PanOrient News

Okada Rebuffs Chinese Official on the Resumption of Six-Party Talks

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Tokyo -- China's Special Representative on the Korean Peninsula Affairs Wu Dawei met with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada today to discuss the possible resumption of the Six-Party Talks.

Wu, who recently visited North Korea, told Okada that Pyongyang desired to return to the process of political dialogue, and he added that the heightening of tensions on the Korean Peninsula are not desirable for the peace and stability of neighboring countries, as well as Northeast Asia as a whole.

Okada re...

US Pushes Tokyo toward Iran Sanctions

Monday, August 23, 2010

Tokyo -- The US government is actively lobbying the Kan administration to impose additional unilateral sanctions on Iran over concerns of nuclear development.

The latest word is that Washington desires Japanese sanctions that are equal in strength to those recently approved by the European Union.

Tokyo has already imposed several rounds of relatively weak sanctions on Tehran in solidarity with their US allies, but the Obama administration is making a concerted effort for significantly toug...

Fukuyama to Organize Afghan Aid Allocation

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Tokyo -- Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama is expected to take charge of a new office, run out of the Kantei, which will make specific decisions about the allocation of Japanese aid to Afghanistan.

Putting a deputy chief cabinet secretary in charge of an aid program for a specific foreign nation is an unprecedented move.

Tokyo has long pledged US$5 billion in aid to Afghanistan, but by the end of this year only about 20% is expected to have been committed to specific projects...

Diplomacy