the people's liberation army. he spoke at an asia security conference in singapore. >> translator: the chinese military understands that north korea's leadership is stable at present and shows no sign of collapsing. >> he also said now is a good time for concerned countries to take advantage of this situation. the general stressed the need to boost cooperation for regional stability. >>> japan and france have agreed to consider starting joint development of defense equipment. france would be japan's third partner for joint development after the united states and britain. japanese defense minister and his frefrps counterpart met on the sidelines of the asia security conference in singapore. they said they are interested in japanese technologies and hope to begin discussions on joint development. the matter should be agreed by top leaders.