Otro frente abierto para Pekín
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 |
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Archive for the ‘Asia y Pacífico’ Category
Upper House nixes bill on road taxes
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 |
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Long-term emissions goal eyed
Monday, May 12th, 2008 |Japan, aiming to lead climate change negotiations ahead of the Group of Eight summit in July, looks set to announce plans to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050 from the current level, sources said.
Officials are still discussing specific figures. The government plans to announce the goal in June as part of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s strategy to combat global warming, the sources said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said the strategy, dubbed Fukuda Vision, will be based on recommendations by a government panel on the climate change issue, due out in June.
“Japan has yet to make clear what to do with its own emissions in 2050,” Machimura said in a speech in Sapporo on Saturday.
The issue of climate change will be high on the agenda at the G-8 summit in Hokkaido’s Lake Toyako resort, to be chaired by Fukuda.
The European Union has promised to cut emissions from its member nations by 20 percent by 2020 from the 1990 level.
In April, U.S. President George W. Bush announced a goal to halt the growth of U.S. emissions by 2025.
Japan has yet to set any target, either midterm or long-term, to curb its own emissions.
In May 2007, then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for halving global emissions by 2050 as part of his Cool Earth 50 strategy.
Fukuda, who took over Abe’s goal, presented two additional policies at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January.
He said Japan will take the initiative so that new national emissions reduction targets will be set under the framework that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol and that Japan will set its own midterm goal.
But the midterm goal is not expected to be ready by the G-8 summit because the government plans to tally potential reduction volumes in various sectors, such as industry and households, to arrive at the national target.
To halve global emissions by 2050, industrialized economies will be required to reduce their greenhouse gas output by larger margins than developing countries.
The EU said it aims to cut its emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050 from the 1990 level.
The government has concluded that Japan’s own long-term goal will have to specify a similar percentage, the sources said.
It plans to finalize the long-term goal, also taking into account a report from the National Institute for Environment Studies that it will be possible for Japan to cut its emissions by 70 percent in 2050 from the 1990 level.
Japan’s long-term goal is not expected to be legally binding, the sources said.
A long-term goal, unlike a midterm goal, will not have to be specified in law, a senior government official said.
Still, the long-term goal, once it is set, will likely give momentum to the introduction of new measures, such as domestic carbon trading, and the development of innovative technologies.
Man breaks into train station office, stabs worker
Monday, May 12th, 2008 |KUWANA, Mie Prefecture–A 56-year-old assistant stationmaster at Kintetsu-Kuwana Station was stabbed in a scuffle early Monday with an assailant who demanded money but fled empty-handed, police said.
Hideaki Ogura was stabbed in the left chest near the shoulder, in the right hand and in the right elbow.
The wound in Ogura’s chest was about 6 centimeters deep, but the injuries are not life-threatening, police said.
Police are searching for the attacker on suspicion of attempted burglary and attempted murder. He was described as around 50 years old and 165 cm tall wearing a dark jumper.
Ogura, who had been on duty since 2 a.m. Monday, was taking a nap in a backroom of the station when he was woken up by a sound in the office. He discovered the man in the office, who pulled out a knife and demanded money.
During the scuffle, an alarm in the office was set off and a colleague resting in a nap room about 100 meters away rushed to the office.
An injured Ogura managed to open the door of the office for the colleague around 4 a.m.
A knife with a 10-cm blade was left at the scene, according to police.
Investigators suspect one of three entrances to the office was unlocked at the time.
A person can enter the ticket wicket area beside the station office at night because there is no shutter at the station.
900 estudiantes, sepultados tras terremoto de 7,8 grados en China
Monday, May 12th, 2008 |El derrumbe se produjo en la ciudad de Dujiangyan, a unos 50 kilómetros del epicentro del sismo, registrado en Wenchuan, según informó la agencia oficial Xinhua en un comunicado.
Por ahora, las informaciones confirman la muerte de nueve
personas: los cuatro estudiantes citados, otro fallecido en la
ciudad de Mianyang, también en Sichuan, y otros cuatro niños en la
municipalidad de Chongqing, vecina a Sichuan, al derrumbarse una escuela.
El terremoto, que se produjo a las 14.28 hora local (6.28 GMT) es
uno de los peores sufridos en el país asiático en 30 años, y los
temblores han provocado que salieran a la calle millones de personas en ciudades de todo el país, incluyendo las metrópolis de Shanghai y Pekín.
