The finance ministers of China, Japan and South Korea said that while prospects for their economies remained positive, high oil prices may pose a serious risk to regional economies.
The ministers said on Tuesday that they would welcome efforts to increase energy supplies and therefore lower prices.
The three met in Istanbul in advance of the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank, which opened yesterday.
"The prospects of the three countries' economic growth for 2005 are positive although the continuous high oil price may pose a major risk to the regional economy," the ministers -- Japan's Sadakazu Tanigaki, China's Jin Renqing (金人慶) and Han Duck-soo of South Korea -- said in a joint statement after meeting on Tuesday night.
The statement said the three "welcome the efforts to increase medium-term energy supply and efficiency including the encouragement of dialogues between oil-producing and oil-consuming nations."
The three also agreed to make concerted efforts to boost their representation in international financial institutions such as the IMF, the statement said. Asian powers have repeatedly said they are underrepresented in such institutions.
The ministers also discussed efforts to expand the so-called Chiang Mai Initiative, a regional network of bilateral currency-swap agreements that was created after the 1997 to 1998 Asian currency crisis and aims at mutual assistance in times of financial difficulties.
Han said the ministers were looking to expand the initiative from bilateral to multilateral agreements.
Earlier, the head of the Asian Development Bank, Haruhiko Kuroda, addressed recent tensions between China and Japan, saying they were unlikely to disrupt economic ties between the two countries, but adding that economic ties could be hurt if the strains persisted.
If the tension between Asia's two largest economies is prolonged "it could undermine further integration of economies in the region," Kuroda said.
But he added: "I don't think this strong interdependence is undermined, because this interdependence is extremely good for both economies."
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
RSS