• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Japan-China caught in spotlight at East Asia talks

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 December 2005, 00:29 CST

By Ben Blanchard and George Nishiyama

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A long-standing feud between Japan and China caught the spotlight on Tuesday on the eve of the first East Asian summit, rekindling concerns that the bad blood could thwart progress of the new grouping.

Japan and China, along with South Korea and 10 Southeast Asian nations, are due to meet India, Australia and New Zealand on Wednesday and plot the direction of a grouping that some say could sow the seeds of a pan-Asian free-trade bloc.

But Asia's two biggest economies are bickering over their wartime past and despite hopes from the rest of the region that the row would not surface in the run-up to the summit, it stumbled onto center stage after a chance encounter on Monday.

"I cannot understand why we cannot hold a leaders' meeting because of a single issue," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters in the Malaysian capital, referring to the failure here to convene separate bilateral talks with China.

He also defended his visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine which honours some convicted war criminals along with Japan's 2.5 million war dead -- the heart of the dispute between Japan and China, and also between Japan and South Korea.

"I go there not to glorify the war, but to repent it, to vow never again to wage war and also pay respects for the war dead," Koizumi said. "They will understand as time goes by," he added.

The issue surfaced after Koizumi and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had encountered each other, along with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, in a waiting room before lunch, but what exactly took place became mired in conflicting reports.

Initially, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters Wen and Roh had urged Koizumi to "take the right approach" toward history -- a reference to the shrine visits.

The Chinese spokesman's comment sparked a sharp denial from Japan, which said Koizumi had never been told this in what it called a brief but friendly chat.

FRIENDLY OR FRIGID?

On Tuesday, Liu clarified his remarks, saying the call by Wen and Roh for Tokyo to "take the right approach" had been made rhetorically, not to Koizumi himself, at a bilateral meeting of the Chinese and South Korean leaders on Monday.

"I was referring to talks between Premier Wen and the president of South Korea," Liu said. "They both discussed the issue of trilateral cooperation. The two leaders urged the Japanese leader to take a proper attitude toward historical problems."

Frosty relations between Japan and China form a backdrop to the East Asia summit, which is being convened by the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a way of building more economic bridges with the rest of Asia.

The East Asia grouping represents about half the world's population and a fifth of global trade -- and excludes the world's only superpower, the United States, raising some concern among Washington's Asian allies that China could come to dominate it.

But arguing between Japan and China threatens to weaken the influence of both over the East Asia summit, said K.S. Nathan of Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

ASEAN agreed on Monday to put Japan, China and South Korea alongside it in the driver's seat of the East Asia summit, which is to be held annually alongside the ASEAN summit.

But Japan is viewed as keen for the newcomers -- India, Australia and New Zealand -- to be more than mere passengers on the road to an East Asian community. Together with Tokyo, their involvement could dilute the influence of China.

"To state that ASEAN is in the driver's seat, the passengers have a right to know where they are going," an Indian diplomat told Reuters on Monday night.

On Tuesday, Japan pledged 7.5 billion yen to support moves toward regional integration. Coming on top of a $135 million package announced on Monday to help Asian nations battle bird flu, Japanese officials said the new funds showed Tokyo's commitment and close ties to the rest of the region.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

(Additional reporting by Jalil Hamid and Barani Krishnan)

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category