China-Japan talks yield minor progress (Reuters) Updated: 2006-02-22 19:43
Japan's trade minister met the Chinese premier on Wednesday, but a day of
talks in Beijing yielded no real progress on the vexed issue of Japanese
leaders' visits to a Tokyo war shrine, Kyodo news agency said.
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] | Toshihiro Nikai's discussions with Premier
Wen Jiabao, Commerce Minister Bo Xilai and State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan
represented the highest-level direct exchange between Japanese and Chinese
leaders in months.
Bilateral relations have sunk to their lowest point in decades on a range of
issues, especially over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to
the Yasukuni war shrine, which China sees as a symbol of Japan's past
militarism.
Koizumi told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday he hoped Nikai's visit would
contribute to friendly ties between the Asian neighbours, but showed no signs of
budging on the shrine issue.
"Yasukuni cannot be a diplomatic card," he said.
Wen struck a positive note ahead of his meeting with Nikai, although details
of their talks were not immediately available.
"I believe that today's Sino-Japanese relations have been able to overcome
many difficulties and move forward because of people like you, who correctly
recognise history of the two countries and actively promote friendly ties," Wen
was quoted as saying.
Trade Minister Bo reiterated China's opposition to Koizumi's trips to the
shrine, where a handful of convicted war criminals are honoured along with
Japan's millions of war dead, but he made no direct demand that they stop, Nikai
was quoted as saying.
"While the Yasukuni shrine issue alone has had an impact on various areas, we
hope to make efforts to overcome that, and hope to obtain understanding from
China," Nikai said.
"I expressed my belief that we should make efforts to realise cooperation
toward the future that would benefit both China and Japan."
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