Chronologies
Regional Overview
Chronology from Jan 2002 to Mar 2002
: Jack Pritchard, U.S. special envoy to the inter-Korean peace talks, meets with Pak Gil-yon, DPRK ambassador to the UN in New York.
: Indian FM Jaswant Singh visits China.
: President Megawati meets with DPRK leader Kim Jong-il; urges DPRK to resume inter Korean dialogue.
: ROK FM Choi meets PRC FM Tang in Beijing.
: The PRC and Japan sign yuan-yen swap agreement.
: India and PRC open their first direct air route.
: The U.S. and ROK sign memorandum of understanding on land swapping. Under the Land Partnership Plan, the U.S. will close 31 U.S. military facilities over next 10 years.
: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov visits Vietnam, announces Russia’s early withdrawal from the naval base of Cam Ranh Bay by July 2002.
: Seoul announces that DPRK will resume dialogue with the ROK in April.
: President Megawati meets President Jiang in Beijing, President Jiang offers $400 million loans.
: The U.S. and the ROK conduct the biggest joint military exercise, Foal Eagle, since the end of Korean War.
: Under Secretary Bolton and Russian Deputy FM Mamedov hold nuclear arms control talks in Geneva.
: PM Koizumi visits Seoul, discusses a possible joint working group to develop an FTA.
: Taiwan Economic Minister Christine Tsung resigns.
: Chinese Ambassador to Seoul Li Bin warns that NGO activities to help North Korean defectors undermine bilateral relationship between Seoul and Beijing.
: PRC Vice FM Wang Yi and Japanese Deputy FM Takano Toshiyuki hold the first vice-ministerial security meeting in Tokyo.
: Twenty-five DPRK defectors arrive in Seoul after seeking asylum in Beijing.
: PRC declines the request for the USS Curtis Wilbur, a U.S. Navy destroyer, to make a routine port call in Hong Kong April 5-9.
: PRC Vice FM Li Zhaoxing summons U.S. Ambassador to PRC Clark Randt and delivers “solemn representations” on Taiwan delegation’s visit to the U.S.
: Jack Pritchard, U.S. special envoy to the inter-Korean peace talks, meets with Pak Gil-yon, DPRK ambassador to the UN in New York.
: PM Koizumi and President Musharraf hold their first summit in Tokyo.
: DPRK Deputy FM Kim Young-il visits Beijing, meets with PRC Vice Premier Qian Qichen.
: Russian DM Igor Ivanov in Washington, D.C., meets with President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
: U.S.-Taiwan nongovernmental business meeting in Florida. U.S. Deputy Sec. of Defense Wolfowitz and Asst. Sec. of State James Kelly meet informally with Taiwan’s Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming and Chief of the General Staff Li Chieh.
: PRC Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng proposes 17.6 percent increase in defense spending.
: Philippines Foreign Minister Teofisto Guingona announces Philippine plans to buy 24 F-5 fighter jets from Taiwan.
: Kim Yong-nam in Malaysia.
: PRC-Russia Friendship Treaty ratified in Russia.
: Russian President Vladimir Putin expresses support for the U.S.-led antiterrorism war in Georgia.
: DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly Executive Committee Chairman Kim Yong-nam visits Thailand to improve investment cooperation and signs bilateral agreements on business, culture, and media exchanges.
: PRC President Jiang in Vietnam, frameworks agreement on the provision of preferential loans by China to Vietnam and an agreement on economic and technical cooperation signed.
: Regional Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crimes is held in Indonesia.
: Indonesia, East Timor, Australia trilateral ministerial meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali.
: Indonesia and East Timor hold the first ministerial level meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali.
: Secretary Powell says Beijing’s export of missile technology remains an obstacle to the bilateral relationship.
: President Bush in the PRC.
: Thai Deputy PM Nguyen Tan Dung meets with Vietnamese counterpart in Ha Noi; the two agree on the establishment of communication channels and joint sea patrols.
: Under Secretary Bolton indicates that U.S. might use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states, saying “we would do whatever is necessary to defend America’s innocent civilian population.”
: A U.S. Army helicopter goes down off the island of Mindanao, killing all 12 U.S. military personnel on board.
: President Bush in the ROK.
