President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan to stop visiting a nationalistic Japanese war memorial in a meeting here between the leaders on Friday, saying the visits raised fears of a revival of Japanese militarism.
The bilateral talks, which took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit meeting, took place just a month after Koizumi's latest trip to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, a memorial that commemorates Japan's war dead, including high-ranking war criminals from World War II. The visit aggravated Japan's already strained relations with its Asian neighbors.
Prayed for peace
Koizumi defended his visits to the shrine, saying that he prayed for peace there. But Japan has found itself continually confronted at the summit meeting here over its handling of its wartime conduct, and has been diplomatically shunned by its neighbors in a region where China's influence is growing rapidly.
Because of Koizumi's latest visit to the shrine, Chinese president Hu Jintao (
Roh agreed to one, but Seoul pointedly downgraded Friday's talks as a "courtesy meeting" with the South Korean host of the summit meeting. Also, Roh refused to say on Friday whether he would go through with a scheduled visit to Japan next month.
The Japanese-South Korean meeting contrasted with South Korea's increasingly warm ties with China. In a meeting between the leaders of those countries on Wednesday, Roh and Hu said they were united in their views of the region's history against those of a "neighboring country."
Frictions
In a brief speech at the summit meeting on Friday evening, Koizumi played down the frictions with China, telling the assembled leaders that Japan's economic ties with China were growing and moving in the right direction.
"There is absolutely nothing to worry about in Japan-China relations," Koizumi reportedly said. "China's growth is an opportunity."
In their 30-minute meeting on Friday, Roh told Koizumi that South Korea was not interested in further apologies from Japan about its wartime conduct.
"Stop apologizing; actions are more important," Roh told Koizumi, according to Mira Sun, a spokeswoman for the South Korean leader.
Koizumi, who has shored up his domestic support partly by appealing to Japan's rising nationalist sentiments and taking a tough stance against his Asian neighbors, said after the summit meeting that he was considering returning to the shrine next year. He told reporters that he would make a decision "appropriately," the same expression he had used before his most recent visit.
Criticism of his trips to Yasukuni, regarded by many as a symbol of unrepentant Japanese militarism, originated for the most part in China and South Korea. But after last month's visit it widened to include the rest of Asia, as well as North America and Europe.
Grievances
Under Koizumi, Japan has responded to sweeping changes in the region by further strengthening its security ties with the US. The two Koreas, once fierce enemies, are moving increasingly closer, and they share, with China, historical grievances against Japan.
Standing next to US President George W. Bush in Kyoto, Japan, early this week, Koizumi rejected the criticism that he has made Japan too dependent on the US, even as he has antagonized Asian neighbors.
"The better our relations with the United States, the easier it will be for us to build good relations with China, South Korea, Asian and other countries in the world," Koizumi said. "That's my basic belief."
In keeping with that belief, Japan lobbied unsuccessfully to have the US included in the first East Asian Summit, a meeting of regional nations scheduled to take place next month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, while South Korea kept a studied silence.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese