Japan has decided not to use military planes to deliver relief goods to quake-hit China, government officials said yesterday, after Beijing voiced uneasiness over the mission.
The Japanese government later announced additional aid of up to ¥500 million (US$4.76 million) in earthquake relief, in addition to the same amount that Tokyo had promised earlier this month.
Beijing and Tokyo had discussed using Japanese military planes to deliver aid, which could have become the first significant military dispatch between the two nations since World War II.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Tokyo would not insist on using the military.
“There was caution voiced in China, and following talks between China and Japan, we have decided not to send Self-Defense Force planes,” he told reporters. “This is not an issue that we should risk causing friction.”
Japan invaded China and conquered large parts of it in the 1930s before being defeated by the Allies in 1945, and many Chinese still strongly resent Japan for its military aggression.
Japan’s Asahi Shimbun said the Chinese government was concerned about domestic public opinion after many Chinese posted comments opposing the mission on Web sites.
Instead of sending military planes, Japan is arranging private charter planes to deliver relief goods to China early next week, Machimura said later yesterday.
Since World War II, Japan has sent only a small group of defense experts to China to dispose of chemical weapons abandoned by Japanese troops.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross of China promised yesterday that donations made to quake-hit areas would all be used for recovery work.
“I have already promised many times to society that all donations made to the earthquake will be used for relief work,” Jiang Yiman (江亦曼), vice president of the Red Cross of China, told reporters.
Jiang was speaking at a press conference called to try to ease fears that creeping corruption would stop some of the money and materials donated reaching those most in need.
Generous donations made at home and abroad have drawn much praise, but already reports have emerged of diverted aid supplies and scams being launched to grab a piece of the largesse.
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