Asia/Pacific

The top Democrat on the House foreign affairs panel on Asia attacked America's criticism of Sri Lanka's human rights record during a routine hearing Tuesday.

“Why is the most powerful country in the world picking on a small, little country like Sri Lanka?” American Samoa Del. Eni Faleomavaega asked the State Department's top diplomat for South Asia. “We are forgetting the fact that for ... 29 years, the Sri Lankan government has had to deal with [a] terrorist organization.” 

Faleomavaega made the remarks during a hearing on America's role in South Asia. He was in Sri Lanka last week on that country's dime and met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the minister of Defense who is credited with defeating the decades-old Tamil Tiger insurgency in 2009.

The United States announced last month that it would be sponsoring a resolution on human rights violations at the United Nation Human Rights Council. The resolution would call on Sri Lanka to live up to its commitments made in the wake of reports of widespread violence following the defeat of the separatist Tigers.

The United States and Pakistan have widely divergent interests in South Asia and should break up, the country's former ambassador to Washington said.

“Each country accuses the other of being a terrible ally – and perhaps both are right,” Husain Haqqani writes in the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs.

“Honesty about the true status of their ties might even help both parties get along better and cooperate more easily. After all, they could hardly be worse than they are now, clinging to the idea of an alliance even though neither actually believes in it. Sometimes, the best way forward in a relationship lies in admitting that it's over in its current incarnation.”

The Senate passed a bill Monday to prevent nuclear proliferation in North Korea.

Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced the North Korea Nonproliferation and Accountability Act, which passed by unanimous consent Monday evening before the Senate adjourned for the day.

The chief of North Korea's military delegation to the Demilitarized Zone calls planned drills with South Korea "reckless."

Before meeting with Obama, Japan's prime minister indicated that he hoped to get some goods exempted to protect Japan's economy.

An American official said the leaders would "talk about North Korea — both the recent events and the overall situation."

With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visiting the White House Friday, lawmakers tell Japan not to revise "comfort women" apology. 

Your morning global affairs speed-read

India's foreign minister is in Washington today for meetings with Secretary of State John Kerry and other State Department officials. Ranjan Mathai is also scheduled to discuss the U.S.-Indian strategic relationship with officials from the Defense and Energy departments during his three-day trip, which kicks off with a discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. You can watch it live on C-SPAN3 starting at 9:35 a.m.

Palestinian peace: A Palestinian delegation led by chief negotiator Saeb Erekat meets with senior State Department officials today ahead of President Obama's visit to Israel and the West Bank next month. The Palestinian Liberation Organization's Washington office says Erekat is scheduled to meet with Kerry at 3 p.m., but the State Department's official schedule (see below) does not specify such a meeting.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will ask President Obama to allow U.S. natural gas exports to his country when the two leaders meet at the White House on Friday, according to a report.

The Bloomberg story, which cites three unnamed Japanese officials, arrives as Japanese power companies and business groups are already pressing the Energy Department to approve export applications.

Bloomberg reports that Abe “will ask U.S. President Barack Obama to allow shale gas exports as the world’s third-largest economy grapples with soaring energy costs after 2011’s nuclear disaster closed reactors.”

Karzai, who instituted the ban on Monday, did not provide specifics on what circumstances would allow use of allied airpower.