China, Japan meet to ease tense ties
By Hu Xiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-06-24 05:40

China and Japan kicked off fresh talks in Tokyo yesterday to ease the two sides' tense bilateral relations.

Vice-Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo is to hold two days of closed-door talks with his Japanese counterpart Shotaro Yachi, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao at a news briefing yesterday.

The meeting is the first between the two countries since Vice-Premier Wu Yi visited Japan in May and cancelled a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the last moment.

Analysts have interpreted Wu's cancellation as a reaction to Koizumi's annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, a Japanese war memorial where 14 Class A World War II criminals are honoured.

The Tokyo talks follow a visit by Yachi to Beijing for the first round of talks May 13-14.

Emotions have been running high since the Japanese Government approved new middle-school textbooks in early April which play down the country's wartime crimes.

"This is the most difficult period in terms of political relations since the normalization of relations," Liu said. "Japan should take concrete actions to correct its attitude toward history and properly handle the Taiwan question.

"China hopes the trip will help increase mutual understanding at a time when relations are at their worst since normalization of ties in 1972," said Liu.

"Dai's trip to Japan for strategic dialogue with the Japanese side is another important effort by China to develop and improve Sino-Japanese relations," he added.

In Tokyo, Yachi told reporters on Monday the two sides would also touch upon the nuclear standoff in the Korean Peninsula.

Six-Party Talks

Liu said yesterday that there were "positive" signs for a resumption of Six-Party Talks on the nuclear standoff and called for the parties concerned to seize the opportunity, and show flexibility and commitment to restart talks as soon as possible.

Liu said China was in close contact with Pyongyang and would continue pushing for a resumption of the talks that also involve the United States, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan.

Pyongyang last week expressed its willingness to return to the negotiating table in July if the United States can "acknowledge and respect" Pyongyang as an equal partner.

The top US negotiator to the nuclear talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill called Pyongyang to return to the table as soon as possible through the US Embassy in Seoul's website.

"If we can agree on a date - I hope in the month of July - the US side looks forward to returning to the negotiating table to conclude these talks with the sense of respect and equality that all good negotiations must have," Hill wrote in a statement on the website. "Washington is ready to take action."

The United States said on Wednesday it would give 50,000 metric tons of food as humanitarian aid to Pyongyang, describing it as not related to the Six-Party Talks. Seoul is likely to offer Pyongyang 400,000 tons of food aid.

(China Daily 06/24/2005 page2)

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