• Bahrain for Ties with Kerala in Healthcare
• Japan Backs India's Claim for Permanent Seat in UN Council
• China puts Sikkim in India Map as India Forgets Tibet
• Malaysia Backs India for Commonwealth Post

• China Confirms Backing India on UN Seat
• Greater Role for India in UN: China
• India Should Play a Bigger Role at UN: China

The Kingdom of Bahrain would like to work jointly with Kerala in the fields of healthcare and information technology. The visiting Deputy Health Minister from the kingdom, Dr Abdul Aziz Hamza, stated this here. He is here on an invitation from the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), a major healthcare service provider based here. Talking to newspersons, Dr Hamza said he had the highest regard for the standards that Kerala had achieved in the field of healthcare and information technology. He viewed the State as a destination with high potential for medical tourism. The kingdom would explore with great interest the scope for a mutual exchange programme in which medical students and paramedics could be sent here for training. According to Dr M.I. Sahadullah, Chairperson and Managing Director, KIMS, the hospital already had a centre in Bahrain, which could be used as a conduit for sending in those who needed to undergo advanced training. On the other hand, healthcare teams from various specialities the hospital could visit Bahrain and conduct medical camps there. Bahrain has good medical infrastructure, but it can do with better medical skills and expertise. Kerala could help achieve this, especially in fields such as plastic surgery, paediatric cardiac surgery, cochlear implants and joint replacement surgery. Hospital information systems is another area with scope for cooperation. He held discussions with Hindustan Latex on the possibility of outsourcing blood bags, surgical gloves and disposables.

Courtesy: www.thehindubusinessline.com, April 25, 2005

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What India said on Monday was confirmed by China on Tuesday. On Monday, the Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, told presspersons that the Chinese side would be happy to see India obtain a berth in the United Nations' Security Council. Since this "support" did not figure explicitly in the joint statement, doubts were raised in sections of the press that India was "over-interpreting" the point made during the talks between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Wen Jiabao. On Tuesday, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency, however, explicitly confirmed what the Foreign Secretary had said the previous day. "Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here on Tuesday China supports India's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council ... He [Mr. Wen] said he had conveyed the support to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during their talks here," said the New Delhi-datelined Xinhua report. Senior officials said here on Wednesday that the Chinese side had conveyed to the Indians that the whole process of United Nations' reforms remained uncertain and that they had problems with Japan's candidature. Briefing presspersons on Monday, the Foreign Secretary said: "On the issue of India's candidature for the U.N. Security Council, every indication was given during the talks that China would welcome India's emergence as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. So, we have every reason to be quite satisfied with the results of the visit."

Courtesy: The Hindu, April 15, 2005

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Ahead of his state visit to India this month end, Japanese Prime Minister Juni Chiro Koizumi stressed on the need to reform United Nations and supported New Delhi's view that the two Asian countries be made permanent members of the UN Security Council. "United Nations is needed to be reformed so that India and Japan become permanent members of Security Council," Koizumi said during his 40-minute meeting with visiting Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath. Koizumi, who had detailed discussions with Nath, said India and Japan, as two important Asian nations, could do a lot for world trade and development.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, April 15, 2005

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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao termed his four-day India visit as a "historic" one, but on India's candidature for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, did not go beyond stating that his country supported India's aspirations to play a "bigger role" in the world body. Foreign secretary Shyam Saran reporting "forward movement" on China's stand for India's claim for the permanent membership of the UNSC. He said on Monday that China had conveyed that it would be "happy" to see India as a permanent member of the UNSC. At a press conference here, Mr Wen, however, stopped short of saying the words New Delhi has been waiting to hear. It could have been the first categorical statement from China during Mr Wen's visit about his country's support for India's efforts for the UNSC membership. He however, stuck to the formulation in the joint statement he had signed with Mr Singh yesterday. "China recognises the important role of India in world affairs. India is a very populous and developing country and it is also an important developing country. We fully understand and support the Indian aspiration to play an even bigger role in the international affairs including the United Nations," he said in reply to a question on India's claim for the UNSC seat. The reply was left open to interpretations. It could be positive, compared to how he had just dismissed Japan's (part of the G-4) aspirations for the UNSC seat. He seemed non-committal compared to Mr Saran's comments on China's stand on the matter on Monday. At the conference, Mr Wen also said India and China could convert the boundary between them into a zone of peace and prosperity if they demonstrated sincerity and patience in resolving the boundary question. Winding up his four nation tour, he said that China has signed as many as 50 bilateral cooperation documents, with the countries. The Chinese leader pointed three major results were the joint statement under which the two countries established an strategic and cooperative partnership. The two sides had also signed the very first political document outlining guiding principles for a settlement of the boundary question.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, April 13, 2005

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China on Monday put an end to the 30-year-old controversy when it handed over an official map, which clearly indicated Sikkim as an integral part of India. On its part, India reciprocated by recognising the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) as part of Chinese territory and declared not to allow Tibetans to engage in anti-China political activities on its soil. While officially stating their position, the Chinese told the Indian side that Sikkim "is no longer an issue in India-China relations. We have put it behind us''. The joint statement signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao clearly put Sikkim as a state of the Republic of India. The give and take on Sikkim and Tibet, in fact, is something which has characterised Sino-Indian relationship for some time now. The Chinese leadership understood New Delhi's anxiety for a more specific pronouncement on Sikkim, even though it did favour a gradual change in its state position from the very beginning. In '03, when the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Beijing, China had agreed that Sikkim had "ceased to be an issue'' between the two countries. The visit had also led to the two countries agreeing upon opening up a border trade point through Nathula in Sikkim. This move had come to be interpreted by New Delhi as a clear sign of Beijing accepting that Sikkim was an integral part of India. However, the Chinese, when questioned had maintained that such issues could not be resolved "overnight" raising doubts here.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, April 12, 2005

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Ahead of Premier Wen Jiabao's visit, China today said it wants the border with India to become a bridge for friendship and like to see New Delhi play a "bigger role" at the UN and its Security Council. It, however, remained non-committal on backing India's bid for permanent membership with full veto rights. "We would like to see India play a bigger role at the UN as well as the security council," Chinese Ambassador Sun Yuxi told reporters here in the run-up to Wen's first-ever official four-day visit to India from April 9. On whether China supported India's claim for permanent membership with full veto rights, he said, "People in the UN are now discussing it... There are many different ideas... I don't want to make any specific remark on that... I don't want to influence it in any way." On the vexed boundary issue, he said, "There could be some political parameters and guiding principles to be settled during this visit" but did not elaborate.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, April 02, 2005

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Presiding officers of both Houses of Malaysian Parliament have extended unconditional support to India's candidature for the post of Chairman, Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. The assurance was given to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, today when he met them in Kuala Lumpur and sought their support for the candidature of Hashim Abdul Halim, Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly, for the post. Mr. Chatterjee who is on his way to Manila, the Philippines, to attend the 112th assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union today stopped over at Kuala Lumpur to mobilise support from the presiding officers of the legislative bodies in Malaysia for the election of Mr. Halim. Malaysia has a total of 16 votes in the CPA. The President of the Senate of the Malaysian Parliament, Abdul Hamid Pawanteh, told Mr. Chatterjee that the candidature of Mr. Halim, who has over two decades of experience as Speaker, deserved the support of everyone on the basis of merit. The Speaker of the Malaysian House of Representatives, Di Raja Ramli Ngah Talib, also gave a similar assurance to Mr. Chatterjee. India being the world's largest democracy surely deserved the post, Mr. Talib said, according to the Lok Sabha secretariat here.

Courtesy: The Hindu, April 02, 2005

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