JAPAN

JAPAN
Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo: The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum held in Hanoi this year gathered attention because of an idea by the United States to create a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. . . . The United States is actively seeking the FTAAP plan, and behind its eagerness one can easily see its intent to build a secure foothold in the economic framework of the Asian region that is expected to continue to grow exponentially. Until now, the move toward economic collaboration within the Asian region has been spearheaded by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations together with Japan, China and South Korea, namely ASEAN-plus-three. In that sense, the U.S. proposal for the FTAAP can be seen as a counterattack by the United States. Enhanced free trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region would be greatly beneficial for Japan. We should actively take part in the FTAAP proposal, but we need to be wary about the power-game aspect of it. The FTAAP is, in one sense, a plan to gain control of the Asian market.
Asia needs to prove that it is not excluding the United States in any way by positively considering the FTAAP proposal. At the same time, the move toward the creation of an East Asian Community must not be stunted in any way.
LEBANON
The Daily Star, Beirut, Lebanon: There is no such thing as a routine political killing, but Tuesday's assassination of Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel threatens repercussions -- and signals intentions -- that are nothing short of extraordinary. With the Lebanese political climate already fouled by soaring tensions, the timing alone indicates that the people who orchestrated the attack are both ruthless and reckless. The choice of victim is also an act of historical blackmail, resurrecting as it does some key ghosts of the 1975-1990 Civil War: A 1980 car-bombing killed the 2-year-old daughter of his uncle, then-Lebanese Forces leader Bashir Gemayel; another blast killed Bashir himself after he became president-elect in 1982. The assailants' identities and immediate demands are unknown, but their message is clear: They will bring the country to -- and possibly beyond -- the brink of disaster to get their way.
There must be no surrender to either the demands of a shadowy enemy or the temptation to take revenge on him by targeting innocents with no connection to the crime. Those who truly want Lebanon to change for the better understand that this cannot happen unless they unequivocally endorse due process and the rule of law -- especially on occasions when it is cruelly difficult to do so.
... All Lebanese should be thankful, therefore, for the reaction of the slain minister's father, former President Amin Gemayel. Acknowledging the latest tragedy to befall his family, he stressed instead the greater peril facing the country if cooler heads do not prevail. He warned against rash responses to the crime and emphasized that his relatives have died for the sake of Lebanon's freedom and security. This is no time to evaluate the means they employed to achieve those ends, only to note the act of supreme will it must have taken for the former president to speak in such conciliatory tones on so terrible a day. If he could put his country and his people above all other concerns in these circumstances, surely others on both sides of the current crisis can summon the courage, the decency and the wisdom to do the same.
BRITAIN
The Independent, London: Despite its long-standing reputation as a European outpost of tolerance, the Netherlands has become a distinctly less liberal place in recent years. Since the murder of the anti-immigration activist Pim Fortuyn in 2002, issues of immigration -- in particular Muslim immigration -- have dominated Dutch politics. Up until last weekend, it seemed as if the present election campaign was about to break this depressing trend. The focus of the debate between the main Dutch parties had been the performance of the economy. But then -- at the last minute -- the outgoing government proposed a ban on the wearing of the burqa and other face veils in public places. Islam was once again on the agenda.
The timing of this move exposed a cynically transparent attempt to shift the campaign on to more comfortable terrain for the ruling party. It looks likely to pay off, too. If the polls are accurate, the Christian Democrats, led by Jan Peter Balkenende, will emerge as the strongest party after today's general election, although protracted negotiations before a coalition government can be formed are still likely.
The ban on burqas is foolish. This garment is worn by a tiny minority of the country's Muslim women, hardly suggesting a pressing social problem. But even more foolish is the decision of the immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, to justify the decision & quot;on security grounds & quot;, irresponsibly linking Muslim dress with terrorism.