US President Barack Obama yesterday held three-way talks with the leaders of Japan and Australia, a day after stressing that US engagement in the Asia-Pacific region is here to stay as China rises.
Obama met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the margins of the G20 summit in Brisbane, which has been shadowed by rows with Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
Before reporters were ushered out of the room, Abbott said at the beginning of the meeting: “It’s good to be here with two such economic and strategic partners.”
Obama has denied that the US is bent on thwarting China’s economic and political emergence, but on Saturday stressed that Beijing must be a responsible actor on the world stage.
The prospect of a stronger tripartite alliance will stoke fears in Beijing that Japan, the US and Australia are ganging up to limit its increasingly assertive expansion in the region.
China has repeatedly warned of what it says is the danger of Japan “remilitarizing” under Abe, and regularly lambasts Tokyo for its apparent lack of repentance for misdeeds before and during World War II.
Abe signaled his eagerness to lift defense ties with Washington and Canberra in an opinion piece for the Australian Financial Review published on Friday, calling for “a peaceful, secure and prosperous future for the Asia-Pacific region.”
For his part, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told the Financial Review that Beijing is ready to increase defense cooperation with Australia, which has long profited from China’s voracious demand for its natural resources.
Ahead of the trilateral talks, a senior US administration official said the partners were looking well beyond the Asia-Pacific region.
“The trilat is a new and unique way to leverage the capabilities of key Asian partners to improve our security posture in the region, for example on maritime security and missile defense, and to partner on global issues, including ISIL [the Islamic State], Ukraine [and] Ebola,” the official said.
Meanwhile, China was announced as the G20 host for 2016.
Turkey takes over the presidency from Australia and will host the event in Antalya next year. In a communique, the group of the world’s biggest economies said China would be home to the G20 in 2016.
“Australia looks forward to working with Turkey over the next year and it is my very great pleasure to announce that China will be the G20 host in 2016,” Abbott told a press conference yesterday.
‘DEMOCRATIC FISH’: Soichiro Hayashi said he wants to return Taiwan’s kindness after it helped with relief efforts after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami Japanese fish farmers are ready to help Taiwan after China banned Taiwanese grouper imports, the Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday. The Chinese General Administration of Customs suspended imports of the fish on Monday last week, citing prohibited chemicals and excessive levels of oxytetracycline allegedly found in grouper imports since December last year. Soichiro Hayashi, president of the Hayashi Trout Farm in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, is leading the push for Taiwanese grouper imports, the newspaper said. His call has caught the attention of several large sushi chains, the report said. Hayashi, who is the Fukushima branch head of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Japan,
‘TROJAN HORSE’ SCHEME: The comment that a bridge would allow China’s PLA to easily launch an attack shows ‘a lack of backbone,’ Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said Critics accused Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of being oblivious to national security concerns after he proposed constructing a bridge to link Kinmen and China’s Xiamen (廈門). Ko, who is also the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman, made the proposal when presiding over the opening ceremony of the party’s office in Kinmen on Saturday. He said the bridge could solve Kinmen’s population, electricity and garbage problems, as well as serve as a shortcut for leaving or entering Taiwan without traveling via Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport). He also proposed building a hospital in Kinmen to attract people who are seeking medical treatment in
OVER THE HUMP: In a seven-day period ending on Wednesday, the nation reported 366,628 new cases, down 19 percent from the 451,358 reported in the previous week The nation might further open up to more arrivals in the next two months, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 48,283 new local COVID-19 cases, down from more than 50,000 in the previous few days. Taiwan on Wednesday last week introduced a plan to allow up to 25,000 arrivals per week as part of efforts to gradually reopen borders, which includes reducing mandatory quarantines for inbound travelers from seven to three days, followed by four days in “self-initiated epidemic prevention.” The quota covers inbound Taiwanese arrivals, businesspeople and migrant workers. Former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday said
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it is monitoring Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ship movements near Taiwan, after the Japanese Ministry of Defense disclosed that Chinese vessels made a rare voyage between Yilan County and Japan’s Yonaguni. The Japanese ministry on Wednesday said that two Chinese navy ships on Tuesday diverted from their usual route of entering the Pacific Ocean via the Miyako Strait and for the first time traveled there between Yilan and Yonaguni. The Japan Self-Defense Forces said that it picked up the presence of China’s Type-056A Jiangdao-class corvette 220km north of Yonaguni at 9am on Tuesday. The
RSS