Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday called for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at a regional meeting in Beijing set for November, the latest call Tokyo has issued for a face-to-face meeting amid testy bilateral relations.
Abe pointed to the neighbors’ huge trading and business ties, saying they were “inextricably” linked, despite a row over islands in the East China Sea and historical grievances largely tied to Tokyo’s militarism in the first half of the 20th century.
The APEC forum later this year would be a possible venue for the proposed meeting, Abe added.
Photo: AFP
“I want to hold summit talks [with Xi] during the APEC meeting in Beijing,” he told the Japanese parliament, responding to questions about relations with China. “While recognizing that even if our ties are strained, they cannot be broken, there will be problems between neighbors. For this very reason we need to maintain a relationship that keeps things under control. My door is always open for dialogue and I hope the Chinese side adopts the same stance.”
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had expressed its view on the issue many times already, though stopped short of outright rejecting the request.
“The Japanese side should take real steps and work hard to banish the political obstacles which affect the development of bilateral ties,” it said in a statement faxed to foreign media.
Abe and Xi, both strong nationalists, have not held a bilateral summit meeting since they both came to power more than 18 months ago.
The Japanese prime minister has repeatedly called for a meeting with Xi and also with his South Korean President Park Geun-hye since sweeping to power in late 2012.
Xi and Park held talks in Seoul earlier this month, while Park visited China last year.
During a visit to Australia and New Zealand last week, Abe also called for talks with Xi, as did his close adviser, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
Tokyo and Beijing have long been at odds over territorial claims and Japan’s military record before the end of the World War II.
Rising tensions have seen Chinese ships routinely sail into waters near the disputed East China Sea archipelago, the Diaoyutais (釣魚台) — which are claimed by Taiwan, China and Japan — while Tokyo has scrambled fighter jets to ward off intrusions near its airspace.
Relations dropped again this month after Japan moved to relax restrictions on the use of armed force in a controversial change to its post-war pacifism.
In an interview with the Mainichi Shimbun on Sunday, Abe declined to say whether he would visit a controversial war shrine on the Aug. 15 anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II.
China was furious over Abe’s visit to the shrine last year, which honors Japan’s war dead, including some senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes.
“In the future, I hope to maintain my feeling of respect to honor those who have given their lives for the nation, but I would rather not say whether or not I will visit Yasukuni,” he was quoted as saying.
Abe also brushed off reports that Masahiko Komura, a top Liberal Democratic Party of Japan official and former Japanese minister of foreign affairs, had told China he would not go to the shrine again.
“That was Mr Komura’s thought. I don’t know about it,” he added.
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