4 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Monday7 October 2019
I N T E R N AT I O N A L
S O N G J U N G - A— SEOUL
Nuclear negotiations between theUS
and North Korea have broken down,
with both sides delivering conflicting
verdicts on the long-awaited resump-
tion of talks.
Pyongyang’s chief negotiator accused
the Trump administration of coming to
the meeting “empty-handed”, while the
USsaidtheyhad“gooddiscussions”.
Kim Myong Gil, the top North Korean
nuclear envoy, blamed US inflexibility
for the failed talks after eight and a half
hoursofnegotiationsinStockholm,say-
ing the US would not “give up their old
viewpointandattitude”.
“The negotiations did not live up to
ourexpectationsandbrokeoff,”saidMr
Kim outside the North Korean embassy
intheSwedishcapital.
However, the US state department
said Mr Kim’s comments did not reflect
“the content or spirit” of the talks,
whichfollowedmonthsofstalemate.
“The US brought creative ideas and
had good discussions with its DPRK
counterparts,” a spokeswoman for the
US state department said in a state-
ment.She added that the US delegation
had accepted a Swedish invitation to
resumenegotiationsintwoweeks.
Pyongyang has fired a series of short-
range ballistic missiles since May, and
tested hatitsaidwasanewtypeofsub-w
marine-launched ballistic missile on
Wednesday — just a day after the two
sides announced they would hold their
first direct denuclearisation negotia-
tionsformonths.
North Korea has called for security
guarantees andsanctions relief sa
rewards for giving up its nuclear weap-
ons.
“The North Koreans will likely take
more time and engage in posturing, but
what they aredoing is returning to their
capital, considering US proposals, and
waiting to receive direction from their
leadership,”said Leif-Eric Easley, a pro-
fessor of international studies at Ewha
WomansUniversityinSeoul.Sanctions
N Korea-US nuclear talks stall
over conflicting expectations G E O R G E H A M M O N D, N I C O L L E L I U A N D
A L I C E WO O D H O U S E— HONG KONG
Thousandsin Hong Kong defied a gov-
ernment ban on wearing face masks as
they marched through the cityyester-
day in the latest escalation of the politi-
calcrisisthatisnowinitsfourthmonth.
Police fired tear gas and beanbag
rounds at crowds inlocations across the
territory, as demonstratorschanted
“Hong Kongers, resist”.Some protesters
threw petrol bombs at the police,
started fires and vandalised metro sta-
tionsandbusinesses.
On Hong Kong island, home to the
Asian financial hub’s central business
district, riot police pursued protesters
through the normally glitzy shopping
areaofCausewayBay.
A 25-year-old demonstrator said the
high turnout for the unauthorised
marchshowed how widely the anger
was felt. “Everyone wants to revolt,” she
said.“If the whole population of Hong
Kong wears a mask to go out on the
street, are they supposed to arrest the
entirepopulation?”
Carrie Lam, the chief executive of
Hong Kong, had called for calm on Sat-urday after protesters attacked busi-
nesses and rail stations, and a plain-
clothes police officer shot and wounded
a 14-year-old boy.The previous day Ms
Lam hadinvoked the colonial-era
Emergency Regulation Ordinance orf
thefirsttimeinmorethan50years.
Ms Lam said when she announced the
move that it was intended to “end vio-
lence and restore order” by barring
demonstrators from wearing face
masks, whichthey have used to conceal
their identity and protect against tear
gasandpepperspray.
Breachingthe rulerisks a year in jail
andafineofHK$25,000($3,200).How-
ever, the decision, which came into
effect at midnight on Friday, triggered
aneveningofconfrontation.
The 14-year-old, thesecond teenage
protester to be shot ith live ammuni-w
tion since the protests began in June,
was in a stable condition, according to
the city’s Hospital Authority. The police
said the officer had been acting in self-
defence and that the boy was arrested
forriotingandassault.
A number of rail stations were van-
dalised, prompting MTR, the rail opera-tor, to close its entire network,leaving
thousands of people stranded.A partial
serviceresumed yesterday but by late
afternoon a number of lines hadagain
closed. Mainland Chinese businesses
wereamongthosevandalisedonFriday,
includingbranchesofBankofChinaand
China Mobile.A protesterattacked a
mainland Chinese workerafter he
shouted in Mandarin “we are all Chi-
nese”.Many supermarkets and shops
wereclosedonSaturday hileanumberw
thatdidstayopenranoutoffood.
