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Japan, China meet to keep dialogue door open
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-02-10 21:09
Top diplomats from Japan and China met on Friday in an effort to maintain dialogue despite a chill in ties due to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to a war shrine seen by Beijing as a symbol of Tokyo's past militarism.
Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo (L) shakes hands with his Japanese counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi before their talks at the Iikura House in Tokyo February 10, 2006. [Reuters] |
The talks between Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi, are the first at this level since October, when Koizumi last visited the Yasukuni shrine where convicted war criminals are honored along with Japan's 2.5 million war dead.
The two top diplomats were to travel to Niigata in northern Japan on Saturday, possibly to visit an "onsen" hot spring resort, to continue their talks in a "relaxed" atmosphere, a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
In a sign of the bilateral tensions, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe on Thursday criticized as "inappropriate" a Chinese official's comment that ties between the Asian neighbors would not improve as long as Koizumi is prime minister.
Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan told a Japanese ruling party lawmaker in Beijing on Wednesday that relations between the Asian neighbors stood little chance of improving while Koizumi remained in office, Kyodo news agency reported.
Many analysts believe Beijing has given up hope of a thaw until Koizumi's term as ruling party president, and hence prime minister, ends in September.
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