Fuwa and Jiang Zemin hold talks

Japanese Communist Party Central Committee Chair Fuwa Tetsuzo and Communist Party of China General Secretary Jiang Zemin (president of China) held talks in Beijing on August 28 to discuss a wide-range of international issues, including the establishment of peaceful relations in Northeast Asia - Japan, China, and the Korean Peninsula.

The two leaders expressed opposition to the U.S. plan to strike Iraq and preemptive use of nuclear weapons, reaffirmed the importance of observance of the U. N. Charter and the commitment to opposition to first-use of nuclear weapons and their total ban.

At a news conference later in the day, Fuwa said, "It is important that we at the summit talks agreed with each other on these points."

Following are the main points Fuwa made at the news conference:

Almost all agenda items which had been presented by the CPC were covered in a total of 14 hours of discussions we had with CPC representatives.

In the summit talks CPC General Secretary Jiang Zemin and I confirmed the development of JCP-CPC relations achieved in the last four years and the importance of making further efforts to strengthen Japan-China friendship.

I suggested the importance of establishing peaceful relations in a stable manner between Japan, China, and the Korean Peninsula.

General Secretary Jiang expressed his agreement with my suggestion and stated that China is consistently in agreement with everything that is conducive to a peaceful settlement of the question of relations between North and South Korea.

In the discussion on the international situation, I raised questions about the U.S. plan for a military strike against Iraq that would run counter to the U.N. Charter which provides that the use of military force must be restricted to actions in self-defense. In particular, pointing out that the recently published U.S. Defense Report referred to the possibility that the United States may strike China, I stated that opposition to U.S. strikes against Iraq is an urgent task for safeguarding international peace.

I also said that a total ban on nuclear weapons is a particularly important task at a time when the United States suggests the possible pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons as part of its military strikes against Iraq.

In explaining China's position and policy toward these questions, CPC General Secretary Jiang Zemin stated that China as a permanent U.N. Security Council member attaches the greatest importance to the need to abide by the U. N. Charter, adding that military strikes against Iraq will be a breach of the U.N. Charter. Concerning the question of nuclear weapons, he said that China is consistent in calling for non-first use of nuclear weapons and their complete prohibition. (end)