Japan, US And Australia To Hold Strategic Talks In Tokyo

IRAQ WARS

Internet hoax sees China invade Japan
Tokyo (AFP) Oct 19 - A fictitious article saying Chinese troops invaded the Japanese island of Okinawa was seen on a bogus Japanese-language Yahoo News website Wednesday at the height of tensions between the two Asian neighbours. The article, which was wrongly credited to Japan's Kyodo news agency, reported that the US Department of Defense announced the "invasion" early Tuesday.

Both Kyodo News and Yahoo Japan quickly denied they had anything to do with the story and said they were considering legal action although the identity of the perpetrators was unknown.

"US forces as well as Japanese self-defense forces are exchanging fire in the skies over Okinawa at the moment," the bogus news item read.

Paris (AFP) Oct 20, 2005
The security situations in Iraq and Afghanistan are to feature prominently in the first-ever meeting of US, Japanese and Australian officials focused on trilateral strategic issues to begin Sunday, a senior US state department official said.

Nicholas Burns, the US undersecretary of state for political affairs, said in Paris before heading to India and then to Japan, where the two days of talks are to take place in Tokyo, that the three countries would discuss "common interests" in Asia and elsewhere.

"There will certainly be a lot of talk about Iraq and Afghanistan, where the three countries all have military forces," he told reporters at the US embassy in Paris.

Other agenda items include North Korea, the aftermath of the devastating 2004 tsunami and "our hope to work on a constructive basis with China," he said.

The Japanese foreign ministry said the talks would begin with a face-to-face between Burns and Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Tsuneo Nishida on Sunday, with an Australian diplomatic representative joining in on Monday for a three-way dialogue.

Japanese media said other points of discussion on the first day were likely to be Japan's ban on US beef imports over mad cow disease fears and the changes to the deployment of US troops in Japan.

The talks are scheduled ahead of US President George W. Bush's visit to Japan to meet Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in November.

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IRAQ WARS

Outside View: After The Iraq Vote

Washington (UPI) Oct 18, 2005
The referendum on Iraq's constitution is only the beginning of a political process to resolve the issues dividing Iraqis along ethnic and sectarian lines.