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tuesday, december 3, 2002
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I. United States

II. People's Republic of China
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I. United States


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1. PRC-Russia Relations

The Associated Press (Steve Gutterman, "PUTIN SAYS CHINA AND RUSSIA HAVE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP, BUT RUSSIA IS BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS WORLDWIDE," Beijing, 12/03/02) and the Agence France-Presse ("PUTIN TO MEET CHINESE STUDENTS AFTER HAILING JIANG SUMMIT," 12/03/02) reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin was to meet university students here after hailing the success of a summit with the PRC in which the two powers put up a united front on major world issues such as the DPRK and Iraq. Putin was to make a speech at Peking University and then visit the Great Wall before flying to India for the second leg of his Asia tour. The two-day visit to the PRC has been packed with meetings with PRC leaders in which the PRC and Russia have reaffirmed their close partnership on the international stage. "There are almost no irritants left in our relations -- on the contrary, we have become partners," Putin told Russian journalists after Monday's summit with PRC President Jiang Zemin.

The New York Times, (Erik Eckholm, "PUTIN AND CHINESE LEADER PLEDGE FRIENDSHIP AND CAUTION NORTH KOREA ON NUCLEAR ARMS," Beijing, 12/03/02) and the Washington Post (Philip P. Pan, "PUTIN AND JIANG CRITICIZE N. KOREA ARMS PROGRAM," Beijing, 12/03/02) reported that the presidents of the PRC and Russia called on the DPRK today to abandon any program to develop nuclear weapons and urged the US and Japan to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula by resuming talks with the isolated, unpredictable nation. The appeal was consistent with previous statements by the PRC president, Jiang Zemin, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. But the formal, joint declaration, issued after a high-profile summit here between the two leaders, was a public rebuke of the DPRK by its two closest allies and appeared to be an attempt to raise the diplomatic pressure on the DPRK. "The sides consider it important for the destiny of the world and security in Northeast Asia to preserve the non-nuclear status of the Korean peninsula and the regime of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," the declaration said. Jiang and Putin emphasized the "extreme importance" of new talks between the US and the DPRK.


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2. ROK on US Troops Situation

The Agence France-Presse ("SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR NEW PACT ON US TROOPS," 12/03/02) reported that ROK President Kim Dae-Jung has called for revision of an accord under which the ROK cedes its judicial jurisdiction in crimes involving US troops. The order came in response to growing anti-US protests over the acquittal of two US soldiers who crushed two schoolgirls to death with a 50-tonne military vehicle in a road accident in June. "Through this incident, South Korea and the United States will have to learn to cooperate more closely and improve the Status of Forces Agremeent (SOFA)," Kim said at a cabinet meeting. He said the two countries could develop their alliance to "a future-oriented one" by revising the accord so that South Korea exercises greater jurisdiction on crimes committed by US soldiers. The SOFA governs the legal status of US troops stationed under a mutual defense pact dating back to the 1950-1953 Korean War. It was revised in 1991 and again last year but many ROK citizens believe the treaty is unfair and undermines the ROK sovereignty. Under the accord US troops come under US jurisdiction for crimes committed while on duty. Kim instructed his cabinet to examine the accord and to come up with suggestions for revisions. The issue will be raised during a security meeting this week between US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and ROK Defense Minister Lee Jun.


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3. ROK Anti-Americanism

The Associated Press (Soo-Jeong Lee, "ANTI-AMERICANISM CONCERNS SOUTH KOREA," Seoul, 12/03/02) and Reuters ("S KOREA SEEKS MORE LEGAL CONTROL OVER US TROOPS," Seoul, 12/03/02) reported that ROK President Kim Dae-jung expressed concern Tuesday about growing anti-Americanism in the ROK and ordered his Cabinet to "improve" rules governing 37,000 US soldiers stationed here. Many ROK citizens are angry after US military courts in November acquitted two American soldiers charged with negligent homicide in a traffic accident that killed two Korean teenage girls in June. President Bush apologized for the accident, but that failed to stop protesters, who have staged sometimes violent demonstrations. Some broke into US military installations or threw firebombs. There have been no injuries. "Sound criticism of U.S. policies can be accepted but indiscriminate anti-Americanism is not helpful for our national interest," Kim told a Cabinet meeting. "Illegal, violent demonstrations can never be justified under any circumstances, so the government will strictly deal with them by law." Kim ordered his Cabinet to "work out measures to improve the status-of-forces agreement governing US soldiers to prevent a recurrence of similar cases." He said his defense minister, Lee Jun, will discuss the issue when he meets Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld in Washington this week for annual security consultations.


