🇬🇷🤝🌈 — 📰 Time: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis plans to legalize same-sex marriage

— "Same-sex marriage will happen at some point and it’s part of our strategy,” Mitsotakis, a center-right politician, said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Athens. “Greek society is much more ready and mature"

As Time says, like the majority of countries in the European Union, Greece currently recognizes same-sex unions in some form, but not "full gay marriage".

According to the newspaper, for its part, "Greece saw a jump in a 2023 ranking of LGBTQ rights among European countries" by ILGAEurope after the government banned genital mutilation on intersex children last year.

Momentum for change began in Greece in 2021 when Mitsotakis appointed a committee to "draft a national strategy for improving LGBTQ rights". He has introduced a number of reforms since then including lifting a ban on homosexual men making blood donations and ending the practice of so-called sex normalizing surgeries on children. Few had expected him to become such a powerful force for change.

Link
https://archive.is/bZ6qn

🇬🇷🌹🤝🌈 — 📰 Greek City Times: SYRIZA: "We proposed legalising same-sex marriage a year before Mitsotakis"
— "Progressive Alliance said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' pledge to legalise same-sex marriage was made one year after their own proposal to the same effect.

The main opposition party noted that it tabled its proposal for legalising gay marriage and adoption rights in June 2022 "when Mitsotakis had said that 'this is not the right time'."

"[Together with the LGBTQI+ community, SYRIZA] will continue to exert pressure every day to see this necessary and self-evident step be immediately implemented," the statement added."

Link
https://archive.is/VrZ2U

🇬🇷🌹🤝🌈 — 📰 AP (April 4, 2023): Greece’s opposition vows to legalize same-sex marriage

— " The leader of Greece’s opposition has promised to legalize same-sex marriage with full parental rights if he wins a general election next month, in a move that would make it the first predominantly Orthodox Christian country to do so.

Alexis Tsipras, who heads the main left-wing opposition party, Syriza, said his government would grant same-sex couples the legal right to marry.

“The time has finally come, victory for our party will ... mean full rights for couples regardless of their gender,” Tsipras said in a recorded video message at an event organized by the youth wing of his party Monday and posted on the Internet Tuesday."

Link
https://archive.is/ZK7Tj

🇷🇺❌🇺🇸 — Russian Ambassador to Washington: The American accusations of the unprofessional behavior of the Russian Air Force in Syria are inappropriate.

🇨🇳❌🇺🇸 — 📰 Reuters quoting the Chinese Ministry of Finance: We hope Washington will take concrete measures to create a favorable environment for healthy trade relations

🇷🇺❌🇺🇦🇺🇸 — 📰 Sputnik quoting Russia's delegate to the United Nations: Washington's supply of cluster munitions to Kiev Regime will be another step towards a major escalation

🇯🇵🤝🇨🇳 — 📰 Global Times (July 4, 2023): Okinawa governor pays respect at Ryukyu cemetery site in Beijing
— "During his visit to China, Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki on Tuesday paid his respects at the site of Ryukyu Kingdom cemetery in Zhangjiawan township in Beijing's Tongzhou district. He told the Global Times that he would be "very grateful" if the occasion of his visit could bring a wave of searching for Ryukyu relics in China.

The people's willingness to explore and understand the Ryukyu (the Ryukyu Islands were annexed by Japan and renamed Okinawa in 1879) relics left in China can promote the exchanges between the two sides in various fields such as history and culture, Tamaki said.

At the site, a Global Times reporter saw Tamaki present the deceased with offerings such as wine. He folded his hands and showed his respect in a traditional Ryukyu ritual. Tamaki said that the incense he used was produced using methods spread from China in ancient times, which is different from the incense now used in Japan."

Link
https://archive.is/yIY19

🇯🇵🤝🇨🇳 — 📰 Japan Today (July 7, 2023): Okinawa governor visits China's Fujian to boost history-based exchanges

— "Okinawa Gov Denny Tamaki visited southeastern China's Fujian on Thursday to boost exchanges between the southern Japanese prefecture and the province, whose ties date back more than 600 years, including the period of the Ryukyu Kingdom that lasted until the 19th century.

The governor, visiting China as a member of a Japanese delegation led by former House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono, is expected to meet with senior Fujian officials in the provincial capital of Fuzhou with the aim of rebooting exchanges that had been suspended in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his aides said.

