China's Quake Victims Lack Medical Help, Food and Shelter As Rains Pour Down

 
Relief efforts at the epicenter of a weekend earthquake that left at least 398 people dead in the southwestern province of Yunnan were severely hampered Monday by landslides and torrential rain.

About 230,000 people have been evacuated following the collapse of about 12,000 homes in the 6.1 magnitude quake which struck Sunday in Ludian county, about 370 kilometers (230 miles) northeast of Yunnan province's capital, Kunming, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

While rescue teams were trawling through rubble, laying bodies out in the streets of Yunnan's worst-hit Longtoushan township, volunteers and survivors said many people had likely died of injuries in spite of having been dug out from the ruins of buildings.

Those who did survive were soaked by the rainfall, and still lack food and medication, rescue workers and victims told RFA."We were all there when the earthquake started," a survivor surnamed Li from Ludian's Shuimo township told RFA. "A lot of the roof beams fell in on the houses.""This evening, there is a chorus of children crying, but we haven't dared to go back inside all night.""There were some aftershocks today ... The electricity went down for two to three hours, then came back on again," Li said.

"The bigger trees have all fallen down, and the smaller roads have been cut off, although I think the highways are all running normally," he said.

Traffic restrictions

Some of the injured died while being carried out on stretchers, one volunteer rescue worker told RFA from the scene of the disaster in Ludian county."There are a number of towns and villages that have been very hard hit, and people coming out of them are telling us that all the buildings were flattened," the volunteer said.

"Yesterday, a lot of the injured died in the night because they couldn't be evacuated," he said. "Now they are restricting traffic to ambulances and military vehicles, so as to make it easier to save lives."He said some of the traffic restrictions were linked to an official visit to the disaster zone by Premier Li Keqiang, although some relief work was now using helicopters.

"I saw helicopters flying back and forth today, but the villages I have been to haven't received any relief supplies yet at all," he said."They are having to help themselves as best they can by digging stuff out of the rubble, like fabric to shade themselves from the sun," he said.He said water is now "extremely scarce," and that earthquake victims are being forced to use existing sources which may now be unsafe.

"Our company is a water purification company, but we can't get into those villages yet," he said.

Pouring rain

Meanwhile, a worker at a blood donation center in nearby Zhaotong city said medical relief was continually hampered by torrential rains that had struck the area shortly after the earthquake rocked towns and villages across one of the country's most beautiful mountainous regions."It is pouring rain right now, with around a meter of rainfall every hour," she said. "More than 300 people have donated blood, but it definitely won't be enough."

"Judging from the injured I have seen ... one injured person is using donated blood from several different people."She said the death toll could still rise further."It's impossible to know how many people have been killed or injured because some of them are still under the rubble," she said.

China has declared a top-level emergency in the wake of the quake, pouring 18,000 rescue workers into the region, whose work was hampered by heavy rain and narrow mountain roads blocked by landslides and rockfalls, official media reported on Monday.

State broadcasts said rescuers were digging for survivors in the rubble of some 12,000 homes that collapsed during the Sunday afternoon quake in remote Ludian county.

An injured earthquake survivor weeps in Yunnan's Ludian county, Aug. 4, 2014. Credit: AFP

Lack of supplies

A resident of Longjin village near Longtoushan surnamed Mao said local people were unable to enter their flattened homes in search of food."We need medicines and food, but local farmers' houses have been flattened, so we can't get at the food," Mao said. "There hasn't been any relief yet. We are all still waiting for it.""It's been a whole day since the quake but the rescue workers haven't come yet, and we have no way to get off the mountain," he said. "There have been aftershocks this whole time."

He said local people were now sheltering on the sportsground of a nearby primary school."Three, four hundred of us are sleeping huddled together at night under a tarpaulin," Mao said. "Some stand, some sit. That's all we can do.""Yesterday, all we had to eat was potatoes, and today we had a little rice gruel," he said.Meanwhile, in nearby Qiaojia county, soldiers and other rescue workers were making there way into the quake-hit region on foot after some sections of the highway collapsed, according to a local resident surnamed Zhou.

