Philippines, China sign accords to improve ties: officials

The Philippines and China signed two agreements on Thursday to boost bilateral ties and improve consular relations, officials said, despite disagreements on issues such as the disputed Spratly Islands.Philippine President Gloria Arroyo and visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi oversaw the signing of the agreements, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said.
One agreement outlines areas in which the two countries intend to work more closely over the next five years, such as politics, trade, investment, finance, agriculture, food safety, defence and sustainable development.
"China is a strategic partner and we are looking forward, under the strategic cooperation plan, to have more activities between the two countries," Romulo said, but no specific details about the agreement were released.
The consular agreement is aimed at protecting Filipino workers in China and is the first such deal the Philippines has negotiated with another country, the Philippine foreign department said.
"The agreement addresses long-standing concerns of the Philippine Embassy and Consulates General in China with regard to the provision of assistance to nationals... such as notification of arrests and detention of Filipino nationals, repatriation and settlement of disputes," the department said.
Despite growing economic ties, relations between the Philippines and China have been marred by conflicting territorial claims over such areas as the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
Chinese officials have said a Philippine law passed last year that spelt out Manila's claims to parts of the Spratly

Pakistan 'hard to believe' on Al-Qaeda: Clinton

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton struck an assertive tone in Pakistan on Thursday, hitting out at its government over Al-Qaeda and calling for better management of the economy.Clinton has spent the last two days in Pakistan, the troubled US ally on the frontline of the war on Al-Qaeda and its allies, trying to bolster the civilian government and counter rising anti-US sentiment in the Muslim nation.
But after pressing her message -- the US desire to turn a new page in its relations with Pakistan after mistakes of the past -- she appeared to get hot under the collar during talks with senior editors and business leaders.
The most senior US official to visit since President Barack Obama put the nuclear-armed state at the heart of the war on Al-Qaeda, Clinton took issue with Islamabad's position that the Al-Qaeda leadership is not in Pakistan.
"Al-Qaeda has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002," Clinton told senior Pakistani newspaper editors in the country's cultural capital, Lahore.
"I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to," she added.
"Maybe that's the case; maybe they're not gettable. I don?t know... As far as we know, they are in Pakistan," she added.
She also showed impatience with criticism of a record US non-military aid bill giving Pakistan 7.5 billion dollars, which the army and political opposition have slammed for violating the country's sovereignty.
"At the risk of sounding undiplomatic, Pakistan has to have internal investment in your public services and your business opportunities," Clinton told businessmen, taking swipe at tax evasion in the cash-strapped country.
"The percentage of taxes on GDP is among the lowest in the world... We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn't move, and that's not what we see in Pakistan," she said.
"You do have 180 million people. Your population is projected to be about 300 million. And I don't know what you're gonna do with that kind of challenge, unless you start planning right now," she said.
A US official, speaking to journalists on board Clinton's plane from Lahore to Islamabad, said there was nothing contradictory in her remarks and her mission to strengthen ties between the United States and Pakistan.
Pakistan's relations with Washington, on whom it depends for cash and weapons to fight Islamist militants bombing the country, can be uneasy.
Many Pakistanis blame the US-led "war on terror" and the government's US alliance for extremist attacks sweeping the country, and US missile attacks on Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked extremists have inflamed sensibilities.
Clinton's visit to the second largest city in Pakistan, which has been hit by a series of gun, suicide and grenade attacks this year, was accompanied by draconian security measures a day after a car bomb killed 105 in Peshawar.
She said the "horrific bombing" in the northwestern city left no doubt that "Pakistan is in the midst of a battle against extremists".
"This is not your fight alone... You're standing on the frontlines of this battle but we are standing with you," she told students at the elite Government College University Lahore, a breeding ground for public servants.
Following other investment announcements, Clinton pledged 45 million dollars for higher education in Pakistan.
Obama's administration wants to broaden engagement with a country whose people traditionally see the United States as interested only in securing its military cooperation in the fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Clinton has already committed 85 million dollars to countering poverty, 125 million dollars to improving Pakistan's woefully inadequate electricity supply and 104 million dollars to law enforcement and border security assistance.

PM denies influencing ruling

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is distancing his government from a Council of State recommendation that ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra be stripped of his police rank and royal decorations.Mr Abhisit Wednesday said the government had not influenced the council's ruling on this matter, which was strictly between the Royal Thai Police and the government's legal advisory body.
"The Royal Thai Police asked the Council of State about the matter, and now the ruling has come out it will have to comply," he said.
The Council of State recommended on Tuesday that the fugitive prime minister be stripped of his police rank and royal decorations because he had been convicted and sentenced to two years in jail. Thaksin was a police lieutenant colonel before he built his business empire and entered politics.
The Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions found him guilty in October of last year of a conflict of interest in relation to the sale of a prime piece of real estate on Ratchadaphisek Road to his then wife.
Mr Abhisit said the revoking of Thaksin's police rank would be handled by the Royal Thai Police while the recall of his royal decorations would be undertaken by the relevant agencies.
Procedures call for the Secretariat of the Cabinet to propose the recall of the decorations to the prime minister for endorsement and then forward the matter to the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary. The recall, once it has royal endorsement, would be announced in the royal gazette.
The former prime minister has received nine royal decorations, the highest being the Knight Grand Commander (Second Class, higher grade) of the Most Illustrious Order of Chulachomklao, bestowed in 2002.
Thaksin wrote on his Twitter page yesterday that "it is a normal practice for this government... if they could find a law to kill me, they would have done.
"Law should be enforced for peace of society, justice, and equality, but this government chooses to enforce for political outcomes. Now I have to sing the song Khob Khun Thi Some Term (Thanks for repeatedly hitting me)."
Thaksin supporters have also come out to criticise moves to revoke his police rank and royal decorations.
Core Puea Thai Party member Chalerm Yubamrung said the move appeared to be politically motivated. It came just days after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen offered Thaksin a refuge and a job as his economic adviser.
"The government may or may not take advice from the Council of State," he said. "It depends whether or not the advice is useful to the government."
Mr Chalerm said the offence of which Thaksin was found guilty does not justify stripping him of his rank under the police's code.

Reflected Royalty

One of many pictures of the King erected around Phnom Penh this week in preparation for the Water Festival appears in the side mirror of a car at the front of Hotel Cambodiana on Wednesday.

Carnage in Pakistan

Shops burn as men gather at a market following a car bomb blast in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Wednesday that killed more than 80 people, underscoring the scale of the extremist threat as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited.