The leaders of Japan and China pledged to improve ties Saturday after weeks of escalating disputes, easing tension but not resolving some critical problems besieging relations between East Asia's big powers. After a 55-minute meeting on the sidelines of an Asia-Africa summit conference here, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan said both sides had agreed to look beyond disagreements and focus on the future.
But speaking at a separate news conference, China's top leader, Hu Jintao, sounded less optimistic, saying that Japan needed to reflect on its past and warning Tokyo not to meddle in its internal affairs by supporting Taiwan.
With both sides sending out olive branches in recent days, they appeared to soften their positions on some of the most contentious points. Mr. Koizumi did not insist on an apology or compensation for anti-Japanese vandalism in China, as Japanese diplomats had earlier. Mr. Hu did not directly demand that Mr. Koizumi stop visiting Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are enshrined among Japan's war dead, as he had in their previous meeting, in November.
Koizumi made a public apology for Japan's excesses during the war, the first in a decade. Then tn this meeting that sounded more like business as usual and a way for the Chinese to discourage further demonstrations, Koizumi and Hu publicly shook hands.
But Hu's comments after the press conference and the absense of any references to Japan's new history books and Koizumi's tributes the shrine that includes war criminals speaks loudly that the basic problems have not been resolved, just put aside to maintain the mutually beneficial business relationship.
Whenever politics call for public participation in the conflict, the complaints will renew. China can't afford to be too belicose while it remains behind in military power.
Complete Article
The New York Times
April 24, 2005
China and Japan Leaders Pledge to Improve Relations
By RAYMOND BONNER and NORIMITSU ONISHI
JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 23 - The leaders of Japan and China pledged to improve ties Saturday after weeks of escalating disputes, easing tension but not resolving some critical problems besieging relations between East Asia's big powers.
After a 55-minute meeting on the sidelines of an Asia-Africa summit conference here, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan said both sides had agreed to look beyond disagreements and focus on the future.
But speaking at a separate news conference, China's top leader, Hu Jintao, sounded less optimistic, saying that Japan needed to reflect on its past and warning Tokyo not to meddle in its internal affairs by supporting Taiwan.
With both sides sending out olive branches in recent days, they appeared to soften their positions on some of the most contentious points. Mr. Koizumi did not insist on an apology or compensation for anti-Japanese vandalism in China, as Japanese diplomats had earlier. Mr. Hu did not directly demand that Mr. Koizumi stop visiting Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are enshrined among Japan's war dead, as he had in their previous meeting, in November.
"We were able to confirm at the meeting that rather than criticizing each other's past shortcomings and aggravating antagonistic feelings, we should make efforts to develop the bilateral friendship," Mr. Koizumi said.
"The Japan-China friendship is beneficial not only for the two countries but also for Asia and the international community," he added.
Mr. Hu also emphasized the importance of the relationship.
"At the moment Sino-Japanese relations face a difficult situation," Mr. Hu said. "Such a difficult situation is not one we want to see. It would be detrimental to China and Japan and would affect stability and development in Asia."
With the Chinese government ordering an end to the anti-Japanese marches last week, the meeting appeared to cap three weeks of rising tension that was as much about history as over influence in this region. The marches in China focused on Japanese junior high school textbooks that whitewash Japan's militarism, as well as Tokyo's bid to become a permanent member of an enlarged United Nations Security Council.
On Friday, Mr. Koizumi delivered the most public apology in a decade over Japan's aggression in Asia, allowing the Chinese to accept the meeting with Mr. Koizumi.
Both men shook hands as they met this evening and sat opposite each other at a long table inside a hotel ballroom.
Mr. Hu expressed his displeasure at Tokyo's recent declaration with Washington that Taiwan was a common security issue in light of China's growing military power.
"Recently Japan has broken its own commitment on historical issues and the Taiwan issue, deeply hurting the feelings of the Chinese and Asian people," Mr. Hu said.
But Mr. Hu appeared to soften his tone regarding Mr. Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine, the symbol of Japan's past militarism to China and other Asian nations. He said that in their previous meeting last November, he had reminded Mr. Koizumi that 2005 was the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and cautioned him against taking actions that would insult the Chinese.
"I would like you to recognize history correctly and I would like you to translate your reflection into concrete action," Mr. Hu told Mr. Koizumi during their talk, according to a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Akira Chiba, who was at the meeting.
Asked whether he planned to visit Yasukuni this year, Mr. Koizumi said he would "make a judgment appropriately," offering the same noncommittal answer he gave last November.
State visits between the countries have been on hold since 2001 after Mr. Koizumi became prime minister and started visiting the shrine annually. Experts in Japan say Mr. Koizumi has put himself in a corner by insisting, in the past, that he would continue his visits regardless of criticism. If he pays a visit to the shrine this year, it would draw the wrath of China at a time when relations have reached their lowest since diplomatic ties were reestablished in 1972. But if he does not visit, he will draw the ire of the conservative groups that support his Liberal Democratic Party and possibly of average voters who might regard him as having caved in.
Raymond Bonner reported from Jakarta for this article and Norimitsu Onishi from Tokyo.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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