"Things are pretty bad here; a lot of people have been injured, and many of the roads have caved in," he said."We need emergency relief supplies and manpower," Zhou said. "There is a shortage of everything.""We have sent some people to help in the mountainous area, where a lot of houses collapsed," he added.

In need of tents

Shui Cao, a rescue worker with the Lantian voluntary team from Xiamen, said many people were sleeping in the open and desperately in need of tents, quilts and padded overcoats."The most important thing is tents, because it keeps raining across the whole area," Shui said."There hasn't [been enough help from the government]. We haven't even been able to contact the government."Repeated calls to the Ludian and Qiaojia county governments rang unanswered during office hours on Monday.

Three Cambodian Opposition Leaders Held Over Freedom Park Protests

 
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) on Saturday accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of using the courts to intimidate the party after three of its youth leaders were arrested and seven lawmakers summoned for questioning over violent protests last month.

The accusation came 11 days after CNRP leader Sam Rainsy and Hun Sen forged a political compromise in which opposition lawmakers would end their boycott of parliament and the prime minister agreed to adopt electoral reforms following disputed general elections a year ago.

On Saturday, CNRP said in a statement that three Phnom Penh party youth leaders had been arrested for alleged involvement in the July 15 protest by CNRP supporters pushing for the reopening of Freedom Park in the capital Phnom Penh.

Forty people were injured after the peaceful protest escalated to violence when park security guards tried to pull down a banner hung by the CNRP calling on the government to reopen the park, the only place where protests were allowed in the capital before it was closed to the public in January.

The CNRP identified the three arrested leaders as Khin Chamrouen, 32, Neang Sokhun, 28, and San Kim Heng, 28, saying they were “accused of involvement in the violence” that left at least 40 injured outside Freedom Park.

On Friday, CNRP deputy chief Kem Sokha, seven party lawmakers and another opposition member were summoned by Phnom Penh Municipal Court investigating judge Keo Mony for questioning on Aug. 11 in connection with the violence.

The seven lawmakers and one party member had earlier been detained for several days and charged with “insurrection” for their role in the protest.

They were released just after a July 22 agreement between the CNRP and Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) that ended a year of political deadlock following disputed July 28, 2013 general elections.

Sam Rainsy has said that their release was part of the deal.

'Intimidation'

“Arrest and detention of CNRP lawmakers are currently used as intimidation and threat by the Cambodian People’s Party to fulfill their political gain,” the CNRP said Saturday.

“CNRP strongly appeals for the immediate and unconditional release of the …youth leaders,” the CNRP statement said.

“CPP must immediately stop all acts of intimidation and threat on CNRP in particular the use of the courts for unjustifiable and/or illegal arrest and detention,” it said.

Kem Sokha told RFA’s Khmer Service on Friday that that the court order summoning him amounted to a “political show,” saying he was not at the July 15 protest.

He said that he was surprised by the court order as he had earlier explained to the investigating judge that he had nothing to do with the protests.

Under the July 22 agreement forged by Hun Sen and Sam Rainsy, the ruling party pledged to adopt key reforms to the government-appointed electoral body, the National Election Committee (NEC), which named the CPP winner of last year’s polls despite widespread claims that the elections were rigged.

The opposition, meanwhile, agreed to join the National Assembly (parliament), which it had boycotted since the vote, though no date has been set for the lawmakers to swear in.

Working groups from the two parties are discussing the finer points of the agreement, with the CNRP pushing for immunity from prosecution for all new members of the NEC and an independent budget for the body before joining the National Assembly, CNRP sources said.

The CPP said the issue of immunity was not part of the political deal.

Someone else's war

 
At the height of World War I, 2,000 Cambodian volunteers were sent to the fields of France to support their colonial rulers. Many did not return.
March 1916. As artillery shells pounded the battlefields of eastern France, Sen Sak, a Cambodian widow, pleaded with the head of the French administration in Phnom Penh to allow her only child, Sen Sam, to leave the army before he was sent to fight in Europe’s distant war.
Without teenage Sam, her only close relative after the successive deaths of her husband and daughter, Sak wrote to Resident Superior François Baudoin that she would be “abandoned and miserable”.
“I pray and beg you, M. Resident Superior, to accord me this grace,” she wrote. “I can already feel my heart breaking.”

After travelling to the capital from her Kampong Chhnang village to beg her son not to go, he had reversed his decision, she claimed.Scribbled on the same letter – buried in Cambodia’s National Archives – is Baudoin’s reply. Faded to the point of illegibility, it is unclear if he accepted her request. It is also unknown if Sam deserted anyway or dutifully donned his uniform and boarded a steamer to the port of Marseille like approximately 2,000 other Cambodians eventually did by war’s end in 1918.One hundred years ago this month, at the outbreak of the First World War, and nearly two years before the heartbroken mother put pen to paper, the French authorities in Indochina offered battalions of “native soldiers” for the war effort in Europe.

They were rejected. The war, they were told, would be over by Christmas.
But as historian John Tully notes in Cambodia Under The Tricolour, “By 1916, the euphoria had evaporated and the enormous casualties suffered in the trenches (equal to the population of Poitiers every week) could not long be replaced from [France’s] metropolitan population of 40 million.”
France, like Britain, turned to its empire.It was initially thought that hundreds of thousands could be raised in Indochina, but the figure was later limited to 50,000, according to Tully. Of that, the overwhelming majority were Vietnamese, but Cambodia was asked to provide 2,500 tirailleurs (light infantry) and workers to serve in the trenches, garrisons and factories of France.
The call was strongly backed by the Royal Palace, with then-King Sisowath serving as president of a committee in charge of organising recruitment.

“The members of the royal family, ministers, government officials of all ranks, all the Cambodian people and myself, have for France a love and a devotion without bounds,” he proclaimed.
An intense propaganda campaign began. Notices were posted in every village; high-ranking French officials and royalty went out on recruiting drives.“The monks were put to work contributing to the ordinary recruitment drives, while the King himself would go to the districts promising honourific distinctions and jobs in the administration and at the Royal Palace to those who joined,” French historian Alain Forest writes.But according to Forest, after three months, only 2,295 people had volunteered to serve as soldiers, of which 508 were sent home after it became apparent they had been coerced to join by local authorities. Of those remaining, 1,008 were deemed appropriate for military service. Of that number, 20 died during training and 340 more deserted.
As he reported a batch of just 28 new recruits from Kampong Cham and Kratie provinces in May 1916, War Minister Chakrey Ponn attributed slow recruitment “not to a hostile sentiment towards the protectorate, but to the fact that Cambodians are very attached to their homes and do not like to go abroad.

“Having a far from belligerent character, they content themselves with their farms.”
Despite Ponn’s assurances, the recruitment drive, in fact, coincided with peasant protests against French taxation now known as the “1916 Affair”. In this atmosphere, anti-recruitment propaganda also flourished, contributing to desertions and slowing enlistment.
Nevertheless, on May 1, 1916, the first battalion of Cambodian soldiers – the 20th Indochinese – proudly set sail for France, waved off by large crowds.
Arriving in Marseille, they boarded trains to barracks further east, in Fréjus, for basic training.
While the largely uneducated volunteers may have had trouble adjusting, small concessions had been made to ease the transition. The men arriving dined on dried fish, vermicelli and even prahok, according to Tully.

