An outraged Japan said yesterday that China needed to learn better manners after it stood up Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, as relations between the Asian powers worsened over memories of World War II.
Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi (
"They suddenly canceled the schedule but gave no word of apology. It is understandable if they have urgent matters but they should know society just does not function without saying `I'm sorry,'" Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference.
Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Taro Aso warned that Wu had caused anti-Chinese sentiment among Japanese people to rise.
"Their manner is totally out of common [diplomatic] practices. It has greatly contributed to fanning anti-Chinese feelings," Aso said.
Education Minister Nariaki Nakayama also joined the Japanese government's unusually strongly worded criticism of its neighbor.
"I thought China was a country that values manners. I am very sorry to think that they must have forgotten such things," Nakayama said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government said it was upset over remarks Japanese leaders made during Wu's eight-day trip about visits to the Yakusuni Shrine.
"We are very dissatisfied that Japanese leaders have made repeated remarks that are negative for the development of better relations during Madame Wu's visit to Japan, which have deprived such meetings of necessary conditions and atmosphere," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan (
Koizumi, who has visited the shrine four times since 2001, refused last week to vow not to visit there again this year, repeating his statement that he would decide "appropriately" when to pay homage to Japan's war dead.
"I don't understand why Yasukuni visits are linked to militarism," Koizumi told a parliamentary committee.
"China says [that Japan] should show through its actions that it is reflecting on the war, but in the 60 years since the war Japan has shown it has reflected on the war by ... staying true to its word never to wage war," he added.
China, in comparison, has fought a number of conflicts since 1945, including border wars with India, Vietnam and Russia, as well as fighting alongside the North Koreans during the Korean War.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS