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Chinese, South Korean Envoys File Protest With Japanese Foreign Minister

Posted on: Monday, 17 October 2005, 09:00 CDT

Excerpt from report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Tokyo, 17 October: The top Chinese and South Korean envoys to Japan filed a formal protest Monday [17 October] with Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura against Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in the morning.

Chinese Ambassador Wang Yi and South Korean Ambassador Ra Jong- yil told reporters after their respective meetings with Machimura that they lodged a "strong protest" against the visit.

Wang told reporters, "There is no doubt that (the visit) will damage Japan-China relations," although he said he did not discuss with Machimura the foreign minister's scheduled visit to China at the weekend.

Ra separately told reporters, "It will certainly do great damage to relations, not only between South Korea and Japan, but also to general international relations in this region."

He was referring to the visit's impact on future bilateral ties, including the planned summit between Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in December.

Machimura meanwhile sought to downplay the impact of Koizumi's shrine visit on his own scheduled trip to China or the Koizumi-Roh talks.

"I think it is good for foreign ministers (of both nations) to have frank discussions especially at a time like this," Machimura said, adding there are no plans for him to change his schedule for visiting China.

He also said China has not informed Japan of any change in schedule.

Machimura has said he is considering visiting China at the weekend for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, mainly to discuss ways to improve bilateral relations.

In Beijing, however, a Japanese diplomatic source said that China and Japan have cancelled talks between their foreign ministers following Koizumi's visit to the shrine. [passage omitted]

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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