Burmese, Egyptian Journalists Win ICFJ Awards

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) has named Burmese reporter May Thingyan Hein as one of two Knight International Journalism Award winners.  The other is Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas.   They will be honored along with Founders Award winner and former NPC anchorman Tom Brokaw at the Washington-based ICFJ annual awards dinner November 13.  The dinner will also feature Bob Woodruff  and George Stephanopolous, both of ABC News.  Miss Hein, ICFJ said, “stands out for her coverage of controversial topics such as corruption” in the military junta that rules Burma.  She is a freelance journalist for several publications and specializes in investigative stories in a country where journalists are expected to submit their reports in advance to officials for clearance—or quashing.  Her breaking coverage of the spread of bird flu into Burma, the center said, forced authorities to acknowledge the epidemic.  Both Miss Hein and Mr. Abbas, ICFJ president Joyce Barnathan said, “are blazing the path in their countries with extremely bold coverage.  We want to honor them for exposing issues no one else will cover and encourage others to follow” their examples.

U.S. Urged to Win Space Race with China

Although it is often argued that China’s recent antisatellite weapon test was “a protest against U.S. space policies,” writes Ashley Tellis of Washington’s Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “Beijing’s counterspace programs are actually a part of a considered strategy designed to counter the overall military strategy of the United States.”  In Carnegie Policy Brief 51, Mr. Tellis, a specialist in Asian security affairs,  writes that, “In preparing to cope with America’s overwhelming conventional might, China has taken aim at its ‘Achilles heel’: its space-based capabilities and their related ground installations.”  Thus, Tellis says, China will continue to invest in what he calls “space-denial” technology rather than be party to any “space-control” agreement that eliminates its best chance of asymmetrically defeating U.S. military power.  Tellis says the U.S., “with its dominance of space now at risk…must run and win this offense/defense space race if it is to uphold its security obligations and deter increased Chinese counterspace efforts.”

U.S.-Uzbek Chamber of Commerce Holds Annual Meet in D.C.

At the11th annual conference of the American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce, AUCC president James Cornell noted that in the 14-year history of the organization, one of its major accomplishments was, in 1996, “bringing about the first meeting between an American and an Uzbek president.  At the meeting, hosted by Uzbek Ambassador Abdulaziz Kamilov in the Uzbek embassy, the Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Elyor Ganiev, reminded the audience of businessmen, diplomats, journalists and others of some of the other accomplishments of AUCC.  They included, Mr. Ganiev said, facilitating the first U.S. congressional delegation visit in 1997, and contributing to the negotiation, and early signing of, a U.S.-Uzbek bilateral trade agreement.  The Washington conference included panel discussions of what were called “new and very promising” investment opportunities in the fields of regional broadband network and biotechnology. 

S. Korea Envoy Visits, Thanks ‘Indispensable’ U.S. Vets

The South Korean ambassador to the U.S. wants Americans to know his country has not forgotten what theirs did for them a half century-plus ago.  Ambassador Lee Tae-sik has criss-crossed the nation to “meet with the aging warriors who helped save his country when communist North Korea attacked” in l951, reports Washington Times “Embassy Row” columnist James Morrison.  Mr. Lee has visited U.S. Korean War veterans in Montana, Utah, Illinois and other states.  He has met with more than 600 vets and wants to raise that total to at least with 1000 by year’s end.  The ambassador gives each vet he meets a cell phone donated by the South Korean electronics company Samsung.  “These are gifts from the bottom of my heart,” Morrison quoted Mr. Lee as saying.  But, he adds, they are “a small token of friendship, because these veterans are the indispensable ones.”

Taiwan Observers Debate Country’s National Security

At a recent Wilson Center Asia Program event, speakers presented differing points of view on Taiwan’s national security needs.  Thomas Bickford of the CNA Corporation said the country needs to do more to improve its security.  The RAND Corporation’s Elizabeth Hague said the “institutional weaknesses” of Taiwan’s relatively new democracy have impeded consensus when national security issues have been debated.  Vincent Wei-cheng of the University of Richmond explored how “questions of identity” exacerbate divisions over national security, especially threat perceptions.  And the Congressional Research Service’s Shirley Kan said such debates have had—and may continue to have—on relations with the U.S. 

Ex-S. Korea President Sees ‘Glimmer of Peace’ on Peninsula

Former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, speaking at a National Press Club “Newsmaker”, said he “sincerely appreciates and welcomes” the recent decision of President George W. Bush to “discard the past ineffective policy (toward North Korea) in a decisive manner and accept an appropriate solution to the North Korean nuclear issue.”  Mr. Kim, who was president from l998 to 2003, also said his country is completely opposed to the possession of nuclear arms by the North” and that he believes “all negotiations concerning the North Korean nuclear issue can be successfully concluded before President Bush leaves office.”  The 83-yeara-old Kim also said, “Unless Pyongyang gives up its nuclear capability, there cannot be a fundamental improvement in inter-Korean relations.”  But, he added, the six-party talks on Korean issues are “headed in the direction of success” and “we can see a glimmer of peace on the Korean Peninsula.”