Shii receives new Chinese Embassy minister

Shii Kazuo, Japanese Communist Party chair, met with Cheng Yonghua, the new Chinese Embassy minister at the JCP head office in Tokyo on June 25.

Cheng informed the JCP chair that the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China has been controlled. Shii commended the Chinese effort to suppress SARS.

The two discussed the role the United Nations should play in dealing with the Iraq question, the importance of achieving a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, and the peaceful resolution of the question of North Korea's nuclear development.

Pointing out that China has an important role to play in resolving the question of the North Korean nuclear development program, Shii said that the JCP is willing to do its best to peacefully resolve the North Korea question with a broader perspective for peace in Northeast Asia. (end)