Fifty years ago, Asian and African leaders launched a movement that aimed to give weaker countries a unified voice in a world becoming dominated by Cold War giants.
As their successors gather this week to commemorate that mission, they face a new reality: some of their number are now among the world's most powerful nations -- and they have spats of their own.
The escalating row between China and Japan is threatening to overshadow a four-day meeting of Asian and African countries in Indonesia to celebrate a similar historic meeting in 1955 that led to the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement.
PHOTO: AFP
The meeting also comes as nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan inch forward in their attempts to resolve their decades-old dispute over Kashmir, as Asian countries struggle to bring North Korea back to negotiations on its nuclear programs, and as Southeast Asian countries press Myanmar for greater democratization.
Indonesia and South Africa, co-hosts of the meeting which starts with senior officials' talks today, say it aims to forge a new strategic partnership between the continents, and that disputes between individual nations will not be discussed.
But officials say Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Although neither China nor Japan became a member of the non-aligned movement, representatives of both nations participated in the original Bandung meeting and their leaders have been invited to the commemorative summit.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was expected to give a speech to the summit tomorrow before holding bilateral talks with several leaders.
More than 80 countries representing more than half the world's population have confirmed their participation at the conference, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said. Nearly 50 heads of state or government will lead delegations, including kings, presidents and prime ministers.
In addition to Koizumi and Hu, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Myanmar's General Than Shwe are expected to attend.
The military government of Myanmar, also know as Burma, is under increasing international pressure to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and grant greater political freedom.
The event will conclude with a ceremonial visit to the city of Bandung, 150km southwest of Jakarta, where the conference that gave rise to non-alignment was held in 1955.
"At Bandung ... we fought against colonialism to be independent. It was about justice," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Tuesday while greeting his South African counterpart, Thabo Mbeki. "Now we are facing the same challenges, it is about global justice, poverty and underdevelopment."
Another significant meeting that could be held on the summit's sidelines is that between North Korea's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong-nam and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan.
Although the South Korean prime minister's office said there were no plans for a meeting, intense diplomatic efforts have been under way to restart international talks seeking to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Annan is expected to brief participants of the Jakarta conference on his plan to overhaul the UN and bring more transparency in what would be the biggest changes in its 60-year history.
Participants representing 4.6 billion people on the two continents are expected to reaffirm the principles enshrined by the 29 signatories of the 1955 Bandung Declaration -- including non-use of force in international relations, sovereignty of nations and self-determination.
The original Asian-African format was later expanded to include European and South American nations, giving rise to the non-aligned movement.
The movement still has 116 members.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
RSS