They were also welcomed by locals bearing gifts of flowers and wine, some soldiers later said, and “amused themselves by sending ‘obscene’ postcards to friends and relatives” and apparently even charming pretty French girls.But early contact with working locals, particularly in the factories, was already worrying the colonial administration.On May 27, 1916, Nguyen Van Vinh, a high-ranking Vietnamese colonial administrator posted with the Indochinese volunteers, noted that such contact could see them “lose their native quality of docility” when they return home.
“Outside of the workshops and barracks, the men have gotten used to a certain liberty which they may retain as they come back to Indochina,” he wrote.
Although Vinh’s fears may have been overblown, at least two veterans – Pach Chhoeun and Kim Tith – later became prominent nationalists and figures in the independence movement.
While Baudoin and other French colonial officials initially lamented the lack of military prowess they perceived in Cambodians, the volunteers were ultimately praised for their bravery on the battlefield.
Many served as garrison troops in France and Macedonia. But others saw action in Vietnamese-Cambodian frontline units on the Western Front – at the ferocious Battle of Verdun, in the Vosges mountains of Alsace and the Chemins des Dames in Aisne. Cambodians also fought on the Balkans front.

Indochinese troops were said to be especially brave during patrols towards enemy trenches, Tully writes, although given that tirailleurs were often used in this manner, “the unavoidable conclusion is that they were seen as being more expendable than Europeans.”
An October 1918 letter from Baudoin to the family of a volunteer tirailleur named Nuon, from Prey Veng province, killed on July 28 on the Alsace front and awarded the Croix de Guerre, cites his courage.“A brave tirailleur, who stayed brave under a violent bombardment. Killed in the accomplishment of his duty.”Nuon’s family, like those of most who volunteered, were poor.
“The mother, 47, farms three little rice paddies which they own. These people live in misery, so I have sent [them] the sum of 30 piastres,” a French official in Prey Veng wrote to Baudoin.
Maurice Rives, of the National Association of Friends of Indochina, writes that the French infantry, or poilus, considered their Asian comrades “unaffected by the artillery shells, serious, cold, with nerves of steel”.

While the number of Cambodians who died serving France in the war is unknown, some commanders estimated that 115,000 of a total 545,000 colonial soldiers died in battle – a 20 per cent death rate, compared to 15 per cent for European troops.Their names have long been forgotten and the stories of Cambodia’s involvement in the Great War are now relegated to the pages of a few history books and the shelves of colonial archives. But last month, a small group of Cambodian youth, officials and soldiers joined a Bastille Day march in Paris to commemorate the centenary of the war.
While the war was credited with blood-bonding the friendship between French and Khmer, and Cambodians undoubtedly held their own on the battlefields, some believe it was less patriotic fervour for the protectorate, and more a spirit of adventure, that drew young Khmers to serve.
Huy Kanthoul, who interviewed veterans and later became prime minister in 1951, puts it down to the determined curiosity of men who had heard so much, for so long, about the land from which those who ran their country had come.“They wished to travel, to cross the seas, see France,” he wrote in his unpublished memoirs.
“The marvels of which they had heard extolled so much.”

Rising waters claim 5 lives

 
In the first reported fatal flooding of the wet season, a weekend deluge across 13 provinces left at least five people dead, according to officials, who say that more destruction could be approaching.
As of yesterday, two people had drowned in Kratie, one in Stung Treng and another in Kandal province, said Keo Vy, cabinet chief of the National Committee for Disaster Management. A local official in Kep reported a drowning in an open well obscured by floodwaters.
“If the rains continue for another seven days, there may be more flooding,” Vy said.
Vy said the exact scope of the damage isn’t yet known, and the reported death toll could rise. His office is still gathering reports from provincial officials.
In Kratie, according to Vy, floods inundated 3,000 hectares of farmland, 3,080 houses and 18 schools, forcing 611 families to be evacuated. In Kampong Cham, three rivers spilled over their banks, although no houses are reported to have been affected.
Floodwater overflowed onto thousands of hectares of farmland in Prey Veng and Ratanakkiri as well, he said.

While Kratie Provincial Governor Sar Chamrong said he didn’t believe the floods were truly serious yet, he urged caution given that water has risen above warning levels.
“Two people drowned due to the rain in Kratie, so we would like to appeal to people to be very wary, especially young children, because incidents can occur if we are careless,” he said.
Soeung Chanthou, 28, died on Friday afternoon in Kep province’s O’Krasar commune after she slid into a 9-metre well, said Hem Soksan, commune police chief.
“The victim did not remember where the opening of the well was, because it was covered by the rainwater, which has been pouring for days,” Soksan said. “Her family came to help, but they were unable to because the well was so deep. It took about three hours to retrieve her body.”
The three provinces most heavily affected by the Mekong River’s inundation were Kampong Cham, Stung Treng and Kratie, said Chan Yutha, spokesman and cabinet chief at the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology.

The river should begin to recede this afternoon, he said.
“In Stung Treng, water will go down tomorrow, and in Kampong Cham, if it goes up, it will only go up by a little bit,” Yutha said.“The situation is not serious yet – even though many provinces have been flooded. In some provinces just one district is inundated.”The ministry has already prepared 200 pieces of heavy equipment in Phnom Penh and the provinces of Takeo, Svay Rieng, Oddar Meanchey and Battambang to divert water or mitigate overflows from inundated homes and farmland, Yutha added.“Besides that, we always issue notices about water levels and changes in weather to people and authorities in order to alert them in advance,” he said.

Floods usually hit Cambodia between August and October. The current floods, though deadly, have been repeatedly predicted.Floods in 2013 claimed 168 lives and injured 29 people.
Earlier in July, the National Committee for Disaster Management said it was ready for floods, with more than 10,000 tonnes of rice stocked and emergency supplies and rescue vehicles ready to go.
Mao Hak, deputy director of technical works at the Department of Hydrology and River Work, told the Post on Thursday that Phnom Penh was safe from flooding for the time being.

CNRP swearing in set for tomorrow

 
Politicians from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party will take their oaths as parliamentarians in front of King Norodom Sihamoni at the Royal Palace tomorrow, senior officials have said.The swearing in will pave the way for the party’s 55 elected lawmakers to take their seats in the National Assembly in coming days, bringing an end to their more than 10-month boycott of parliament.“It’s confirmed tomorrow at 4pm at the palace, but we will meet at the National Assembly at 3pm,” senior lawmaker and public affairs head Mu Sochua said.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan, in a Facebook post, said Deputy Prime Minister Sok An had confirmed the ruling Cambodian People’s Party had reached full agreement with the CNRP on details of a deal they inked on July 22 to end the longstanding political deadlock. He said the opposition would take their seats in parliament on Thursday, but Sochua and CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann would not confirm that date.“It will be a few days after the swearing-in ceremony,” Sovann said.The CNRP boycotted the opening of parliament last September following the disputed July national election, which they claimed was rigged by the ruling party.

Japan seen as Vietnam’s top strategic partner

PM Dung applauded the outcome of the talks between the two foreign ministers and the sixth meeting of the Vietnam-Japan Cooperation Committee and expressed his delight at the growing strategic partnership in a multitude of areas.In terms of bilateral cooperation, PM Dung proposed promoting strong and practical cooperation in all areas spanning from politics, diplomacy, economy, trade, investment, tourism, cooperation and development to culture, social affairs, education-training, science- technology, cross-cultural exchange and defense and security.

“Vietnam wants Japan to assist it in development process by maintaining ODA funding while Vietnam will closely coordinate with Japan to use the capital effectively” Dung said.
The Government leader asked Japan to encourage its businesses to invest in Vietnam and boost bilateral trade and facilitate Vietnamese agricultural products’ penetration into the Japanese market.
He also suggested Japan offer favourable conditions for Vietnamese students, workers, nurses and orderlies to work and study in the country while confirming that Vietnam will facilitate Japanese long-term investments.PM Dung stated that Vietnam will work hand in hand with Japan to put Vietnam-Japan University, a symbol of the new cooperation between the two countries into operation soon.He also thanked Japan for providing six used vessels to help strengthen the capacity of Vietnamese law enforcement force at sea and wished to continue receiving support and assistance from Japan.FM Fumio Kishida, in turn, expressed his optimism that bilateral relation will grow and flourish in the time to come, adding that both sides boast huge potential for bolstering economic, trade and investment cooperation in the future.

