The US ambassador yesterday urged Japan to decide whether it would shoot down a North Korean missile heading to the US and called for cooperation in inspecting North Korean cargo to prevent proliferation of weapons technology.
The US and Japan are developing a joint missile defense system to counter the threat posed by North Korea.
But Japan's pacifist Constitution, which bans the use of force to solve international conflicts, means it's not clear how far Japan can contribute to the defense program -- for example, by shooting down a North Korean missile that might not necessarily be heading to Japan.
"The United States would like an answer to whether [Japan] would shoot down that missile," US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer told reporters yesterday.
"Right now, America has the obligation to defend Japan, but Japan doesn't have the obligation to defend America," Schieffer said, referring to the 1960 US-Japan security alliance that put Tokyo securely under the US defense umbrella.
"Japan's answer will be absolutely critical to the future of the alliance," he said.
Schieffer also urged nations to cooperate in implementing a UN Security Council resolution passed after Pyongyang's nuclear weapons test on Oct. 9, which calls for inspections of all cargo to and from North Korea to prevent any trafficking in nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles.
There has been disagreement between nations on how far these checks should go, with China balking at the prospect of intervening North Korean ships -- saying that could provoke a battle in the high seas.
"If there are containers coming out of North Korea, we'd like to have those containers inspected, whether in Hong Kong or Japan," Schieffer said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in