Newsletter No. 647
News-Analysis
June 16, 2007

 

PAKISTANI SAILORS DISAPPEAR INTO THE STREETS OF TOKYO

We reported in Shingetsu Newsletter No. 642 about a visit to Tokyo by two Pakistani warships, the PNS Moawin and PNS Babur. Our only information came from the Pakistani press because the major Japanese newspapers seemed poised to completely ignore this goodwill mission from South Asia.

The missing sailors were last seen heading for Akihabara, the electronics and manga center of Tokyo.

A Pakistani embassy official told the press, “They went out for sightseeing and then they disappeared… We've asked (the authorities) to apprehend them so they can be deported to Pakistan for violation of the law.”

There were a total of 600-700 men on board the two Pakistani warships.

Moreover, there was another incident involving the two Pakistani warships during their stay in Tokyo. Apparently, the Japan Coast Guard complained that one of the Pakistani ships accidentally discharged water contaminated with oil and sewage into Tokyo Bay, causing an environmental hazard that has since been cleaned up.

Something tells me that it may be a very long time before we see any Pakistani warships in Japanese ports again!

JAPAN AND PAKISTAN AGREE IN PRINCIPLE ON THE TERMS OF THE NEW TAX TREATY

Until today, all of our information about the Japan-Pakistani tax treaty negotiations had come from the Pakistani media, but yesterday the Japanese government announced that they had reached an agreement in principle to revise the convention between the two countries for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income, which had been signed in 1959.

The official statement explained as follows: “Reflecting close economic relations between Japan and Pakistan, the new Convention contains extensive revisions of the existing Convention, while modernizing the regulations based on the international model of the Income Tax Treaty, with a view to positively promoting mutual investment while taking measures to prevent fiscal evasion. The new Convention revises the taxation formula for business income, and clarifies the limit of withholding tax rates imposed on dividends, interest and royalties paid between the two countries. After the two governments complete the necessary procedures, the new Convention will be signed. It will be put into effect after it is approved by the Diet.”