Japan's prime minister said yesterday that he is baffled by the Chinese premier's refusal to meet one-on-one, fueling a row dating back to World War II and clouding a summit with grand visions for a pan-Asian community.
South Korea and Southeast Asian nations inked an accord during meetings yesterday to set up a free trade area, while the Philippines invited Russia and China to join a Southeast Asian anti-terror coalition.
China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said she hoped "these two very important friends of ours will be able to sort out their political differences because their economic relationship is very good."
Koizumi told ASEAN leaders during their meeting yesterday that he found Wen's attitude to be inexplicable.
"No two nations are without their share of differences. I cannot understand why China won't have a meeting because of one problem," Koizumi was quoted as saying by a Japanese delegation official.
The Chinese delegation did not immediately respond, but Wen said late on Monday that Koizumi lacks the "correct approach toward historical questions ... deeply hurting the feeling[s] of the Chinese people, the Korean people and the people of Asia."
Koizumi maintains his visits are meant to express his remorse about the war.
China and South Korea say Japan has not fully atoned for wartime atrocities.
Meanwhile Russia held its first-ever summit with ASEAN, reflecting its desire to forge closer economic ties with the region.
The meetings in Kuala Lumpur end today when the 10 ASEAN leaders meet with counterparts from Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand at the inaugural East Asia Summit.
The 16-country group aims for an eventual Asian economic community comprising half the world's population and a combined economy of US$8.3 trillion, but the region's many rivalries make that goal elusive.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
WAR’S END ANNIVERSARY: ‘Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,’ the president said on social media after attending a morning ceremony Countries should uphold peace, and promote freedom and democracy, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as Taiwan marked 80 years since the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and other top officials in the morning attended a ceremony at the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to honor those who sacrificed their lives in major battles. “Taiwanese are peace-loving. Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,” Lai wrote on Facebook afterward, apparently to highlight the contrast with the military parade in Beijing marking the same anniversary. “We
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