“Japan is committed to assisting Vietnam in carrying out the industrialization strategy and providing ODA for Vietnam. Japan is also carefully studying Vietnam’s proposals on promoting bilateral trade including bringing Vietnamese agricultural products to the Japanese market, exempting Vietnam citizens from entry visa and increasing the number of Vietnamese nurses and orderlies who want to work in Japan. Japan will also continue supporting Vietnam in improving law enforcement capacity at sea.”, the Japanese diplomat assured Dung.Regarding regional peace and stability including the East Sea, Minister Fumio Kishida said his nation hailed Vietnam’s stance while reiterating Japan’s commitments to maintain peace, stability, and maritime freedom, security and safety in the East Sea.

“Japan considers this a common responsibility and interest of the international community and calls on concerned parties, through peaceful dialogues, to resolve disputes in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and work on formulating a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) and avoiding complicating the situation.” Kishida said.
FM Fumio Kishida said he will convey an invitation to visit Vietnam from Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to PM Shinzo Abe.Meeting with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on the same day, President Truong Tan Sang said that Vietnam highly values Japan’s support given to the country during its economic development over the past years.Sang expressed his belief that based on trusted political ties, the two countries will enjoy more progress in bilateral ties in the future.

He informed his guest that Vietnam has completed all the necessary procedures to launch the Vietnam-Japan University, which he described as a symbol of the friendship between Vietnam and Japan. He mentioned the help of Kansai region and Ibaraki prefecture in the form of tuna fishing tools and farming technology transfer to Vietnamese farmers.President Sang also took the occasion to invite the Japanese Emperor and the royal family, as well as Japanese government and parliamentary leaders to visit Vietnam.Minister Kishida noted that cooperation in politics, economics and people-to-people exchange between the two countries is growing considerably, noting that his nation is keen on stronger cooperation with Vietnam in energy.The Japanese FM also thanked Vietnam for its efforts to put the Vietnam-Japan University into operation soon.

On regional and international issues, Kishida also made it clear that Japan supports Vietnam’s stance of settling disputes through peaceful measures in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).The Japanese foreign Minister was also later received by Politburo member and head of the Party Central Committee’s Organisation Commission To Huy Rua.Rua, who is also Chairman of the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Parliamentary Group, and Minister Kishida expressed their delight at the sound relations between the two friendship parliamentarian groups.They agreed that both sides will continue promoting the role of parliamentarians in fostering theVietnam-Japan relation, particularly in agriculture and human resources.
Vietnam wishes for stronger ties with Japan

Vietnam always regards Japan as one of its strategic partners of first magnitude while Japan wants to develop a substantial and extensive partnership with Vietnam.
Deputy Prime Minister cum Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida echoed this view when co-hosting the sixth meeting of the Vietnam-Japan Cooperation Committee in Hanoi on August 1.At the meeting, the two sides discussed a score of measures to develop bilateral relations in a comprehensive, effective and sustainable manner in the future by maintaining regular exchange visits and meetings between senior leaders and enhancing cooperation and dialogues between ministries, sectors and localities.The two ministers stressed the need to effectively implement signed agreements, especially infrastructure development projects such as building the North –South Highway, Lach Huyen port and Ninh Thuan 2 nuclear power plant.

Minister Fumio Kishida affirmed his nation’s recognition of Vietnam as a leading partner in ODA, noting that the Japanese Government will continue maintaining a high level of ODA provision for Vietnam, focusing on supporting growth, improving competitiveness, fine-tuning market economy mechanism, training human resources and preventing natural disasters.
Deputy PM Binh Minh greatly valued the Japanese Government for its commitment to maintaining its large ODA provision for Vietnam including the signing of a diplomatic note of exchange on offering JPY 500 million in non-refundable aid for Vietnam’s maritime safety and JPY 353 million for a human resource development scholarship program for Vietnam in 2014.
Minh reiterated the Vietnamese Government’s commitment to effective use of Japanese ODA to make practical contributions to the country’s socio-economic development.
Deputy PM and PM Pham Binh Minh and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida co-host the sixth meeting of the Vietnam-Japan Cooperation Committee in Hanoi.The two FMs consented to improve the investment environment in Vietnam, promote Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model and step up bilateral cooperation in trade, personnel training, science-technology, climate change adaptation, judiciary and cross- cultural exchange.

