Northeast Asia Geostrategic Forum
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TaiShang
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ASEAN+3 finance chiefs discuss economy, cooperation in Japan
Xinhua | Updated: 2017-05-06
YOKOHAMA — Finance chiefs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as Japan, China and South Korea discussed global and regional economy and financial cooperation here Friday at the 20th ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers' and Central Bank Governors' Meeting.
The ASEAN+3 finance leaders agreed that the regional economy, while growing relatively fast, still faces downside risks caused by factors, such as protectionism and financial condition tightening.
They agreed to promote sustainable, balanced and inclusive economic growth by deploying all necessary policy tools independently or jointly, including monetary, fiscal policies as well as structural reform.
They reaffirmed support for open and rules-based multilateral trade and investment systems, and agreed to enhance monitoring of capital flows and pay close attention to and address possible risks in the region.
The leaders also reaffirmed strengthening the role of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) as part of the regional financial safety net and welcomed the fruits achieved in the first joint test run of the CMIM and the International Monetary Fund.
Shi Yaobin, China's deputy finance minister, said China's economy got off to a good start in 2017, with economic growth reaching 6.9 percent, 3.34 million new jobs created in the first quarter and foreign trade up 21.8 percent year-on-year.
He said that China will continue with proactive fiscal policy, further cut taxes and administrative fees for enterprises, optimize the fiscal expenditure structure to promote reform of the supply side while attaching more importance to controling local governments' debt risks.
He noted that the ASEAN+3 region, while keeping a growth momentum, still faces a lot of challenges, including the aging society, the increasing need to conduct industrial structural transformation, and the growing financial vulnerability for some countries.
He called on all sides to take joint actions to strengthen structural reform, increase regional infrastructure investment and connectivity, firmly protect multilateral trade system, and continue to improve regional financial safety nets to effectively prevent financial risk.
Xinhua | Updated: 2017-05-06
YOKOHAMA — Finance chiefs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as Japan, China and South Korea discussed global and regional economy and financial cooperation here Friday at the 20th ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers' and Central Bank Governors' Meeting.
The ASEAN+3 finance leaders agreed that the regional economy, while growing relatively fast, still faces downside risks caused by factors, such as protectionism and financial condition tightening.
They agreed to promote sustainable, balanced and inclusive economic growth by deploying all necessary policy tools independently or jointly, including monetary, fiscal policies as well as structural reform.
They reaffirmed support for open and rules-based multilateral trade and investment systems, and agreed to enhance monitoring of capital flows and pay close attention to and address possible risks in the region.
The leaders also reaffirmed strengthening the role of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) as part of the regional financial safety net and welcomed the fruits achieved in the first joint test run of the CMIM and the International Monetary Fund.
Shi Yaobin, China's deputy finance minister, said China's economy got off to a good start in 2017, with economic growth reaching 6.9 percent, 3.34 million new jobs created in the first quarter and foreign trade up 21.8 percent year-on-year.
He said that China will continue with proactive fiscal policy, further cut taxes and administrative fees for enterprises, optimize the fiscal expenditure structure to promote reform of the supply side while attaching more importance to controling local governments' debt risks.
He noted that the ASEAN+3 region, while keeping a growth momentum, still faces a lot of challenges, including the aging society, the increasing need to conduct industrial structural transformation, and the growing financial vulnerability for some countries.
He called on all sides to take joint actions to strengthen structural reform, increase regional infrastructure investment and connectivity, firmly protect multilateral trade system, and continue to improve regional financial safety nets to effectively prevent financial risk.
samsara
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Interview: Abe's attempts to revise Constitution do no good to Japan: scholar
Source: Xinhua | 2017-05-06 17:44:13|Editor: Tian Shaohui
Citizens attend a protest against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attempts to revise the Article 9
of the Japanese Constitution, on May 3, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]
TOKYO, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Japan's pacifistic Constitution has played an important role in the country's postwar development and to forcibly revise it will do no good to Japan, said Akira Ishii, a historian and professor emeritus of Tokyo University.
Japan's current Constitution, drawn up under the Allied occupation following World War II, is best known for its Article 9, by which Japan renounces its right to wage war and promises that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained."
Ishii said the Constitution, time-tested in the past 70 years, has been well accepted by the Japanese people.
"Most people in Japan believe that the pacifistic Constitution have played a big role in the fast development of Japan after World War II," he said in a recent interview with Xinhua.
"The war-renouncing Constitution has also been the premise for Japan to be reaccepted into the international community after World War II," he added.
Revising the Constitution has long been a goal of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Ishii said that the LDP has been advocating constitutional revision as part of its platform since the party was founded in the 1950s, because it believes that the Constitution was imposed upon Japan by the United States.
As for the Abe administration, which has been keener on revising the Constitution than the previous governments, Ishii said that one of the reasons for Abe to push for constitutional revision is to secure support from the conservative forces in Japan.
He also pointed out that the Abe administration has been pushing for de facto Constitutional revision by changing constitutional interpretations. For example, Japan has forcibly enacted the controversial security laws to expand the role of the Self-Defense Forces overseas despite strong public oppositions.
