Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said yesterday he believes the acrimony between the US and some of its allies over Iraq is largely past, and that he's optimistic this week's summit of leading industrial nations will offer the world a display of unity. \nKoizumi, who recently returned from a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, also said Pyongyang is aware of the importance of breaking a diplomatic impasse over its suspected development of nuclear weapons and "moving forward." \nSpeaking to a small group of foreign media, the Japanese leader said he believes Iraq and its transition to self-government will dominate the agenda at the Group of Eight summit in Sea Island, Georgia. \n"France, Germany and Russia are not calling for the immediate withdrawal of US forces," he said, as an example of the improvement this year in the mood ahead of the annual summit, which begins tomorrow. "I consider this to be a great chance for the international community to demonstrate its cooperation and for the Iraqi people to stand up on their own two feet." \nHe was to leave this morning to attend the summit. It is the fourth for Koizumi, who was elected in a landslide victory in April 2001. \nKoizumi -- whose outspoken, maverick approach to leadership is something of a rarity in consensus-conscious Japan -- continues to be one of the most popular leaders this nation has had in decades. \nBut as he heads to Georgia, he is under pressure amid a national pension scandal that has rocked his Cabinet. \nLike many of this country's top politicians, Koizumi has acknow-ledged he failed to make all of the proper payments into the system. He has not been accused of any legal wrongdoing, however, or charged with any crimes. \nHe has also recently been under increasing fire from Japan's opposition for his staunch backing of US President George W. Bush's Iraq policy. \nDespite deep concerns among the Japanese public, Koizumi has sent about 500 non-combatant soldiers to southern Iraq in this country's biggest military mission since World War II. \nKoizumi said he stands by his support of Bush, but added that it is important to involve the UN as closely in the reconstruction process as is feasible. \n"I have made that clear in many talks with American leaders," he said. \nOn North Korea, Koizumi said Kim indicated an understanding at their summit on May 22 that it is crucial for his impoverished nation to abandon its nuclear weapons program if it is to receive badly needed economic aid. \nKoizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin are the only G8 leaders who have met Kim, and his decision to hold a one-on-one with the North Korean leader is a step apart from Washington's policy of dealing with the North primarily through multilateral channels.
India yesterday summoned Canada’s high commissioner in India to “convey strong concern” over Sikh protesters in Canada and how they were allowed to breach the security of India’s diplomatic mission and consulates. Canadian media reported that hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Indian consulate in Vancouver on Saturday over demands for an independent Sikh state, a simmering issue for decades that was triggered again in the past few weeks. Canada has the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab in India. “It is expected that the Canadian government will take all steps which are required to ensure the
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS: The US destroyer’s routine operations in the South China Sea would have ‘serious consequences,’ the defense ministry said China yesterday threatened “serious consequences” after the US Navy sailed a destroyer around the disputed Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) in the South China Sea for the second day in a row, in a move Beijing claimed was a breach of its sovereignty and security. The warning came amid growing tensions between China and the US in the region, as Washington pushes back at Beijing’s growingly assertive posture in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway it claims virtually in its entirety. On Thursday, after the US sailed the USS Milius guided-missile destroyer near the Paracel Islands, China said its navy and
‘DUAL PURPOSE’: Upgrading the port is essential for the Solomon Islands’ economy and might not be military focused, but ‘it is not about bases, it is about access,’ an analyst said The Solomon Islands has awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara in a project funded by the Asian Development Bank, a Solomon Islands official said yesterday. China Civil Engineering Construction Co (CCECC) was the only company to submit a bid in the competitive tender, Solomon Islands Ministry of Infrastructure Development official Mike Qaqara said. “This will be upgrading the old international port in Honiara and two domestic wharves in the provinces,” Qaqara said. Responding to concerns that the port could be deepened for Chinese naval access, he said there would be “no expansion.” The Solomon
The US Department of Justice on Friday unveiled spying charges against a Russian who, under a Brazilian alias, studied at a Washington university and then tried to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The indictment of Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov said it would try to contest his extradition to Russia from Brazil, where he is jailed on identity fraud charges. Cherkasov, 39, was detained at the beginning of April last year by Dutch authorities for using fake identity papers. He arrived in the country as Viktor Muller Ferreira, a Brazilian, to take a position at the ICC as a junior analyst. The
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