Hu expresses hopes to visit Japan
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-06-11 09:15
Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Saturday that, premised on an improvement
in bilateral ties, he hoped to visit Japan at an "appropriate time under the
right conditions", Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.
Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
offers a chrysanthemum for unidentified war dead at Chidorigafuchi
National Tomb in Tokyo May 29, 2006. Koizumi, whose annual visits to a
Shinto shrine for war dead have angered China and South Korea, paid a
tribute at Chidorigafuchi along with other lawmakers, members of the
Imperial Family and foreign
diplomats.[Reuters] |
The reported remark, which Kyodo said came in talks with Japanese ambassador
to China Yuji Miyamoto, is the latest hint of a possible thaw in ties between
the Asian neighbours.
Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been chilled in large part by
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni
shrine, where some convicted World War Two war criminals are honoured along with
Japanese war dead.
Hu and other Chinese leaders have said the shrine visits are a big obstacle
to improved ties, although the countries have also been feuding over other
issues, including territorial rights, energy resources and mutual suspicions
about their military policies.
Kyodo, quoting the Japanese embassy in Beijing, said that Hu told Miyamoto:
"China's party and government have steadfastly placed emphasis on China-Japan
relations."
Hu added: "It is our hope that current political
obstacles will be removed and the relations between the two countries will soon
return to a path of healthy and stable expansion."
The Chinese Foreign
Ministry on Thursday said China hopes that strained relations between Beijing
and Japan will improve, although there are no plans for their leaders to meet on
the sidelines of the G-8 summit next month.
Japan is a member of the G-8 and
China, which is not, has been invited to participate in discussions.
Hu
last met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at a regional conference
in Jakarta in 2005.
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