Japan PM Abe says strongly expects Trump-Kim summit to take place, to phone US leader

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday (May 28) that he strongly expects a high-profile summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to take place, adding that he intends to speak with the American leader over the phone in the near future.

"US President Donald Trump has made clear that he is working towards holding the US-North Korea summit talks as planned on June 12, and we are aware that cooperation is progressing between the US and North Korea towards the talks," Mr Abe told the House of Councillors Budget Committee, reported Japanese broadcasting corporation NHK.

"The US-North Korea summit presents an important opportunity for progress in the nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles issues, and more important than anything else, the abductions issue. As the meeting will be conducive towards resolving these issues, we have strong expectations that the US-North Korea talks will take place," said Mr Abe.

"By working extremely closely with US President Donald Trump, the recognition and policies of both Japan and the US are perfectly aligned. Within these few days, I will certainly want to hold telephone talks with US President Trump as soon as possible," he added.

Mr Abe said Japan will work closely with the US bilaterally, as well as trilaterally with the US and South, besides other members of the international community such as Russia and China to resolve issues related to North Korea.

Drawing attention to North Korea's dismantlement of its nuclear test site last week, Mr Abe said, "The destruction is a concrete step towards the complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement of all of the North's weapons of mass destruction. We will continue to watch the steps taken by the North."

At a regular press conference on Monday morning, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihige Suga also said that he "strongly expects" the Trump-Kim meeting to take place.

However, Mr Suga refrained from comment on whether it would take place on June 12 as scheduled, reported NHK.

"I would like to refrain from commenting now on the possibility of the US-North Korea summit being held on June 12, but we recognise that President Trump is working towards the summit talks on June 12 and there are consultations being made between the US and North Korea," he said.

"As Japan, the US-North Korea summit will be the chance to advance substantially the nuclear and ballistic missile issue and most important of all, the abductions issue. As the meeting will be conducive towards resolving these issues, we have strong expectations that the US-North Korea talks will take place," he added.

In response to a query on whether Mr Abe would visit the US before the G-7 Summit next week in Canada, Mr Suga said that it was important for the leaders of the US and Japan, as well as officials at all levels, to work closely together.

In this regard, he said Japan was looking at various possibilities for a meeting on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit.

https:// www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/japan-pm-abe-says-strongly-expects-trump-kim-summit-to-take-place-to-phone-us-leader

KL govt details RM1 trillion debt after Najib dispute

Necessary to bite the bullet now and solve problems: Lim Guan Eng

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng yesterday detailed how the new Malaysia government discovered that federal debt reached RM1 trillion (S$337 billion), a sum disputed by ousted premier Najib Razak.

Datuk Seri Najib wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday that foreign investors and ratings agencies would be unsettled without details of how government debts could jump to 65 per cent of gross domestic product, when his previous Barisan Nasional government tallied them at 50.9 per cent.

"There must be a clear distinction between political narrative and facts. Mixing them will create doubts on the credibility of our numbers and the professionalism of the institutions that were involved in preparing them, governed by Malaysians laws and international standards," he wrote.

"As a result of these alarming and confusing statements, our Bursa Malaysia index fell the most among all worldwide stock markets, resulting in tens of billions of ringgit in market value wiped out in one day.

"Our Bursa index fell 40.78 points today (Wednesday), or 2.21 per cent, while the Indonesian stock index added 0.71 per cent."

Giving the breakdown, Mr Lim said in a statement that the official debt stands at RM686.8 billion, or 50.8 per cent of GDP.

But added to this are government guarantees for entities unable to service their debts amounting to RM199.1 billion, a sum that includes RM38 billion owed by 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). This would take the total federal government debt to RM885.9 billion, or 65.4 per cent of the economy.

Mr Lim also pointed out that another RM201.4 billion was committed to "lease payments" for projects such as the building of schools, roads, police stations and hospitals.

"(They) were designed specifically to circumvent the federal government guarantee and debt limits," he said.

This takes the total government liability to RM1.0873 trillion, or 80.3 per cent of the economy as of the end of last year.

Mr Lim said: "The decision to tell the truth may unnerve Najib, but we firmly believe that by recognising our true debt situation today, it will enable the federal government to take concrete action to regularise and strengthen our financial state.

"This administration puts the interests of the people first and hence, it is necessary to bite the bullet now, work hard to solve our problems, rather than let it explode in our faces in the future."

He added an assurance: "The financial sector is stable, the banking sector is well capitalised and there is sufficient liquidity in the market."

Meanwhile, Mr Lim said that RM3.2 billion of public assets was bought by Malaysia's central bank and sovereign wealth fund to help pay debts owed by 1MDB last year, a "bailout" by the previous government that was discovered by the new Pakatan Harapan government.

He said the Najib administration redeemed shares in wealth fund Khazanah worth RM1.2 billion, a sum equivalent to a payment made last August on behalf of 1MDB.

Mr Lim said that on Dec 14 last year, Bank Negara Malaysia bought a piece of land from the Ministry of Finance worth RM2 billion - this sum made up the bulk of a RM2.4 billion payment on behalf of 1MDB.

"1MDB was already insolvent in 2016. If you look at payments made by the federal government, it is clear that it was a bailout," he said.

However, he did not provide details of how it was determined that the funds received by the Finance Ministry were used directly to pay off 1MDB's obligations.

https:// www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/kl-govt-details-rm1-trillion-debt-after-najib-dispute

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