TMCnet News
Kyodo news summary -3-+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, May 2_(Kyodo) _ ---------- Japan to withdraw ground troops from Iraq: Nukaga tells U.S. WASHINGTON - Japan's Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga told the United States officially for the first time Monday that Japan will pull out its ground troops from Iraq when British and Australian forces withdraw their forces there, a Japanese official said. But Nukaga, speaking at a top U.S.-Japan security meeting of defense and foreign ministers, noted that Japan intends to keep its Air Self-Defense Force unit in Kuwait to continue its mission to airlift supplies to Iraq with C-130 transport planes, the official told reporters. ---------- Okinawa governor flexible on U.S. bases accord NAHA, Japan - Keiichi Inamine, governor of Okinawa Prefecture, indicated Tuesday he will deal flexibly with the new Japan-U.S. accord to realign the U.S. military presence in Japan. "We'll take coherent measures against the backdrop of the circumstances we had and new situations," Inamine said during a news conference. ---------- Koizumi-Okinawa governor meeting to be arranged for next week WASHINGTON - Japanese Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga indicated Monday he will try to arrange a meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine after the Golden Week holiday season to discuss the new Japan-U.S. accord to realign the U.S. military presence in Japan. Nukaga told reporters he will first meet with Inamine after the holidays and ask him to back the realignment agreement Japan and the United States reached during bilateral top security talks Monday in Washington. ---------- China set to ordain another bishop without Vatican's blessing HONG KONG - China on Wednesday will ordain a second Catholic bishop in less than a week without seeking the Vatican's approval, local media quoted the leader of the state-sanctioned church as saying Tuesday. Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, was quoted in television news programs as saying China needs more bishops and it cannot wait for the Vatican's approval. |