Foreign and Military Affairs

China warns Japan on visa issue

By Ai Yang and Ma Liyao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-17 10:21

Beijing - Japan's plan to issue entry visas for Rebiya Kadeer and the Dalai Lama for their respective visits in May and June will surely have a "negative impact" on bilateral ties as well as cast doubt on Premier Wen Jiabao's possible visit to the country next month, say observers.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to come to Japan on June 18 and participate in a service at a Buddhist temple in Nagano, and deliver speeches in Ishikawa and Kanagawa prefectures. Rebiya Kadeer, the alleged mastermind behind riots in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in early July 2009, plans to attend symposiums in Tokyo and Osaka after her May 20 arrival, Kyodo news said.

The two separatists will be visiting the country for the second time since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power. The Japan Times said their trips will signal the continuation of Japan's policy of accepting the two as visitors, but the administration is likely to emphasize "neither will be received as government guests".

"This is definitely going to negatively impact Sino-Japanese relations." Feng Zhaokui, former deputy head of the institute of Japan Studies at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told China Daily. An unnamed source "close to Japan-China ties" told the Japan Times that Beijing will be more sensitive than in the past about how Japan handles the visits, as the two governments are in the process of making final arrangements for Wen's visit, scheduled in late May.

In October Beijing strongly condemned Tokyo's issuing of a visa to Kadeer, when the 59-year-old left her home in the US for Japan for the first time, spreading lies of riots in early July which killed at least 197 people and injured 1,700.

"We express strong dissatisfaction that Japan has granted Kadeer the entry to facilitate her separatism activities despite China's sever objection." Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said at the time during a press briefing.

Japan is also the Dalai Lama's most visited Asian nation. It has received the 76-year-old a total of 15 times since 1987, and during the past several years the Tibetan separatist increased his visits.

Feng said domestic pressure contributed to the visa granting process, while China's strong dissatisfaction has made Tokyo feel uncomfortable, shunning formal greetings with the two. "(Japanese Prime Minister) Yukio Hatoyama is suffering from rapidly decreasing national support. If the government rejected the visa requests, the opposing party will surely accuse them of being timid to China."