China hints at opposition to Japan on UN seat (AP/China Daily) Updated: 2005-12-01 19:13
China hinted on Thursday it would oppose Japan's bid for a permanent seat on
the U.N. Security Council, days before a visit by Secretary-General Kofi Annan
that will address plans to reform the body.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
leaves the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in October
2005.[AFP] |
Japan's lobbying for a permanent seat on the council was one of the factors
behind a wave of anti-Japanese protests in China earlier this year that were the
latest manifestation of old resentments between the Asian giants over Japan's
wartime aggression.
"We support U.N. Security Council reform but we believe reforms should give
priority to developing countries so they can have better participation in
international affairs," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news
conference.
"We think only those countries that can face up to history and take
responsibility for their actions can play a greater role in international
affairs," he said, adding Japan needed to win the trust of its neighbours.
Annan will visit China from December 4-7, and will discuss proposals to
reform the Security Council with Chinese leaders.
China advocates reform of the council through democratic consensus and in
August threatened to veto a plan to enlarge the body if reform measures were put
to a vote.
On Wednesday, Cui Tiankai, director-general of the foreign ministry's Asian
affairs department, said poor relations with Japan were harming prospects for
regional cooperation, ahead of the inaugural meeting of the East Asia Summit in
Malaysia on December 14.
China opposes Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the
Yasukuni shrine for the war dead, which it sees as a symbol of Japan's World War
Two aggression. It also objects to the revision of a history textbook China says
whitewashes Japan's World War Two atrocities.
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