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4. US on Japan-ROK DPRK Approach

Washington File ("AMB. BAKER DEFENDS ALLIED APPROACH TO NORTH KOREA," Washington, 12/02/02) reported that US Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker praised what he said was a calm and deliberate approach by Japan, the ROK, and the US to the DPRK's recent revelations about its nuclear weapons program. Speaking at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo December 2, Baker hailed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the DPRK and his "attempt to forge peace with this most difficult of neighbors." Baker cited President Bush's November 15 observation that the three nations are "united in our desire for a peaceful solution to this situation" and "united in our resolve that the only option for addressing this situation is for North Korea to completely and visibly eliminate its nuclear weapons program."

The full December 2 transcript of the remarks of US Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker to the Japan National Press Club can be found at:

http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f=02120201.elt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml


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5. PRC-Ukraine Weapons Inspections?

The Associated Press (Marina Sysoeva, "UKRAINIAN PROSECUTOR DISMISSES INSPECTORS' REQUEST TO DOCUMENT CHINA RADAR SALE," Keiv, 12/03/02) reported that a top Ukrainian prosecutor insisted Tuesday there was no need to further investigate Ukraine's sale of radar systems to the PRC, dismissing concerns that the PRC may have transferred the sophisticated devices to Iraq. Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksandr Atamaniuk dismissed a request by US and British arms inspectors that Ukraine document the sale of four Kolchuha radar systems to Beijing and disclose the locations of the systems. "I don't see anything to investigate at this point - there's a contract and the Kolchuhas are in China," Atamaniuk said. "Everybody knows that." Atamaniuk's comments came a week after the expert team issued a report criticizing Ukrainian authorities for hiding essential documents, including the Kolchuha contract with the PRC. After a weeklong investigation in October, the inspectors said they were unable to prove Ukraine transferred a Kolchuha system directly to Iraq "under openly declared contracts," but cited a "credible possibility" that Kiev sold a Kolchuha system to Iraq via an intermediary. The PRC adamantly denied any role.


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6. PRC on Iraq Inspections

Reuters ("CHINA SAYS TOO EARLY TO TELL ON IRAQ INSPECTIONS," Beijing, 12/03/02) reported that the PRC said Tuesday that it still wants a diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis as the December 8 deadline for Baghdad to list its weapons programs looms. "China still holds that the United Nations resolutions pertaining to Iraq should be comprehensively and strictly carried out," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference. "We still believe that the pressing matter of the moment is to find a way that Resolution 1441, passed most recently by the Security Council, can be implemented seriously and strictly, so as to resolve the Iraqi issue through political and diplomatic means within the framework of the United Nations." His statement came a day after President Bush stepped up his war of words on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, insisting he provides a detailed list of weapons programs by Dec. 8. Iraq said Tuesday that it would provide an arms "declaration" by December 7. Liu declined direct comment when asked whether the PRC was satisfied with inspectors' access to suspected weapons sites. Liu said the inspectors had only just started their work. "Currently, they still have not made a full and comprehensive report," he said.


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7. Japan US Marine Arrest Warrant

The Associated Press ("JAPANESE COURT SEEK ARREST OF U.S. MARINE," Tokyo, 12/03/02) reported that a court in southern Japan issued a warrant Tuesday for the arrest of a US Marine officer for allegedly attempting to rape a woman, police said. The police asked the U.S. military to hand over 39-year-old Maj. Michael J. Brown, assigned to Camp Courtney on Okinawa island, under a 1995 agreement covering US forces in Japan, said police spokesman Shinpachi Higashizato. Brown allegedly tried to rape a foreign woman inside a parked car in the early morning hours of November 2, Higashizato said. The woman resisted and managed to get away, he said. US Marine Corps officials declined to comment on the case Tuesday. Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine protested the incident as a serious crime against women. "Yet more trouble was caused by a US serviceman, despite our repeated request to the US military for disciplinary and preventive efforts," Inamine said in a statement. "It is extremely regrettable and we feel enraged."


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8. Japan Domestic Politics

The Associated Press (Kenji Hall, "JAPANESE OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER RESIGNS," Tokyo, 12/03/02) reported that Japan's struggling political opposition suffered another blow Tuesday, when its leader resigned under fire for suggesting his party merge with a rival group. Yukio Hatoyama's announcement that he will quit as head of the Democratic Party, Japan's largest opposition party, was the latest bad news for the nation's political underdogs, who have been dwarfed for decades by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Hatoyama was strongly criticized by the Democratic Party's leadership for suggesting last week that the party's best chance of challenging Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was to join forces with other, smaller opposition parties. "I want to apologize to those who have supported me since I was re-elected as party head in September. I have to step down," Hatoyama said after a morning meeting with party elders. He plans to leave the post December. 13. The fallout continued later Tuesday when Takeshi Yamamura, deputy director of the Democrats' campaign bureau, said he would quit the party in protest. His secretary Kenji Tamura quoted Yamamura as saying he was "fed up with the recent confusion."


