Senior Chinese and Japanese officials were to hold talks yesterday aimed at healing division between the Asian powers over rival claims to gas deposits in disputed territory and historical issues left over from World War II.
Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi was traveling to Beijing yesterday, with talks to begin later in the day, according to the Japanese embassy.
The dialogue is the third round of "strategic talks" aimed at improving soured ties following violent anti-Japanese protests last spring over Tokyo's wartime aggression and its bid for a permanent UN Security Council seat.
The exchange is likely to include other issues, such as the multination effort to get North Korea to give up its nuclear-weapons program, both sides said.
Yachi reportedly met with his South Korean counterpart, Yu Myung-hwan, in Tokyo on Thursday before heading to Beijing. Contents of their discussion were not available, but South Korea, along with Japan, Russia, China and the US are participating in talks with North Korea on its nuclear program.
"These are strategic talks that could be about anything. They will cover a wide range of issues," said Keiji Ide, a spokesman for the Japanese embassy in Beijing.
"This is a very good occasion to have a good discussion," he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan (孔泉), speaking at a briefing on Thursday, described the atmosphere of the last round of talks, which were held in Tokyo in June, as "pragmatic and productive."
But he noted, "we have our serious disputes."
He said he hoped both sides would show similar flexibility in Beijing "so that we can achieve the objective to find a solution through peace and talks and dialogue."
Ide said he could not comment on a report early yesterday by Japan's Kyodo News agency that Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura will visit Beijing on Oct. 23 and Oct. 24 for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing (
Japan has complained that China is drilling for undersea gas in a disputed area between the two countries, and has started work on a gas pipeline. Beijing says it is within its rights to develop resources in the region.
China and other neighboring countries have chastised Japan for textbooks that critics say gloss over its wartime atrocities throughout Asia.
Beijing also has criticized Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for paying visits to a Tokyo war shrine that honors the country's war dead, including convicted Class A war criminals.
Koizumi has gone to the shrine four times since becoming prime minister in April 2001, and is expected to go again before the end of this year.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
RSS