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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.

Japanese trade minister headed to Beijing on Tuesday for talks with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, in the highest level contact between the two Asian powers since relations soured sharply last year.
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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