Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowed in a speech to
the parliament yesterday to forge ahead to mend fences with China
and South Korea.
Japan's ties with both countries have chilled markedly since
Koizumi took office in 2001 and began annual visits to the Yasukuni
Shrine where 14 WWII Class-A war criminals are honored along with
some 2 million other war dead.
"Although there are differences of opinion and confrontations
over some issues, China and South Korea are our important neighbors
and we will ... build future-oriented relations based on mutual
understanding and trust," Koizumi said in a keynote address to a
new session of the parliament, which began on Friday.
Koizumi made no mention in his speech of his pilgrimages to the
notorious shrine.
Foreign Minister Taro Aso echoed the prime minister's views in a
separate speech to the parliament yesterday. "Developing
Sino-Japanese relations is one of our country's basic foreign
policies," Aso said.
Koizumi has sent conflicting messages since the end of last
year, said Jin Xide, a senior analyst on Sino-Japanese ties.
Jin said Koizumi's latest remarks would be convincing only when
he stops visiting the shrine.
"Koizumi wants to improve relations with Beijing and Seoul on
the base of the two countries' tacit consent on his shrine visits,
which is definitely unacceptable," Jin said.
He emphasized that the key factor to mending bilateral ties is
the Japanese government's facing up to its history of aggression.
"The shrine visits undermine the political foundation of
Sino-Japanese relations," he said.
Jin asked the Japanese leaders to convert their oral commitments
to actions so that a breakthrough is possible in the stalemated
relationship.
(China Daily January 21, 2006)