They noted with satisfaction over the growing agricultural cooperation between the two countries in recent times and examined ways to carry out a number of projects such as Bach Dang Bridge, Can Tho University, Vietnam – Japan University.FM Minh hailed the Japanese Government for facilitating the grant of entry visa for Vietnamese citizens in recent years. Minister Fumio Kishida said his agency will continue working with Vietnam on the implementation of action plans in Vietnam’s industrialization strategy within the Vietnam – Japan cooperation framework, and   helping Vietnam realize the Vietnam-Japan joint initiative to improve the investment environment in Vietnam.The two FMs concurred to further beef up cooperation in dealing with regional and international issues of common concern.

“Vietnam welcomes Japan for its active and constructive contributions to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the wider world.” Minh said.
They called for dialogues and peaceful settlement of disputes between concerned parties in the East Sea on the basis of respect for international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Declaration on the Conduct of parties in the East Sea (DOC) towards the formulation of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) to ensure security, maritime safety, stability and peace in the region.The outcome of the sixth meeting of the Vietnam-Japan Cooperation Committee and the talks between Deputy PM and FM Pham Binh Minh and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida significantly contributed to further strengthening extensive strategic partnership between the two nations.

Dozens dead as Taiwan gas explosions tear up streets

A downtown district of the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung was ripped apart just before midnight Thursday by a series of explosions that killed at least 26 people and injured hundreds more, state news agency CNA reported.The blasts, which were triggered by underground gas leaks, tore trenches through main roads, overturned cars and trucks, and sent flames leaping into the air in the city's Cianjhen district.Witnesses said they saw vehicles flung into the air by the force of the explosions; one car was found on the roof of a three-story building.Zong Han-Li was driving when the explosion happened directly in front of him, and his dashboard camera caught the moment the gas ignited.

"The video went black after a rock struck the dash cam and dislocated it," he told CNN. "I was scared that more rocks will follow, so I opened the door and looked around for help. I was very fortunate the driver's door was not stuck."The explosion left a trench 2 meters deep. Some vehicles were blasted into the air, and some people fell into the trench. It was a devastating scene.

Read: Gas explosions rip through city"It was very loud when the explosion happened, (and) debris was blasted into the sky. Motorcycles were tossed as high as three stories. Everyone came out to help because there were already injuries."Two people were blown to the roof of a four-story building, where emergency workers found them and took them to the hospital, CNA reported.

Firefighters from neighboring cities rushed to Kaohsiung to help battle several fires, which had been mostly contained by Friday morning.

At least 26 people were killed, including four firefighters. Twenty-two emergency workers were among 267 people injured, officials said. A number of people were still missing, including a senior fire official who went to investigate reports of a gas leak.As daylight broke, the extent of the damage became clear, with wrecked cars and motorcycles strewn across the cratered streets.

Dave Flynn, an English expatriate who has lived in the city for several years, visited the site of the explosions Friday morning. He said a huge trench had been gouged along the length of a main thoroughfare for several kilometers, and the pavement had been thrown to the side of the road, damaging vehicles.

"There were police cordons on the major intersections, but they were just stopping vehicles," he said. "Most of the side streets, you could just walk into the area, and it was full of pedestrians checking out what had happened. I saw people fixing their own houses, and I saw the army arrive, some trucks to clean up some of the (wrecked) cars."Schools and offices in the Cianjhen district, as well as in the neighboring Lingya district, were closed Friday to facilitate rescue efforts, Mayor Chen Chu said. Several schools and a cultural center are being used as emergency shelters.

Authorities suspect ethylene, propane or butane in the explosions. There are several petrochemical factories in the region.The government called up hundreds of soldiers to assist in search and rescue efforts.