Japan, on the eve of a visit by French President Jacques Chirac, said yesterday that the lifting of the EU arms embargo on China being pushed by France would be a "big problem" for Asian stability.
"Considering stability in Asia, the United States and Japan share the awareness that resuming arms exports would be a big problem," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the Japanese government spokesman, told reporters.
Hosoda said the issue of the arms embargo would likely be on the agenda when Chirac meets Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi tomorrow.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a visit to Tokyo last week, agreed with Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura that the two allies should cooperate to oppose EU moves to lift the embargo.
Chirac said Wednesday he still expected an agreement to lift the ban by the end of June, despite signs the 25-member EU bloc could delay its decision after China authorized the use of force to invade democratic Taiwan.
US lawmakers have threatened to levy punitive trade sanctions on European companies if the EU lifts the embargo, which was imposed after China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 1989.
The US has some 47,000 troops in Japan, most of them on Okinawa -- only 550km from Taiwan.
Hosoda said another issue that would be raised in talks with Chirac would be Europe's push to build the world's first nuclear fusion reactor in France despite a rival bid for the project by Tokyo.
A group of lawmakers from Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party yesterday sent him a petition urging him to be more outspoken on backing Japan's bid for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).
"To meet this objective, we would like Prime Minister Koizumi to clearly tell President Chirac our country's position on the ITER during the Japan-France summit," said the petition, according to Kyodo News Agency.
Negotiations are deadlocked with the US and South Korea supporting Japan's offer to build the ITER in Rokkasho, a northern village near the Pacific Ocean, while China and Russia back the EU bid to put it in Cadarache, southern France.
The multibillion-dollar project, which would emulate the sun's nuclear fusion, is designed to one day generate inexhaustible supplies of electricity, but is not expected to be operational before 2050.
Chirac, accompanied by his wife Bernadette and French business leaders, will arrive in the western city of Osaka today to watch sumo wrestling and then head by train to Nagoya to see the World Exposition.
From there he will go to Tokyo tomorrow to meet Koizumi and on Monday he will lunch with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
RSS