The festering Sino-Japanese dispute and the unresolved North Korean nuclear standoff dominated talks yesterday among businesspeople and officials at the south Chinese resort town of Boao.
Yoriko Kawaguchi, special assistant to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, noted that Koizumi had met the day before in Jakarta with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in a bid to salvage strained bilateral relations.
"We believe the two countries have to construct a future-looking relationship and that it is very important to continue dialogue between us," said Kawaguchi, a former Japanese foreign minister.
She was speaking at the Boao Forum for Asia, a regional economic gathering that China wants to develop into a regional counterpart of the World Economic Forum.
After the meeting in Jakarta Saturday, Hu said China would maintain friendly ties with Japan despite outstanding grievances.
Meanwhile, South Korean official Chung Moon-aoo expressed optimism over stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program.
Five of the countries, South Korea, the US, China, Japan and Russia, were in discussions on that issue, and everything now hinged on the attitude of North Korea, he said.
Although North Korea has given no indications recently that it wishes to engage in more talks, Chung said he had not given up hope.
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