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 Topic: PoliticsThe new items published under this topic are as follows.
Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 07:30 AM
Politics
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(Kyodo) _ The following is a translation by Kyodo News of the Shimane ordinance to institute "Takeshima Day," passed by the Shimane Prefectural Assembly on Wednesday.
Article 1. Takeshima Day shall be instituted in order to promote a movement by the citizens of the prefecture, its cities, towns and villages united as one aimed at establishment of territorial rights on Takeshima at an early date and at enlightening the opinions of the nation with respect to the issue of Takeshima.
Article 2. Takeshima Day shall be Feb. 22.
Article 3. The prefecture shall strive to implement measures and policies necessary to promote undertakings befitting the purposes and objectives of Takeshima Day.
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Read full article: 'Text of 'Takeshima Day' ordinance' (100 bytes more)  
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 07:29 AM
Politics
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(Kyodo) _ Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated his call Wednesday for a "level-headed" response to a recent row with South Korea after the Shimane Prefectural Assembly designated a commemorative day for the disputed Takeshima island. "Both sides need to deal with this in a level-headed manner with the basic tone of friendship between Japan and South Korea, not swayed too much by the recent emotional conflict," Koizumi told reporters at his office.
But Koizumi said the government has no plans at the moment to take specific steps to mend the strained ties with the neighboring state. In Seoul, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon described the assembly's move as "lamentable," while Koizumi said he believes Japan has built friendship with South Korea, apart from the lingering territorial dispute. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda called for efforts to resolve the issue through dialogue.
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Read full article: 'Koizumi seeks level-headed response over 'Takeshima Day'' (764 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 07:29 AM
Politics
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(Kyodo) _ The Shimane Prefectural Assembly passed a bill Wednesday to designate Feb. 22 as "Takeshima Day" to underline Japan's claim to sovereignty over disputed Takeshima island, which is controlled by South Korea. Sponsors of the "Takeshima Day" bill, which has prompted strong protests and a public outcry in South Korea, said the ordinance is aimed at raising public awareness in Japan that the uninhabited island -- situated between Shimane and South Korea -- belongs to Japan.
South Korea has protested the move by shelving a visit to Japan by Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon, while South Koreans have laid siege to the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to protest the measure. Ban described the Wednesday vote as "lamentable." He also told a news conference that the passage of the bill would not affect the status of the island. The Japanese government has expressed concern over the diplomatic row with South Korea, but it said the state has no power to intervene since the vote by the Shimane assembly was a local government matter.
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Read full article: 'Shimane assembly passes 'Takeshima Day' ordinance' (3170 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 07:16 AM
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(Kyodo) _ South Korea condemned Wednesday voting by a Japanese local assembly to press Japan's claim to a disputed island in the Sea of Japan and demanded the legislation be scrapped immediately. In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Kyu Hyung said South Korea will "take every measure possible" unless the ordinance, which designates Feb. 22 as "Takeshima Day, is scrapped, and "Japan would be held fully responsible for any incident that may occur."
The spokesman said the ordinance has an "impure intention to impair our sovereignty over Tokto, which is part of our territory historically, geographically and according to international law." The prefectural assembly in Shimane passed the ordinance in the morning to highlight Japan's sovereignty over the island situated between South Korea and the western Japanese prefecture. The island is called Takeshima in Japan and Tokto in South Korea, while the Sea of Japan where it lies is called the East Sea by South Korea. It actually consists of two small islets with a total area of 0.23 square kilometer.
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Read full article: 'S. Korea demands 'Takeshima Day' ordinance be scrapped' (2963 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 07:14 AM
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(Kyodo) _ U.S. chess legend Bobby Fischer's chances of getting out of Japan improved Wednesday after the top Japanese immigration official said Fischer can be deported to Iceland if Reykjavik gives him citizenship, according to a Japanese opposition lawmaker. "Based on the interpretation of the immigration law, Mr. Fischer can go to Iceland if he is given citizenship by Iceland," Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party, told reporters after a 40-minute meeting with Masaharu Miura, who heads the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau.
Fischer, 62, has been detained for eight months since July for allegedly carrying an invalid U.S. passport. He has argued his passport was illegally revoked and has been fighting deportation to the United States. Reykjavik has issued an alien passport for Fischer to stay in Iceland, which he has accepted, but Japan is continuing to detain him at an immigration detention facility in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo. According to Fukushima, Miura said Fischer can go to Iceland based on Article 53 section 1 of the immigration law which states that any person subject to deportation shall be deported to a country of which he or she is a national or a citizen.
