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[March 21, 2006]

Kyodo news summary -4-+

(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, March 21_(Kyodo) _ ---------- China repeats it sees N. Korean defectors as illegal migrants

BEIJING - China on Tuesday repeated its view that North Korean defectors in the country are illegal migrants, not refugees, rejecting the U.N. refugee agency's view that they should not be strictly categorized as such.

The North Koreans staying in China "are those who illegally entered the country, not refugees," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a press conference.

---------- Chen reaffirms to strive for peace, stability across Taiwan Strait

TAIPEI - Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian met Tuesday with Katsuya Okada, former president of Japan's leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan, and reaffirmed that Taiwan will strive to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which serves the interests of Japan and the United States as well.


"The United States, Japan and Taiwan have a common interest in safeguarding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Chen told Okada at the Presidential Office, according to a statement issued by the office.

---------- Volvo to get 13% stake in Nissan Diesel

TOKYO - Swedish truck maker AB Volvo will buy about a 13 percent stake in Nissan Diesel Motor Co. for some $195 million from Nissan Motor Co. and become the biggest shareholder in the Japanese truck maker, the carmakers said Tuesday.

The sale of 40 million shares by Nissan, now the biggest stakeholder in Nissan Diesel, will reduce its interest in Japan's fourth-largest truck maker from 19 percent to 6 percent of its outstanding shares, while the deal also gives Volvo an option to acquire the remaining 6 percent within the next four years.

---------- U.S. senators push for freer movement of yuan

BEIJING - Three U.S. senators kicked off a weeklong visit in China on Tuesday with a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and a call for decisive action on China's currency regime that would let the yuan rise further.

Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Senator Tom Colburn, an Oklahoma Republican, met with Li and explained "their concerns regarding the renminbi exchange rate issue as well as the Sino-U.S. trade issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

---------- U.N. official appeals to China for release of political prisoners

BEIJING - The United Nations special rapporteur for torture recommends in a report released Tuesday that China set free eight prisoners serving time for political crimes.

On a 12-day China trip last year, the first ever by someone holding his position, Rapporteur Manfred Nowak met with four inmates in Beijing Prison No. 2, three in Lhasa Prison No. 1 and one in the Urumqi Prison No. 3 who indicated they had been incarcerated for political crimes, possibly based on information obtained under torture, Nowak's 30,900-word report says, calling for their immediate release.

---------- N. Korea asked Japan to hold talks with Japanese hijackers

TOKYO - North Korea asked Japan during bilateral talks in February to hold talks with Japanese airplane hijackers living in North Korea, which the hijackers have demanded as a condition for agreeing to go home, sources familiar with Japan-N. Korea negotiations said Tuesday.

The Japanese nationals who hijacked a Japan Airlines plane to North Korea in 1970 have been requesting talks with Tokyo so as to have the opportunity to deny their alleged involvement in the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea.

---------- ASEAN envoy hopes to visit Myanmar this week

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia - Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Tuesday he hopes to visit Myanmar this week on a mission as ASEAN envoy to gauge political reform in the country.

"God willing," he told reporters when asked if he would fly off to Yangon this week. "I should be going."

However, he declined to reveal the exact date of his departure although he told the press last Saturday that Myanmar's junta had finally fixed a date for his visit after much delay.

---------- Russia, China agree to cooperate over Iran nuke standoff

BEIJING - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed Tuesday to cooperate further to seek a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear standoff, underscoring their wish for a cautious approach to rein in Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

In a joint statement signed after their meeting, the leaders also agreed that the six-party talks are an effective way to solve the crisis over North Korea's nuclear programs and agreed to promote pipeline projects that funnel oil and gas from Russia to China.

---------- Cambodia scraps co-minister system in government

PNHOM PENH - Cambodia's parliament on Tuesday approved scrapping the co-minister system to make the country's system of government more efficient.

Since the U.N.-organized election in 1993, the Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the royalist FUNCINPEC party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh have formed the coalition government in which co-ministers head the defense and interior ministries.

---------- Data on lawmaker's supporters leaked via Winny software

MATSUYAMA, Japan - Personal information about supporters of former administrative reform minister Seiichiro Murakami has been leaked onto the Internet via the file-exchange software Winny, Murakami said Tuesday.

The information was leaked on Jan. 11 this year through a personal computer owned by a part-time worker employed at Murakami's office in his constituency in Ehime Prefecture, Murakami, a House of Representatives lawmaker, told a news conference.

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