The city’seconomy has beenhit byboth the US-China trade war and the
protests,whichhaveledtoa harps drop
in touristsand retail sales. Hong Kong’s
stock market has been the worst per-
formeramongdevelopedmarketsinthe
third quarter. Analystssaid the ban on
facemaskswouldfurtherweakeninves-
tor sentiment. TS Lombard, an inde-
pendent investment research company,
saidit expected “further downward
momentum in Hong Kong stocks as
mainland investors start to price in the
escalationintensions”.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority,
the territory’s de facto central bank,
yesterday called rumours that it would
cap daily bank withdrawals“fake and
unfounded”.
There are signs that the increasing
violencecould ecreatingariftb between
radical protesters and those who sup-
portmore moderateaction. Kevin
Yam, a ong Kong lawyerH ympathetics
totheprotests,urged nomorevigilante“
acts”, saying on Twitter that vandalising
businesses and rail stations “only hurts
innocentemployeesandthepublic”.
Additional reporting by Hudson Lockett in
Hong KongAsia
Hong Kongers march in their thousands against face mask ban
Mask-wearing protesters ignored the
ban in another day of confrontationC H LO E C O R N I S H— BEIRUT
S I M O N A F O LT Y N— BAGHDAD
Almost 100 people have been killed in
clashes between protesters and security
forces across Iraq during five days of
demonstrations gainst governmenta
corruptionandhighunemployment.
The protests have escalated into the
worst civil unrest in the oil-rich country
since it declared the defeat of Isis jihadis
in 2017, posing a severe challenge to the
one-year-old administration of prime
ministerAdelAbdulMahdi.
Demonstrators, without apparent
leadership, took to the streets to vent
theirangerat ackofjobsandservicesasl
well as the endemic graft that is per-
ceivedtoreachthetopofgovernment.
Politicians are “stealing, stealing from
the year 2003 until now”, said Yousif
Emad, an unemployed anthropology
graduate.“Enough.Weneedsolutions.”
Moqtada al-Sadr, a populist Shia
politician and former militia leader who
wasakeypowerbrokerinconveningthe
government after months of oliticalp
wrangling last year, heaped pressure on
Mr Abdul Mahdi on Friday, calling for
the government to step down and for
freshelections.
His parliamentary bloc, Sairoon,
which won the largest number of seats
in last year’s elections, boycotted an
emergency parliamentary session onSaturday. yatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’sA
most important Shia religious figure,
blamed the government ut did not callb
fortheadministration’sresignation.
The emonstrationsd uickly spreadq
from Baghdad to other Iraqi cities,
taking security forces and the govern-
ment by surprise. Curfews and calls for
calmfrompoliticalandreligiousleaders
were largely ignored by protesters,
underscoring their alienation from the
political system instituted after the2003 US-led invasion that toppled
dictatorSaddamHussein.
The ethnic and sectarian power-
sharing governance model empowered
figures from the previously suppressed
Shia majority, but is accused offailingto
deliver jobs, services or security for Ira-
qisdespitethecountry’svastoilwealth.
Protesters “are unhappy with every-
thing, with all the performance of the
systemsince2003,”saidMohammadal-
Radih, head of foreign relations for the
opposition Hikma party.Offices belong-
ing to Hikma and other political parties
wereattackedinsomeprovincialcities.
Securityforcesusedliveammunition,
tear gas and water cannon, prompting
human rights groups to criticise a
heavy-handed response. Unknown
snipers shot at protesters in Baghdad onFriday, according to a witness and news
agency reports. News agencies reported
that several police officers were among
the near-100peoplekilledintheunrest.
Laith Rafia, a demonstrator from the
working-class majority Shia neighbour-
hood of Sadr City, told the Financial
Times he had seen a sniper shooting at
protesters near a hospital. “A person
whofelldown,wewenttocarryhimand
theykeptshootingatus,”saidMrRafia.
The authorities have shut down the
internettotrytocontaintheprotests.
Iraq’s fossil fuel export-dependent
economy has been unable to satisfy a
growingdemandforjobs.Almost60per
centofIraq’spopulationof40misunder
24, and about a fifth,aged 15-24, are not
in employment, education or training,
accordingtotheWorldBank.Civil anger
Death toll nears 100 as Iraq unrest spreads
Security forces use live
ammunition during
anti-government protests
V I C TO R M A L L E T— PARIS
Emmanuel Macron has a problem with
opera — or more precisely with the
Opéra national de Paris and its 2,
singers,balletdancersandsupportstaff.
It is not that the French president has
any issue withLa traviata r Rudolfo
Nureyev’s version ofRaymonda: the
problem is that employees have always
contributed to their own, state-subsi-
dised retirement scheme and are resist-
ing Mr Macron’s plan to unite the coun-
try’s 42 separate schemes in aradical
pension reform e wants to make theh
hallmarkofhispresidency.
“I’m very worried,” Philippe Gerbet, a
65-year-old CGT trade unionist who
danced in the ballet when it was
directed by Nureyev and now helps
overseethepensions,said.“Thedancers
are stressed. The sword of Damocles is
hangingovertheirheads.”
Of the 154 dancers in the troupe, 130
joined a strike on September 24, the
CGT said, prompting cancellations of
rehearsalsandperformances.
The opera employees are only a few
hundred of the millions of French work-
erswhofeartheywillbeworseoffunder
the Macron reform. Earlier in Septem-
ber workers at RATP, the Paris public
transport network that also has its own
pension scheme, staged awalkout hatt
shut 10 of the capital’s 16 metro lines.
Unions have called foranother strike by
RATP and SNCF railway workers start-
ingonDecember5.
Mr Macron has sought to soothe pub-
lic opinion by launching a months-long
national consultation, promising to
clear up misunderstandings and
“adjust, change, modify and correct”
thereformasneeded.
It will merge all current schemes to
create a single, points-based national
pension scheme that would make it eas-
ier to switch professions and jobs and
benefit those whose careers have been
interrupted—particularlymothers.
Mr Macron promised “golden rules”
to set the value of each pension “with a
clear commitment that the standard of
living of pensions should not be
reduced, it should be the same and con-
tinuetoimprove”.
“We’re not proposing to put this in
place from one day to the next,” he said.
“It starts in 2025, and none of those
already retired will be affected — all the
rights acquired up to 2025 will be pre-
served—andafterthatwe’llseeatransi-
tionover15years.”
But the reform is so momentous and
complex that Mr Macron and his advis-
ers know they will struggle to win peo-
ple over. On average, the French will in
the future work beyond the current
nominal retirement age of 62. Some cat-
egories of workers who now benefit
from particularly favourable schemes
andearlyretirementageswillloseout.
Professionals such as lawyers — who
have their own, self-sustaining schemes
— are, meanwhile, worried that their
accumulated reserves will be raided
under the reforms to fill the general pot
andarecertaintoresist.
“France is a country which is very
generous for pensioners,” said Henri
Sterdyniak, an economist at the OFCE
think-tank. “Those in the [future] gen-
eral scheme will have a lower pensionthan those retired now. They also won’t
have higher payments to make but they
don’t realise that. They don’t have the
impressiontheywillwin.”
Dissatisfaction is widespread. “I was
supposed to retire at 52 and a half, and
now I’m being told to leave at 57 and a
half with no compensation,” said
Philippe, a 47-year-old CRS riot police-
manwhowasdemonstratinginParisfor
policerightslastweek.
“So now I’m fighting for the young
whowilljointhepolice.SureIknowthat
I’ll probably lose a little — perhaps 3 per
cent — of my pension, but for the young
ones joining now, the system really
won’tbegoodforthematall.”
Some analysts and politicians point to
previous popular upheavals in France
against pension reform — in 1995, 2003
and 2010 — and say the ever-ambitious
MrMacronmaybegoingasteptoofar.
“He’ssubtlepoliticallyandhasproved
in the past that he could lead some diffi-
cult reforms, but this one is potentially
the toughest because of its intrinsic
characteristic that there will be losersand winners,” said Emmanuel Jessua,
economistatRexecode.
