LEAD: Japan, EU to call on China over human rights, security issues

Japan Policy & Politics, May 2, 2005

LUXEMBOURG, May 2 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH START OF SUMMIT, EXPECTED OUTCOMES)

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi began talks with European Union leaders here Monday, with the two sides expected to call on China to develop as ''a responsible and constructive global partner.''

It is also thought that the leaders will urge North Korea to return to the six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear arms programs ''expeditiously and without preconditions.''

The call for China -- found in a draft joint statement to be issued after the annual summit -- could be taken as a criticism of the country's poor human rights record and apparent tolerance of anti-Japanese protests, some of them violent, in Beijing and other Chinese cities recently.

Japan has demanded an apology and compensation from China for damage to Japanese diplomatic property in China during the protests. Some experts say the vandalism of the property violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which calls for diplomatic establishments to be protected from intrusions and damage.

Koizumi will reiterate Japan's opposition to the lifting of the European Union's arms embargo on China during a meeting with Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, says the draft, obtained by Kyodo News.

Japan, along with the United States, has grown concerned that the lifting of the 16-year weapons trade ban, which France in particular wants to realize, could increase China's military capability and threaten East Asian stability.

Some EU officials have voiced concern about China's enacting a law authorizing the use of military force against Taiwan in the event that Taipei declares independence.

The officials argued the law is an impediment to the lifting of the ban, which the European Union imposed after the bloody crackdown on democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Koizumi and EU leaders will urge China ''to promote stable reforms and open policies,'' stressing that ''their strategic dialogue on East Asia's security environment should be enhanced,'' the draft says.

On North Korea, the leaders will urge the reclusive state to ''completely dismantle all its nuclear programs'' in a verifiable manner and return to the six-party talks that involve the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, it says.

The six-nation talks have been stalled since last June, with North Korea citing what it calls Washington's ''hostile'' stance against it.

The European Union will confirm ''its strong support for efforts intended to lead to the settlement'' of Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese citizens, the draft says.

Koizumi and EU leaders will underline their support for U.N. reform and welcome U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's report last month calling for expanding the Security Council, it says.

But the leaders are coordinating views as to whether they share Annan's view, as Japan hopes, that it is essential to decide on reforming the Security Council before the U.N. Summit slated for September.

As for stalled negotiations between Japan and the European Union over which side will host the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, Brussels wants to accelerate talks to reach a final accord by the end of June. But Tokyo wants to strike a deal before the July 6-8 summit of the Group of Eight nations in Gleneagles, Scotland.

In a meeting April 12 in Tokyo, Japan's Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Nariaki Nakayama and European Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potocnik agreed to speed up talks on whether Japan or France will host the multibillion-dollar project, which also involves China, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

The Japanese and EU leaders will agree to ''ensure the widest possible participation of countries in the Kyoto Protocol'' on curbing global warming, urging the United States -- the world's biggest greenhouse gas producer -- to return to the international pact, the draft says.

Washington withdrew from the protocol in 2001 after President George W. Bush took office. China and India, both of which are major producers of such gases, are not obliged to follow the 1997 treaty.

Koizumi and the EU leaders will agree to continue supporting Iraq's reconstruction and back up efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue, according to the draft.

The leaders will reaffirm ''their wish to see Russia fully integrated into the global economy,'' including a call to improve energy efficiency, and underline ''the importance of continued reforms to strengthen the rule of law and the respect for human rights in Russia,'' it says.

Koizumi arrived in Luxembourg Sunday as part of his four-nation trip to South Asia and Europe that has taken him to India and Pakistan for talks with the leaders of the respective countries. He will travel to the Netherlands after the Japan-EU summit.