Wednesday, 22 May 2013 11:37
Posted by Parvez Jabri
SEOUL: The defence chiefs of South Korea, Japan and the United States will hold their first trilateral meeting for four years at the end of this month, with North Korea likely to top the agenda.The three top officials will meet on the sidelines of the annual Asia Security Summit to be held in Singapore from May 31 to June 2, a South Korean defence ministry spokesman said Wednesday.It will be their first three-way ministerial-level meeting since 2009, with defence dialogue between Seoul and Tokyo having been marred in recent years by a long-running territorial dispute and other issues.A senior Tokyo defence official told Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun that the US and its two key regional Asian allies needed to show a united front against recent provocations from North Korea which conducted its third nuclear test in February."If we don't hold a trilateral meeting, that would send North Korea the wrong message," ...
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SEOUL: The defence chiefs of South Korea, Japan and the United States will hold their first trilateral meeting for four years at the end of this month, with North Korea likely to top the agenda.The three top officials will meet on the sidelines of the annual Asia Security Summit to be held in Singapore from May 31 to June 2, a South Korean defence ministry spokesman said Wednesday.It will be their first three-way ministerial-level meeting since 2009, with defence dialogue between Seoul and Tokyo having been marred in recent years by a long-running territorial dispute and other issues.A senior Tokyo defence official told Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun that the US and its two key regional Asian allies needed to show a united front against recent provocations from North Korea which conducted its third nuclear test in February."If we don't hold a trilateral meeting, that would send North Korea the wrong message," ...
BRUSSELS: A Chinese businessman has paid a world record 310,000 euros ($398,500) for a Belgian pigeon, highlighting Asia's huge and growing interest in racing birds.The one-year-old award-winning pigeon named Bolt was bred by Belgian pigeon fancier Leo Heremans, a well-known name to pigeon enthusiasts, who sold his entire collection of 530 birds for 4.3 million euros at an auction over the weekend."You can compare it to artwork. A painting made by Picasso is worth more ...
HANOI: Vietnam's government approved on Tuesday the formation of an asset management firm to buy bad debt from its troubled banks, an official said, a move that could help stimulate an ailing economy growing at its slowest pace in 13 years.The long-delayed "bad debt bank", the Vietnam Asset Management Corp (VAMC), would be run by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and is tasked with trimming down what is widely seen as Asia's highest ratio ...
JAKARTA: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Monday named the country's investment chief as the new finance minister, putting him in charge of Southeast Asia's top economy at a time of major challenges.Chatib Basri, who is taking on the role ahead of elections in 2014, replaces Hatta Rajasa, who was stand-in finance minister for a few weeks after the previous incumbent left amid growing complaints about his reformist agenda.The 47-year-old takes up the job as economic ...
TAIPEI: A Taiwanese fighter jet ploughed into the sea off the island's north coast on Monday, the air force's second crash in less than a week, military officials said.The crash happened when the French-made Mirage 2000-5 fighter was conducting a regular training mission, the air force said, adding that both crew managed to parachute to safety.The cause of the incident was under investigation, it said.A single-seater F-16 went down off central Taiwan on Wednesday last ...
SUVA: Fiji's military ruler said on Sunday he would meet Beijing's leaders in China this month, a week after unveiling an official trip to Russia, as he looks beyond strained regional ties in the South Pacific.Voreqe Bainimarama has been banned from Australia and New Zealand since seizing control in a 2006 coup.His announcement that he would hold talks with Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping came a week after he said he would meet ...
TOKYO: A Japanese minister on Sunday defended a surprise visit to North Korea by one of the prime minister's aides which Washington and Seoul said could not help efforts to forge a united front against Pyongyang.Akira Amari, state minister of economic revitalisation, said the four-day trip by Isao Iijima reflected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's resolve to have North Korea come clean on its kidnapping of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s."Japan has an extremely ...