: U.S. Under Secretary of State John Bolton and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgii Mamedov hold arms control talks in Moscow.
: President Bush visits Japan.
: U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers and Indian DM George Fernandes hold talks on arms sales in India.
: President Bush meets Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Washington, D.C.
: DPRK releases Japanese journalist Sugishima Takashi after two years of detention.
: FM Kawaguchi speaks via phone with FM Tang and ROK FM Choi Sung-hong.
: East Timor adopts a Constitution draft, to be finalized in early March and effective in May.
: G-7 meeting in Ottawa.
: North Korea officials call off U.S. delegations’ visit scheduled on Feb. 19-22.
: DPRK Ambassador to UN Pak Gil-yon indicates DPRK is ready to resume talks with U.S.
: CIA Director George Tenet says that the DPRK continues to export missiles.
: ROK and Japanese high-level officials hold security talks in Tokyo.
: ROK President Kim replaces FM Han Seung-soo with Choi Sung-hong.
: Citizens of Japan and the ROK launch nongovernmental organization “History Education Asia Network” in Tokyo.
: Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov meets with PM Koizumi and FM Kawaguchi in Japan.
: Kawaguchi Yoriko is sworn in as Japanese foreign minister.
: Yu Shyi-kun is sworn in as Taiwanese premier.
: U.S. and the Philippines begin six-month joint anti-terrorism exercise “Balikatan 2002.”
: UN Security Council votes to extend UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) until May.
: Russian PM Mikhail Kasyanov in Washington, D.C. and New York.
: Indonesian and Singaporean agree to include Indonesia’s Batam and Bintan Islands in the U.S.-Singapore free trade area.
: Cambodia successfully holds the first elections for local level officials.
: New ROK Minister of Unification Jeong Se-hyun takes office.
: President Bush names North Korea, Iran, and Iraq as “axis of evil” in his State of the Union address.
: Japanese FM Tanaka resigns.
: Australian PM Howard visits the U.S., Singapore, and Indonesia.
: USCINCPAC Adm. Blair in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea, invites Vietnamese officials to observe “Cobra Gold,” the biggest wargame in Southeast Asia, in May.
: Philippine President Macapagal-Arroyo in the UK, Canada, and the U.S.
: ROK FM Han meets with Secretary Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in Washington, D.C.
: Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG) meeting in Seoul.
: Seoul and Tokyo agree on extradition treaty.
: Russian Navy Chief Adm. Indroko Sastrowiryono visits Japan.
: U.S. and DPRK fail to reach an agreement at the talks on U.S. MIA held in Thailand.
: Afghanistan reconstruction international meeting in Tokyo.
: Taiwan Premier Chang Chun-hsiung resigns.
: The Commission for Reception, Truth, and Reconciliation is installed in East Timor to address reconciliation and justice issues.
: Lee Hoi-chang, leader of the Grand National Party and leading ROK presidential candidate, visits U.S. and meets with President Bush.
: ROK Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo meets with FM Tanaka in Tokyo.
: Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. visits Seoul.
: Secretary Powell visits Japan to attend the Afghanistan reconstruction meetings, meets with PM Koizumi and FM Tanaka Makiko.
: UN announces East Timor’s first presidential election date, April 14.
: ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) ministerial meeting in Beijing.
: Secretary Powell in India.
: Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra meets with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia.
: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell visits Pakistan.
: IAEA inspection team visits nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, North Korea.
: U.S. and Russian defense officials meet to discuss nuclear arm cuts in Washington.
: First contingent of about 100 U.S. forces, including Special Forces, deploy to southern Philippines to train Philippine forces fighting against the Abu Sayyaf.
: PRC Premier Zhu Rongji visits India.
: U.S. Pacific Command Third Multinational Planning Augmentation Team (MPAT) meeting is held in Seoul; 150 military officials from 30 nations attend, including Japan, the PRC, and Russia.
: Jack Pritchard, U.S. special envoy to the inter-Korean peace talks, meets with Pak Gil-yon, DPRK ambassador to the UN.
: Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro visits Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines, proposes a “Comprehensive Economic Partnership.”
: U.S. Congressional delegation meets with PRC President Jiang Zemin.
: Foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meet in Beijing for a “non-regular” meeting to coordinate a regional counterterrorism agency and a mechanism for emergency response.