Friday, 30 July 2010

Newsbriefs

Japan's Rising Wages Won't Scare Investors Away from China

TOKYO, Jul 29 (IPS) - Common business wisdom would have it that rising wages are bad news for foreign investors, but analysts here say that workers' clamour for higher pay in Japanese factories in China will not send them packing from that country anytime soon. In recent months, business people and analysts have been following reports of strikes by workers in Japanese factories in China to demand not just higher salaries but the right to form trade unions.

But far from causing worries in Japanese circles - Japan is the third largest foreign investor in China - they see this trend as another sign that the world's most populous country is shifting from being a cheap manufacturing hub to both a society in reform and an economy that promises to be a big consumer market. In short, Japan finds China, the world's fastest growing economy, to be too attractive a business prospect to give up on. If China's attraction used to be its cheap and abundant labour, it is now also becoming the massive market that many had expected to be.

After all, China is soon to be the world's second largest economy, expected to account for one-third of global economic growth this year. China's Gross Domestic Product rose 10.3 percent in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009. "Rather than move to new factory sites in cheaper Asian destinations, Japanese companies, aware of the benefits of selling in a rich economy, will continue to manufacture in China," said Hisaki Nakai, a China expert at Japan's External Trade Organisation (JETRO), a government business research institute.

"Ironically, business benefits have set the stage for labour reform," he said. In May, workers at a Honda Motor Co plant in Foshan, Guangdong province, refused to report to work unless their wages were raised. After two weeks, Honda agreed to raise monthly wages by 32 percent, according to news reports.

The strike led to similar disruption at other auto plants. In late May, 1,000 employees at a Beijing factory that manufactures parts for South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co also stopped working and demanded a raise, the 'Asahi' newspaper reported.

Media reports said that the Honda strike highlights workers' frustration with issues like long overtime hours, overcrowded and unhealthy accommodation, and wages that are barely sufficient to cover their living expenses or send home to their families. These point to far from just an economic phenomenon, says Tatsuo Matsumoto, an economist at the Japan Association of Corporate Executives.

"Today's Chinese worker represents a more sophisticated workforce that is influenced by the Internet, where information on labour rights and standards are available," he said. He added that the Chinese government, acutely aware of the political and economic fallout from the labour unrest, is becoming supportive of these demands as well. Over the decades, many Japanese companies, like those from other industrialised countries, had moved their parts and assembly line manufacturing bases to China in order to take advantage of lower wages and remain competitive in the global market.

But as China's economic reforms took deeper root after the late seventies, its middle class has grown along with its double-digit growth rates and is now making the country a formidable market on its own. In January, Credit Suisse said that it expects China's share of global consumption to increase from 5.2 percent to more than 23 percent by 2020. By that time, it added, China would overtake the United States as the world's largest consumer market.

A November 2009 survey by the bank's China Equity Research section showed that China's rich have become even richer - and account for 35.7 percent of total household income. Middle-class households' income also grew by 98 percent between 2004 to 2009, it said. These trends have also reshaped Japan's relationship with China. Once the largest donor to China, Japan has become a leading investor in it especially after China's entry into the World Trade Organisation in 2002.

Uganda Finding Less Counterfeit Drugs

KAMPALA, Jul 29 (IPS) - Uganda's National Drug Authority (NDA) says the failure rate among samples of medicines tested at their laboratories has fallen by 15 percent from the early 2000s. This serves as a possible indication of a drop in the availability of counterfeit medicines in the East African country.

According to the NDA registrar, Apollo Muhairwe, the work of the drug authority at border points has ensured that fewer counterfeit medicines make it into the Ugandan market. "We have put measures in place during the last 10 years that have worked. Now we have embarked upon raising awareness among Ugandans to only buy their drugs from accredited outlets," Muhairwe told IPS.

Counterfeit medicines can be both branded and generic medicines and refer to drugs without the necessary ingredients to treat the disease it is fraudulently purported to treat. Such drugs include anti-malarials, antibiotics and sexual stimulants. But much as the NDA applauds itself on improving controls over counterfeits, the number of Ugandans exposed to counterfeits remains high.

