UCLA Asia Institute

A Second Sampling of Asian Comment 
on the Sept. 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack on the United States 

the initial sampling, prepared September 13, 2001

China || Hong Kong || India || Japan || Pakistan || South Korea || Taiwan

CEAS

You may wish to see how some people are remembering those killed or injured in the attack. Some of the pictures "George" has collected pictures are from Asia.

China

China Daily (state run English daily, published in Beijing with overseas editions published in several cities including New York) 

On Sept. 16, the paper reported that Chinese leaders had spoken against terrorism and pledged cooperation with the U.S. in opposing terrorism. Foreign Minister Qian Qichen was quoted as telling U.S. Sec. of State Colin Powell, "We have constantly opposed any kind of terrorism and we believe that the fight against terrorism needs the co-operation of the international community." The paper noted that Vice FM Wang Guangya had earlier said that "Beijing wanted to be consulted before Washington retaliated."

Some Western news agencies have reported that China has links to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. (See Sept. 13 note in Washington Post ) On Sept. 16, the paper reported that China's foreign ministry had labelled these reports "absurd." "'Foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said on Saturday that claims Chinese diplomats paid regular visits to Kabul and that one Chinese firm had helped build a telephone network "were at serious variance with the facts.'" The spokesman said that China had closed its embassy in Kabul in 1993, but was working to promote peace among Afghanistan's factions: "'China has no selfish interests on the Afghan issue. What China has done is mainly to persuade different factions in Afghanistan to make peace, and we will never interfere in its internal affairs.'" (Renmin Ribao has a longer version of the same story.)

China News Net (多维新闻) (Internet news portal, links to Chinese and other news services and to a variety of government websites)

A Sept. 14 story reported on a survey conducted by the Chinese Social Investigation Center (中国社会调查事务所). The Center surveyed 1,450 people in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Changsha and other cities. The results were:

98% felt sympathy towards Americans, but many agreed that "while unexpected, [the attack] was within reason" (意料之外，情理之中), suggesting that given American international policies and practices, such responses could be anticipated.

73% of those surveyed linked the increasing scale of terrorist action to America's unilateral foreign policy.

80% said America's unilateral hegemonic policy was a "paper tiger" (纸老虎). 

Jiefang Ribao ( 解放日报 Liberation Daily, state run newspaper, published in Shanghai)

Xinhua, the official state news agency, drew on CNN for a Sept. 17 report on the plans of some in the U.S. congress to consider changing the laws governing U.S. intelligence gathering and covert operations. Among the issues to be considered is the ban on assassinations. (Zhongguo Qingnianbao (中国青年报 China Youth News), like other state papers, carried the story as well.)

Nanfang Ribao (南方日报 Southern Daily, published in Guangzhou)

The top story for the newspaper on Sept. 12 was President Jiang Zemin's Olympic torch lighting. A report on the attack on the U.S. was the fifth story listed, though a picture of the burning World Trade Center was prominently featured. The terrorist attack story, was the top international story listed. The story was short and included the text of Pres. Jiang's message to U.S. Pres. Bush: "The Chinese government condemns and opposes all violent terrorist activities." (中国政府一贯谴责和反对一切恐怖主义的暴力活动.)

Renmin Ribao (人民日报  People's Daily) Chinese    English
Renmin Ribao is the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. It is published in Beijing with overseas editions published in several cities, including New York. The site also hosts a number of bulletin boards where visitors can share their views.

Special English language section: "The United States Under Terrorist Attack"

On Sept. 14, the paper carried an opinion piece by Fang Siyong (and originally published in the South China News). Fang argued the U.S. had failed to sufficiently cooperate with other countries in combating terrorism: "The present incident proves that the precaution measures taken by the United States against terrorist activities are apparently far from enough, and its cooperation with other countries is merely formalistic." He notes that the Bush Administration's National Missile Defense could not prevent such an attack, but he concludes by suggesting that while the U.S., despite its current pain, was not fundamentally injured and remains strong. Fang's comments on NMD echo those of the Chinese foreign ministry, a stance reiterated by Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao.

Bank of China researcher Wang Yuanlong noted that the U.S. economy, already in a downtown prior to the attack, could be expected to weaken further and that this would have a negative, but ultimately limited impact on the Chinese economy (9/14).

A Chinese woman will go to the US to help handle the affairs of her sister and sister-in-law, both of whom were passengers in one of the hijacked planes (9/17 story).

Special Chinese language section: "美国连遭恐怖主义袭击"

On Sept. 17, the paper reported a story from the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph (每日电讯报) that the plans for a U.S. mission against Osama bin Laden had been formulated under the code name Operation Noble Eagle (雄鹰行动). 

Yangcheng Wanbao (羊城晚报 Yangcheng [Guangzhou] Evening News)

Special section on the attack and its aftermath

Hong Kong

Ming Pao (明报 Ming Bao, Chinese language newspaper)

On Sept. 17, the paper carried a story about the arrest of five Pakistan nationals in Macao. Apparently, the police there were alerted by a notice from American authorities. Sources suggest the five planned, if the U.S. launched an anti-terrorist assault, to strike out at American institutions in Hong Kong. The paper featured a photograph of a police officer with a bag of seized goods, including a bag of "yellow powder (黃 色 粉 末)." A short note explained to readers that 黃 色 炸 藥 -- not necessarily the same substance that was seized -- is dynamite (TNT).

South China Morning Post (the leading English language newspaper)

The second ranking official in the Hong Kong government, Chief Secretary Donald Tsang, was visiting the U.S. at the time of the terrorist attack. He met with Colin Powell on Friday, Sept. 14, and afterwards warned that Hong Kong must guard against a similar assault: "We both are free and open societies. We share some common values. I have a special feeling this time...
    "Washington is an open, free and modern capital city. Yet it was damaged by terrorist activities. Hong Kong is such a small, open and free city. This is something we have to be alert to . . . to safeguard against."

SCMP also had an article on the arrests in Macau (note that past articles are not freely available, all those listed below were available on 9/16 US PDT).

Selina Chow, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board returned from the U.S. and warned that Hong Kong's tourist industry would suffer a decline as a consequence of the terrorist attack. The shutdown of the U.S. aviation system stranded Chow in Alaska for two days following the attack. Between Jan. 1 and July 31, 576,190 U.S. nationals visited Hong Kong. On average, U.S. and Canadian visitors spend $5,684 in Hong Kong during their visit. (9/17 story)

Thousands of people in Hong Kong, including 300 people at Union Church, visited churches on Sunday, Sept. 16, to pray for the victims of the attack and for peace. (9/17 story)

The Hong Kong government has identified 19 people as missing in the U.S. Four worked in New York, twelve lived there, and one was a tourist. Two others lived in Boston. So far, no one from Hong Kong has been confirmed as having died in the attack. (9/17 story)

America Under Attack (special section of the website)

Ta Kung Pao (大公报 Dagongbao, Chinese language Hong Kong based newspaper)

International News

India 

Ministry of External Affairs The ministry website provides links to various clippings from Indian newspapers.

 The Times of India (Sept. 15) reported that Prime Minister Vajpayee "[v]irtually predicting a retaliation in India's 'vicinity' to the terror attacks in America [and]said governments who nurture terrorism should be held accountable....
    "Vajpayee reminded that Delhi had been alerting the international community for the last two decades that terrorism which India faced could take place elsewhere.
    "In an apparent reference to Pakistan, Vajpayee said India faced a proxy war from its neighbourhood, from a government which regarded terrorism as an instrument of state policy....
    The Times quoted Vajpayee as saying,"We must hold governments accountable for the terrorism that originates from their countries."

On Sept. 15, The Pioneer editorial charged that Pakistan's support for terrorists was finally being challenged by Washington: "... It is hardly a secret that Pakistan is a creator as well as an ardent supporter of the Taliban who control almost the whole of Afghanistan. The Taliban, in turn, have been providing bin Laden not only shelter but facilities to train terrorists for his fundamentalist Islamic outfit, Al Qaeda. Besides, apart from its role in the setting up of the Taliban, Pakistan has also sponsored fundamentalist Islamic terrorist organisations like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Harkat-ul Mujahideen (erstwhile Harkat-ul Ansar proclaimed a terrorist organisations by the US), the Al-Badr Mujahideen, Hizbur Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad and so on. Its objective in this has been annexing Kashmir through cross-border terrorism against India. These organisations and a powerful section of the Pakistani establishment comprising the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and a large section of the Army, however, also have a wider, long-term objective-establishing a fundamentalist Islamic order all over the world based on the Taliban model.Like the Taliban, they are pathologically hostile not only to India but the US which they consider to be the principal backer of Israel and the main source of moral pollution in the world. In fact, in 1998, the Lashkar threatened to blow up the White House through its jihad....
    "Pakistan's rulers know that the US knows all this. They also know that in its present mood, the US will not spare it if it does not live up to its promise of cooperating the US' retaliatory strikes against terrorism....
    "The bases of terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan will have to be smashed. Else, the monster will rise again."

