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Japan, China agree to ease military tensions

Japan and China agreed yesterday to work to ease military tensions through a crisis hotline and ship exchanges despite lingering unease over Taiwan and Beijing's growing defense spending.

General Cao Gangchuan (曹剛川), the first Chinese military chief to visit Japan in nearly a decade, met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after holding talks with Defense Minister Masahiko Komura.

"By inviting China's defense chief, we hope that we will further enhance relations between Japan and China," Komura said as he welcomed Cao at the defense ministry.

The two agreed to launch a study group to set up a military hotline. The two nations had a crisis in 2004 when Japan said a Chinese submarine intruded its waters.

"Both leaders agreed that they want to see it achieved as soon as possible," said a Japanese defense official who attended the talks.

Cao also invited Japan to observe a Chinese military exercise next month and agreed on exchange visits of vessels, scheduling a Chinese ship to visit Japan in November or December, the official said.

The general's visit to Japan was the first by a Chinese defense minister since February 1998, before relations between Tokyo and Beijing turned icy under former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Koizumi drew China's ire by annually visiting the controversial Yasukuni shrine, which honors war dead along with war criminals who led Japan's militarism in Asia.

But Koizumi's successor Abe has worked to repair relations with China and headed to Beijing days after taking office last September.

Defense matters remain a thorn in ties between the two countries. Abe's government has joined the US in voicing concern about China's soaring military spending.

Komura called on China to increase transparency of the defense expenditure.

"China is yet to explain fully the rationale behind the rapid pace of the increase in its military spending, such as what it wants to do and the goals," Komura said, according to the Japanese defense official.

"Japanese people would feel more at ease if China explained more," he said.

Cao explained that China has spent much of its increased military spending to raise salaries for soldiers and on uniforms, but added that China is also modernizing its military in line with global trends.

He was also quoted as saying that the military build-up was aimed at preventing violations of Chinese waters and airspace.

Japan has been officially pacifist since its defeat in World War II and relies on US protection, despite also having one of the world's best-funded armed forces.

Abe has championed a greater military role for Japan and has sought to ease potential concerns from China and South Korea.

Komura told the Chinese general that the US alliance was the foundation of Japan's defense policy, the official said. Cao replied that China "viewed the alliance with interest" in the context of the Taiwan issue, but did not elaborate.

Japan and the US raised Chinese concern in 2005 by saying Taiwan was a common security issue.
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