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Mr Howard will hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Australian Prime Minister John Howard has arrived in Japan on a visit which will include the signing of a bilateral security pact. The declaration is thought to include co-operation on terrorism, peacekeeping and disaster relief. The government has dismissed suggestions that the defence deal could strain ties with China. Meanwhile, Australian diplomats are due in North Korea for talks on its nuclear programme. The delegation will urge Pyongyang to abide by its agreement last month to start dismantling its nuclear facilities. Such progress could result in Australian aid,...

After more than 60 years of silence, World War II's most enduring and horrible secret is being nudged into the light of day. One by one the participants, white-haired and mildmannered, line up to tell their dreadful stories before they die. Akira Makino is a frail widower living near Osaka in Japan. His only unusual habit is to regularly visit an obscure little town in the southern Philippines, where he gives clothes to poor children and has set up war memorials. Mr Makino was stationed there during the war. What he never told anybody, including his wife, was that during...

Globally, remittances make up about $230bn Money sent home by Filipinos working overseas last year totalled a record $12.8bn (£6.5bn), the Philippines' central bank has said.The remittances - a 20% rise on 2005 - account for about 10% of the country's economy, the bank added. Most of the eight million overseas workers are in the US or Middle East. According to the World Bank, the Philippines is the fifth-largest recipient of foreign remittances behind India, China, Mexico and France. It has forecast that Filipinos will send home about $14.1bn this year. Their remittances play an increasingly significant role in...

Chinese-made bus on the streets of Manila, Philippines. Bus export offensive I am referring to China ’s juggernaut that has claimed for itself a substantial space on the most visible place possible—our major roads and highways. This is China’s bus export offensive into the country, which in a period of less than five years has made inroads so impressive that experts say it is all set to dominate the Philippine market in a decade or less. Two conditions though for this to happen: its Japanese and European competitors fail to carry out dramatic moves. And South Korea does not...

The military is being told to concentrate on defence Vietnam's leaders have decided to remove dozens of companies from the control of the armed forces and the ruling Communist Party. The companies will instead be transferred to civilian ownership. The decision, taken last week by the Communist Party's main policy-making body, the Central Committee, represents a significant break with the past. Many state and party organisations have made large amounts of money by going into business. Vietnam's armed forces own a mobile phone company, a bank, shipbuilders, textile factories and even hotels - in total more than 100 firms....

SINGAPORE, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Visibility plunged to 50 metres in parts of Borneo island on Saturday and Singapore recorded its highest pollution reading in nearly a decade as fires in Indonesia sent acrid smoke across Southeast Asia. Singapore issued its first haze-related health warning this year. The daily air pollution index hit 128, the National Environment Agency said on its Web site (www.nea.gov.sg). A reading above 100 is rated unhealthy. In Central Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo, visibility in some places had plunged to 50 metres (165 ft) governor Agustin Teras Narang told Elshinta radio. Hundreds sought...

The Myanmarese news website 'Mizzima News' reported that Indian troops have moved into the Indo-Burmese border region of Moreh. India and Myanmar have had a very good military relationship with Myanmar helping India with tackling border insurgencies. About 50 Indian military trucks believed to be carrying weapons crossed the border into Burma last Thursday, according to eyewitnesses. "Five trucks full of soldiers followed the 50 trucks," a resident in Moreh said. The backs of the trucks were reportedly covered with plastic sheets. The Burmese embassy in India refused to comment on what the trucks were carrying. Security was tightened in...

While Iraqis might be celebrating the death of al-Zarqawi and his death reportably being praised around the world, the reality over here seems quite different from what is being reported in much of the Western media. The initial reaction from Southeast Asia this morning seems a bit tempered with many of the local population not even being aware of the news reporting his death. Much of the local population relies on print and televison for their news with the internet penetration rates still well below that of the West. Zarqawi's death is hardly making any headline news over here. This...

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has a record that is the envy of conservative leaders around the world. Recently elected to a fourth term (with an enhanced majority, to boot), he has charted a distinctive and largely successful course for Australia's international relations over the past decade. As the Harper government begins to formulate its own approach to foreign policy, Mr. Howard arrives in Ottawa at an opportune moment. Under Mr. Howard's leadership, Australia's ties with the United States have warmed considerably, stemming in large part from Canberra's staunch support for U.S.-led anti-terrorism initiatives and the invasion of Iraq. Mr....

The fall of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has thrown Thailand into uncertainty. Thaksin will remain at the head of his Thai Rak Thai party and has not ruled out a possible comeback, so the rough road has not yet reached its end. But if Thai politics are in for more political jockeying, what about the rest of Southeast Asia? What about the political fortunes of his fellow leaders in the region, some of whom emerged around the same time? Is Thailand alone? The uncertainty in Thailand is not likely to have any shattering effect on the region. But it is...

Cut-price air travel has arrived in South-East Asia - and it is making the same kind of impact as it did in Europe and the United States. Well-established national carriers that have enjoyed near-monopolies are finally being challenged. The newcomers use a similar business model to internet-based operations in Europe and the US. Because of the limited access to computers in some countries in the region, tickets are also available through travel agents. But the same principle applies: the earlier you book, the cheaper the ticket. One of the main players is the Kuala Lumpur-based Air Asia, a company that...

Asia Rising Donald Rumsfeld infamously made a distinction between Old Europe and New Europe. He has been scored ever since for his sweeping and impolitic language, but he wasn't sweeping enough: In geopolitical terms, all of Europe is old, the world's most tourist-friendly museum piece. For the future of high-stakes U.S. diplomacy and of great-power politics, look no further than Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the U.S. It is Asia that should occupy an outsized place in our strategic thinking, and it is Europe that should be the relative afterthought, not the other way around. The media and foreign-policy...

In Southeast Asia, home to one of the world's most strategic sea lanes—the Straits of Malacca, and the world's second largest port, Singapore—the vulnerability of the maritime sector is of great concern. As a result, over the last few years various scenarios of how terrorists might carry out an attack in the maritime domain have been put forward by the media and academics alike. Many of these potential scenarios are extremely unlikely due to their complicated nature and their sheer impracticability. Nevertheless, a great number of these scenarios have remained unchallenged due to a lack of knowledge of the geography...

JAKARTA (AP): Southeast Asian terrorists are "regrouping, adapting and recruiting," and more regional cooperation is required to defeat them, Indonesia's president said Monday. In a speech to lawmakers from the Asia-Pacific region, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned that the campaign against militants would be a long one, and said it would need to be fought on "political, economical, legal, social and spiritual" fronts. "We know that the terrorists are regrouping, adapting and recruiting," he said. "We all need to intensify our cooperation to fight terrorism." Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, is a key front in the war against terrorism...

THOUSANDS of Asia's best and brightest students will receive funding to study in Australian universities under a federal government scholarship program worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The scheme -- a new version of the Colombo Plan that brought 20,000 Asian students to study in Australia between 1951 and 1980 -- could be unveiled by John Howard as early as this week. The biggest overseas education plan funded by Canberra is expected to be one of Australia's most tangible contributions to the concept of an East Asian Community, which will be discussed at this week's ASEAN and East Asian summits....

The lure of Asia INDONESIA is coming back and is set to resume its rightful leadership of Southeast Asia. This week its President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, decisively reshuffled his cabinet, substantially strengthening the economics team. Two months ago SBY's Government took the crucial domestic economic reform step of cutting fuel subsidies after already enduring a huge increase in the external price of oil. Even Suharto had baulked at this reform. Recently, Indonesian authorities eliminated one of the worst terrorists in the region, Azahari bin Husin. Indonesia also recently surpassed, for the first time, its peak per capita income level from...

Asian juggernaut 'ONE vision, one identity, one community", proclaim giant blue ASEAN banners straddling the six-lane motorway from Kuala Lumpur's gleaming airport into Malaysia's capital. For ASEAN's true believers, next week's inaugural East Asian Summit, bringing together leaders of 16 nations including Australia and New Zealand, will be the first tentative step towards the long-term goal of creating an East Asian Community. For the first time Asia's rising giants, India and China, will sit together at a regional forum. For the first time in post-World War II history, the US will be absent from a multilateral gathering encompassing the leading...

The Indonesian Government and rebels from the province of Aceh signed a peace treaty this morning in Helsinki that could bring to an end South East Asia's longest running war. The signing of the treaty this morning, in which the separatist rebels known as the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, renounced their claim for full independence in return for an amnesty and participation in Indonesian politics, came after seven months of negotiations. More than 10,000 people are believed to have died in Aceh's war of independence against the Indonesian Government over the last 30 years. More than 4,000 people, including...

GLOBAL INSECURITY Private navies combat Malacca Strait pirates Waterway now so dangerous for shipping, Lloyd's classifies major seaway as warzone Posted: July 31, 20051:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Ship captains navigating the Malacca Strait no longer have to depend on the slow response of government – or sheer luck – to safely pass through the pirate- and terrorist-infested waters since private navies have begun providing escort services for ships through the strategic seaway. The Strait, passageway to a third of the world's crude oil, has long been treacherous, with gangs armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other modern weapons...

Japanese companies warned of China risks By Mariko Sanchanta in Tokyo Published: July 2 2005 03:00 | Last updated: July 2 2005 03:00 Japanese companies should rely less on China, because of its political and microeconomic risks, and increase production in countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations, the trade ministry said in its annual white paper yesterday. "We believe there are many risks that may prevent foreign and Japanese firms from keeping their operations [in China]. We want to be whistle-blowers about these risks," said Susumu Okamoto, a deputy director in the trade policy bureau at the...