The Sept. 14 editorial of The Asian Age described some of the challenges now confronting the U.S. and others: "The day after is always worse than the day before. For trauma is replaced by devastating grief, and the nation has to get down to brasstacks. The people of the United States have now begun the vigil that can take days for the bodies to be brought out of the rubble that was once the World Trade Centre towers in New York....
    "The Taliban which is still protecting Osama bin Laden needs to be confronted, not just diplomatically but militarily. This group of regressive fanatics has converted Afghanistan into a virtual hell hole where the people are treated worse than cattle. The Taliban, apart from nurturing and sponsoring terrorism all over the world, is also against its own people using oppression to coerce them into abject submission.
    "The US had turned a blind eye to the sinister antics of the force it had helped create. But the attack on New York and Washington has obviously made it impossible for the Bush administration to look the other way. Action is inevitable, it is just a question of timing now. It is, however, very important for the United States to take stock of its foreign policy and security equations...."

Japan

Foreign Ministry    Japanese    English

Webpage on counter-terrorism

Special Japanese language section on the attack

The Japan Times (English language daily, published in Tokyo)

On Sept. 17, the Kyodo news service supplied an article on eighty people who had travelled to New York out of concern for nineteen of their relatives or colleagues who are still missing from the World Trade Center. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, twenty-two Japanese are missing. Before leaving, one of the travelers, anxious about his missing son, told a reporter, "We have been encouraging each other, hoping that our son is safe and alive. We hope to go to the United States as soon as possible and hear his bright voice...
    "Fuji Bank was the worst hit Japanese company in the attacks, with 12 missing employees. Fifty-two relatives and colleagues of the missing Fuji Bank employees arrived in New York on Saturday as part of the 80-member party on two flights from Tokyo." [Asahi Shimbun also reported on this contingent.]

Asahi Shimbun (leading national newspaper, published in Tokyo)

Special Japanese language section devoted to the attack (includes graphics, photographs)

The Sept. 13 issue of the paper carried the stories of Japanese who escaped from the burning and crumbling towers of the World Trade Center. One such story concerned "Atsuo Kubotsu, 45, the New York branch chief of Chugoku Bank, [who] was holding a business meeting in his office on the 90th floor of the same North Building. He saw rising flames covering the window.
    "Then the ceiling crumbled and the windows shattered. The force of the blast through the broken windows ripped the doors off their hinges.
    "Kubotsu ordered everyone to put on gas masks and helmets, with which the office building had been equipped following a terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993...."  

On Sept. 15, the paper reported that "Japan wants to help, but bound by Constitution." "Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated Friday that Japan will assist the United States in any way it can following the terrorist catastrophe in New York and Washington-but made clear there would be no military role....
    Koizumi was quoted as saying, "Japan has tried to do whatever it can within the framework of the Constitution (when crises occurred in the world). That stance should not be changed....'' 

According to the Sept. 17 issue of the paper, U.S. forces in Japan are gearing up "as the 7th Fleet apparently prepared to take part in retaliation for Tuesday's terrorist attacks in the United States."

Pakistan

Islamic Republic of Pakistan     
    The site includes Sept. 14 and Sept. 15 updates. These include the condemnation of the attack by various political and religious leaders. The 9/14 update from the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) included a report on U.S. Sec. of State Powell's comments regarding Pakistan's leadership's response: "President General Pervez Musharraf supported the United States as “a friend, who is trying to help during this time of trauma.” Further, Powell reported that the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan had met with Musharraf and received, "“The kind of expression of support that you expect from a friend who is trying to help during this time of trauma..."
    [Powell ]said, “I will approach the issue as if I am talking to a friend and let a friend know what we would like to see happen in order to improve the situation in the region and situation in the world.” “I hope the President (Musharraf) will respond as a friend. The initial indications are that he will,” he added.

