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Japanese diplomat rebuffs China on proposed summit

Japan's top diplomat said yesterday that China's offer to hold summit talks only if Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi halts visits to a controversial war shrine makes no sense and shows Beijing doesn't want to meet to discuss problems.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) made a rare conciliatory gesture to Japan last week by offering to hold a summit with Koizumi if he stops his visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead -- including convicted war criminals.

However, Foreign Minister Taro Aso rejected the condition, telling reporters that China's "method is beyond our comprehension."

"It sounds as though the Japanese government is entirely responsible for all of the difficult discussions between Japan and China," Aso said. "Don't you have to meet with someone if you want to resolve a problem?"

Two other Cabinet members also criticized the Chinese position.

"Both sides need to work hard sitting at the same table," said Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai.

"Visiting Yasukuni should not be mixed up with such other problems as those involving the East China Sea gas fields, reducing energy use, the environment and so forth," Nikai said.

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki reiterated the stance.

The Chinese government has repeatedly criticized Koizumi's visits, calling them offensive for victims of Japanese aggression in the first half of the 20th century. Koizumi -- who has visited the shrine in downtown Tokyo five times since taking office in 2001 -- has said he goes to Yasukuni to pray for peace.

Beijing has refused to meet with Koizumi since his latest visit, and the two sides have not held a formal summit since 2001, fanning tensions that erupted in anti-Japanese riots last April in several Chinese cities.

Despite the tensions, China remains Asia's top market for Japanese investment. Statistics released by a Japanese trade group on Monday showed Japan's direct investment in China rose 19.8 percent to a record US$6.53 billion last year.

Nonetheless, the recent deterioration in the bilateral relationship threatens to destabilize a region already tense over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

The two countries have also been feuding over gas and oil deposits in the East China Sea and Japanese textbooks that China claims whitewash Japan's past militarism.
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