pressure Grows to Rein In Army

PHNOM PENH - After the collapse of the Khmer Rouge as an effective guerrilla force and the formation of a new coalition government between previously warring political factions, the Cambodian armed forces are under increasing pressure to curb corruption and human rights abuses and to slim down and become more professional.
11/01/99 The Full Story

Articles which have appeared [ 1998 | 1997 ]