The Friday Times (weekly, published in Lahore)

The International News (Daily Jang, English and Urdu)

Special section: America Under Attack

South Korea

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade    Korean    English

Korea Herald (published in Seoul)

On Sept. 17, the paper reported "Korean firms in Pakistan preparing for war:" "According to the Korea Investment Trade Association (KITA) and industry sources, most of the eight Korean companies located in Pakistan are seeking countermeasures while carefully watching the situation.
    "Hyundai Corp. is not considering withdrawal of its branch in Pakistan yet but is monitoring the situation by receiving reports from the branch.
    "Hyundai Motor is seeking ways to supply parts to the KD assembly factory in Pakistan in case ports are closed in the event that war breaks out in Afghanistan, the company said.
    "Samsung Corp. is reviewing plans to evacuate its employees and their families from its overseas branch."
    "Meanwhile, Hanbo Corp. said that it is not considering a withdrawal, as construction works have virtually been completed.
    "Other firms stationed in Pakistan include an investment company operated by Daewoo International Corp. and a branch of LG Electronics."

Also on Sept. 17, the paper reported on South Korean government plans to aid the American government in responding to the attack. "South Korea plans to assist the United States in its military campaign against Afghanistan by sending mostly non-combat forces, government officials said yesterday.
    "'We have not yet received any official request from Washington, but if the United States asks us for help, we will provide assistance at the same level as that of the 1991 Gulf War,' a senior government official said.
    "During the Gulf War, the Seoul government sent a 154-member medical support group to Saudi Arabia and a 160-strong transportation corps, along with five C-130 cargo planes sent to the United Arab Emirates, said the official, who asked not to be named.
    "South Korea also provided $500 million worth of cash, transportation and logistics support...."

Earlier, on Sept. 14, President KIM Dae-jung met with government officials and business leaders to prepare for a "worst case scenario" -- the fall out from an anticipated American move against suspected terrorists: "Bracing itself for a worst-case scenario amid reports of imminent U.S. retaliation against the terrorists responsible for the crashing of aircraft into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Korean government yesterday devised contingency measures, including control of oil supply and demand....
    "Kim particularly emphasized the need to maintain stability in energy supply and in the stock and financial markets."

Taiwan

Ministry of Foreign Affairs     Chinese    English

Central News Agency (Taiwan government news service) 

Chinese language newswire     English language newswire

On Sept. 14, the CNA reported that one or more individuals suspected by Interpol of being terrorists had been denied entry into Taiwan by one of the island's overseas representative offices.
Also on Sept. 14, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung directed government offices to fly their flags at half-mast for two days to remember those killed in the attacks in the U.S.

China Times (ChinaTimes.com 中时电子报   Taipei based newspaper)

Special "net tv" audio interview devoted to the attack (世纪警炮重创美国)

Taipei Times (台北时报   English language Taipei based newspaper)

On Sept. 17, the paper featured an Agence France Press story on the international casualties of the attack on the World Trade Center. Here is the report for Asia:
"Australia said three of its nationals were confirmed dead. Another 69 who were in the vicinity of the trade center were unaccounted for.
    "Bangladesh said at least 50 of its citizens were killed at the trade center while Cambodia said it feared that some 20 of its nationals were missing.
    "China said that three of its nationals died and another was missing.
    "Hong Kong said 17 people were missing, including one tourist visiting New York.
    "Indonesia said one of its citizens died on one of the hijacked planes and another of its citizens was missing.
    "Japan said two Japanese died on the hijacked planes and that another 22 who were in the trade center were missing.
    "Malaysia said seven of its nationals working in the trade center were missing.
    "Pakistan said only one of its nations has been confirmed dead in the attacks but that figure is certain to rise. A government spokesman said around 650 Pakistani nationals worked in the trade center.
    "The Philippines said two Filipinos were confirmed dead and 115 were missing.
    "South Korea said 19 of its nationals were missing.
    "Thailand has said two Thais working at the trade center are missing.

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