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BBCMon News Diary 8 - 18 Dec 2005 - Asia-Pacific/South Asia

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 December 2005, 15:00 CST

Any queries, please call Planning on 0186236 (internal), +44 (0)118 9486236 (external)

ASIA-PACIFIC

6-11

SOUTH KOREA: Saudi Commander of Land Forces Lt-Gen Husayn Bin- Abdallah Al-Qubayl visits for talks on military cooperation, ties between two countries' defence industries; to meet Defence Minister Yoon Kwang-ung, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Rhee Sang-hee, visit major munitions firms (South Korean news agency Yonhap)

7-8

CHINA/SLOVAKIA: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits from France; meets President Ivan Gasparovic, counterpart Mikulas Dzurinda (7) for talks on trade and cooperation with EU; also meets speaker Pavol Hrusovsky; first visit by a Chinese premier since Slovakia established as state in 1993; also due in Czech Republic, Portugal (Slovak sources)

7-11

AUSTRALIA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits from New Zealand in what is first visit by a Turkish premier to Australia; visit is focused on security and international issues, including efforts to fight international terrorism, reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan; Erdogan due in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney (Regional sources)

8

TONGA: National Committee for Political Reform members led by 'Akilisi Pohiva present proposals for constitutional reform to palace (Tongan magazine Matangi Tonga)

8-9

CHINA/CZECH REPUBLIC: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits as part of regional tour that started on 4th, meets President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek; expected to sign agreements on double taxation and investment; trip also takes in France, Portugal, Slovakia (Czech news agency CTK)

8-9

KOREAS: New round of video-link family reunions between North and South Korea (South Korean news agency Yonhap)

8-10

JAPAN: Jordan's King Abdallah visits; meets Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Emperor Akihito (Japanese news agency Kyodo)

8-10

SOUTH KOREA: North Korea human rights forum takes place in Seoul; up to 900 activists from around the world expected to attend various events including a symposium, concerts and photo displays (South Korean news agency Yonhap)

8-15

ASIA-PACIFIC: South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on regional tour; visits Malaysia, where signs business cooperation agreements; attends first East Asian Summit in Kuala Lumpur (14); goes on to Philippines (14-15), meets President Gloria Arroyo (South Korean news agency Yonhap)

8-21

ASIA-PACIFIC: Indonesian navy holds "biggest-ever" exercise near oil and gas-rich area of Ambalat, which is disputed with Malaysia; exercise involves 40 warships and over 5,000 personnel, who are, in particular, to practice taking control of an island (Regional sources)

9

EAST TIMOR: Contingent of 10 police officers leaves to join UN peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (Radio Australia)

9

INDONESIA: ASEAN (Association for Southeast Asian Nations) health officials' meeting opens; bird flu top of agenda (Indonesian TV)

10

GLOBAL: UN's International Human Rights Day (BBC Monitoring)

10

HONG KONG: Pro-democracy legislators march in support of call for Chief Executive Donald Tsang to withdraw his political reform package; follows march on 4 December of tens of thousands of people calling for full democracy (Hong Kong radio RTHK)

11-13

CHINA: Jordan's King Abdallah II visits from Japan for talks with President Hu Jintao and other senior officials; offers his condolences over deaths of three Chinese nationals in Amman bombings on 9 November; goes on to Thailand (Egyptian news agency MENA)

12

TAIWAN: Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong meet to discuss merging the two parties (Taiwanese Central News Agency)

12-14

CHINA: Opposition Democratic Party of Japan leader Seiji Maehara visits in bid to help mend ties with Asian neighbours angered by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine (Japanese news agency Kyodo)

12-14

MALAYSIA: ASEAN holds 11th summit meeting; inaugural East Asia summit takes place on 14th, involving the 10 ASEAN members along with China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand; aims to foster more regional economic cooperation (Japanese news agency Kyodo)

12-14

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Indonesian Home Affairs Minister Oaji Mohammad Ma'ruf leads 50-strong delegation for annual Joint Border Committee meeting in Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea newspaper The National)

13-14

MALAYSIA: Russian President Vladimir Putin visits; attends first Russia-ASEAN summit and East Asia summit (Russian news agency ITAR- TASS)

13-18

HONG KONG: WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong; aims to forge agreement on Doha round of trade liberalization (Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post)

14

JAPAN: Expiry of mandate of Japanese reconstruction mission in Iraq; government plan to extend until 14 December 2006 - with possibility of withdrawal of troops before then - expected to be approved on 8 December (Japanese news agency Kyodo)

15

THAILAND: Military operation "D-Day" begins in three southernmost provinces following sustained campaign of violence by Muslim insurgents; settlements suspected of sheltering insurgents to be searched in hope of finding rebel leaders; army, navy, air force and marines involved (Thai newspaper Bangkok Post)

15-17

MALAYSIA: Perdana Global Peace Forum in Kuala Lumpur; Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak among key speakers, along with British MP George Galloway, former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke (Malaysian newspaper The Star)

19

SOUTH KOREA: TENTATIVE Informal meeting of chief delegates to six- nation talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions on resort island of Cheju (Japanese news agency Kyodo)

SOUTH ASIA

6-10

SOUTH ASIA: Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer visits Indonesia, Malaysia to discuss counter-terrorism, free trade, other regional issues (Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)

8

SRI LANKA: Government presents new budget to parliament (Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation website)

10

NEPAL: Mass protest rally planned by NGO umbrella group Federation of Nepal against government's new "code of conduct", which restricts the activities of NGOs; coincides with International Human Rights Day and comes as part of series of protests which culminate with planned sit-in in front of district administration offices on 16th (Nepalese website Nepalnews)

11 and 13

SOUTH ASIA: Trial run of Amritsar-Lahore bus service, which is due to launch later in month; postponed from 16 October in wake of destruction caused by 8 October earthquake in Pakistan and India; service is third link established as part of "bus diplomacy" between both countries (Indian news agency PTI)

16-18

INDIA: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse visits for talks on his government's plans to resume peace talks with Tamil Tigers; Rajapakse was elected president, succeeding Chandrika Kumaratunga, in elections held on 17 November (regional sources)

Sources and trailers as available; inclusion of items does not necessarily mean that BBC Monitoring will file on them.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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