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Read full article: 'Fischer can go to Iceland if given citizenship' (2678 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 12:22 AM
Politics
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(Kyodo) _ A resumption of high-level Sino-Japanese visits hinges on Japan taking responsibility for its 1931-1945 occupation of China, a Chinese government spokesman said Tuesday. How long it takes to create the right conditions for a resumption of mutual visits, as outlined by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday, depends on Japan shifting its attitude on the "history question," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a routine press briefing. "We think (high-level exchanges of visits) require an appropriate environment and conditions, especially that the Japanese side take a correct attitude toward the issue of history," Liu said.
The Chinese government and people believe Japan has not atoned for its militaristic past. This issue affects political, economic and people-to-people relations. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been unable to visit China over the past three years over Beijing's anger at his regular visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. The Shinto shrine honors convicted Class-A war criminals, along with Japan's war dead. China regards the shrine as a symbol of Japanese militarism and aggression before and during World War II.
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Read full article: 'China says resolving history required for Sino-Japanese visits' (1091 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 12:20 AM
Politics
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(Kyodo) _ Japan and the European Union agreed Tuesday to hold a close exchange of views on farm trade liberalization in upcoming talks under the World Trade Organization, government officials said. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshinobu Shimamura and his European Union counterpart Mariann Fischer Boel confirmed in a telephone conversation that special consideration should be made in discussing tariff cuts for important farm products, such as rice for Japan, they said.
The two also agreed on a time frame that WTO member economies will release preliminary calculations on a formula needed for tariff reductions on agricultural products in April. Shimamura conveyed Japan's policy to the EU over the phone Tuesday because he did not attend unofficial WTO ministerial talks held in Kenya earlier this month, the officials said. At the Kenya meeting, WTO member economies agreed to accelerate multilateral trade liberalization negotiations under the Doha Round ahead of an official ministerial conference slated for December in Hong Kong.
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Read full article: 'Japan, EU agree to exchange views in WTO farm trade talks' (100 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 12:20 AM
Politics
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(Kyodo) _ The head of a panel of experts examining the risks of easing domestic measures against mad cow disease said Tuesday the panel has not been under political pressure to reach a conclusion at an early date, despite jitters in the United States over Japan's nearly 15-month import ban on American beef. Masaaki Terada, chairman of the Food Safety Commission set up under the Cabinet Office, said at the Diet, the panel "has not come under any pressure" with regard to its deliberations.
The panel has been examining for about five months whether Japan's all-cattle testing for mad cow disease can be relaxed to exclude young cows aged up to 20 months. The termination of blanket testing is a precondition for lifting the import ban on U.S. beef. Hiroshi Nakagawa, head of the farm ministry's Food Safety and Consumer Affairs Bureau, also denied his ministry has been urging the commission to accelerate its deliberations for an early lifting of the ban. "We have not set a deadline for deliberations by the Food Safety Commission" on the beef matter, he said.
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Read full article: 'Panel chief denies political pressure for earlier beef conclusion' (1725 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 12:20 AM
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(Kyodo) _ Russian Ambassador to Japan Alexander Losyukov voiced pessimism Tuesday over talks to resolve a long-standing territorial row with Japan over Russian-administered islands off Hokkaido, opposition leader Katsuya Okada said. During an hourlong meeting with the head of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, the Russian envoy repeatedly pointed to the difficulty of starting substantive negotiations with Japan, Okada said during a news conference. "We are deadlocked in negotiating peace treaty and territorial issues. There are no prospects now and I'm pessimistic," Losyukov was quoted by a party official as telling Okada.
Okada said he took the comments to mean that bilateral talks on the issue have made no headway. Expectations had been high in Japan that a proposed visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan in early 2005 would lead to progress in the dispute over the islands. But arranging the visit has been delayed due apparently to persistent gaps between the two countries. A planned visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the first half of this month has also been delayed, further postponing Putin's visit.
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Read full article: 'Russian envoy pessimistic about territorial talks with Japan' (100 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Tuesday, March 15, 2005 - 07:37 AM
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(Kyodo) _ The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the resignation of Kazuyoshi Nakanishi of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who was arrested last week for indecent assault. Nakanishi, 40, allegedly groped a woman in her 20s last Thursday on a street in Tokyo's Roppongi entertainment district while he was drunk. He was released later in the day after the case was settled out of court and the woman withdrew her criminal complaint.
Following the arrest, Nakanishi submitted a resignation letter to the lower house through his lawyer. A by-election in the Tokyo No. 4 constituency to fill Nakanishi's seat may not be held due to legal constraints as the Public Offices Election Law stipulates that a by-election cannot be held when the constituency is the subject of a lawsuit. The Supreme Court is currently considering a lawsuit on the disparity in the number of voters per seat in some constituencies, including the Tokyo No. 4 constituency. Plaintiffs are seeking a court decision to nullify results of the 2003 general election.
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Read full article: 'Lower house approves LDP's Nakanishi to resign from Diet' (680 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Tuesday, March 15, 2005 - 07:36 AM
Politics
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(Kyodo) _ Shimane Gov. Nobuyoshi Sumita said Tuesday the territorial issue between South Korea and Japan over Takeshima Island should be discussed apart from the promotion of bilateral exchanges. Sumita made the remark a day before the Shimane Prefectural Assembly is expected to pass a bill to designate Feb. 22 as "Takeshima Day" under a prefectural ordinance despite a strong protest from South Korea.
Responding to a South Korean reporter at a regular news conference, Sumita said, "I would like you to convey to South Korea the Shimane people's belief that the territorial issue and the exchanges between Japan and South Korea are different issues." Pak Yong Chae, 44, Tokyo correspondent for the Kyonghyang Sinmun newspaper, told Sumita during the news conference that South Korea regards the island as a symbol of the country's independence from Japan and the South Korean people are unable to understand why the assembly has decided to come up with the ordinance. "Isn't it too hasty to make such a decision to sever exchanges with us?" Sumita said.
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Read full article: 'Shimane Gov. Sumita says territory, exchanges different matters' (881 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Tuesday, March 15, 2005 - 12:11 AM
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(Kyodo) _ The government is considering asking a panel of experts to come up with advice on conditions for lifting the import ban on U.S. beef by a certain date, government officials said Monday. The move comes at a time when the United States is stepping up pressure on Tokyo to show a time frame for lifting the nearly 15-month import embargo. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters earlier in the day, "I cannot say when imports will be resumed, but we want to accelerate efforts not to hurt the trusting relationship between the United States and Japan."
Mamoru Ishihara, vice farm minister, also said at a press conference the same day that setting a deadline for the panel to deliver advice was one of the government's options. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to visit Japan on Friday for talks with top Japanese officials on a number of issues, with the beef import ban expected to be on the agenda. However, as the Food Safety Commission under the Cabinet Office is an independent panel which supposedly examines the matter from the viewpoint of scientists, the panel may refuse to set such a deadline.
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Read full article: 'Gov't may seek deadline for panel advice on lifting beef import ban' (932 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Tuesday, March 15, 2005 - 12:10 AM
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(Kyodo) _ A group of five lawmakers from South Korea's ruling and opposition parties plans to land Thursday on a Sea of Japan island claimed by Japan and South Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported Monday. The legislators will land on the uninhabited island called Takeshima in Japanese and Tokto in Korean to protest the Shimane prefectural assembly's recent move to adopt a bill designating Feb. 22 as "Takeshima Day" under a prefectural ordinance, the report said. An assembly committee passed the bill last Thursday.
The South Korean group led by ruling Uri Party representative Kang Chang Il will take a day trip to the island in the East Sea, the Korean name for the Sea of Japan, on Thursday by helicopter, the report said. The group also includes Yoo Ki Hong of the ruling party and Lee Young Soon of the minor opposition Democratic Labor Party, Yonhap said.
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Read full article: 'S. Korean legislators to land on disputed island on Thurs.' (100 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Monday, March 14, 2005 - 07:53 AM
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(Kyodo) _ Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday asked Japanese and U.S. leaders to stay away from self-ruled Taiwan and that Japan " handle the history question" to advance what he called China's "most important" bilateral relationship. Wen told reporters he was concerned about the Taiwan references in a high-level Japan-U.S. meeting last month on security in the Asia-Pacific region.
"The security alliance between Japan and the United States is a bilateral matter between these two countries, but we are concerned because it relates to the question of Taiwan, and that brooks no direct or indirect interference by foreign forces," Wen said at a press conference in response to a Japanese reporter's question. China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be reunited, by force if necessary. And earlier Monday, China's legislature enacted an anti-secession law that fortifies its policies. Japan occupied Taiwan for about 50 years until 1945 and the two sides have strong cultural and economic relations. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing made a similar remark last week.
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Read full article: 'Chinese premier urges Japan to solve 'history question'' (1762 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Monday, March 14, 2005 - 07:51 AM
Politics
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(Kyodo) _ Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi urged China and Taiwan on Monday to strive for a peaceful resolution of Taiwan's status as China enacted a law that confirms Beijing's pledge to use military force if Taiwan declares independence from China or if all possibilities of peaceful reunification fail. "I want them both to make efforts for a peaceful resolution so the law will have no negative effects," Koizumi told reporters at his office. "I want to continue calling on them to achieve a peaceful resolution of the issue." In Beijing on Monday, the National People's Congress unanimously enacted the National Anti-Secession Law. It took effect immediately.
