SINGAPORE: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called yesterday for a leaders’ summit or a foreign ministers’ meeting between his country and China as soon as possible, drawing a cool reaction from Beijing which accused Japan of lacking sincerity.
Sino-Japanese ties, often fragile, have been seriously strained since September when a territorial row over tiny islands in the East China Sea flared. Concerns that the conservative Japanese leader wants to recast Japan’s wartime history with a less apologetic tone have added to the tensions. China’s Foreign Ministry said its door was always open for talks, but that the problem lay in Japan’s attitude.
“The crux of the matter at present is Japan’s unwillingness to face up to the serious problems which exist in Sino-Japan relations and it is avoiding having earnest talks and consultations with China,” the ministry said in a faxed statement.
Japan, it said, should “stop using empty slogans about so-called dialogue to gloss over disagreements”.
Earlier yesterday, the defence ministry in Tokyo issued a policy report repeating Japanese concerns about China’s military build-up and its activities near the islands. In his remarks, Abe also said that ties between Asia’s two biggest economies were vital.
Attention has been focused on how he would now deal with thorny problems such as frayed ties with China and South Korea and how he would flesh out plans to revive Japan’s stagnant economy.
REUTERS
