Tokyo, 4 August, /AJMEDIA/
Japan PM Kishida eyes talks with U.S. House Speaker Pelosi on Aug. 5
TOKYO – Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to hold talks with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Tokyo on Friday, in a meeting that is likely to send a strong message of two allies working to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region amid heightened tensions across Taiwan Strait, government sources said.
The envisaged talks would come after Pelosi’s two-day visit to Taiwan through Wednesday, an act that angered China since it claims the democratic self-ruled island as its territory and has led it to retaliate with military drills.
———-
Pelosi vows “ironclad” U.S. commitment to protect Taiwan’s democracy
TAIPEI – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday her country has an “ironclad” determination to preserve democracy in Taiwan in talks with the island’s President Tsai Ing-wen, as the fallout from her historic visit continues with China conducting military drills and imposing trade restrictions.
The highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the self-ruled island in 25 years also told Tsai that Washington “will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan” and “American solidarity with Taiwan is crucial now more than ever.”
———-
Heavy rain hits northeastern Japan, residents urged to evacuate
TOKYO – Heavy rain hit parts of northeastern Japan from Wednesday night to Thursday morning, with the weather agency issuing the highest rain alert for Yamagata Prefecture and local authorities in some areas of Yamagata as well as Niigata Prefecture urging residents to seek shelter.
While the extent of flood damage is not yet fully known, local authorities in Yamagata said the Mogami River overflowed at several locations. Some houses were flooded and some cities in the prefecture were experiencing water supply cutoffs, local officials said.
———-
Japan’s daily COVID-19 cases hit record high of nearly 250,000
TOKYO – Japan reported 249,830 daily coronavirus cases Wednesday, hitting a record tally as the quickly soaring number renewed concerns over a straining medical system.
It was the second day running that the country saw over 200,000 new cases, with the last record reaching 233,000 cases Thursday last week as Japan faces its seventh wave of the pandemic.
———-
Japan to seek record 5.5 tril. yen defense budget to beef up tech
TOKYO – Japan’s Defense Ministry will seek a record budget of over 5.5 trillion yen ($41 billion) for fiscal 2023 to strengthen its operational capabilities in space and cyberspace as well as the traditional domains of land, sea and air, government sources said Wednesday.
The request, which could further balloon to 6 trillion yen once some unspecified costs are finalized, also reflects the ministry’s desire to enhance its standoff defense capabilities and unmanned systems such as drones within the next five years, the sources said.
———-
ASEAN “deeply disappointed” over Myanmar execution of activists
PHNOM PENH – Foreign Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Wednesday extensively discussed Myanmar, with Cambodia, this year’s chair of the 10-nation bloc, saying that all member states are “deeply disappointed” over its military regime’s recent execution of pro-democracy activists.
The top diplomats held an annual meeting in Phnom Penh, their first in person since the global outbreak of the coronavirus more than two years ago, but with no delegation from Myanmar.
———-
G-7 concerned by China’s “threatening” acts over Pelosi Taiwan trip
WASHINGTON – The Group of Seven industrialized nations reaffirmed their commitment Wednesday to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, as they expressed concerns over China’s increasing military pressure on Taipei in the wake of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island.
“We are concerned by recent and announced threatening actions by the People’s Republic of China, particularly live-fire exercises and economic coercion, which risk unnecessary escalation,” the foreign ministers of the United States, Japan and others said in a statement.
———-
Construction of Fukushima water release facilities to begin Thurs.
TOKYO – Construction of facilities to discharge treated water from the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture into the sea will commence Thursday, according to the plant operator, even as opposition at home and abroad remains.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said at a press conference Wednesday it still aims to begin releasing the treated water containing tritium about 1 kilometer off the Pacific coast around next spring after diluting it with seawater to one-40th of the maximum concentration permitted under Japanese regulations.
