Shinzo Abe, seen as the strongest candidate for Japan's next prime minister, said yesterday the nation should boost ties with India and called on China to improve transparency on its military spending.
The powerful chief Cabinet secretary of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also indicated that he would continue to visit a controversial Tokyo war shrine that is at the center of strained relations with China.
"We need not only to look at Japan-China relations but also to have a bird's-eye view of the whole of Asia or the world when we engage in diplomacy with Asian nations," he told public broadcaster NHK. "For example, there is another Asian power -- India, which has common values with Japan such as freedom, democracy, basic human rights and rule of law.
"Our relations with India have been relatively weak though it is a country very friendly to Japan," he said, arguing that it was "important to strengthen ties with this country a lot more and forge strategic relations."
Abe said Australia was also a key partner in the region.
Noting that Japan's economic ties with China were indispensable, Abe said that Tokyo wanted Beijing to "improve transparency in the military domain, as its spending has been showing double-digit growth for more than a decade."
"Not only Japan but most other developed countries in the West think this way," he said, adding Japan also wanted China to "give more heed to human rights."
Appearing on a separate program, Seiji Maehara, the conservative head of the main opposition Democratic Party, defended his recent remarks that China is a "realistic threat."
"They have missiles capable of hitting Japan as well as nuclear weapons that set their sights on Japan," Maehara said.
He also noted the two neighbors were divided over energy reserves and sovereignty over a chain of islands in the East China Sea.
"Their military presence is growing against this background. We consider it a threat," he told a talk show on the private Asahi network.
Meanwhile, Abe said that he would continue to pay homage at the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo despite Chinese protests.
"As a politician and [Japanese] citizen, I want to maintain my respect for the people who died for the country," he said.
"In principle I want to value this feeling and this feeling will not change," said the lawmaker, widely seen as a possible successor to Koizumi, who has vowed to step down as prime minister in September when his term as the ruling party president expires.
Since taking office in April 2001, Koizumi has angered China and South Korea by repeatedly visiting the Yasukuni shrine, which honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including 14 convicted war criminals.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique