Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi yesterday underlined Tokyo's concern over the EU's plans to lift an arms embargo on China at a summit with European leaders in Luxembourg, while in Manila, Japan's defense minister agreed to expand cooperation with the Philippines.
The EU's presidency insisted that ending the 16-year-old ban, slapped on Beijing after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, would not threaten security in the region.
Koizumi, speaking after the talks, said he believed the 25-member bloc understands Tokyo's opposition to the plans.
"I did express our concern and I think ... Japan's concern is very well understood," he said in a joint press conference with EU leaders including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
He added that the EU had made clear to him that, "while fully understanding the concerns of Japan, [it] should like to deal with the matter so that it would not lead to a problem."
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, reiterated that the bloc hopes to reach an agreement on lifting the plan by the end of June.
But he also underlined that a lifting of the arms embargo would have "no material consequences" -- an apparent reference to any increase in arms sales to China.
"We are in the process of discussing the subject with our closest partners, that means Japan [and] the United States," he said. "We take very seriously the observations made by both Japan and the US.
"The intention of the EU if it reaches an accord on lifting the embargo is not to develop arms exports to China in a way that would [increase] the security concerns regularly mentioned by our partners," he said.
In Manila, defense ministers from the Philippines and Japan agreed to expand cooperation, especially in the areas of maritime security, disaster management and counter-terrorism.
Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz and visiting Japanese Defense Minister Yoshinori Ohno also agreed to develop a mechanism wherein they can meet annually to discuss security issues.
"The first step is to develop a mechanism for an annual continuation of the political security dialogue and the frequency of the exchange of visits between senior and middle level officers," Cruz said after meeting with Ohno who was in Manila for an overnight visit.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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