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WORLD NEWSFriday 3 June 2016

Philippine rebels to discuss peace talks with new governmentÂ

JIM GOMEZ Communist rebel negotiator Fidel Agcaoili gestures during a rare news conference Thursday, claimed by the Philippines.
Associated Press June 2, 2016 at suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines. Agcaoili said communist Agcaoili said the rebels’
MANILA, Philippines (AP) guerrillas will demand an end to US military presence in the Philippines as the insurgents and the demands also include a
— Philippine communist government of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte brace to resume long-stalled peace talks. land reform program that
rebels said Thursday that would free farmers from
long-stalled peace talks (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) decades of poverty and a
could be resumed with the national industrialization ef-
government of incoming also negotiate an end cade after the closure of camps. fort that is not dependent
President Rodrigo Duterte to two Philippine secu- sprawling U.S. military bases The accords have helped on Western governments or
as early as July, and that rity pacts with the United in the country. the U.S. reassert its pres- multinational corporations.
they will demand an end to States, including the 1999 Another pact, the 2014 ence in Asia, which dove- Duterte said earlier this
the U.S. military presence in Visiting Forces Agreement, Enhanced Defense Coop- tails with Philippine hopes week that he will chart an
the country. which allowed American eration Agreement, grants for American help in coun- independent foreign policy
Rebel negotiator Fidel Ag- forces to return to the Phil- American forces, warships tering China’s increasingly for the Philippines “and will
caoili told a rare news con- ippines for largescale com- and fighter jets access assertive claims to areas of not be dependent on the
ference in Manila that the bat exercises nearly a de- to five Philippine military the South China Sea also United States,” the coun-
demand “is non-negotia- try’s longtime treaty ally.
ble.” He said government In another sign of rapport
and rebel negotiators are between Duterte and the
preparing to meet in Eu- rebels, Communist Party
rope this month to discuss of the Philippines founder
the resumption of talks, Jose Maria Sison said in
which have been stalled a video conference with
for years. Manila-based journalists on
Duterte, who takes office Thursday that he will return
June 30, has offered two to the Philippines soon to
Cabinet posts to allies of meet Duterte, his former
the rebels, who in turn have political science student at
freed kidnapped police- a local university.
men to encourage the re- Sison, 77, was detained
sumption of talks. during the dictatorship of
“We have always stood on Ferdinand Marcos but was
the basis of principled self- freed by then President
respect and national sover- Corazon Aquino after Mar-
eignty,” Agcaoili said. “We cos’ 1986 ouster. Sison later
cannot allow the presence went into self-exile with
of U.S. military bases here.” other rebel leaders in the
The rebels, he said, would Netherlands.q

China says Muslim practices to be protected during RamadanÂ

GERRY SHIH spite complaints from rights ence of radical Islam. dismiss criticism of religious events, said James Leibold,
Associated Press groups and others of past However, human rights policies, and Tuergan Pida, a scholar of China’s eth-
BEIJING (AP) — China’s government interference groups and Uighurs in ex- director of Xinjiang’s ethnic nic policy at Australia’s La
government won’t inter- during the religious holiday. ile say restrictions on dress, affairs committee, said at Trobe University.
fere with fasting and other Xinjiang is home to Chi- prayer and fasting dur- the news conference that Leibold cited the sacking
standard religious activities na’s Muslim Uighur minor- ing Ramadan have exac- religious freedoms are at last month of Wang Zhen-
in the traditionally Muslim ity group that is culturally, erbated ethnic tensions, an “unprecedented” high. gwei, the Muslim chairman
region of Xinjiang during religiously and linguistically while government efforts The regional government of the State Ethnic Affairs
the Islamic holy month of distinct from the Chinese to assimilate Uighurs have helped arrange emer- Commission, amid specula-
Ramadan that begins this majority. It has seen waves stoked resentment. gency prayer sites follow- tion that top Chinese lead-
month, officials said Thurs- of violence against civilians President Xi Jinping recent- ing an earthquake during ers opposed the building of
day. in recent years which au- ly stated that members of Ramadan last year, while mosques under his watch.
Restaurants will be allowed thorities have blamed on the ruling Communist Par- Communist Party officials “This illustrates the deep di-
to keep their own hours radicals seeking indepen- ty should be “unyielding ate with religious leaders visions at the top reaches
and authorized activities dence from Beijing. Marxist atheists,” and the to mark the end of the holy of the party over the value
in mosques and private China maintains tight re- state imposes strict rules on month, Pida said. and place of religious and
homes will be legally pro- strictions over Islamic obser- participation in religious by Chinese claims of unprece- ethnic diversity within Chi-
tected, the officials said at vances in the area, in part students, teachers, public dented religious freedom in nese society,” Leibold said
a news conference on reli- to maintain government servants and others. Xinjiang are “deeply ironic by telephone. q
gious policy in Xinjiang, de- control and stem the influ- Chinese officials routinely and troubling” given recent