North Asia's big three pledge cooperation<\/p>\n
Reuters, Nusa Dua, Bali<\/p>\n
Japan, China and South Korea pledged on Tuesday to cooperate
\nin dealing with North Korea's nuclear arms program, days after a
\ndiplomatic spat between Tokyo and Beijing threatened to cloud
\ntheir summit.<\/p>\n
After meeting in Bali on the fringes of a summit of Southeast
\nAsian leaders, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Chinese
\nPremier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun signed
\na declaration affirming their commitment to a peaceful end to the
\nnuclear crisis with Pyongyang.<\/p>\n
The crisis was underscored when North Korea said on Tuesday it
\nwould not allow Japan to take part in any future multilateral
\ntalks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. Japan said it would
\nnot accept the notion Pyongyang could decide who attends.<\/p>\n
"North Korea has said Japan has nothing to do with the nuclear
\nproblem. But that is not the case," Japanese officials quoted
\nKoizumi as saying in a later meeting with Wen.<\/p>\n
The declaration among the three neighbors that have fought
\nseveral wars in the past century followed a row last week between
\nTokyo and Beijing over chemical weapons. Japanese troops left the
\nweapons behind in China after World War Two.<\/p>\n
Koizumi invited Wen to make an early visit. The Chinese
\npremier, who took office in March, appeared less enthusiastic.<\/p>\n
"We must create a good atmosphere to make this possible," a
\nJapanese official quoted Wen as saying.<\/p>\n
He gave a hint as to how this could be achieved.<\/p>\n
"We would like you to speed up the clearance of chemical
\nweapons. This would remove a pain of the Chinese people from the
\nhearts of the Chinese people," Wen was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
Last Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned Japan's
\nambassador to complain that Tokyo had been slow in clearing up
\nchemical weapons. One man was killed and more than 40 injured in
\nAugust when containers of mustard gas were found at a
\nconstruction site.<\/p>\n
Koizumi has yet to visit China as prime minister.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/north-asias-big-three-pledge-cooperation-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }