NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, August 04, 2005

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NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, August 04, 2005

NAPSNet Daily Report Thursday, August 04, 2005

I. United States

Preceding NAPSNet Report

I. United States

1. Final Statement of Principles

Chosun Ilbo (“DRAFT SIX-PARTY TALKS STATEMENT LETS ALL SIDES SAVE FACE”, 2005-08-04) reported that a ROK official said a final draft statement of principles at six-party talks was written to allow both Pyongyang and the US to claim they got their way. The final draft statement called for a dismantlement of “all nuclear weapons and nuclear programmes”. But it opened a back door. “The sentence, ‘North Korea may not use nuclear energy peacefully until it rejoins the NPT and undergoes IAEA inspections,’ is clear no matter how you look at it,” a ROK official said. In return, the DPRK was reportedly handed another chance to save face. The term “dismantlement”, for which the US had pushed and to which the DPRK objected, is said to have been replaced with the word “abandonment”.

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2. US on Final Statement of Principles

Xinhua (“HILL: PARTIES NEED TO CLARIFY PRINCIPLES “, 2005-08-04) reported that according to Christopher Hill, there is a need to clarify the principles for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Hill told reporters Thursday morning “we really need clarity on the principles, it is precisely the clarity that we are seeking. That is so necessary.”

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3. DPRK on Final Statement of Principles

Associated Press (“N. KOREA SEEKS PEACEFUL NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES “, 2005-08-04) reported that the DPRK’s envoy to disarmament talks said that Pyongyang insists on retaining the right to “peaceful nuclear activities”. “We are for denuclearizing, but we also want to possess the right to peaceful nuclear activities. Every country in the world has the right to peaceful nuclear activities,” said Kim Kye Gwan, a North Korean vice foreign minister.

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4. Progress of Six Party Talks

Gaurdian Unlimited (“NORTH KOREA BALKS AT NUCLEAR STATEMENT “, 20005-08-04) reported that the DPRK’s refusal to abandon all nuclear programs, including those it claims are for peaceful use, was the main unresolved dispute Thursday with the US at deadlocked nuclear disarmament talks, according to a news report. As the talks reached a 10th day, the DPRK delegates met Thursday afternoon for about an hour with the US and the ROK to discuss the basic agreement on principles for future arms discussions that the DPRK has refused to endorse, the main ROK envoy said.

(return to top) Korea Times (“6 PARTIES SEEK TO BREAK DEADLOCK “, 2005-08-04) reported that the fourth round of the six-party nuclear talks Thursday reached another turning point as the ROK mediated between the DPRK and the US to cut through the deadlock in the six-party nuclear talks. “We decided to talk more about how to resolve the pending issues from tomorrow on after consulting each home country about what we’ve discussed Friday,” Song Min-soon, ROK’s top envoy. (return to top)

5. US on Progress at Six Party Talks

Agence France Presse (“N. KOREA NUCLEAR TALKS STALL AS FINAL AGREEMENT SOUGHT “, 2005-08-04) reported that the DPRK is among the only nation that has refused to approve a fourth draft of a joint statement. “We are confident that the PRC will continue to work very hard to get the DPRK signed on to the draft as they have done with all the other participants,” Christopher Hill said late Wednesday.

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6. Japan Privatization

The Christian Science Monitor (“PRIVATIZATION PUSH MAY TOPPLE JAPAN’S LEADER”, 2005-08-04) reported that the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may be about to hit the wall. A key set of postal privatization bills looks likely to be voted down in Japan’s upper house Friday in what would be tantamount to Mr. Koizumi losing a vote of confidence in his leadership. Long-held resentments against his record of attacking cherished bastions of pork-barrel politics have boiled to the surface in recent weeks as conservative elements in Koizumi’s own party blasted the circumvention of traditional consensus forming in the legislative process.

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7. UNSC Expansion

Kyodo (“AU LEADERS WORK ON DOCUMENT ON U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM”, 2005-08-04) reported that leaders of the 53-nation African Union began work Thursday on a joint document on the outcome of their summit meeting on UN Security Council reform, a summit source said. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said at the outset of the meeting that a joint proposal with the G-4 offers a good chance to secure support from two-thirds of the 191 UN member states.

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8. PRC, US on UNSC Expansion

The Associated Press (“U.S. AND CHINA UNITE TO BLOCK G4 PLAN”, 2005-08-04) reported that the US and PRC have agreed to work together to block a plan to expand the powerful UN Security Council, the PRC’s UN ambassador said Wednesday. Ambassador Wang Guangya said he reached the agreement with John Bolton during a meeting Tuesday because both believe the proposal by Brazil, Germany, India and Japan would divide the UN’s 191 member states.

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9. US on PRC Nuclear Capability

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA’S NUCLEAR MIGHT UNDER US SCRUTINY AFTER TAIWAN THREAT”, 2005-08-04) reported that the PRC’s nuclear weapons arsenal is coming under increasing American scrutiny after an influential general in Beijing warned of a nuclear strike on the US if the PRC is attacked over Taiwan. US experts interpreted General Zhu’s comments as a tacit warning by Beijing to Washington of cataclysmic consequences if it confronted the PRC over Taiwan.

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10. Sino-US Relations

Xinhua (“CHINA, US VOW TO ENHANCE PARLIAMENTARY EXCHANGES”, 2005-08-04) reported that the PRC and the US pledge to further regular parliamentary exchanges and cooperation at all levels Thursday. PRC top legislator Wu Bangguo and Dennis Hastert, speaker of the US House of Representatives held talks and agreed to promote mutual understanding and political trust between the two countries through pushing forward parliamentary exchanges.

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11. PRC on Unocal Bid

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA CONDEMNS US POLITICAL INTRANSIGENCE AFTER FAILED CNOOC BID”, 2005-08-04) reported that the PRC state media has condemned US political intransigence over oil group CNOOC’s bid for Unocal, saying its opposition calls into question the free trade dogma Washington often trumpets to the world. “The high-profile takeover battle demonstrated to the world that the United States is not a free economy as it claimed to be,” the official China Daily said in an editorial.

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12. Unocal Bid

The Los Angeles Times (“MORE U.S.-CHINA BATTLES ARE LIKELY”, 2005-08-04) reported that a PRC oil company’s fight to buy Unocal Corp. ended in an angry retreat, but not without leaving clear signs that other political battles loom in Washington over how much more of the US the cash-rich PRC can acquire. Some business executives and Asia experts say they have already seen signs that Washington is growing more resistant to PRC acquisitions of US companies. In the aftermath of the Unocal bid — and with growing American perceptions that PRC power is a threat — that restrictiveness can only increase.

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13. PRC on Foreign Media

The New York Times (“CHINA ISSUES NEW RESTRICTIONS AIMED AT PROTECTING ITS CULTURE”, 2005-08-04) reported that new regulations proposed by the PRC government would keep additional foreign satellite broadcasters from entering the market and would strengthen restrictions on foreign television programs, books, newspapers and theater performances, all in an effort to tighten control over the country’s culture. The regulations were announced on Tuesday by the PRC’s Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Culture and four other regulators, and were published on Wednesday.

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14. PRC Streptococcus Suis Outbreak

Agence France-Presse (“CHINA TIGHTENS SUPERVISION OF PORK MARKET TO CURB SPREAD OF PIG DISEASE”, 2005-08-04) reported that the PRC has ordered local governments across the country to tighten supervision of pork markets to prevent a deadly pig disease from spreading further. The Ministry of Commerce issued an urgent notice nationwide to call for more stringent measures to be taken to prevent any butchering, transportation and sales of dead or sick pigs, Xinhua news agency said.

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15. Australian Uranium Sales

Agence France-Presse (“FEDERAL AUSTRALIAN GOVT TAKES CONTROL OF NT URANIUM SALES”, 2005-08-04) reported that the Australian government has declared the Northern Territory “open for business on uranium mining” after taking control of the future of the region’s rich deposits. The Northern Territory’s stance threatened to undermine federal government hopes of expanding Australian uranium exports to fuel the growing nuclear power industry around the world, notably in the PRC and India.

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