Japan proposes ministerial meeting with China
(Kyodo)
Updated: 2006-05-08 09:09 Japan proposed to China on Sunday that the two
countries resume foreign ministerial talks halted due to a row over Japanese
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni
Shrine, a Japanese government source said.
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| Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (2nd L)
follows a Shinto priest, dressed in a white and yellow robe, on a
surprise visit to the controversial Yasukuni shrine that prompted
angry reaction from China and South Korea.
[AFP] | | Japanese Vice
Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi made the proposal to Chinese Deputy Foreign
Minister Dai Bingguo on the first of three days of senior working-level talks in
China, according to the source.
The source declined to say whether China responded, saying only that "talks
will continue tomorrow."
China stopped bilateral meetings between the countries' leaders and foreign
ministers since Koizumi's most recent Yasukuni visit in October.
China has repeatedly complained about Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni, which
enshrines Class-A war criminals along with the war dead, saying the visits prove
Japan does not truly repent its wartime atrocities.
Earlier in the day, Yachi said he would propose that the two countries'
foreign ministers meet on the sidelines of a meeting of the Asia Cooperation
Dialogue to be held in Qatar later this month.
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