Financial security in Asia Pacific

Vannarith Chheang, EWC-APLP 2008-2009

When I am writing this short paper, many people are panic by the current financial crisis in the United States and its impacts on the global financial markets. US Presidential debates are overwhelmed by this crisis. The US government quickly intervenes into rescuing the Wall Street. The bailout is discussed and approved by the US congress after failed first time attempt.

Asia Pacific has experienced two big financial crisis, Asian financial crisis in 1997-8 and US and global financial crisis in 2008. Learning from the Asian financial crisis, the US started its own version of financial solution by quickly identify the issues and intervene. Is it crony capitalism? Yes it is. The government uses the taxed money from the whole population to help few big financial companies. Millions of American middle and low classes are living in difficulties and without health insurances. Do financial crisis really hurt the poor? Well not really, but it is a rule of the game. The state needs to maintain its power/institution/power through financial stability.

Since long time the West believes in laissez fair/free trade and market economy with less state intervention. Liberation of economic system and let the market determines equilibrium by itself. Productive and perfect equilibrium exist the market mechanism so it is no need to intervene by outside forces. Are these believes true? Not quite. Now we see the tendency towards a stronger role played by the sate to deal with market troubles. Developmental states model from the East Asian region could be reinvigorated and learned by other parts of the world. The globalization now reaches the point where strong institution is necessary. In addition, regional and global institution must prove more effective and collectively response to the crisis. Governance is the core concern here.

Besides the role of the state, in order to have financial security in the future, we need to balance between tangible and intangible economy. Tangible economy comprises real products and process of manufacturing and supply chains of goods. Intangible economy is financial services which could not be seen but powerful. If we let the intangible economy goes much faster than real economy for instance the case of the US then it is hard to avoid financial crisis/collapse. Restructure economic system would be necessary to reduce risks.

environment and human health

Environment and human health :

landscape, land cover, land use and vector-borne diseases

Sophie O. Vanwambeke

Over the past decades, numerous infectious diseases have emerged and re-emerged, a number of which are vector-borne diseases. The increasing incidence of these diseases has been attributed to a complex constellation of factors, but socio-economic and environmental are among the most important. The emergence of vector-borne diseases has been documented through wide areas of the globe: tropical regions continue to suffer from old scourges such as malaria, but also face increasing threats from the mosquito-borne dengue. Temperate areas are also dealing with this issue, e.g. Europe, where tick-borne diseases persist and have increased as a public health problem. The main focus of the research is the quantitative investigation of links between the environment and human health. The approach emphasizes the integration of landscape in vector-borne diseases transmission, as a vector habitat, and as the place of human activities. Examples will include mosquito-borne diseases in Thailand and tick-borne diseases in continental Europe.

Sophie O. Vanwambeke

Assistant professor

Department of Geography

University of Louvain (UCL), Belgium

Visiting researcher in Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases, John A. Burns School of Medicine, UH

Sophie.vanwambeke@uclouvain.be

First fire exchange between Cambodia and Thailand

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- Soldiers from both Cambodia and Thailand were wounded Friday in a brief clash along their volatile border, officials from the two countries said.

A Cambodian soldier is shown at the Preah Vihear temple in late July.

Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said a Cambodian soldier was slightly wounded when Thai troops fired a grenade from their territory. He said Cambodian troops returned fire, with the "military incident" lasting less than a minute.

Thai officials initially denied knowledge of the incident, but a Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman later said Cambodian troops had encroached on Thai territory and had been the first to fire, wounding two Thai troops.

Tensions along the normally peaceful border between Cambodia and Thailand flared on July 15 after UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency, approved Cambodia's application to have a disputed 11th century temple named a World Heritage Site. Friday's clash took place about two miles (three kilometers) west of the temple, Preah Vihear.

A spokesman for Cambodia's Cabinet, Phay Siphan, said the incident began after Cambodian troops intercepted a trespassing Thai patrol. He said the Thai troops retreated in response to a warning from the Cambodians, but then fired the grenade.

Cambodian troops returned fire with AK-47 assault rifles, with the exchange of fire lasting three to five minutes, he said.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said Friday evening that the Thai troops had been patrolling in their own territory when they encountered the Cambodian soldiers.

"The Cambodian troops shot at the Thai troops first, wounding two soldiers. One Cambodian soldier was also wounded after the Thais responded," he said.

Lt. Gen. Wiboonsak Ngeepan, the regional army commander for northeastern Thailand, said it was unclear if the Cambodians intruded intentionally or had strayed into Thailand because "the area is dense forest."

Both countries have long claimed Preah Vihear, but the World Court awarded it to Cambodia in 1962.

After UNESCO approved the temple's listing as a World Heritage Site, Thailand sent troops to occupy the nearby Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda, also claimed by Cambodia.

Cambodia responded with its own troop deployment. The two sides came close to a shootout on July 17 when Cambodian monks sought to celebrate Buddhist lent in the pagoda.

Troops on both sides raised their weapons, but no shots were fired, and the Cambodians eventually backed down.

Since then there has been a limited troop withdrawal from the area, and talks have been held several times on resolving the conflicting claims, but without much progress.

Before Friday's clash was reported, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh told reporters that he and Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat would travel to Cambodia on Oct. 13 to discuss the border issue with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen