Toy Bag

A lower house election must be held by December 2018 as this is when the four-year terms of current lower house lawmakers expireIf Abe goes ahead with his plan to call a snap election, then three by-elections that have been slated to take place on Oct 22 would be replaced by the general electionToy Bag

The opposition camp, however, has criticized Abe's move to call a snap election, with some accusing him of merely trying to escape from the influence-peddling scandals he is currently implicated in and engineering his stay in power"Nikai on Tuesday, during a meeting of ruling LDP executives reportedly conveyed Abe's intentions and relayed the party's determination to get all of its candidates fielded in the racePrior to Abe's departure Monday for a five-day trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, Abe told Nikai during a meeting that he "will decide on the timing of the snap election after returning from the UN General Assembly on FridayToy BagAbe last dissolved the lower house of parliament in November 2014 and thereafter led the ruling coalition to a sweeping victory in the following election in DecemberIn addition, the fact that new opposition parties in the process of being formed will not have time to organize themselves and mount a serious challenge to Abe and the LDP in such a short space of time, has made many political watchers question Abe's regard for democracy and the will of the people

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is gearing up to dissolve the lower house of parliament and call a snap general election, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai confirmed on TuesdayThe support rate for Abe's cabinet has improved moderately recently, and the opposition camp has accused the prime minister of taking advantage of this and have slammed the possible general election as being unnecessary and serving Abe's personal, not political objectives"Threats, tests, launches, mutual threats should be stopped

Since then, Pyongyang has conducted its most powerful nuclear test, threatened to fire missiles into the waters around the US pacific island territory of Guam and launched two missiles over JapanTekeda Alemu, Ethiopian ambassador to the United Nations and the president of UN Security Council for the month of September, addresses a press encounter after UN Security Council closed-door consultations at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept 15, 2017In a press statement released on Friday after closed-door consultations, the 15 members of the council condemned "the highly provocative launch of a ballistic missile" by the Democratic People's Republic of KoreaThe DPRK fired a missile over Japan's northern island Hokkaido and into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, which came only days after the Security Council voted in favor of a resolution toughening sanctions on the DPRK over its nuclear test early this month

"The Security Council also emphasized the vital importance of the DPRK immediately showing a sincere commitment to denuclearization through concrete action, and stressed the importance of working to reduce tension on the Korean Peninsula," said Tekeda Alemu, president of the Security Council, in a readout of the press statementThe council members stressed the importance of maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia at large, and welcomed international efforts to facilitate a peaceful and comprehensive settlement of the crisis through dialogue, said Alemu, the Ethiopian ambassador to the United Nations

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula escalated recently after US President Donald Trump threatened to deal with the DPRK with "fire and fury" last month[Photo/Xinhua]UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations Security Council has condemned the latest missile launch by Pyongyang and urged a peaceful solution to the crisis on the Korean PeninsulaWe should engage in meaningful negotiations," he told reporters after the consultations"Chinese ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said Friday "both China and the United States benefit from bilateral trade, so efforts to undermine Sino-US trade, or even slapping sanctions on China, I think would be off-target

To ease tensions, China has been committed to a peaceful solution by supporting Security Council sanctions on one hand, and on the other proposing initiatives which aim to suspend hostilities by both Pyongyang and WashingtonThe ambassador said the US should refrain from issuing more threatsInstead, Washington should do more to find effective ways to resume dialogue and negotiationscn]The United States should do more to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula than it has, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said on Friday

Cui made the remarks on the sidelines of a reception at the embassy in Washington to mark the 68th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of ChinaThe UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2375 on Monday to respond to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's sixth nuclear test, conducted on Sept 3

"We are fully prepared to implement all the Security Council resolutions, no more, no less," Cui said, adding that China expects other relevant parties to do the sameThe ambassador also said China will never recognize the DPRK as a nuclear state and opposes nuclear weapons anywhere on the Korean Peninsula