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Read full article: 'Koizumi seeks peaceful resolution of Taiwan issue' (527 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Monday, March 14, 2005 - 07:27 AM
Politics
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(Kyodo) _ Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made three proposals Monday for improving China's often testy relations with Japan, including taking steps for "creating the right conditions" for a resumption of mutual visits by the countries' top leaders. The other two are for the two countries' foreign ministries to make strategic studies for boosting relations and for the two countries to find an appropriate solution to "issues left over from history," Wen said.
Wen spelled out the proposals during an annual press conference that also covered just-approved Chinese legislation aimed at preventing Taiwan's independence as well as ways to control the pace of China's rapidly growing economy. On China's ties with Japan, Wen said "the barrier that exists is mostly on the political side," and the "basic problem is the Japanese side's way of handling the question of history." China has repeatedly complained about Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which honors convicted Class-A Japanese war criminals along with Japanese who died in wars.
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Read full article: 'China's Wen proposes 3 steps for improving ties with Japan' (2942 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Monday, March 14, 2005 - 07:26 AM
Politics
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(Kyodo) _ Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Toshiyuki Takano has temporarily returned to Tokyo to discuss how to deal with bilateral issues, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Monday. Although Hosoda did not elaborate, the issues apparently include strained ties over a Shimane Prefecture ordinance to designate a commemorative day for a disputed island, which is expected to pass in the prefectural assembly Wednesday.
At the center of the dispute is the uninhabited island called Takeshima in Japanese and Tokto in Korean. The island, currently under South Korean control, is located off Shimane Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast but is much closer to South Korea. Takano returned home Sunday "to report the current situation of the Japan-South Korea relations and discuss ways to deal with it," Hosoda told a press conference. Takano plans to meet with Hosoda, Foreign Ministry officials and lawmakers backing bilateral relations before returning to South Korea next week, according to Hosoda and officials at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
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Read full article: 'Japan envoy to Seoul back home temporarily to discuss isle row' (691 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Saturday, March 12, 2005 - 07:55 AM
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(Kyodo) _ Nagateru Ohama, mayor of Ishigaki city, Okinawa Prefecture, expressed an intention Saturday to visit the main island in a Japanese-controlled island group claimed also by China and Taiwan. "As the chief responsible for the administrative region covering the Senkaku Islands, I would like to set my feet (on the main island) and see it with my own eyes," the mayor told Kyodo News in a telephone interview Saturday. Ohama has Uotsuri Island in mind, which is the biggest of the island group and is called Diaoyu in China and Tiaoyutai in Taiwan. No mayor of Ishigaki has set on foot on the island.
As to the timing, the mayor said he is "considering" it but has already requested cooperation from the Japan Coast Guard. Ohama said he started considering a visit after the Japanese government announced in February it is assuming the ownership of a lighthouse built on Uotsuri by a group of Japanese political activists and placing it under the control of the coast guard. Ohama also said, "I will give considerations to relations with China and Taiwan. I would like to achieve (a visit) through peaceful means that would not damage relations."
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Read full article: 'Okinawa mayor mulls visit to disputed Senkaku Islands' (100 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Friday, March 11, 2005 - 07:26 AM
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(Kyodo) _ Japan and the United States will hold working-level talks on the U.S. military's realignment on Tuesday in Washington, Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono said Friday. The upcoming talks comes after a "two-plus-two" meeting last month of ministers in charge of foreign and defense affairs of Japan and the United States. In this meeting, which took place in Washington, the two nations agreed to accelerate consultations on the realignment.
Ono said the talks next week will discuss issues such as "delegation of roles and duties between Japan and the United States, (the two nations') capabilities, and joint use of bases" by the U.S. military and Japanese Self-Defense Forces.
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Read full article: 'Japan, U.S. to hold working-level talks on realignment Tues.' (100 bytes more)
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Posted by: Billy Bob Joe on Friday, March 11, 2005 - 12:15 AM
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(Kyodo) _ Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday he has no plans to attend Russia's ceremony in May to mark the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. "I have no plans to go at the moment. I find it difficult as the event will coincide with the latter-half session of the Diet and will take place on a weekday," Koizumi told reporters at his office.
Russia earlier invited Koizumi to attend the event slated for May 9 in Moscow. Russia has invited foreign delegations led by heads of state and government for events to mark what it calls the 60th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, U.S. President George W. Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun are among the world leaders expected to participate in the commemorative event.
Although Koizumi received the invitation last fall, Tokyo was until recently withholding a reply amid the difficulty of arranging a planned visit to Japan early this year by Russian President Vladimir Putin over dim prospects for the two countries to make headway in the row over Russian-held islands off
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Read full article: 'Koizumi not to attend Russia's 60th anniversary war-victory ceremony' (397 bytes more)
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