Japanese FM 'may visit' Beijing soon

By Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-14 09:40

Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone is likely to visit Beijing later this month and will have the escalating dispute over the Diaoyu Islands high on his agenda, the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency reported on Thursday.

The report quoted sources close to China's Foreign Ministry as saying Nakasone will meet with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in Beijing in the final 10 days of the month.

They are likely to discuss issues such as the Diaoyu Islands, the impasse on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, and Northeast Asian security and cooperation in the financial crisis, it said.

The Foreign Ministry did not confirm the report on Friday. However, if Nakasone is to visit, it is likely to be after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to China, which is scheduled for Feb 20-22 and will be her first overseas trip since assuming office.

On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry lodged a protest with the Japanese embassy in Beijing in response to Japanese media reports that Japan's Coast Guard anchored patrol vessels carrying helicopters on Feb 1 in waters off the Diaoyu Islands, a group of five, small non-volcanic islands that lie between Taiwan and Okinawa.

China will have no option but to "react strongly" if Japan intensifies its provocative actions over China's Diaoyu islands, the head of the ministry's Asian affairs department said in the protest, according to the ministry's website.

According to the Kyodo News Agency, Japan's Coast Guard has declined to confirm the reports of the deployment in the waters of Diaoyu Islands.

Cai Jianguo, director of the Center for Asia Pacific studies at Shanghai's Tongji Univeristy, said "Japan's naval deployment is designed to divert domestic criticism of Prime Minister Taro Aso", whose support rate has dropped below 20 percent.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month, Aso brought up the concept of an "Arc of Freedom and Prosperity", which has drawn strong criticism from Chinese experts, Cai said.

On Feb 2, Aso said at the Senate he will "watch conditions to decide whether to visit the Yasukuni Shrine", which honors Japan's Class-A war criminals of World War II.

"Presenting a tough stance on these three issues almost simultaneously is no coincidence," Cai said. "Aso is seeking strength from tough diplomatic policies to change his unfavorable situation."

Zhu Feng, a professor on East Asian studies at Peking University, said Japan's latest "provocative moves" will add to the risk of military conflict in the area.