IChina's Wu Yi cancels meeting with Japan PM Koizumi
リンク: International News Article | Reuters.com.
China's Wu Yi cancels meeting with Japan PM Koizumi
Mon May 23, 2005 06:11 AM ET
By Masayuki KitanoTOKYO (Reuters) - Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi canceled a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday and returned home a day early, prompting a diplomatic stir.
Wu and Japanese officials cited domestic commitments as the reason for canceling the meeting, which had been seen as a chance to improve frigid Sino-Japanese ties.
But the cancellation -- a rarity in diplomacy -- clearly angered some Japanese officials, with one calling on Beijing to give a "clear explanation" of what could be taken as a diplomatic snub.
"The prime minister of the country had made plans for a meeting and it was canceled for some reason which is not very clear. I think they (China) need to give an explanation," a top Japanese foreign ministry official told reporters.
"What do they think of diplomatic manners or rules?" he asked. "There seems to be something in common with the recent vandalism against our diplomatic missions," he said, referring to the anti-Japanese protests which swept Chinese cities last month.
Sino-Japanese relations have been troubled by a series of feuds including anger in China at Koizumi's visits to a Tokyo shrine for the war dead seen by Beijing as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.
Kyodo news agency quoted Wu as saying: "I have some domestic business," while officials in Beijing had no immediate comment.
Koizumi said he did not know why Wu had to leave early.
"It would have been a good opportunity since the meeting was proposed by them," Koizumi told reporters.
"I would meet them anytime if they want to meet," he said. "If they don't want to meet, there is no need to."
Other Japanese officials said they wanted to keep the cancellation from hurting bilateral ties.
"I want to improve and further develop Japan-China ties ... I want to avoid this from having an effect," Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi told a news conference.
A foreign ministry spokesman said the cancellation did not appear to be related to Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni shrine.
"The Chinese side made it very specific that it has nothing to do with Yasukuni," spokesman Akira Chiba said.
UNSATISFACTORY TIES
Koizumi last visited Yasukuni, where convicted war criminals are honored along with Japan's 2.5 million war dead, in January 2004. He has repeatedly defended the visits as intended to honor Japan's war dead and pray for peace, and said last week he would make an "appropriate decision" on when to go again.
Anti-Japan protests erupted in China last month, triggered by Tokyo's approval of school textbooks that critics say whitewash its 1931-45 invasion and partial occupation of China and by its bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
A senior official of Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party played down the significance of the cancellation but also said that some Japanese may regard it as a discourtesy.
"If it is due to urgent business it can't be helped, but many people in Japan may feel it is rude," Shinzo Abe was quoted as saying by Kyodo news agency.
Wu has handled crises ranging from foreign trade spats to public health issues, having taken over as health minister in 2003 after her predecessor was sacked for his handling of the SARS virus.
Though she recently relinquished the health portfolio, as a vice premier and member of the 24-member Politburo, Wu, a former oil executive, oversees foreign trade.
In a speech on Monday morning, in which she also reiterated China's commitment to reforming its yuan currency, Wu emphasized the need for Japan and China to improve ties.
"Currently the relationship between the two countries is not satisfactory or benign," she said through an interpreter.
"The maintenance of such a situation will not serve the interests of the two countries. We must change the trend as quickly as possible," Wu said.
"China is praying for friendship between the two countries."
Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao pulled ties back from the brink last month after a rare public apology by Koizumi for suffering caused by Japan's past military aggression.
But tensions persist, putting at risk the growing economic ties between the two countries that generated nearly $170 billion worth of trade in 2004.
On Sunday, Chinese President Hu Jintao criticized Japan's handling of its war history and its policy toward Taiwan, saying that Sino-Japanese ties could be damaged "in an instant," Japanese media reported.
Hu made the remarks at a meeting in Beijing with Tsutomu Takebe, secretary general of the LDP, and Takebe's counterpart in the LDP's junior coalition partner.
(Additional reporting by Linda Sieg, Shinichi Kishima and George Nishiyama)
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