曽国家副主席、日本の地震に見舞いの意

　曽慶紅国家副主席は北京で16日、河野洋平会長（衆議院議長）率いる今年度の日本国際貿易促進協会訪中団と会談した。

　曽副主席は「中日間の経済貿易協力は、かつてない幅と深さに達している」と指摘。今後の双方の交流と協力の重点として次の点を挙げた。

　（１）エネルギー・環境保護分野の協力の強化

　（２）中国の地方経済発展への日本経済界の積極的な参加を歓迎

　（３）両国の中小企業協力の強化

　曽副主席はまた、日本で地震が発生したことに見舞いの意を表した。

　河野会長は「日本政府は対中関係を非常に重視している。今年は日中国交正常化35周年にあたり、日中文化・スポーツ交流年も行われる。これを契機に、両国民間の相互理解を深め、日中友好関係を打ち固め、発展させていきたい」と述べた。（編集NA）

　「人民網日本語版」2007年7月17日

「イデオロギーに支配され古い」＝安倍首相の外交路線を批判－加藤氏

自民党の加藤紘一元幹事長は１７日午後、都内で講演し、安倍政権の外交路線に関し、拉致問題を重視するあまり日本が６カ国協議などで取り残される恐れがあると指摘、「安倍晋三首相と麻生太郎外相の外交感覚は、イデオロギーに支配されすぎていて古い」と痛烈に批判した。
　加藤氏は、１８日からの６カ国協議首席代表会合に触れ、「日本は拉致問題があってなかなか柔軟な対応ができないが、注意しないと取り残される。ある日、米朝が国交樹立の方針で合意したということになったら、日本外交の立つ瀬はない」と強調。「安倍さんと麻生さんは、強いイデオロギーで外交を進めているから柔軟な道を取れない」として、北朝鮮への強硬姿勢の転換を求めた。

時事ドットコム：「イデオロギーに支配され古い」＝安倍首相の外交路線を批判－加藤氏

A Reactor Shut Down

Diplomacy with North Korea finally takes a step forward.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007; Page A18

INTERNATIONAL inspectors yesterday confirmed that North Korea had shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor -- and that nearly four years of multilateral diplomacy by the Bush administration had achieved a tangible result. Though some Western experts believe that the aging facility was already inoperative or close to it, the shutdown and readmission of inspectors is still significant: It will provide some assurance that North Korea's stock of nuclear bombs and plutonium will not grow. But as the administration itself has acknowledged, the first real test of whether North Korea can be disarmed by diplomacy still lies ahead.

The test will be whether the regime of Kim Jong Il follows through on its commitment to fully disclose all of its nuclear programs and materials -- something it has never been willing to do, even when it was bound by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The CIA believed North Korea had assembled one or two crude nuclear weapons by the early 1990s; since 2002, when it evicted inspectors and withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it may have produced enough plutonium for another 10 to 12 bombs. It also purchased uranium-enrichment equipment from the network of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan but has never publicly admitted it. Full disclosure would reveal just how large North Korea's nuclear arsenal is and would set the stage for its possible dismantlement. Disclosure would also indicate that one of the world's most isolated and criminal regimes might be prepared to initiate an entirely new relationship with its neighbors and the United States.

It's hard to believe that a dictatorship that tolerated the death by famine of millions of its own people, that brutally imprisons thousands of others in camps, and that depends on drug trafficking, cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting for much of its income is interested in or capable of such a momentous change. In the past, Pyongyang has used negotiations over its weapons merely as a means to extort food, fuel and money, and it has proved skillful in doing so. But the State Department is optimistic; the lead negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill, predicted recently that "we are going to be able to achieve our full objectives" and that North Korea's promised disclosure could be made within months.

What isn't yet known is what North Korea will demand in exchange for further steps. The deal it struck with the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia in February calls for it to receive 950,000 tons of fuel oil, in addition to the 50,000 tons now being delivered. But before shutting down Yongbyon, North Korea delayed for three months and extracted several financial and political concessions from a Bush administration eager to show progress. Mr. Kim is likely to demand much bigger favors, which is why it's not surprising to hear about planning at State for negotiations on a possible peace treaty. The danger is that North Korea will take advantage of an outgoing administration's zeal to record a legacy achievement, without changing its longstanding and fundamental commitment to nuclear weapons. That's why U.S. negotiators should insist that a full and credible nuclear disclosure by North Korea precede any further concessions by the United States or its partners.

A Reactor Shut Down - washingtonpost.com