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2 Chinese premier's 'ice-melting'
Japan visit By Hisane Masaki
TOKYO - Flowers bloom in spring after the
melting of snow and ice. And so, maybe, will
relations between Tokyo and Beijing after Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao's "ice-melting" journey to
Japan.
Amid a thaw in relations between
the two Asian neighbors, the Chinese premier is in
Japan on a three-day visit ending on Friday.
Before becoming the first top-level Chinese leader
to step on Japanese soil in nearly seven years,
Wen expressed hope for a successful visit by
making it an "ice-melting" trip, following
Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe's "ice-breaking" visit to Beijing last
October that helped repair several years of
strained ties.
Abe hosted a welcoming
ceremony for Wen in the garden of his official
residence in Tokyo despite a drizzle. The prime
minister described Wen's arrival as "a bright ray
of sunshine through the clouds". He also praised
Wen's visit as "a big step forward" toward
fostering "strategic, mutually beneficial
relations". Wen replied that his trip "will lead
to significant achievements that reflects both
sides' desires".
The two leaders agreed to
boost cooperation and build "strategic, mutually
beneficial relations" in economic, energy,
environment and other areas. After their talks,
they issued a joint press statement pledging to
boost cooperation, promote high-level economic,
political and defense dialogue and to continue to
seek denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
As a specific vehicle to promote
high-level economic dialogue, the two leaders
agreed to launch a ministerial-level forum to
discuss a wide range of issues from trade and
investment to finance, energy, and intellectual
property. The forum's inaugural meeting was held
on Thursday, chaired jointly by Abe and Wen.
The bilateral dispute over natural-gas
reserves in the East China Sea figured prominently
in their discussions, and the two premiers
reaffirmed the need to accelerate negotiations on
a possible joint development project.
At
issue are Chinese natural-gas projects in the
waters near the so-called median line, which was
drawn by Japan but has not been recognized by
China. The line is meant to separate the two
countries' overlapping 200-nautical-mile exclusive
economic zones. China argues that the entire East
China Sea continental shelf, extending eastward
nearly all the way to the southernmost inhabited
Japanese island of Okinawa, is a "natural
prolongation" of the Chinese mainland.
In
the past seven rounds of cabinet-level talks, the
two countries have agreed to develop gas reserves
jointly in the disputed waters. But they remain
far apart over specifics, especially the areas to
be jointly developed. Abe called for implementing
the joint development project in a "relatively
extensive area that is acceptable to both sides",
and he asked Wen to exercise his leadership so
that the matter can be resolved by the next time
they meet.
According to the joint press
statement, the two leaders agreed to hold the next
round of talks on the gas dispute in May and
instructed their negotiators to report back to
them on specific methods for joint development by
this autumn.
Abe conveyed his intention to
visit China again by the end of this year, as
requested by Wen. Abe also extended an invitation
for Chinese President Hu Jintao to visit Japan
early next year. Both sides share a desire to keep
up the pace of top-level contacts this year and
beyond. This year marks the 35th anniversary of
bilateral diplomatic relations being normalized in
1972, and next year marks the 30th anniversary of
the 1978 bilateral peace and friendship treaty.
On Wednesday, Japanese and Chinese
officials also agreed on other steps to foster the
two countries' improved relations, including a
lifting of China's four-year ban on Japanese rice
imports, the opening of regular chartered flight
services between Tokyo's Haneda Airport and
Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport, and medical
cooperation, especially in measures to combat
influenza and cancer. They also agreed to
conclude, by the end of this year, a mutual
legal-assistance treaty to facilitate cooperation
in criminal investigations.
The joint
statement on energy calls for increased Japanese
cooperation in promoting energy-saving in China
using Japanese technology. It also reaffirms
cooperation in the construction of nuclear power
plants. Furthermore, the two countries agreed to
work on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on
curbing global warming, which expires in 2012.
China has set a goal of improving its
energy efficiency by 20% by 2010 in its current
five-year plan for economic and social
development. Japan's increased assistance for
China in this area will benefit both because it
helps China correct its tendency to waste
resources and possibly dull its avid appetite for
oil and gas reserves in the East China Sea and
elsewhere.
On Thursday, Wen addressed the
Diet, Japan's parliament, becoming the first
Chinese premier to do so. In his speech, Wen
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