U.S. hopes to see good 3-way ties with China, Japan, Zoellick says

January 24, 2006

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said Tuesday that Washington hopes to develop good three-way relations with China and Japan, whose bilateral ties have soured over the past years. ''There has clearly been some tension in Sino-Japanese affairs,'' Zoellick said at a press conference in Beijing, held after a day of meetings with Chinese officials including Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

Taiwan bids farewell to outgoing de facto U.S. envoy

January 24, 2006

Taiwan's government on Tuesday said thanks and farewell to Douglas Paal, the outgoing de facto U.S. ambassador to Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties. ''We thank Mr. Paal for his contributions and efforts made during his tenure to greatly enhance bilateral relations between Taipei and Washington,'' Foreign Minister Mark Chen said. ''We wish him success in his career.''

Japan, U.S. to work to prevent recurrence of banned beef shipment

January 24, 2006

Japan and the United States agreed Tuesday to continue efforts to prevent a recurrence of Friday's incident in which a risk material for mad cow disease, banned in Japan, was discovered in a shipment of U.S. beef to Tokyo, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. The agreement came after a senior working-level meeting was held at the Japanese Foreign Ministry between Japanese foreign, farm and health ministry officials and a delegation from the U.S. agriculture department.

China hints the U.S. should stay out of Asian WWII history project

January 24, 2006

A Chinese government spokesman hinted on Tuesday it preferred that the United States stay out of a World War II history project concerning East Asia. East Asian history has ''special characteristics'' that directly affect China, Japan and South Korea, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said at a press briefing when asked whether he supported U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick's September 2005 proposal that U.S. war historians join Chinese and Japanese counterparts.