"Honestly, I think the United States should be doing 鈥 much more than now, so that there's real effective international cooperation on this issue," Cui said"Everybody else will have to do their share; they cannot leave this issue to China alone," Cui saidThe ambassador said China has done its best to implement the UN Security Council resolutions in a strict and full fashion, while pushing for relevant parties to resolve problems through peaceful negotiations"China is not the driver behind the escalation of the tensionsAll relevant parties should remain calm and avoid actions that intensify tensions," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile that flew over northern Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean earlier in the day"It's irresponsible and unhelpful for the settlement of the issue to unjustly blame others and shirk responsibilities in any form," she added

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Pyongyang's latest missile launch on Friday, at the request of the US and Japanese delegations, days after it unanimously adopted a new resolution imposing more sanctions over Pyongyang's Sept 3 nuclear testShi Yongming, a researcher at the China Institute of International Relations, said the US never tries to determine what its own problem is, but insists on blaming China for the current tensions

"The current situation on the Korean Peninsula is complicated, sensitive and severeBeijing expressed its opposition to Pyongyang's use of ballistic missile technology in violation of UN Security Council resolutions on Friday, calling for restraint from all relevant parties

China also does not hold the key to the Korean Peninsula issueShe noted that the essence of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula is a security issue, and the core is conflict between Pyongyang and Washington

According to Hua, China has strictly and comprehensively implemented UN Security Council resolutions, and has made "enormous sacrifices at a great price"The ROK's military said it conducted a live-fire drill by mobilizing Hyunmoo-2A ballistic missiles about six minutes after the DPRK's missile launchHua also said it is "irresponsible" to blame Beijing for regional tensions after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on China to use the "powerful tool" of oil to persuade Pyongyang to reconsider its "current path"In the longest flight for a DPRK missile, it reached an altitude of about 770 kilometers and flew for about 19 minutes over a distance of about 3,700 km, according to the Republic of Korea's military 鈥 far enough to reach the US territory of Guam, Reuters reported

"However, whatever China does will not fundamentally solve the issue," he saidThe initiators of trouble should end it," she said

"Our sincerity and efforts should not be doubted," she saidThe DPRK reportedly fired a missile over Japan's northern island Hokkaido and into the Pacific Ocean on Friday, which came only days after the United Nations Security Council voted in favor of a resolution toughening sanctions on the DPRK

" He suggested countries with actual influence on the DPRK conduct high-level consultation and strengthen dialogue with Pyongyang so as to find a sensible way to deal with the situation"Russia is deeply worried over more provocative launches, which lead to further escalation of tensions on the peninsula," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Tass news agency as saying

Russian parliament members also denounced the latest move by the DPRKHead of the Russian State Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky said Friday that Pyongyang is playing a "dangerous game," which comes as a clear challenge to the international communityMeanwhile, he noted that the new missile launch proves sanctions and pressure will not work on the DPRK, and that the Korean Peninsula issue should only be addressed with a diplomatic solution"We strongly criticize such provocative actions and believe that such unequivocal demonstration of condemnation is the sole specific measure that can be taken at the moment," he said

"I think that serious consultations will be held at the international level, and the international community will in fact come up with options that will seriously impact the DPRK," he saidMOSCOW -- Russia strongly condemned the latest missile launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), as such provocation will further worsen the situation around the Korean Peninsula, the Kremlin said Friday

Similarly, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee Franz Klintsevich also warned that "one cannot rein in North Korea (DPRK) through force and threats, especially by provocations"And we will not allow the overseas projects invested in by Chinese investors to cause pollution

Addressing the conference on investment and trade between China and Congo (Brazzaville) on Monday, Annick Patricia Mongo, director general of the Agency for the Promotion of Investment in Congo, said that she hoped Congo could be the country of priority for Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in central AfricaLyu Xinhua delivers a speech at the conference on investment and trade between China and Congo (Brazzaville), Sept 25, 2017