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.
‘TOO TIRED’: The former mayor’s political party said that he had been questioned for nearly 19 hours, so he declined to be questioned at night, as he felt exhausted Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was arrested early yesterday morning after being questioned by prosecutors over his alleged role in a corruption scandal concerning the Core Pacific City redevelopment project during his tenure as Taipei mayor. The arrest was made after Ko refused to be questioned at night and attempted to leave the prosecutors’ office, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Prosecutors were worried that he would collude with others involved in the case to make false statements if they allowed him to leave, so they issued an order to arrest him, the office said. Ko yesterday sought a court
ECONOMIC RESILIENCE: Only 11.4 percent of Taiwan’s overseas investments last year were in China, and businesses are dispersing their investments elsewhere, Lai said China’s ambition to annex Taiwan is based on a desire to change the rules-based international order, rather than a desire for territorial gains, President William Lai (賴清德) said in an interview. During an appearance on the talk show The View With Catherine Chang, aired last night, Lai said China aimed to achieve hegemony, and that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was an issue of worldwide concern. During the interview, Lai also discussed his “four-pillar plan” for peace and prosperity, which he first outlined in an article published by the Wall Street Journal on July 4 last year. That
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
RSS