FM Li to visit Japan for ASEM meetings
(Agencies/Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-04-26 16:24

China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing will visit Japan next week to attend a series of foreign ministers meetings.

With bilateral relations at a 30-year low according to Beijing, Li will be in Kyoto from May 6 to 7 for the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) foreign ministers meeting.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing attends a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Nobutaka Machimura (not in the picture) in Beijing April 17, 2005. [Reuters]

He will also attend the third meeting of the Tripartite Commission of China, Japan and South Korea, as well as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and South Korea (10+3) foreign ministers' meeting.

All the summits are in Kyoto.

Li's visit comes with relations between Tokyo and Beijing at a low ebb after a bitter row sparked by Tokyo's approval of history textbooks China says gloss over its wartime atrocities.

Beijing and Tokyo have since tried to ease tensions, with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offering a fresh apology for Japan's past ahead of an Asia-Africa summit held last week in Jakarta.

It is unclear if Li will meet his Japanese counterpart Nobutaka Machimura in Kyoto. Machimura was in Beijing earlier this month to discuss deteriorating relations.

Close

Today's Top News     Top China News
KMT leader: Taiwan needs to blaze new trails         China: EU textile move could harm trade ties         Families grieve, 73 dead in Japan train crash         Yen rallies, bet is on China revaluation         Economic growth expected to slow down         Olympic venues to be opened for public use	KMT chairman leaves Taipei for mainland visit       Olympic venues to be opened for public use       Invented something? Now flaunt it here       Niujie Mosque in Beijing gets facelift       Country improves river's navigation       Police sorry for slur on Henan 'criminals'