It is estimated that at least 53 percent of the population lives within in a radius of less than five kilometres from a public health facility, with a range of between nine percent in parts near the northern border with Sudan to 100 percent in the capital Kampala. According to the NDA, the country has over 5,000 "drug shops" (small-scale medicine retail outlets) and about 500 registered pharmacies, most of which operate in urban areas.

Sandra Jaclyn Kiapi, a health rights advocate, told IPS that the NDA's work at ports of entry does not mean Uganda is close to being free from counterfeit medicines. "The NDA is mostly Kampala-based. Their capacity is still weak. I think that may be the reason why the NDA was at first overlooked when the Counterfeit Goods Bill was drafted - that is, until civil society intervened," said Kiapi.

Pakistan Poll Finds Widespread Disillusionment

Eli Clifton

WASHINGTON, Jul 29 (IPS) - The recent Wikileaks dump of war-related documents has brought little new to the debate over Washington's ongoing military involvement in Afghanistan, but allegations that Pakistan's intelligence services are aiding the Taliban has brought renewed attention to U.S. concerns over its reliance on Islamabad in battling Taliban and al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan.

New polling data released Thursday appeared to confirm that Pakistanis share the U.S.'s uncertainty about their country's relationship with Washington, while, at the same time, holding unfavourable views of the Taliban and al Qaeda. The poll, conducted in the spring of this year by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, confirms that the U.S.'s overall image in Pakistan remains negative with only 17 percent of respondents having a favourable view of the U.S., 59 percent describing the U.S. as an enemy and only 11 percent viewing the U.S. as a partner.

Al Qaeda and the Taliban also received low marks from Pakistanis. Eighteen percent of Pakistanis viewed al Qaeda favourably, up from nine percent in 2009, and 15 percent view the Taliban favourably, up from 10 percent in 2009. Despite the small increases in public support for al Qaeda and the Taliban, large numbers of Pakistanis continue to express concern over the possibility of extremist groups taking control of their country. Fifty-one percent of respondents were worried about an extremist takeover, but that number has dipped from 69 percent when the same poll was conducted in 2009.

Human Rights Situation Deteriorates in Honduras

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Jul 29 (IPS) - Six months after the inauguration of President Porfirio Lobo, the human rights situation in Honduras continues to deteriorate, according to two major New York-based groups. "Threats and attacks against journalists and the political opposition have fostered a climate of intimidation, while impunity for abuses remains the norm," according to a short report released by Human Rights Watch Thursday.

Such attacks "have had a profound chilling effect on basic freedoms in Honduras," said HRW's Americas director, Jose Miguel Vivanco. "When journalists stop reporting, citizens abandon political activities, and judges fear being fired for their rulings, the building blocks of democratic society are at grave risk," he added. HRW's assessment came two days after the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a 13-page report detailing the murders of seven journalists so far this year.

The report, "Journalist Murders Spotlight Honduran Government Failures", accused the Lobo government of "fostering a climate of lawlessness that is allowing criminals to kill journalists with impunity". The two reports were published on the eve of the release of an assessment by a special commission of the Organisation of American States (OAS) regarding the possible end of Honduras's suspension from the hemispheric group.

Thailand Faces Flak for Backing Mekong Dams

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jul 29 (IPS) - Northern Thai villagers living on Mekong River's banks are poised to join a growing tide of opposition against a planned cascade of 11 dams to be built on the mainstream of South-east Asia's largest body of water. These communities, many of them from the northern Thai province of Chiang Rai, are drafting a petition to be submitted in the coming weeks to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. They see this step as the first in a long battle to protect a riverine culture and livelihood that has come down generations.

The target of the Thai villagers' ire is the Sayaboury dam, to be built across a part of the Mekong that flows through neighbouring Laos. In opposing it, they are coming up against powerful Thai interests behind this dam project. The 1,260-megawatt Sayaboury dam is the one in the most advanced planning stage among the 11 dams, followed by the 360-mw Don Sahong dam, which is also in Laos, where nine of the lower Mekong dams are to be built. Two other dams on the river's mainstream are planned in Cambodia.

