NAPSNet Daily Report 9 September, 2010
Contents in this Issue:
1. DPRK Leadership
Xinhua News (“DPRK MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF NATION’S FOUNDING”, Pyongyang, 2010/09/09) reported that the DPRK celebrated the 62nd anniversary of its founding. Choe Yong Rim, premier of the Cabinet of the DPRK, said the DPRK would like to improve its relations with South Korea under the “June 15 Joint Declaration,” adding that his country would “beat back with all its power, including nuclear deterrent” the US and ROK, if they persisted in igniting war on the peninsula. He also said that the two recent visits by Kim Jong Il to the PRC contributed greatly to the peace and stability in northeast Asia and the world, and significantly encouraged the people of the DPRK to construct a great, prosperous and powerful nation.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-09/09/c_13486634.htm
2. ROK on DPRK Nuclear Program
Agence France-Presse (“S.KOREAN MINISTER WARNS OF NUCLEAR ‘DOMINO EFFECT'”, 2010/09/09) reported that the ROK’s point man on the DPRK warned Thursday of a global “nuclear domino effect” unless the DPRK scraps its atomic weapons. Unification Minister Hyun In-Taek was speaking days before senior US officials travel to ROK, Japan and the PRC for talks on the issue. The DPRK’s atomic armament meant “major changes” in the region’s security environment as well as the international order, Hyun told a forum. “It will produce nuclear domino effects across the globe,” he said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h8Q0NYL7Cw7_OSngJqtOe_u_brqA
3. Middle Powers in Asia
Chosun Ilbo (“KOREA, OTHER ASIAN ‘MIDDLE POWERS’ SEEN ASSERTING THEMSELVES”, 2010/09/09) reported that “Middle powers” in the Asia-Pacific region like the ROK, Indonesia and Australia are drawing together in an effort to hold emerging superpower PRC in check, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said. “Korea, in particular, seems to be developing a brand of middle-power activism that extends beyond its own region and mirrors the more individualistic and distinctive approach of middle powers elsewhere,” the report said. “Indeed the successful conclusion of a nuclear-power project with the United Arab Emirates, where Korea defeated competition from the French nuclear industry, in essence makes Korea a strategic actor in the Middle East.”
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/09/09/2010090900864.html
4. Sino-Japanese Relations
Reuters (Emma Graham-Harrison and Chris Buckley , “CHINA WARNS JAPAN TIES AT RISK OVER BOAT INCIDENT”, Beijing, 2010/09/09) reported that the PRC warned Japan that ties would suffer if Tokyo mishandles a dispute over a PRC boat seized in disputed seas, intensifying a territorial rift that could deepen discord between Asia’s top two economies. The PRC said Japan was playing a risky game when it arrested the captain of a boat that collided with two Japanese coast guard boats near disputed islets in the East China Sea. “Disputes over territorial sovereignty are highly sensitive. If improperly handled they can hurt broader China-Japan relations,” said PRC Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100909/wl_nm/us_japan_china_5
5. Sino-Russian Energy Cooperation
The Moscow Times (“CHINA LOANS $6BLN TO SECURE COAL”, 2010/09/09) reported that the PRC agreed last month to lend Russia about $6 billion in exchange for increased coal supplies over the next quarter century, the Russian Energy Ministry said in a statement. The government will use the loan to finance investments by domestic coal producers in return for a guarantee to increase supplies to the PRC, ministry spokeswoman Irina Yesipova said. Russia will raise shipments to China to at least 15 metric million tons annually in the next five years and more than 20 million tons in the following 20 years, the statement said.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/china-loans-6bln-to-secure-coal/415150.html