Tensions a are also high betwee china and the United States over the South China Sea. The u. S. Has r rejected beijing Maritime Claims across most of the South China Sea as completely unlawful. In july, the u. S. Held military exercises in the area that included aircraft carriers. In the following months, the Chinese Military test fired Ballistic Missiles toward the sea. At wednesdays meeting, asean countries are expected to call for restraint. An expert says that china and the u. S. Need to understand asean does not want to see the dispute escalate in the south china a sea. Asean in particular is very interested in managing incidents in the South China Sea, and we hope that we can cononstructivey contntribute to managiging the tension in the South China Sea, including the tension between the u. S. And china. He expressed hope that asean meetings would push all the concerned countries to seek ways to solve the situation without increasing tension in the region. Strat separately chinese
Its the seventh consecutive day with more than 200 infections. Across the country, the total number of infections has topped 40,000. The Prime Minister said in a meeting that the situationon ha been seesawing for the past several days. Abe shinzo said the number o of seriously ill patients is hovering at around 80 nationally. The government plans to convene an expert panel in the coming days to come up with further antivirus measures. It comes as the clock ticks down to the Summer Vacation period that starts next week. Normally, thats the time when many people return to their hometowns, but this time, tokyos governor is calling on residents to stay home as much as possible. Nhk world spoke to one of the experts on the Central Governments coronavirus subcommittee about the recent developments. Reporter as president of the Japanese Association for infectiousus diseases, t Tateda Kazuhiro has been on the frontline since the outbreak began. He says japan is in the middle of a second wave,
Declaration and we concluded that prefectures across the country have met that standard. The remaining prefectures are tokyo and three others in the surrounding area. As well as the northern most prefecture of hokkaido. The state of emergency once covered the entire country, but it was scaled back in recent weeks as the number of new infections declined. The Prime Minister says that Business Activities will restart in phases. Professional baseball games will resume next month but without spectators in the stands. Abe says he aims to create what he calls a new normal in the country. Translator our businesess a daily routines will be severely affected. From now on its important to think about how we can conduct business and live our lives while still controlling the risk of infection. The governments Coronavirus Task force is set to meet shortly to finalize the decision. Tokyos governor that afternooned people for their cooperation but urged them to remain cautious. Translator there coul
Analysts say the essf directors are putting pressure on them ahead of the referendum this sunday. North korea an officials have disappointed people across japan. Theyve spent the last year investigating their countrys abductions of japanese nationals, but now theyve put off releasing their findings. Nhk world has more. Translator its very regrettable that north korea is putting off the results of its investigation. Ive told the foreign minister fumio yukishida and abduction minister to further press pyongyang to swiftly act with the return of japanese abductees. Reporter north korean officials pledged their fullscale cooperation during negotiations with japan in may of last year. In pyongyang set up a special committee to oversee the probe. Japan temporary lifted sanctions against the country. Japanese officials expected the north to report preliminary results within a couple of months, but that never happened. At the end of october, a Senior Foreign Ministry official visited pyongyang
Analysts say the essf directors are putting pressure on them ahead of the referendum this sunday. North korea an officials have disappointed people across japan. Theyve spent the last year investigating their countrys abductions of japanese nationals, but now theyve put off releasing their findings. Nhk world has more. Translator its very regrettable that north korea is putting off the results of its investigation. Ive told the foreign minister fumio yukishida and abduction minister to further press pyongyang to swiftly act with the return of japanese abductees. Reporter north korean officials pledged their fullscale cooperation during negotiations with japan in may of last year. About one month later, officials in pyongyang set up a special committee to oversee the probe. Japan temporary lifted sanctions against the country. Japanese officials expected the north to report preliminary results within a couple of months, but that never happened. At the end of october, a Senior Foreign Mi