Japan to sign international parental abduction treaty
Friday, May 9th, 2008 |Japan will sign a treaty obliging the government to return to the rightful parent children of broken international marriages who are wrongfully taken and kept in Japan, sources said Friday.
The Justice Ministry will begin work to review current laws with an eye on meeting requirements under the 1980 Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, the sources said. The government plans to sign the treaty as early as in 2010.
The decision was reached amid criticism against Japan over unauthorized transfer and retention cases involving children. The governments of Canada and the United States have raised the issue with Japan and cited a number of incidents involving their nationals, blasting such acts as tantamount to abductions.
In one case, a Japanese woman who divorced her Canadian husband took their children to Japan for what she said would be a short visit to let the kids see an ailing grandparent. But the woman and her children never returned to Canada.
Once parents return to their home countries with their children, their former spouses are often unable to trace the whereabouts of their children. In Japan, court rulings and custody orders issued in foreign countries are not recognized.
Under the convention, signatory parties are obliged to set up a “central authority” within their government. The authority works two ways.
It can demand other governments return children unlawfully transferred and retained. But it is also obliged to find the location within its own country of children unlawfully taken and retained, take measures to prevent the child from being moved out of the country, and support legal procedures to obtain the return of the child to the rightful parent.
A court, in principle, must hand down an order for the return of the child to the place of habitual residence within six weeks of the claim.
Sources said the Japanese government will likely set up a central authority within the Justice Ministry, which oversees immigration and family registry records. The ministry has decided to work on a new law that will detail the procedures for the child’s return.
In 2006, there were about 44,700 marriages between Japanese and foreign nationals in Japan, about 1.5 times the number in 1996. Divorces involving such couples have more than doubled from about 8,000 in 1996 to 17,000 in 2006.
Hu shows mettle in pingpong friendly
Friday, May 9th, 2008 |
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China pode comprar terras de cultivo na América Latina e África.
Friday, May 9th, 2008 |O governo chinês está estudando um plano para estimular suas empresas a comprar terrenos de cultivo em regiões em desenvolvimento como a América Latina e a África.
Segundo a imprensa local, o Ministério da Agricultura anunciou que departamentos governamentais estão negociando políticas para estimular a compra e o arrendamento de terras no exterior destinadas à produção de cereais.
Li Zhengdong, diretor do Departamento de Cooperação Internacional da pasta, afirmou que “até agora o ministério não decidiu nenhuma medida concreta”, mas sua aprovação é iminente.
O plano foi confirmado por um funcionário próximo ao grupo de trabalho em declarações aos correspondentes do diário britânico “Financial Times” na China.
Segundo esta fonte, que não quis se identificar, a aquisição de terrenos aconteceria na América Latina e na África, apesar de o Governo esperar certa resistência internacional.
Li afirmou que esta iniciativa não é nova, já que em 2003 o Comitê Central do Partido Comunista da China propôs esta estratégia destinada a adquirir terrenos agrícolas e florestais no exterior.
Empresas estatais chinesas como bancos e petrolíferas começaram a aplicar este plano nos últimos anos, mas a alta do preço do cereal no mundo todo está obrigando Pequim a voltar a analisar sua estratégia.
O preço do cereal subiu 25% nos três primeiros meses do ano na China, em meio a uma alta generalizada da inflação (8%), que no gigante asiático é sinônimo de revoltas.
Se a estratégia sair do papel, os cultivos prioritários no exterior serão a soja, a banana e óleos vegetais e comestíveis.
Os funcionários que participam do projeto assinalam que os obstáculos enfrentados pela China neste projeto são, além de uma forte oposição dos Governos estrangeiros, a falta de experiência de seus empresários e a instabilidade política dos países em desenvolvimento.
Corea del Norte entrega a EEUU documentos sobre sus planes nucleares
Friday, May 9th, 2008 |El Gobierno de Corea del Norte ha entregado documentos sobre sus actividades nucleares al Departamento de Estado norteamericano, según anunció el jueves el portavoz de dicho departamento, Sean McCormack.
Este paso representa un importante avance en el contexto de las conversaciones a seis bandas que mantienen las dos Coreas, China, Estados Unidos, Rusia y Japón para poner fin a la inquietud internacional por la actividad nuclear del país asiático.
