Japan urged China to use its growing influence to make an impact on key global issues such as climate change as the visiting Japanese prime minister held summit talks yesterday that reflected warmer ties between the countries.
The two neighbors have a history of animosity stemming from disputes over territory, resources and wartime history, but Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's four-day visit -- his first as prime minister -- follows several friendly meetings between leaders and a Chinese warship's historic port call to Japan.
"In the long history of our relations, there has never been a time when Japan and China has had more influence or responsibilities in Asia and the world," Fukuda said at a joint news conference with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
PHOTO: EPA
Wen also praised the improved bilateral relations.
"Prime Minister Fukuda said the spring has come in our relations and after 2-1/2 hours of talks, I truly feel that the spring of China-Japan relations has indeed arrived," Wen said.
Fukuda was to meet later yesterday with Chinese President Hu Jintao (
"Its significance is truly great," Wen said.
The two sides signed an agreement to promote scientific and technological cooperation to fight climate change.
The agreement calls for Japan to invite 50 young researchers from China every year for the next four years to be trained to combat global warming.
Another agreement called for the launching of a joint project to study and develop magnetic nuclear fission and there was also a memorandum on increasing exchanges between the youth of China and Japan.
Japan is eager to help China tackle pollution that is increasingly felt across the sea in Japan.
"Both sides have consistently believed that, on climate change, pushing forward cooperation is our duty and responsibility in the international community," Fukuda said.
Industries in China are notorious for their inefficiency, requiring more coal or other energy sources to produce the same amount of output as a plant in Japan.
Other topics included a long-running dispute over China and Japan's competing claims to gas reserves in the East China Sea, which both nations hope to exploit to feed their fuel-hungry economies.
"We will continue negotiations and aim for a resolution as quickly as possible," Fukuda said after meeting Wen.
The two also discussed North Korea, a close ally of Beijing, which has been accused of abducting Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s.
"On the kidnapping issue, Premier Wen supports Japan and North Korea resolving this issue through dialogue," Fukuda said.
Japan has also expressed its concern about surging Chinese military spending and wants more transparency from Beijing.
Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mitsuo Sakaba said Japan wished for more military exchanges, but did not answer a question on whether Fukuda had asked to visit any military sites. None was on his itinerary.
Fukuda also spoke at the prestigious Peking University. His remarks were broadcast live on Chinese television.
He visits the industrial port of Tianjin today and will make a stop in Qufu, the birthplace of the ancient philosopher Confucius (
With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is today to inaugurate the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities’ efforts to overhaul the country’s vital tourism industry. With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the museum houses thousands of artifacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of more than US$1 billion. More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates 5 million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display. In the run-up to the grand opening, Egyptian media and official statements have hailed the “historic moment,” describing the
SECRETIVE SECT: Tetsuya Yamagami was said to have held a grudge against the Unification Church for bankrupting his family after his mother donated about ￥100m The gunman accused of killing former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe yesterday pleaded guilty, three years after the assassination in broad daylight shocked the world. The slaying forced a reckoning in a nation with little experience of gun violence, and ignited scrutiny of alleged ties between prominent conservative lawmakers and a secretive sect, the Unification Church. “Everything is true,” Tetsuya Yamagami said at a court in the western city of Nara, admitting to murdering the nation’s longest-serving leader in July 2022. The 45-year-old was led into the room by four security officials. When the judge asked him to state his name, Yamagami, who
DEADLY PREDATORS: In New South Wales, smart drumlines — anchored buoys with baited hooks — send an alert when a shark bites, allowing the sharks to be tagged High above Sydney’s beaches, drones seek one of the world’s deadliest predators, scanning for the flick of a tail, the swish of a fin or a shadow slipping through the swell. Australia’s oceans are teeming with sharks, with great whites topping the list of species that might fatally chomp a human. Undeterred, Australians flock to the sea in huge numbers — with a survey last year showing that nearly two-thirds of the population made a total of 650 million coastal visits in a single year. Many beach lovers accept the risks. When a shark killed surfer Mercury Psillakis off a northern Sydney beach last
‘NO WORKABLE SOLUTION’: An official said Pakistan engaged in the spirit of peace, but Kabul continued its ‘unabated support to terrorists opposed to Pakistan’ Pakistan yesterday said that negotiations for a lasting truce with Afghanistan had “failed to bring about a workable solution,” warning that it would take steps to protect its people. Pakistan and Afghanistan have been holding negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, aimed at securing peace after the South Asian neighbors’ deadliest border clashes in years. The violence, which killed more than 70 people and wounded hundreds, erupted following explosions in Kabul on Oct. 9 that the Taliban authorities blamed on Pakistan. “Regrettably, the Afghan side gave no assurances, kept deviating from the core issue and resorted to blame game, deflection and ruses,” Pakistani Minister of
RSS