Japan's government said yesterday it had refused a request from China to stop Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara attending the inauguration of Taiwan President-elect Chen Shui-bian (
China's government had asked Japan to prevent Ishihara going to Taiwan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki told a news conference.
"Because it is one of the governors going, the government is not interfering," Aoki told reporters.
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori told reporters he was "not in a position to comment on a visit by a local government head," according to Jiji Press news agency.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, speaking to reporters separately, said the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo conveyed the requests directly to his ministry on Wednesday, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry also did so through the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on Thursday.
The Chinese side urged Japan to be "careful because the attendance by the Tokyo governor could give the impression that Japan has sent a representative," Kono said.
"But I don't make any particular comments on visits to Taiwan involving the private sector and local governments," Kono said.
Noting that the central government's policy of respecting "one China" remains unchanged, Kono said, "We explained that, and we believe the Chinese side understood it."
"Our policy is clear," he said, stressing that Japan will abide by its commitments under the 1972 Japan-China joint communiqu? which recognizes Beijing as the sole legal government of China.
The trip by the Tokyo governor was his second in less than a year. In November of last year Ishihara came to Taiwan after the 921 earthquake, invited by President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). His trip was the highest-ranking Japanese visit since Tokyo switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1972.
After that trip, Beijing's People's Liberation Army Daily said Ishihara represented a dangerous tendency among Japanese rightists, who have called for stronger ties between Japan and Taiwan.
"The talk of splitting China by Japanese rightists has developed to a state that deserves a high-level of alert," the article said.
Ishihara, a strong critic of China, has described Taiwan's outgoing president as a good friend and "one of the politicians I respect most."
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