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9. Red Cross on DPRK Fuel Delivery

The Agence France-Presse ("RED CROSS: HALTING OF FUEL DELIVERIES COULD AFFECT NORTH KOREA AID OPERATIONS," Geneva, 12/03/02) reported that the suspension of heavy fuel supplies to the DPRK from this month could prevent aid agencies from delivering much-need relief supplies this winter, the international Red Cross said Tuesday. "A severe fuel shortage is already costing lives and is responsible for a high incidence of acute respiratory infections in winter as people are unable to keep warm," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said. A lack of fuel for transport also is making it difficult for humanitarian organizations to deliver aid, including food, the organization said. The situation is especially urgent because this year's harvest is expected to be good but the food will go to waste if it cannot reach those who need it, the IFRC said. The humanitarian situation is so bad that aid deliveries should be made easier, not more difficult, it added.


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10. ROK Presidential Debate on DPRK

The Associated Press (Sang-Hun Choe, "SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES CLASH OVER HOW TO DEAL WITH NORTH KOREA," Seoul, 12/03/02) reported that the two men most likely to become the ROK's next president differed sharply Tuesday over whether to use a carrot or stick in dealing with the DPRK's nuclear weapons program. During their first television debate ahead of the December 19 election, Lee Hoi-chang and Roh Moo-hyun both said they hope the DPRK can be persuaded peacefully to abandon its nuclear ambitions. But they differed widely in their approaches. "I wonder how long we can go with that approach" of seeking dialogue, the conservative opposition Grand National Party's Lee said during the two-hour, nationally televised debate. "We should make our demand in a forceful manner and should consider economic measures," he added. Lee has said he favors cutting off economic aid to the DPRK if it does not immediately end its nuclear weapons program. Roh of the pro-government Millennium Democratic Party said that pressuring the DPRK "can be one means, but it is dangerous." "When it fails, it can cause terrible consequences," Roh said. "The carrot and dialogue can cost a lot, but we must be patient and we will be successful." Seven candidates are running in the election. But only three who received 5 percent or greater popularity ratings in recent surveys were allowed to participate in Tuesday's debate.


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11. Russia-NATO Relations

The Associated Press (Steve Gutterman, "PUTIN: WILLING TO COOPERATE WITH NATO," Beijing, 12/03/02) reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday he was ready to cooperate more closely with NATO if it shifts its focus to combating terrorism, but that Russia was ready to act on its own to defend national interests. Putin, wrapping up a two-day visit to the PRC, said the military alliance created after World War II to counter the Soviet Union could be regarded by Russia as a key partner if it shifts emphasis to fighting terrorism and other threats to global security. "If this transformation really takes place, we may broaden our cooperation with NATO," he said in a speech at the Peking University.


II. People's Republic of China


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1. PRC-Russia Relations

People's Daily ("RUSSIAN PRESIDENT TO VISIT CHINA," Beijing, 11/26/02, P1) reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to PRC from December 1 to 3, at the invitation of PRC President Jiang Zemin, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan said on November 25. Kong said the two heads of state will summarize the successful development of Sino-Russian relations in the past decade, draw a strategic plan for bilateral relations in the future, set the major direction and priority of the long-term mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides, and have an in-depth exchange of views on major international issues of common interest.


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2. PRC Commentary on PRC-Russia Relations

China Daily ("PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN CHINA, RUSSIA GOOD FOR WORLD STABILITY," Moscow, 12/02/02, P4) carried an analyzed article on PRC-Russia Relations. The article said that Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 29 that PRC is one of the key partners of his country and that co-ordination of the two countries serves as a very important factor in handling major international issues. Putin told PRC reporters on the eve of his three-day trip to Beijing his visit, started on December 1, would be of "special significance," as it is just after the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). According to the report, Putin said the CPC congress was a big event not only for PRC, but also for the world because of PRC's huge economic potential and increasing international influence, as well as the noticeable power transfer of the country. PRC's foreign policy is vital to all its partners, especially to Russia, Putin said.


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3. DPRK-ROK Relations

China Daily ("LANDMINE CLEARANCE WORK RESUMES IN KOREA," Seoul, 11/29/02, P12) reported that the ROK and DPRK resumed landmine clearance operations in the demilitarized zone on November 28 after the work had been suspended for more than two weeks, said the ROK's National Defense Ministry. The ministry said that the two sides of the peninsula resumed the work simultaneously the same day in the 100-meter stretches of land on either side of the military demarcation line in the demilitarized zone. The report said that with the operations resumed, the mine clearance work is expected to be completed on around December 10, 10 days later than originally planned. Meanwhile, ROK successfully launched its first liquid-fuel three-stage rocket on November 28, which means that Seoul has secured the technology needed to develop a satellite-launching vehicle by 2005, according to the ROK Ministry of Science and Technology.

People's Daily (Zhang Li, "INTER-KOREAN DEFENSE MINISTERS MEETING CALLED OFF," 11/28/02, P3) reported that the second inter-Korean defense ministers meeting has been called off, the Defense Ministry of ROK confirmed on November 27. According to the report, at a working-level meeting held at the truce village of Panmunjom on October 25, ROK and the DPRK agreed to hold the second round of defense ministers talks in the DPRK within November. However, the DPRK sent a telephone message to ROK on November 13, saying it had difficulties setting the date for such a meeting because of administrative reasons, said the Defense Ministry of ROK, adding the DPRK had not mentioned the issue since then.


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4. Across Taiwan Straits Relations

China Daily (Xing Zhigang, "TAIPEI URGED TO RETURN TO DIALOGUE," 11/28/02, P1) reported that the PRC urged Taiwan on November 27 to respond positively to the mainland's growing flexibility and pragmatism regarding cross-Straits relations and to return to political negotiations as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the PRC assured the island that the PRC's policy towards Taiwan will not change under the new leader ship headed by Hu Jintao. Spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Zhang Mingqing said that Beijing's sincere goodwill gestures towards Taiwan were well represented by President Jiang Zemin's exposition on the Taiwan question in his speech to the just-concluded 16th Party congress. "We hope the Taiwan authorities will treat the matter seriously this time and restart cross-Straits dialogue and negotiations at an early date on the basis of the 1992consensus," the spokesman said. Zhang said Jiang's concrete and feasible proposal for future cross-Straits talks may create enough room for manoeuver for both sides to break the current political stalemate. As for the proposed direct cross-Straits charter flights from Shanghai to Taipei during the upcoming Spring Festival holidays, the spokesman suggested that the mainland may approve Taipei's model for indirect charter flights, which required the charter flights stop in Hong Kong or Macao before continuing their journey, thereby maintaining the routes' status as "indirect".


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5. US-ROK Relations

China Daily ("BUSH ISSUES APPOLOGY OVER KOREAN GIRLS' DEATHS," Seoul, 11/28/02, P12) reported that US President George W. Bush apologized to ROK on November 27 for a road accident in which a US army vehicle crushed two schoolgirls to death, prompting anti-US protests. The accident in June and last weeks court-martial acquittal of the vehicle's driver and navigator sparked angry street demonstrations and calls for the withdrawal of the US troops stationed in the ROK. The ROK Ministry of National Defense said on November 27 that the ROK and the DPRK will resume landmine clearance operations inside the demilitarized zone on November 28 as part of an ongoing project to reconnect inter-Korean railways and roads, the report said.


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6. Japan-DPRK Relations

China Daily ("TALKS WITH PYONGYANG GRIND TO HALT," Tokyo, 11/27/02, P11) reported that Japan and DPRK will not resume normalization talks before the end of the year, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said on November 26, after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at his office. The differences between the two sides are "considerably huge" and it will be difficult to have a clear view about future bilateral negotiations, Kawaguchi was quoted as reporting. According to the report, earlier in the day, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda denied reports that the DPRK had taken a tough line when discussing the abductions of Japanese nationals during informal talks between senior diplomats from the two sides last weekend.


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7. US Security Policy

China Daily ("BUSH TO CREATE GIANT DECURITY DEPARTMENT," Washington, 11/26/02, P12) reported that President George W. Bush is launching the biggest US Government reorganization in more than 50 years, signing legislation creating a new Department of Homeland Security. Bush named homeland security chief Tom Ridge to head the department and Navy Secretary Gordon England to be his deputy at the bill-signing ceremony on November 25. The department will swallow 22 existing agencies with combined budgets of about US$40 billion and employ 170,000 workers, the most sweeping federal reorganization since the Defense Department's birth in 1947. Signing the homeland security bill ends an odyssey for legislation that started inching through Congress nearly a year ago against Bush's opposition, said the report.


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8. Japan-US Relations

China Daily ("JAPAN TO SEND DESTROYER TO INDIAN OCEAN TO BACK US," 12/02/02, P8) reported that Japan plans to dispatch an Aegis-equipped destroyer to support anti-terrorism activities in the Indian Ocean as early as late December. The dispatch of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces Aegis destroyer is designed to provide indirect support for a possible US attack on Iraq by supplementing US military forces in anti-terrorism operations in the area. The Japanese Government will convey its decision to the US Government at bilateral security talks in Washington on December 16, the report said.



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