He stressed that Japan's recent move of allowing the Imperial Rescript on Education in school textbooks is also unconstitutional as the prewar rescript preaches sacrificing one's life for the emperor.
According to Ishii, with Abe's ruling LDP and other forces in favor of revising the Constitution having a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the parliament now, revising the Constitution has become more realistic than ever.
However, Abe's attempts still face a lot of challenges, as to revise the Constitution needs the approval of a referendum while a lot of people in Japan oppose such revisions.
A recent poll by Japan's Kyodo News showed that 51 percent of respondents were against any constitutional amendments under the Abe administration, while 45 percent were in favor.
As the nation marked its 70th Constitution Memorial Day on Wednesday, some 55,000 people rallied in Tokyo to protest against Abe's attempts to amend the pacifist Constitution.
Another obstacle would be a possible split inside the pro-revision camp. For example, the LDP's coalition partner the Komeito Party hopes to retain the Article 9 while adding clauses on environment and privacy rights into the Constitution, said Ishii.
Ishii also expressed concerns that revising the war-renouncing Constitution would hurt Japan's relationship with its neighboring countries, which had fallen victim to Japan's invasion and brutalities before and during World War II.
"Japan's neighbors would have all kinds of guesses on what's behind Japan's move of revising the war-recouncing Constitution," he said.
"To revise the pacifist Constitution will meet a lot of challenges and to forcibly do it would do no good to Japan," he added.
* * * * *
The U.S.-Japan Alliance (2012) - PDF
Authors
Richard L. Armitage
Joseph S. Nye
https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/...ation/120810_Armitage_USJapanAlliance_Web.pdf
Some poster in the Japan Times who provided this link jocularly called this document as the "Order" from US think tank to Japan (2012)
Shotgunner51
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I suppose ASEAN+3 finance chiefs should seriously look into currency and investment issues, especially chiefs from major creditor nations like China (including Hong Kong), Japan, Singapore, they should feel the gravity of ongoing situation: US government plans to cut tax for corporations, and even further increase defence spending. Their debt ceiling suspension already expired on March 15, Treasury has been taking “extraordinary measures” (aka accounting treatment) since then as it awaits another ceiling increase approval by Congress. The Treasury is even “studying” the concept of issuing bonds with tenors of more than 30 years. US public deficit and debt are for sure to growing, if not accelerate.
This never-ending fiscal debacle will only prompt Fed Reserve to take new rounds of "necessary" actions sooner or later, though what actions will be taken are yet to be seen, worst case scenario is again dollar printing. Finance chiefs from China and other creditor nations better buckle up for all outcomes.
https://www.ft.com/content/9914d9d4-f704-38f8-902e-8d0a1ffa1f91
http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/02/news/economy/trump-shutdown-debt-ceiling/index.html
https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/intinv/intinvnewsrelease.htm
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...l-62-billion-in-debt-studies-ultra-long-bonds
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-...ton-even-care-we-are-20-trillion-dollars-debt
TaiShang
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Pentagon-Japan’s WAR PLANS on Korea To Start w/ False-flag Attacks on Asian Capitals
Yoichi Shimatsu | Thursday, May 4, 2017, 22:05 Beijing
… Insubordination is the exact charge that should be laid against Matthis when he illegally prepares for an expanded war without notifying Congress or the White House….
Even as President Donald Trump sends an overture for peace talks with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, the Pentagon and Japan’s intelligence agency are running black operations to launch false-flag operations against Asian capitals as a pretext for war on the Korean Peninsula. Already, covert teams are pinning targets for black ops planners at the Pentagon.
Meanwhile, Japan’s carrier-borne helicopters are getting ready to transfer nuclear bombs onto US Marine Corps F-35B Lighting attack jets off Shikoku, the small Japanese island that fronts the Inland (Seto) Sea. In mid-January, the defect-plagued F-35s were forward-deployed to the Marine Corps Air Station at Iwakuni in Yamaguchi, the home prefecture of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Soon, these troubled aircraft will be launching World War III.
Mad Dogs Plan Pretext for a First Strike
The dispatch of reconnaissance team to civilian centers in Asia shows that Abe and Defense Secretary James Matthis are planning a false-flag attack to be blamed on the North Koreans to justify a massive US-Japan “counter-attack”, actually a first strike, with nuclear bombs. Over the past year, Abe has repeatedly asserted his first-strike doctrine and opposed international disarmament talks outlawing sneak attacks.
Preparations for the false-flag/counterstrike operations are under way with the rendezvous of the Japanese helicopter carrier Izumo with an as-yet unidentified US Navy supply vessel off the Boso Peninsula (Chiba Prefecture, due east of Tokyo). The sailing direction of the US supply ship indicates it came from Johnson Atoll, the US nuclear arsenal near the Hawaiian Islands, meaning it is transporting a cargo of nuclear bombs.
The supply ship, escorted by the gigantic Izumo, is now off the coast of Shikoku, Japan’s fourth-largest island that fronts the Inland Sea, or Seto Naikai. Aside from the ports of Osaka, Kobe and Hiroshima, the Inland Sea is the location of the US Marine Corps Air Station at Iwakuni, in Yamaguchi, Abe’s home province.
On January 18, 2017, the US Marines forward-deployed Fighter Attack Squadron 121, known as the “Green Knights”, at Iwakuni. The Marine version of the stealth fighter-bomber is capable of vertical landing on the decks of helicopter carriers and with angular lift can achieve short takeoffs.
US Marines forward-deployed Stealth Fighter Attack Squadron 121, known as the “Green Knights”
Either the helicopters of the Izumo are delivering the warheads to Iwakuni in blatant violation of Japan’s Three Non-Nuclear Principles or, to evade detection from land observers, landing the F-35s on deck for ordnance loading.
At this point, before there is any sign of a cross-border offensive from North Korean forces, the US-Japan bomb-transfer is for an offensive naval-air operation, and therefore in clear violation of Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan as well as the US-Japan Security Agreement. The treachery makes Shinzo Abe nothing less than a war criminal under Japanese law and American treaty.
Gen. Mattis is acting in aggressive violation of the defensive mission of the security treaty and therefore should be relieved of his duties just like the rogue commander in the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur, was recalled on April 11, 1951, for insubordination against the president because of his call for use of nuclear bombs against North Korea and China.
Insubordination is the exact charge that should be laid against Matthis when he illegally prepares for an expanded war without notifying Congress or the White House.
A new Korean conflict would involve the Chinese and Russian military forces, in direct contravention of President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for personal talks with the North Korean leader aimed at a diplomatic solution and a return to the 6-party talks on denuclearization. However difficult and long the path to a peaceful resolution, that is infinitely better than risking World War III.
US Marine Corps F-35B Lighting Attack Jets
Second Korean War is a Rerun
Marine Air Squadron 122 has a history in Korea, earning fame for its repeated attempts in 1952 to bomb the Sui-ho Dam, a major hydroelectric power dam. Intended to pressure the Northern side in the Panmunjeom truce talks, the damage to the power plant contributed to the massive toll of up to 5 million human lives, not only by war but through the total warfare against habitation, water supplies, agriculture, industries and even hospitals and schools.
Since those dark days, the recurrent insolence from senior American field commanders is an all-too frequent problem that arises from the practically autonomous military “empire” in the Pentagon’s archipelago of bases in the territories of tributary nations, far out of reach from the White House, Congress, courts and diplomatic corps.
With their dirty dealings with corrupt host elites, including bribe-taking to deplete military stores of ammo and BX supplies of booze, raping and robbing local civilians, and whoring with camp followers, these garrisons are bilking the American taxpayers and doing anything except defending democracy.
The US military has been in a sorry state since long before the Vietnam conflict and dependent on crooked contractors to fix their failing equipment instead of demanding do-it-yourself designs of weapons systems. In a real war, the Minutemen of Lexington and Concord would easily win a shooting contest with today’s millennial crusaders.
To think that a Mad Dog and Green Knights are going to achieve an easy victory over the Spartans of Asia, a reputation hard-earned by the North Koreans, is a fantasy no matter how many false flag attacks are scheduled. Taking his cue from President Harry Truman, Trump must reassert his stature as Commander in Chief, and retire Matthis to virtual reality gaming where he can slaughter every zombie in sight.
Evading Prosecution for Mass Murder
Since Mattis and Abe hope to conceal their crime of triggering a world war, they must unleash sufficient mass brutality to erase the public memory, as happened when B-52 carpet-bombing took attention off the fake Tonkin Gulf incident. Therefore it is important now to begin putting evidence on the record for illegal provocation of a world war and their coming crimes against humanity.
Nuclear warfare, with its indiscriminate killing of a large group of humans, fits the definition of genocide. In the two times that atomic weapons were used against an enemy nation, the postwar United Nations did not deem those US attacks to constitute genocide due to the fact that wartime Japan was the sole remaining head of the Axis, its commission of atrocities against millions of people in Asia, and the immediate necessity to end World War II from sacrificing the lives of more Allied personnel.
Those arguments that exonerated President Harry Truman, the Manhattan Project scientists and air crews of the USAF bombers do not apply in the present case of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), however objectionable the regime’s policies may be to its critics. The use of nuclear weapons against the Korean people would be grossly disproportionate to whatever they might be guilty of in border skirmishes, verbal threats and the alleged-(so-called)-“human rights abuses.” Their own small ballistic force is a mere deterrent to the vast US threat and Japan’s secret nuclear-weapons program, which the UN has failed to probe.
A war-crazed neo-colonialist, Abe has found a fanatic “kobun” (underling) In “Mad Dog” Mattis. At a crossroads to either world war or peace, the White House has only two options: Let these vicious rabid mutts spread their epidemic against the world population; or put them to sleep.
Out of Uniform Removes Geneva Protections
Before proceeding, in the interest of the rights of American service personnel assigned to undercover missions: Your superior officers are aware that Geneva Accords regarding the treatment of prisoners do not apply to military personnel captured out of uniform and in civilian attire for purposes of espionage. If taken, the international standards for humane treatment and limitations on interrogation become no longer in effect, leaving you to be treated as a foreign spy who can expect robust interrogation, unlimited incarceration and other lamentable types of inhumane treatment.
Whether you volunteered or were ordered to participate in military reconnaissance of civilian centers will have no bearing on your sentencing. Your officers were in legal and ethical violation of U.S. law and the military code for endangering your lives and personal safety, but due to this problem the US Government will be under no obligation to provide support to your family members or even inform them of your whereabouts. The risk is entirely yours alone, and the odds of being caught are running against you by the minute.
In short, while it is understandable that you lack the knowledge or sense to refuse participation due to one verbal incentive or another, it would be an decades-long effort on my part to try to retrieve whatever is left of you to bring home to your loved ones. It falls on antiwar individuals like me to undo these snafus, because your officers by then only want you to be silenced. At the end of the day they’ll be drinking beer with the adversaries, while you’ll be forgotten like the yellow-ribbon POWS abandoned in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. So do a favor, and save me that thankless effort and spare your family and friends the needless hardship from this idiotic exercise.
Yoichi Shimatsu, Senior Advisor and Contributing Editor for The 4th Media was a former editor with The Japan Times group. He is a science journalist who has conducted radioactivity studies in the Fukushima exclusion zone, where he has found evidence of large-scale plutonium extraction for nuclear weapons production.
The 4th Media
Yoichi Shimatsu | Thursday, May 4, 2017, 22:05 Beijing
… Insubordination is the exact charge that should be laid against Matthis when he illegally prepares for an expanded war without notifying Congress or the White House….
Even as President Donald Trump sends an overture for peace talks with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, the Pentagon and Japan’s intelligence agency are running black operations to launch false-flag operations against Asian capitals as a pretext for war on the Korean Peninsula. Already, covert teams are pinning targets for black ops planners at the Pentagon.
Meanwhile, Japan’s carrier-borne helicopters are getting ready to transfer nuclear bombs onto US Marine Corps F-35B Lighting attack jets off Shikoku, the small Japanese island that fronts the Inland (Seto) Sea. In mid-January, the defect-plagued F-35s were forward-deployed to the Marine Corps Air Station at Iwakuni in Yamaguchi, the home prefecture of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Soon, these troubled aircraft will be launching World War III.
Mad Dogs Plan Pretext for a First Strike
The dispatch of reconnaissance team to civilian centers in Asia shows that Abe and Defense Secretary James Matthis are planning a false-flag attack to be blamed on the North Koreans to justify a massive US-Japan “counter-attack”, actually a first strike, with nuclear bombs. Over the past year, Abe has repeatedly asserted his first-strike doctrine and opposed international disarmament talks outlawing sneak attacks.
Preparations for the false-flag/counterstrike operations are under way with the rendezvous of the Japanese helicopter carrier Izumo with an as-yet unidentified US Navy supply vessel off the Boso Peninsula (Chiba Prefecture, due east of Tokyo). The sailing direction of the US supply ship indicates it came from Johnson Atoll, the US nuclear arsenal near the Hawaiian Islands, meaning it is transporting a cargo of nuclear bombs.
The supply ship, escorted by the gigantic Izumo, is now off the coast of Shikoku, Japan’s fourth-largest island that fronts the Inland Sea, or Seto Naikai. Aside from the ports of Osaka, Kobe and Hiroshima, the Inland Sea is the location of the US Marine Corps Air Station at Iwakuni, in Yamaguchi, Abe’s home province.
On January 18, 2017, the US Marines forward-deployed Fighter Attack Squadron 121, known as the “Green Knights”, at Iwakuni. The Marine version of the stealth fighter-bomber is capable of vertical landing on the decks of helicopter carriers and with angular lift can achieve short takeoffs.
US Marines forward-deployed Stealth Fighter Attack Squadron 121, known as the “Green Knights”
Either the helicopters of the Izumo are delivering the warheads to Iwakuni in blatant violation of Japan’s Three Non-Nuclear Principles or, to evade detection from land observers, landing the F-35s on deck for ordnance loading.
At this point, before there is any sign of a cross-border offensive from North Korean forces, the US-Japan bomb-transfer is for an offensive naval-air operation, and therefore in clear violation of Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan as well as the US-Japan Security Agreement. The treachery makes Shinzo Abe nothing less than a war criminal under Japanese law and American treaty.
Gen. Mattis is acting in aggressive violation of the defensive mission of the security treaty and therefore should be relieved of his duties just like the rogue commander in the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur, was recalled on April 11, 1951, for insubordination against the president because of his call for use of nuclear bombs against North Korea and China.
Insubordination is the exact charge that should be laid against Matthis when he illegally prepares for an expanded war without notifying Congress or the White House.
A new Korean conflict would involve the Chinese and Russian military forces, in direct contravention of President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for personal talks with the North Korean leader aimed at a diplomatic solution and a return to the 6-party talks on denuclearization. However difficult and long the path to a peaceful resolution, that is infinitely better than risking World War III.
US Marine Corps F-35B Lighting Attack Jets
Second Korean War is a Rerun
Marine Air Squadron 122 has a history in Korea, earning fame for its repeated attempts in 1952 to bomb the Sui-ho Dam, a major hydroelectric power dam. Intended to pressure the Northern side in the Panmunjeom truce talks, the damage to the power plant contributed to the massive toll of up to 5 million human lives, not only by war but through the total warfare against habitation, water supplies, agriculture, industries and even hospitals and schools.
Since those dark days, the recurrent insolence from senior American field commanders is an all-too frequent problem that arises from the practically autonomous military “empire” in the Pentagon’s archipelago of bases in the territories of tributary nations, far out of reach from the White House, Congress, courts and diplomatic corps.
With their dirty dealings with corrupt host elites, including bribe-taking to deplete military stores of ammo and BX supplies of booze, raping and robbing local civilians, and whoring with camp followers, these garrisons are bilking the American taxpayers and doing anything except defending democracy.
The US military has been in a sorry state since long before the Vietnam conflict and dependent on crooked contractors to fix their failing equipment instead of demanding do-it-yourself designs of weapons systems. In a real war, the Minutemen of Lexington and Concord would easily win a shooting contest with today’s millennial crusaders.
To think that a Mad Dog and Green Knights are going to achieve an easy victory over the Spartans of Asia, a reputation hard-earned by the North Koreans, is a fantasy no matter how many false flag attacks are scheduled. Taking his cue from President Harry Truman, Trump must reassert his stature as Commander in Chief, and retire Matthis to virtual reality gaming where he can slaughter every zombie in sight.
Evading Prosecution for Mass Murder
Since Mattis and Abe hope to conceal their crime of triggering a world war, they must unleash sufficient mass brutality to erase the public memory, as happened when B-52 carpet-bombing took attention off the fake Tonkin Gulf incident. Therefore it is important now to begin putting evidence on the record for illegal provocation of a world war and their coming crimes against humanity.
Nuclear warfare, with its indiscriminate killing of a large group of humans, fits the definition of genocide. In the two times that atomic weapons were used against an enemy nation, the postwar United Nations did not deem those US attacks to constitute genocide due to the fact that wartime Japan was the sole remaining head of the Axis, its commission of atrocities against millions of people in Asia, and the immediate necessity to end World War II from sacrificing the lives of more Allied personnel.
Those arguments that exonerated President Harry Truman, the Manhattan Project scientists and air crews of the USAF bombers do not apply in the present case of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), however objectionable the regime’s policies may be to its critics. The use of nuclear weapons against the Korean people would be grossly disproportionate to whatever they might be guilty of in border skirmishes, verbal threats and the alleged-(so-called)-“human rights abuses.” Their own small ballistic force is a mere deterrent to the vast US threat and Japan’s secret nuclear-weapons program, which the UN has failed to probe.
A war-crazed neo-colonialist, Abe has found a fanatic “kobun” (underling) In “Mad Dog” Mattis. At a crossroads to either world war or peace, the White House has only two options: Let these vicious rabid mutts spread their epidemic against the world population; or put them to sleep.
Out of Uniform Removes Geneva Protections
Before proceeding, in the interest of the rights of American service personnel assigned to undercover missions: Your superior officers are aware that Geneva Accords regarding the treatment of prisoners do not apply to military personnel captured out of uniform and in civilian attire for purposes of espionage. If taken, the international standards for humane treatment and limitations on interrogation become no longer in effect, leaving you to be treated as a foreign spy who can expect robust interrogation, unlimited incarceration and other lamentable types of inhumane treatment.
Whether you volunteered or were ordered to participate in military reconnaissance of civilian centers will have no bearing on your sentencing. Your officers were in legal and ethical violation of U.S. law and the military code for endangering your lives and personal safety, but due to this problem the US Government will be under no obligation to provide support to your family members or even inform them of your whereabouts. The risk is entirely yours alone, and the odds of being caught are running against you by the minute.
In short, while it is understandable that you lack the knowledge or sense to refuse participation due to one verbal incentive or another, it would be an decades-long effort on my part to try to retrieve whatever is left of you to bring home to your loved ones. It falls on antiwar individuals like me to undo these snafus, because your officers by then only want you to be silenced. At the end of the day they’ll be drinking beer with the adversaries, while you’ll be forgotten like the yellow-ribbon POWS abandoned in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. So do a favor, and save me that thankless effort and spare your family and friends the needless hardship from this idiotic exercise.
Yoichi Shimatsu, Senior Advisor and Contributing Editor for The 4th Media was a former editor with The Japan Times group. He is a science journalist who has conducted radioactivity studies in the Fukushima exclusion zone, where he has found evidence of large-scale plutonium extraction for nuclear weapons production.
The 4th Media
TaiShang
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Moon Jae-in wins S Korean presidential election
Xinhua | Updated: 2017-05-10 06:06
South Korea's president-elect Moon Jae-in gestures to supporters at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, South Korea, May 9, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]
SEOUL - Liberal Moon Jae-in won the South Korean presidential by-election as he gained votes enough to confirm victory, vote count results showed Wednesday.
With 91.3 percent of votes counted as of 3:07 a.m. local time (1807 GMT Tuesday), Moon garnered 40.5 percent, according to the national election commission.
Hong Joon-pyo of the conservative Liberty Korea Party won 24.8 percent. Even if the remaining uncounted votes go to Hong, he will not defeat Moon. It confirmed Moon's victory with certainty.
Ahn Cheol-soo of the centrist People's Party garnered 21.5 percent, trailed by Yoo Seong-min of the conservative Righteous Party with 6.7 percent.
Sim Sang-jung of the minor liberal Justice Party had 6.0 percent support.
Moon celebrated with jubilant supporters gathering at the Gwanghwamun square in central Seoul around midnight as his victory was assured by local media outlets in an early stage of vote count.
In the televised speech, Moon told supporters that he will become a president for all the people from Wednesday, saying he will become a president of unity, caring about those who did not support him in the election.
Before the speech, he told reporters at his party's building that he will achieve the two main goals of reform and unity people had wished for.
Four other major candidates made concessions to Moon, even before less than 10 percent of votes were counted. The concessions led local media outlets to predict an assured election of Moon.
Xinhua | Updated: 2017-05-10 06:06
South Korea's president-elect Moon Jae-in gestures to supporters at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, South Korea, May 9, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]
SEOUL - Liberal Moon Jae-in won the South Korean presidential by-election as he gained votes enough to confirm victory, vote count results showed Wednesday.
With 91.3 percent of votes counted as of 3:07 a.m. local time (1807 GMT Tuesday), Moon garnered 40.5 percent, according to the national election commission.
Hong Joon-pyo of the conservative Liberty Korea Party won 24.8 percent. Even if the remaining uncounted votes go to Hong, he will not defeat Moon. It confirmed Moon's victory with certainty.
Ahn Cheol-soo of the centrist People's Party garnered 21.5 percent, trailed by Yoo Seong-min of the conservative Righteous Party with 6.7 percent.
Sim Sang-jung of the minor liberal Justice Party had 6.0 percent support.
Moon celebrated with jubilant supporters gathering at the Gwanghwamun square in central Seoul around midnight as his victory was assured by local media outlets in an early stage of vote count.
In the televised speech, Moon told supporters that he will become a president for all the people from Wednesday, saying he will become a president of unity, caring about those who did not support him in the election.
Before the speech, he told reporters at his party's building that he will achieve the two main goals of reform and unity people had wished for.
Four other major candidates made concessions to Moon, even before less than 10 percent of votes were counted. The concessions led local media outlets to predict an assured election of Moon.
TaiShang
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Mainland starts rail ticket self-service for Taiwan compatriots
Xinhua | Updated: 2017-05-10 08:11
BEIJING - Taiwan compatriots with electronic travel passes can use self-service machines at selected railway stations in the Chinese mainland, China Railway Corporation said Tuesday.
This service has begun at railway stations with large volumes of Taiwan compatriots in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai municipalities as well as provinces of Guangdong, Hunan and Fujian, the corporation said in a statement.
More such measures will make stations friendlier for Taiwan compatriots, it added.
The Chinese mainland began issuing electronic travel passes to Taiwan visitors starting September 2015 to replace paper versions.
Xinhua | Updated: 2017-05-10 08:11
BEIJING - Taiwan compatriots with electronic travel passes can use self-service machines at selected railway stations in the Chinese mainland, China Railway Corporation said Tuesday.
This service has begun at railway stations with large volumes of Taiwan compatriots in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai municipalities as well as provinces of Guangdong, Hunan and Fujian, the corporation said in a statement.
More such measures will make stations friendlier for Taiwan compatriots, it added.
The Chinese mainland began issuing electronic travel passes to Taiwan visitors starting September 2015 to replace paper versions.
Han Patriot
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This not a claim. Taiwan is officially Republic of China, they had been claiming the whole mainland China since 1949. My grandfather was KMT, a staunch nationalist till the end. He wanted to see a unified China. Those Jap brainwashed DPP politicians are playing with fire. No loyal KMT descendants would allow it, they will kill to maintain the integrity of the motherland.
Stuttgart001
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US people should know the reality of Taiwan and what is China ,pls.
Do not be misguided by the media ,which are free to provide you biased information.
shadows888
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The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms
samsara
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South Korea's Moon calls on Japan's Abe to face up to history
Source: Xinhua | 2017-05-11 16:23:28|Editor: xuxin
SEOUL, May 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in called on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to face up to history during the first telephone conversation between the two leaders.
Senior presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan told a press conference Thursday that Moon held the phone conversation with Abe for about 25 minutes in the afternoon.
During the phone conversation, Moon said Japan should face up to history in order not to make historical issues become an obstacle to the two countries going toward the mature and cooperative relations.
The two countries, Moon said, should deal with the issues in earnest, according to the press secretary.
Moon said the majority of South Koreans did not accept the agreement on comfort women victims "emotionally," referring to the Dec. 28, 2015 agreement reached "finally and irreversibly" between the two nations.
The comfort women is a euphemism for women who was forced into sexual slavery for Japanese military brothels during World War II.
The South Korean victims in their 80s and 90s and civic group activists protested against the agreement as Abe has yet to sincerely apologize and compensate for the wartime crime against humanity.
During the talks with Abe, Moon expressed his hope to wisely overcome the historical issues, including the comfort women issue, in developing the bilateral ties, urging Abe to inherit and respect past declarations made by former Japanese leaders that showed heartfelt apology and repent over Japan's wartime atrocities.
Regarding the comfort women issue, Abe anticipated to steadily implement the agreement as a base to build the future-oriented relations between the two countries, confirming his basic principle.
Separately from the historical issues, Moon said it would be necessary for South Korea and Japan to make efforts to tackle the issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear and missile programs.
The two leaders agreed to hold a summit meeting as early as possible.
samsara
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Japan to face a tough negotiator in Moon
South Korea's new leader has taken hard line on 'comfort women,' island dispute
Nikkei Asian Review - May 11, 2017 6:00 am JST
Moon Jae-in, left, stands with then-President Roh Moo-hyun in 2007. © Kyodo
SEOUL -- Given Moon Jae-in's uncompromising stance on hot historical issues like wartime "comfort women," Japan is increasingly wary of dealing with a tough-minded South Korean president amid a challenging political landscape in Asia.
Tokyo is particularly concerned about how Moon approaches a 2015 deal signed by the two countries to "finally and irreversibly" resolve the comfort women issue. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is eager to turn a new leaf and focus on the future of bilateral relations instead.
After the impeachment of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye at the end of last year, Moon signaled that the "comfort women" deal must be renegotiated. He argued that it was difficult to justify the agreement, and that Japan must acknowledge its legal responsibility for the suffering of the women and apologize. Moon had also visited a statue symbolizing those women, which Japan wants removed, and urged the public to remain interested in the issue.
Moon was a member of a public-private committee on wartime reparations formed in 2005 by then-President Roh Moo-hyun, for whom he served as chief of staff. The panel claimed that the Japanese state and military were involved in the recruitment of comfort women, and that Japan must be held legally responsible for the inhumane action. It also said that a 1965 agreement, which settled financial claims between the countries and their citizens, did not cover the comfort women issue.
The committee did say that the $300 million grant provided by Japan to South Korea as part of the 1965 deal broadly covered individual property rights, South Korea's state claims to Japan, as well as reparations for Korean forced laborers during World War II. But South Korea's supreme court ruled in 2012 that the former workers still could individually seek compensation from Japan, overturning the understanding between Tokyo and Seoul.
While running in the last presidential election in 2012, Moon issued a plan for "solving five main concerns regarding Japan." He pledged never to compromise in the dispute over islands called Dokdo by South Korea and Takeshima by Japan, as well as to hold the Japanese government legally responsible for the comfort women issue, and also to restrict Japanese companies that used forced Korean labor during World War II from bidding on South Korean projects. Moon also visited Takeshima last July.
Some Japanese officials also have concerns about the prospects of Moon questioning security cooperation amid rising tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile development. Tokyo and Seoul signed a General Security of Military Information Agreement last year, which must be renewed annually. But Moon said during the campaign that he will re-evaluate whether to extend the agreement based on its effectiveness.
Abe and Moon will speak by phone as early as Thursday. The Japanese prime minister likely will call for a stronger security partnership between the countries, as well as for Moon to carry out the terms of the 2015 comfort women accord.
(Nikkei)
South Korea's new leader has taken hard line on 'comfort women,' island dispute
Nikkei Asian Review - May 11, 2017 6:00 am JST
Moon Jae-in, left, stands with then-President Roh Moo-hyun in 2007. © Kyodo
SEOUL -- Given Moon Jae-in's uncompromising stance on hot historical issues like wartime "comfort women," Japan is increasingly wary of dealing with a tough-minded South Korean president amid a challenging political landscape in Asia.
Tokyo is particularly concerned about how Moon approaches a 2015 deal signed by the two countries to "finally and irreversibly" resolve the comfort women issue. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is eager to turn a new leaf and focus on the future of bilateral relations instead.
After the impeachment of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye at the end of last year, Moon signaled that the "comfort women" deal must be renegotiated. He argued that it was difficult to justify the agreement, and that Japan must acknowledge its legal responsibility for the suffering of the women and apologize. Moon had also visited a statue symbolizing those women, which Japan wants removed, and urged the public to remain interested in the issue.
Moon was a member of a public-private committee on wartime reparations formed in 2005 by then-President Roh Moo-hyun, for whom he served as chief of staff. The panel claimed that the Japanese state and military were involved in the recruitment of comfort women, and that Japan must be held legally responsible for the inhumane action. It also said that a 1965 agreement, which settled financial claims between the countries and their citizens, did not cover the comfort women issue.
The committee did say that the $300 million grant provided by Japan to South Korea as part of the 1965 deal broadly covered individual property rights, South Korea's state claims to Japan, as well as reparations for Korean forced laborers during World War II. But South Korea's supreme court ruled in 2012 that the former workers still could individually seek compensation from Japan, overturning the understanding between Tokyo and Seoul.
While running in the last presidential election in 2012, Moon issued a plan for "solving five main concerns regarding Japan." He pledged never to compromise in the dispute over islands called Dokdo by South Korea and Takeshima by Japan, as well as to hold the Japanese government legally responsible for the comfort women issue, and also to restrict Japanese companies that used forced Korean labor during World War II from bidding on South Korean projects. Moon also visited Takeshima last July.
Some Japanese officials also have concerns about the prospects of Moon questioning security cooperation amid rising tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile development. Tokyo and Seoul signed a General Security of Military Information Agreement last year, which must be renewed annually. But Moon said during the campaign that he will re-evaluate whether to extend the agreement based on its effectiveness.
Abe and Moon will speak by phone as early as Thursday. The Japanese prime minister likely will call for a stronger security partnership between the countries, as well as for Moon to carry out the terms of the 2015 comfort women accord.
(Nikkei)
JSCh
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Ruling party panel pushes for parliamentary hearing on THAAD
2017/05/12 11:35
SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) -- The ruling Democratic Party said Friday that it will push for a parliamentary hearing on the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system on the peninsula to address "national suspicions" surrounding it.
The party's special panel on the ongoing controversy over a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery also called on the government to suspend the deployment and prepare for a parliamentary ratification.
Key THAAD components, such as a powerful radar system, have already been delivered to the deployment site in Seongju, 296 kilometers south of Seoul.
"(We) have to address national suspicions regarding the procedural legitimacy of the THAAD deployment, the illegal installation of THAAD equipment and a possible secret deal (with the U.S.) over the cost-sharing," the panel said in a statement.
"To prevent further national conflict (over the issue), the government should now prepare for procedures to secure parliamentary ratification for it."
President Moon Jae-in and his party have long called for a delay in the THAAD installation, arguing that the former government failed to forge public consensus over the security issue.
A dispute over the deployment has escalated since U.S. President Donald Trump said in a recent media interview that he "had informed Seoul it would be appropriate if they paid" for the US$1 billion weapons system.
Seoul has argued that under a bilateral agreement, Washington is financially responsible for the deployment, operation and maintenance of the THAAD battery with Seoul providing the land to host it.
Observers say it remains to be seen whether the ruling party's stance on THAAD can gain overall parliamentary backing.
The party has 120 seats in the 299-member National Assembly.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party, along with the Bareun Party, has strongly supported the deployment. The conservative parties have 94 and 20 seats, respectively.
Rep. Shim Jae-kwon (C) and other members of the Democratic Party's panel to address the controversy over the U.S. anti-missile system hold a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul on May 12, 2017. (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2017/05/12/0200000000AEN20170512004500315.html
2017/05/12 11:35
SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) -- The ruling Democratic Party said Friday that it will push for a parliamentary hearing on the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system on the peninsula to address "national suspicions" surrounding it.
The party's special panel on the ongoing controversy over a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery also called on the government to suspend the deployment and prepare for a parliamentary ratification.
Key THAAD components, such as a powerful radar system, have already been delivered to the deployment site in Seongju, 296 kilometers south of Seoul.
"(We) have to address national suspicions regarding the procedural legitimacy of the THAAD deployment, the illegal installation of THAAD equipment and a possible secret deal (with the U.S.) over the cost-sharing," the panel said in a statement.
"To prevent further national conflict (over the issue), the government should now prepare for procedures to secure parliamentary ratification for it."
President Moon Jae-in and his party have long called for a delay in the THAAD installation, arguing that the former government failed to forge public consensus over the security issue.
A dispute over the deployment has escalated since U.S. President Donald Trump said in a recent media interview that he "had informed Seoul it would be appropriate if they paid" for the US$1 billion weapons system.
Seoul has argued that under a bilateral agreement, Washington is financially responsible for the deployment, operation and maintenance of the THAAD battery with Seoul providing the land to host it.
Observers say it remains to be seen whether the ruling party's stance on THAAD can gain overall parliamentary backing.
The party has 120 seats in the 299-member National Assembly.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party, along with the Bareun Party, has strongly supported the deployment. The conservative parties have 94 and 20 seats, respectively.
Rep. Shim Jae-kwon (C) and other members of the Democratic Party's panel to address the controversy over the U.S. anti-missile system hold a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul on May 12, 2017. (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2017/05/12/0200000000AEN20170512004500315.html
beijingwalker
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U.S. Complains To China About North Korea's Attendance At Summit
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