Los documentos, “miles” de páginas, fueron entregados al responsable de asuntos coreanos del Gobierno de EEUU, Sung Kim, quien viajó el jueves a Pyongyang para tratar de concluir la declaración completa del potencial nuclear del régimen norcoreano, y contienen detalles sobre el programa de producción de plutonio de la península coreana.
El dossier entregado a Estados Unidos por el régimen comunista se refiere a las actividades de la planta nuclear en Yongbyon, que Corea del Norte cerró el año pasado, y servirán para verificar el contenido de la posible declaración sobre el programa nuclear de ese país.
Estados Unidos analizará “muy cuidadosamente” el contenido y el alcance de los documentos recibidos después de que Sung Kim y su equipo hayan vuelto de su visita a Pyongyang. Después de su reunión con las autoridades norcoreanas, Sung Kim llevará la información, probablemente el viernes, a Corea del Sur, y desde allí volverá a Estados Unidos.
McCormack señaló que los documentos “jugarán un papel” en el proceso hacia una posible declaración de Corea del Norte sobre su potencial nuclear, si bien destacó que las tres prioridades de Estados Unidos son “verificar, verificar y verificar”.
Corea del Norte se comprometió a desmantelar su programa de armamento atómico a cambio de incentivos políticos y económicos. No obstante, hasta el momento, no ha cumplido el primero de los requisitos: la entrega de la lista de sus actividades nucleares, algo que debía haber hecho antes de finales del año pasado.
El acuerdo sobre la desnuclearización de Corea del Norte se alcanzó en 2005 en las mencionadas conversaciones a seis bandas, que permanecen estancadas a la espera de que Pyongyang presente la información sobre sus actividades nucleares.
Pekín y Tokio acuerdan repartirse el gas del mar de China
Friday, May 9th, 2008 |Japón y China harán cumbres bianuales y lucharán contra el cambio climático
Pekín y Tokio iniciaron ayer una nueva era en sus difíciles relaciones. El presidente chino, Hu Jintao, y el primer ministro japonés, Yasuo Fukuda, acordaron celebrar a partir de ahora una cumbre anual de los líderes de los dos países; resolver equitativamente la disputa sobre la explotación de las enormes reservas de gas del mar de China Oriental; cooperar en la lucha contra el cambio climático, y no permitir que las rivalidades del pasado les separen.
Los dos viejos enemigos se comprometen a zanjar diferencias
Fue el resultado del encuentro que mantuvieron en Tokio ambos dirigentes durante la visita que Hu está realizando a Japón, la primera que hace un presidente chino al país vecino desde hace 10 años. “China y Japón no pueden tomar otro camino que el de la paz, la amistad y la cooperación, como vecinos que son y países con influencia significativa en Asia y el mundo”, dijo Hu en conferencia de prensa junto a Fukuda. Los líderes aseguraron, en un comunicado conjunto, que “las dos naciones son socios cooperativos, no una amenaza mutua”, y deben “mirar directamente a la historia, para dirigirse hacia el futuro”.
Fueron las veladas referencias a las heridas del pasado, que ambos Gobiernos no han querido que agríen la cumbre, como ocurrió durante la visita del anterior presidente chino a Tokio, en 1998. En aquella ocasión, Jiang Zemin criticó a Japón, ante el emperador japonés Akihito, por su pasado imperialista.
Fukuda alabó a Pekín por haber iniciado conversaciones con representantes del Dalai Lama para mejorar la situación en Tíbet, donde el pasado marzo se produjeron violentas revueltas contra el Gobierno chino, e instó a Hu Jintao a que continúe negociando. “Vemos las conversaciones como un primer paso. Las tomamos en serio”, dijo Hu, que, sin embargo, pidió al líder de los tibetanos “sinceridad” y que ponga fin a lo que calificó de actividades separatistas.
El primer ministro japonés afirmó que deseaba que los Juegos Olímpicos de Pekín, el próximo agosto, sean un éxito, y evocó los que se celebraron en 1964 en Tokio, que marcaron la emergencia de Japón en la escena internacional tras su derrota en la II Guerra Mundial. Pero Fukuda dijo que aún no había decidido si acudirá a la ceremonia de apertura de los Juegos. Como gesto simbólico de buenas relaciones, Hu accedió a prestar dos osos panda a Japón.
