China has agreed to pay to repair Japanese property damaged in recent anti-Japan protests, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said yesterday.
Hosoda said that Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (李肇星) assured Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Ichiro Aisawa in Beijing that the damaged buildings would be restored to their former condition.
"China is saying that it will repair [the damage], and I think it's a big step forward," Hosoda said.
Hosoda did not elaborate, saying the details of the compensation would be worked out in subsequent meetings. Li offered to fix damage to the Japanese embassy and the ambassador's residence in Beijing and Japan's consulate in Shanghai. Chinese police let protesters throw rocks and break windows at the embassy and consulate during three weekends of demonstrations over Japan's campaign for a permanent UN Security Council seat and complaints that Tokyo was trying to downplay its wartime history.
Relations have also been tense over Japan's decision to allow gas drilling in a disputed section of the East China Sea. Li earlier rejected a Japanese demand for compensation and an apology over the damage to the embassy, telling Japan's visiting foreign minister last month that China had never harmed his people. But after weeks of acrimony, the Chinese government has ordered an end to protests and taken steps to repair relations with Japan, an important trading partner and aid donor.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on April 28 offered to hold talks on the sea dispute.
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