1. CHINA

1. CHINA

China Daily, Beijing, March 10: The message from Yi Gang, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, is noteworthy in that China’s foreign exchange policy mainly aims to facilitate trade, cross-border investments and economic exchanges as the country opens up more to other nations.

Both advocates for and opponents against revaluation of the Chinese currency should reconsider their stances in view of this important function of China’s $2.4 trillion foreign reserves. Management of the world’s largest sum of forex reserves is closely watched, especially amid the global recession.

Yi, a central bank vice-governor, reaffirmed that China will keep the exchange rate of the renminbi at a reasonable and balanced level. That remark may be not enough to disperse recent speculations on revaluation of the yuan.

2 JAPAN

The Japan Times, Tokyo, March 9: Cluster munitions rank among the most ghastly weapons of war commonly found in arsenals around the world. Dropped from the air or launched from the ground, they explode in mid-air and release as many as 2,000 submunitions that carpet-bomb targeted areas.

An international treaty that includes prohibitions on the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster bombs, the U.N. Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted by 107 nations, including Japan and will enter into force Aug. 1.

While this is a monumental achievement, much work remains to be done to eradicate the scourge of cluster bombs. The treaty binds only those who have ratified it, and some of the world’s biggest military powers — including China, Russia and the U.S. — have refused to sign. Other lesser powers also refused to get on board.

2. SAUDI ARABIA

Arab News, Riyadh, March 10: How can Arabs trust the U.S. when it blatantly supports Israeli positions? Even a U.S. president as smart as Barack Obama does not seem to get it. He has sent his Vice President Joe Biden on a Middle-East trip with the same old blinkered message for the Israelis, which immediately causes suspicion and anxiety in the Arab world.

A grinning Biden stood beside Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of their talks and promised that Washington was committed to the security of Israel and determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Biden, however, did not bother to say anything about the security of the Palestinian people.