Japan, China at loggerheads even before talks (AFP) Updated: 2006-02-09 14:56
Japan and China were already at an impasse on the eve of their first talks in
four months, which are aimed at easing growing tensions between the East Asian
powers.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso. Japan and
China were already at an impasse on the eve of their first talks in four
months, which are aimed at easing growing tensions between the East Asian
powers. [AFP] | Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai
Bingguo is due to hold talks from Friday in Tokyo in the first such meeting
since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi infuriated Beijing in October by visiting
a war shrine.
But even as Dai was opening informal talks Thursday ahead of the dialogue,
the two countries were at loggerheads on the reason for the strained ties.
Takeshi Noda, a Koizumi critic within his Liberal Democratic Party who was
visiting Beijing, quoted Chinese State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan as telling him
Wednesday that relations were unlikely to improve until Koizumi leaves office.
"It is inappropriate," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the spokesman for
the Koizumi government, said of Tang's reported remarks.
"It appears inconsistent with the Chinese leadership's statements that it
regards Japan-China relations as significant," Abe told a news conference.
"Our country's policy remains the same, that we are trying to develop
future-oriented relations between Japan and China."
However, Noda, as quoted by China Central Television, said that the
responsibility for the impasse was "mainly on the Japanese side".
Koizumi has infuriated China by paying an annual pilgrimage to Yasukuni
shrine, which honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead including 14 top war
criminals from World War II.
In turn, Japan was angered when China scuttled its cherished bid for a
permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Koizumi in October appointed prominent hardliners including Foreign Minister
Taro Aso, who was due to hold informal talks with Dai later Thursday.
Dai will meet Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi on Friday and
Saturday for dialogue designed to allow a "candid exchange of views" over
bilateral relations, the Japanese foreign ministry said earlier.
Japan and China, which are major energy importers, are also at odds over oil
and gas in a disputed area of the East China Sea.
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