Beijing

Chinese meet again with Taiwanese opposition

Chinese President Hu Jintao met Thursday with Taiwanese opposition leader James Soong in the latest chapter of Beijing’s “divide and conquer” strategy toward the island.

At the meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Hu welcomed Soong’s support of eventual reunification between Taiwan and the mainland while Soong voiced hope that the two sides could bridge their differences.

China and Taiwan split in 1949, but China views the island as a rightful part of its territory and has vowed to use military force if the Taiwanese declare independence.

Soong is the third opposition candidate Beijing has invited to visit in the past six weeks.

The Soong visit, following quickly on the heels of those by Nationalist Party leader Lien Chan in late April and Nationalist Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kung at the end of March, has put Taiwan’s pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian on the defensive and opened divisions within his ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

Tokyo

Japan: Five-party talks possible on North Korea

Japan is considering five-party nuclear talks without North Korea if the communist nation continues its boycott of negotiations, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said today.

Machimura said the aim would be to apply further diplomatic pressure on North Korea, which is believed to be extracting additional plutonium for use in nuclear weapons.

A ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the five countries — Japan, South Korea, Russia, the United States and China — had not agreed whether to have such a meeting.

Pyongyang has withdrawn from talks that involved all six parties, and Tokyo and other participants have been frustrated in efforts to bring the North Koreans back to the negotiating table.

Moscow

Georgia pushes for plan to close Russian bases

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday threatened retaliation if Georgia puts Russia’s bases there in danger, hours after top Georgian officials increased pressure on the Kremlin to pull out by the end of the year.

The two Russian bases in Georgia, holdovers from the Soviet era, are causes of high antagonism between Russia and diminutive, Western-looking Georgia. Russia has bristled at Georgian officials’ frequently expressed aim of deepening ties with NATO and the European Union.

In a visit to Georgia this week, President Bush noted that Russia had committed itself to withdrawing the bases, but did not publicly urge the Kremlin to speed up its efforts.

But Thursday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States was pushing Russia to end its military presence in Georgia as quickly as possible.

Russian officials have said the withdrawal from the Georgian bases would take at least three years, and maybe up to a dozen.

Jerusalem

Hamas rejects call for delayed election

A senior Palestinian official said this summer’s parliamentary elections should be postponed, but Hamas swiftly rejected the suggestion Thursday amid growing signs the militant Islamic group is set to make major inroads into the power structure set up by the late Yasser Arafat.

In proposing a postponement, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a top aide to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, cited delays in passing a new election law and in Israel’s pullout from Gaza and four West Bank settlements. But Hamas officials brushed off the explanations and demanded the vote take place July 17 on schedule.

Abdel Rahim’s comments were seen as the strongest indication yet that Abbas wants to put off the vote. It was the first time an official so close to Abbas has called publicly for a delay.