Asian leaders from Pakistan to Japan have all condemned Israel’s deadly attack on Gaza which began a week ago and has killed about 500 civilians. Reiterating the need for peace in the region, Asia’s leaders publicly called for a ceasefire. Mass protests in Islamic nations Pakistan and Indonesia had demonstrators burning the Israeli flag and asking the government to send in troops.

Calling for an immediate end to the violence, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the AFP - “There should be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We should stop the loss of life and property there. What has happened is unjustified.”

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Thailand’s stock market rose almost three percent closing at 437.06, up 12.27 points, in trade worth 19.48 billion baht (US$560 million) on news that the political deadlock plaguing the country since the past six months was resolved.

As England born Abhisit Vejjajiva head of he opposition Democrat Party was declared the winner in a parliamentary vote, business leaders throughout the country welcomed the decision. The challenge they now feel is for the new political party to form a strong team and improve the economy while keeping society and politics in harmony. Agriculture, small businesses, tourism and labor are the four sectors that need the most government support.

“The faster [the Democrats] are able to restore confidence, the more public support and trust there will be in their team. I want to see the new government pass the 100-billion-baht stimulus package as soon as possible,” Mr Santi Vilassakdanont, the chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) told the Bangkok Post.

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Envoys to the six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme convened for a third day in Beijing today. The crux of their discussions being ways to procure soil and waste samples from North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor while abiding by North Korea’s rule of not allowing international inspectors to the site. The samples procured will determine how much weapons-grade plutonium is produced in Yongbyon.

The talks through which the six nations have been unable to reach a consensus for five years now aim at agreeing on a process to satisfy all sides that Pyongyang is fully complying with a multilateral disarmament-for-aid deal signed early last year. North Korea — which tested a nuclear bomb in 2006 — agreed last year to disable its main reactor in exchange for aid. Last October U.S. officials also said that North Korea had agreed to allow experts to take samples and conduct forensic tests at all of its declared nuclear facilities and undeclared sites.

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The thousands of anti government protesters occupying Suvarnabhumi International Airport Thailand’s main tourist gateway, since the past eight days, roared in happiness when they heard the court ruling banning Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years and dissolved the ruling party over a case of voting fraud. Mr. Somchai’s People Power Party is Thailand’s largest party in Parliament and he was Thailand’s third prime minister this year.

With news of the turn around, the Thai baht edged up against the dollar and the stock market rose as optimism spread.

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Global issues such as the economic downturn were traditionally dealt with within the G7 or G8, within strong, wealthy countries who had the ability to bail the rest of the world out. Well, in the last few years, the tables have turned and its now stalwart, energy rich emerging countries such as China and India that the world is looking to. In fact, the International Monetary Fund has approached Asian nations Japan and China to contribute substantially to the bailout fund, aimed at helping lesser developed countries out of the financial crisis.

At the recently concluded G20 summit in Washington, the global community made a clear resolve to broad base the decision-making structures of international finance to include major emerging markets like India and China. A clear signal that emerging Asia has arrived on the global political and economic stage. (more…)

Thaksin Shinawatra, the deposed Thai Prime Minister facing corruption charges and an imposed two year jail sentence in his own country, has arrived in Beijing following a decision by the British authorities to revoke his visa. Thaksin has been in the UK seeking political asylum since the coup that saw him deposed. His British visa was revoked as soon as he left the UK on a business trip, further confirming concerns that his asylum request was based more on avoidance of corruption charges than political differences.

Thaksin, who earlier in the year had purchased Manchester City football club, was forced to sell it to an Arabic consortium after the bulk of his assets were frozen by Thai prosecutors. Passing by China was originally a stop over en route to the Philippines, were he has also applied for asylum, a move that the Philippine government has said would be rejected if requested. This leaves Thaksin holed up in Beijing until he can find an alternative sanctuary or is unable to renew his Chinese visa.

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Asian markets rebounded optimistically on Wednesday as news of Obama’s victory resounded across the continent. The Nikkei climbed nearly 4.5 percent by the closing bell, while the Hang Seng shot 5.7 per cent, or 812.53 points, higher. The Shanghai exchange jumped more than 4 per cent, and the Korean Kospi finished 2.4 percent higher. Singapore’s Straits Times index progressed by 2.1 percent. The only two markets to fall yesterday were Taiwan’s Taiex index which dropped 0.3 percent and the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex index which fell by 4.8 percent on Wednesday, to 10,120.01, snapping a five-day gain.

The markets however might not echo the skepticism of Asian governments. Most East Asian governments are weary of Obama’s protectionist trade policies as well as tougher environmental and labor regulations.

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Off the Southeastern coast of India, nestled amongst azure lagoons and coral atolls, the Maldives, recently witnessed their greatest political change in decades. Asia’s longest-serving ruler, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom conceded defeat to his rival, 41-year-old Mohamed Nasheed in the island nation’s first presidential election.

Nasheed, who was imprisoned more than a dozen times by the quasi dictator Gayoom, won 54 percent of the votes, wiping out Gayoom’s 30 year regin on the archipelago nation. In his acceptance speech later, Nasheed, also dubbed by his party as the “Mandela of the Maldives”, told the Independent: “I wish to assure the public and the international community that the transition to democracy in the Maldives will be smooth and uninterrupted in governance. We would want to introduce greater democracy. More freedoms. Freedom of expression.”

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Bilateral trade may dispense with the U.S. dollar and revert to RMB and rubles

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China is in Moscow holding talks with his counterpart Vladimir Putin over plans to grant an immediate loan to Russian oil companies in return for guaranteed exports to China for the next twenty years. The amounts are expected to be in the region of an immediate US$20-30 billion loan, with supplies worth two billion barrels a year going to China for the next two decades.

Russia and China have already expressed a desire to greater integrate their two economies, and the proposed deal comes at a time when Russia’s relationships with the EU are strained. It also indicates another signal that global power is shifting in deal making processes away from the United States and towards the cash rich economies of China and Japan, both of whom, unlike America, posses enormous cash reserves. (more…)

FDI into Thailand dropped by as much as a third during 2007 from 2006’s figures of US$9.6billion, and will struggle to reach US$3 billion for 2008, according to figures released by the Thai Finance Ministry. While much of Asia continues to boom, Thailand’s political problems continue to dampen investor interest in the country.

Thailand’s political problems have now become so acute that the government has been ousted from its own government house in Bangkok by protestors against the regime, and is now running the country holed up in executive suites at the old Don Muang International Airport. Quite how Thailand got itself into this position is a long and tortuous story. What should be a wealthy, attractive destination and a key regional business and transportation hub is fast turning into an Asian basket case. (more…)