Opposition politician Eric Woerth,
who pushed through a previous pension
reformasbudgetandstatereformminis-
ter whenNicolasSarkozywaspresident,
saidtherewas“noneedforabigreform”
now andurged Mr Macron to leave the
professionalpensionschemesalone.
Having “underestimated the size of
the task”, Mr Macron isplaying for time
with lengthy consultations rather than
fulfilling his presidential election cam-
paignpromiseof2017ofradicalpension
reform,accordingtoMrWoerth.
Mr Macron’s supporters insisted
nothing could be further from the truth.
“I smile when people say Macron is
slowing down or losing his ambition,”
said Gilles Le Gendre, leader of Mr
Macron’s La République en Marche
partyintheNationalAssembly.
“We are not slowing down any-
thing... The current system is unjust
and not viable. This is the emblematic
reformofMacronism.”
Additional reporting by Domitille AlainRetirement. erged schemesM
Macron pension reform meets chorus of disapproval
French president grapples
with widespread backlash
against proposed overhaul
President
Emmanuel
Macron answers
pensions
questions, part
of a months-
long national
consultation
Eric Cabanis/Reuters‘For the
young onesjoining now,
the systemreally won’t
be good forthem at all’
Iraq’s fossil fuel export-
dependent economy has
been unable to satisfy agrowing demand for jobs
N A J M E H B OZO R G M E H R —TEHRANChinese oil company CNPC has with-
drawn from Iran’s flagship hydrocar-
bon project in a further blow to the
Islamic republic’s economy, which has
been hammered by US sanctions.Iran’s oil minister Bijan Namdar Zan-
ganeh told local reporters on Sunday
that state-owned CNPC would no longer
help develop phase 11 of South Pars, the
world’slargestgasfield.
He did not clarify when the Chinese
groupmadeitsdecisionorthereasonfor
it. Iranian analysts said CNPC aban-
doned the project because of US sanc-
tions and concerns over its interests in
America, but Iran’s oil ministry said it
couldnotprovidefurtherdetails.
The US has imposed punishing sanc-
tions against Iran since President Don-
ald Trump last year withdrew from a
2015 deal intended to curb the Islamic
republic’s nuclear ambitions. In recent
weeks Washington has stepped up its
policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran’s
energyindustry.
Last month it placedsanctions n twoo
subsidiaries of China’s state-backed
shipping giantCosco, for their allegedinvolvement in handling Iranian crude.
ItwasoneofthefirstUSactionsagainsta
major state-backed Chinese entity. It
sent rates for chartering manyoil tank-
ers s harply higher, as international oil
traders can no longer use the 40 or so
tankers connected to theCosco subsidi-
aries without risking falling foul of
Washington.
Total of France quit the multi-billion-
dollar South Pars scheme last year to
escapeUSpenalties.
“[Iran’s quasi privately owned]
Petropars Company will be the only one
which will continue development of this
phase [of the gasfield],” Mr Zanganeh
said,accordingtodomesticpress.
“We wanted to lure foreign invest-
ments for this project... and Petropars
was supposed to learn from these com-
panies.”
Iran’s oil exports — the main source of
foreign currency for a country of 80m
people — have plunged from a peak of
about2.8mbarrelsadayinMaylastyear
to perhaps a few hundred thousand. Oil
and gas development projects have
made only sluggish progress under local
Iraniancompanies.
Iran had pinned high hopes on China
continuing as its largest customer for
crude and on it helping develop oil and
gas sectors afflicted by ageing infra-
structure and delayed expansion
schemes.
The chance to win a stake in South
Pars, which Iran shares with Qatar, was
seen as a major prize for international
energycompaniesafterthe2015nuclear
dealwassigned,looseningwesternsanc-
tionsonTehran.
Total’s2017dealtodevelopPhase11of
South Pars was the first major contract
to be signed with a western oil company
inmorethanadecade.
Additional reporting by David Sheppard in
LondonEnergy
Blow for Iran
as China’s
CNPC exits
flagship
gas project
‘Petropars Company
will be the only one
which will continuedevelopment of this phase’
OCTOBER 7 2019 Section:World Time: 10/20196/ - 18:07 User:sanjay.gohil Page Name:WORLD3 USA, Part,Page,Edition:USA , 4, 1