The backers of the Sayaboury dam include a Thai-based dam developer, four Thai commercial banks that are reported to have pledged funds for the dam and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), a state utility that signed an agreement in Laos in June to buy power once the new dam's turbines come to life.

Peruvian President Admits Corruption Has Tarnished Government

Ángel Páez

LIMA, Jul 29 (IPS) - In his Independence Day speech in the Peruvian Congress, which was broadcast nationwide, President Alan García admitted that corruption has tarnished his administration, although he lectured the judicial branch for delays in punishing those responsible.

The president, who is entering his fifth and last year in office, mentioned influence peddling in favour of foreign companies seeking oil contracts that was discovered when illegal recordings of wiretapped conversations were aired on television, as well as cases of illegal distribution of land to members of the governing Peruvian Aprista Party (PAP).

Former prime minister Jorge del Castillo, who was also secretary general of the PAP, was implicated in the wiretapping scandal and resigned together with his entire cabinet in 2008. The improper sale of land, meanwhile, led to the resignation in April this year of PAP deputy secretary general Omar Quesada, who was head of COFOPRI, the state agency issuing land titles. Both men were sacked from their leadership positions in the PAP.

Women in Madagascar Form Own Political Parties for Fair Representation

Lova Rabary-Rakotondravony

ANTANANARIVO, Jul 29 (IPS) - Brigitte Rasamoelina and Yvette Sylla are women with two different approaches to politics in Madagascar. One formed a political party, while the other decided to legalise her organisation as an association. But both women are considering running in Madagascar's November elections. But they know that it will not be an easy road. "We'll have to be assertive and prove ourselves," they each confided separately to IPS.

"There are very few women in decision-making bodies" in the Indian Ocean's big island, said Sylla. "Men are not ready to share power," adds Rasamoelina. In Madagascar, the political world is still dominated by men. Of the 32 cabinet members, only five are women. The transition's High Authority, the advisory body set up following Andry Rajoelina's takeover in March 2009, has only three women out of 41 members. Of the 22 regions in the country, none is headed by a woman, while out of more than 1,560 municipalities, only 67 are led by women mayors.

The situation was hardly better under the regime of former President Marc Ravalomanana. Before forming her own party, Rasamoelina was a member of the Tiako i Madagasikara party and had been the elected mayor of a rural community from 2002 to 2007. But during her membership Rasamoelina claims to have always been "rejected in favour of men despite excellent management results in her district."

Cubans Turn to Marriages of Convenience for Citizenship

QUITO, Jul 29 (IPS) - Cuban nationals can be found every day at the busy corner of Amazonas and Naciones Unidas avenues in the Ecuadorean capital, where the National Civil Registry Office is located. Hundreds of weddings between Cubans and Ecuadoreans have taken place in the building. In addition, people from Cuba have to visit the National Civil Registry Office to apply for or renew their national identity document or "cédula", whether as residents or naturalised citizens.

Under Ecuadorean law, foreigners who marry natural-born citizens of this country or who can prove that they have had a stable cohabiting relationship for at least two years with an Ecuadorean citizen can become naturalised citizens. This has given rise to a surge in marriages, many of them marriages of convenience, which end in divorce shortly after the Cuban member of the couple becomes a citizen.

"In the last few weeks, the number of marriages involving Cubans has dropped," a National Civil Registry Office employee who requested anonymity told IPS. "I think they were scared by the reports of forged documents." He was referring to the annulment of 199 marriages, mainly involving Cuban men and Ecuadorean women, as well as the revocation of the national identity documents granted to 170 Cubans. The decision was made by the left-wing government of Rafael Correa after authorities discovered that the weddings and identity cards were based on forged documents.

Foreign Minister Raúl Patiño and the government's Transparency Secretary, Juan Sebastián Roldán, announced the measure on Jun. 30, when they also requested the removal and prosecution of two notary publics in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city.