The Ryukyu Kingdom, established in the 15th century in what is now Japan's Nansei Islands, which extend southwest from Kyushu toward Taiwan, had tributary relations with both China and Japan. Some skilled Fujian people migrated to the kingdom and settled there."

Link
https://archive.is/9jnJV

🇯🇵🤝🇨🇳 — 📰 Global Times: China indispensable for Ryukyu to strengthen its sense of self-identity
— "During his visit to China, Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa Prefecture of Japan, on Tuesday paid his respects at the site of Ryukyu Kingdom cemetery in Zhangjiawan township in Beijing's Tongzhou district. In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Zhangjiawan was an important wharf of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and an entrance to Beijing from other regions. During the Qing Dynasty, most of the Ryukyu residents who died of illness were buried there, totaling 14 persons including envoys and students.

Historical exchanges between China and Okinawa Prefecture have a long history. Okinawa was once an independent Kingdom known as Ryukyu.

Apart from the Ryukyu cemetery site in Zhangjiawan township in Beijing's Tongzhou district, the Ryukyu people have left footprints in many places in China, including the Ryukyu-kan, institutions serving as homes and bases of operations for Ryukyuan missions in early modern Fuzhou, Fujian province, and Ryukyu Tomb in Fuzhou.

When paying respects at the Ryukyu cemetery site, Tamaki expressed that he would be "very grateful" if the occasion of his visit could bring a wave of searching for Ryukyu relics in China."

Link
https://archive.is/354Gs

🇯🇵🤝🇨🇳 — 📰 Foreign Policy (April 7, 2023): Okinawa Is in the Crosshairs of China’s Ambitions

— "On Dec. 16, 2022, China extended its threats against Taiwan to include a more direct move against Japan—and its treaty ally, the United States. The Liaoning aircraft carrier sailed quietly east between Okinawa and Miyako islands, of Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture, sandwiching the Japanese territory with China’s mainland to the west.

Between Dec. 17 and 22, the Chinese navy flew a total of 180 fighter jets and helicopters from the carrier in an apparent drill against the Nansei island chain, also known as the Ryukyu Islands, which includes Okinawa, where the United States has several military bases. This elevated threat threshold, along with the increasing assertiveness of other Chinese actions such as the spy balloon incident, brings new dynamics and risks to Okinawa itself."

Link
https://archive.is/BVnEI

🇯🇵🤝🇨🇳 — 📰 Nikkei Asia (June 15, 2023): Analysis: Xi throws Okinawa into East Asia geopolitical cocktail
— "On June 4, the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, published a controversial story on the top of its front page.

In it, Chinese President Xi Jinping himself spoke in detail on the history of the Ryukyu Islands, present day Okinawa, Japan's southernmost prefecture.

His comments have triggered a mini "Ryukyu boom" among Chinese historians, who have come out and issued commentary after commentary about the subject.

With one comment, he has pulled the strategically located chain of islands into the raft of geopolitical maneuvering."

Link
https://archive.is/3AhRO

🇯🇵🤝🇨🇳 — 📰 Global Times: Okinawa must never again become a battlefield, says Okinawan Governor Denny Tamaki
— "Okinawan Governor Denny Tamaki is scheduled to visit China as part of a delegation from the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade on Monday. During his visit, he will hold meetings with government officials and representatives from the business community in Beijing.

During a recent visit to the China National Archives of Publications and Culture, China's top leader took note of the deep historical connections between Fuzhou and Ryukyu [the Ryukyu Islands were annexed by Japan and renamed Okinawa in 1879], while examining an exhibition featuring a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) manuscript titled "Log of the Mission to the Ryukyu Islands."

After concluding his activities in Beijing, Tamaki will make a special visit to East China's Fujian Province, which has a sister relationship with the Okinawa Prefecture, to engage in exchange activities. He is expected to return to Okinawa on July 7.

Just before his visit to China, Tamaki granted an exclusive interview to the Global Times reporter Xing Xiaojing. Tamaki discussed the over 600-year history of friendly exchanges between Okinawa and China, emphasizing the importance of regional peace and stability. He expressed his anticipation for his visit to China after four years.

He also openly expressed his concerns about the Japanese government's efforts to strengthen its military defense capabilities.

He stressed that the brutal "Battle of Okinawa" during World War II resulted in the tragic loss of one precious life out of every four Okinawan citizens, and all Okinawans have a fervent hope that "Okinawa must never again become a battlefield.""

Link
https://archive.is/F4PU9