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China, Japan look to make progress on talks
(AP/AFP)
Updated: 2006-02-22 07:21
Japan's trade minister said Tuesday he is determined to make
progress in settling bitter disputes with China this week during the highest-level talks
between the two nations since relations soured last October.
Japan's minister of
economy, trade and industry, Toshihiro Nikai speaks at a news conference
at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, in October 2005.
[AFP] | Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry
Minister Toshihiro Nikai will meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, China's
Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
The trip is part of an effort by Tokyo and Beijing to repair ties severely
frayed by disputes such as Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to
a Tokyo shrine that honors war dead, including convicted war criminals.
The Yasukuni Shrine visits have drawn criticism from Asian countries,
including China and South Korea, which was invaded and occupied by
Japan in the first half of the 20th century.
"It is not only the Yasukuni problem," Nikai told reporters Tuesday after
arriving in Beijing. "There are various other problems that Japan and China have
to resolve. So, I would like to have a frank exchange of views." He did not
elaborate.
The meeting with Wen will be the highest-level contact between the countries
since October.
China had rebuffed Japanese entreaties for anything higher than working level
talks since last October, when Koizumi paid a visit to Yasukuni Shrine which
houses 14 class-A war criminals. China and other neighboring countries deem it a
glorification of Japanese militarism in East Asia.
Nikai was also to meet with the Chinese commerce minister, Bo Xilai, and a
Chinese state councilor, Tang Jiaxuan, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman, Liu Jianchao.
Kyoko Kato, of the Japanese Trade Ministry's Northeast Asian section, said
the meeting with Bo was expected on Wednesday.
Koizumi said earlier Tuesday he hoped the talks would help chart a path for
better relations between the two countries.
"I am an advocate of friendly relations between China and Japan," he told
reporters.
Still, Koizumi refused to rule out a further visit to the Yasukuni Shrine,
saying, as he has before previous visits, that he would "decide appropriately"
when asked if he would go there again.
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