China urged to resume top-level talks
(Kyodo)
Updated: 2006-02-13 20:49

Japan will continue to urge China to resume top-level meetings with Tokyo, Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi said Monday.

Yachi made the remarks after he met with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo for two days of talks through Saturday to ease strained bilateral ties.

"Japan and China should resolve the various (bilateral) problems. To do that, there is a need for further discussions on a level higher than subcabinet-level talks," Yachi said in a news conference.

Japan-China ties have been soured by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine.

Top-level meetings between Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao as well as their foreign ministers have been suspended since Koizumi's last visit to the Shinto shrine in October.

Yachi said he could not disclose the details of his talks with Dai -- who is the first high-ranking Chinese official to visit Japan since Koizumi's October shrine visit -- as Japan and China have agreed to hold the talks behind closed doors.

China has accused Japan of not truly repenting of its wartime militarism in light of Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni, which enshrines 14 Class-A war criminals along with 2.47 million war dead.

The two held talks for a total of 10 hours first in Tokyo on Friday and Saturday morning and then in Niigata Prefecture later Saturday to continue the dialogue in a more relaxed mood, said Japanese Foreign Ministry officials.

The officials, who have also declined to disclose the agenda of the Yachi-Dai talks to ensure candid exchanges, simply said at the end of the talks Saturday that the two sides reaffirmed their basic position to enhance friendly Japan-China ties and agreed to engage in such dialogue when necessary.

Beijing has called on Koizumi to halt his shrine visits in order to resume top-level bilateral meetings.

The Yachi-Dai talks marked the fourth round of comprehensive policy dialogue between the two countries since talks were launched in May last year. The previous dialogue was held last October in Beijing.