Video of Chinese boat collisions to be handed to Diet Wed. or Thurs.+

TOKYO, Oct. 26 Kyodo -
Video footage of collisions between a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol boats
near a chain of disputed islets in September is expected to be submitted by the
government to a Diet committee on Wednesday or Thursday, a ruling party
lawmaker said Tuesday.
Masaharu Nakagawa, a Democratic Party of Japan legislator who serves on the
executive board of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, raised the
issue when he met with Tsutomu Takebe, also a member of the board from the
opposition Liberal Democratic Party.
The committee decided earlier this month to demand that prosecutors submit the
video footage, which is said to prove that the Chinese boat was responsible for
the Sept. 7 collisions near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
The government and the ruling party are considering allowing only a limited
number of lawmakers to see the footage out of concern that Japan-China ties
could further deteriorate, while many opposition lawmakers say it must be
disclosed in full scale.
The Diet board will discuss when and to whom it should be released.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku expressed hope Tuesday that the release
would not take place around when Prime Minister Naoto Kan is expected to meet
with Chinese leaders in coming weeks during a series of international
gatherings.
''The Diet is also a group of politicians and I hope it makes a judgment while
bearing in mind the political significance of the timing,'' he said at a news
conference, when asked whether he thinks the release should take place after
Kan attends Asian summits later this week in Hanoi and the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation forum summit in Yokohama in mid-November.
The islets are administered by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan. The
planned move could further complicate diplomatic ties between Japan and China
that have been strained since the collisions off the islets, known as the
Diaoyu in China and the Tiaoyutai in Taiwan.
Meanwhile the same day, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Kan issued a position
paper that says no agreement exists between Japan and China to shelve the
territorial issue over the islands as proposed by the late Chinese leader Deng
Xiaoping (1904-1997).
The government issued the document in response to an inquiry from Katsuyuki
Kawai, a Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives.
In 1972 when then Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka visited China and
restored ties between the two countries, then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai told
Tanaka he would ''not take up (the territorial issue) this time,'' the position
paper says.
Zhou (1898-1976) told Tanaka (1918-1993) it became an issue because it came to
light that the area was thought to be rich in offshore oil deposits.
Zhou also told Tanaka that neither Taiwan nor the United States would show
interest in the Senkaku Islands if there were no oil reserves there, the
document says.
Last week, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Japan had never agreed
to Deng's proposal to shelve the issue and leave it to the next generation.
Maehara, who spoke at last Thursday's lower house security committee session,
said Japan will never accept such a proposal if China puts it forth again.
Deng, who was China's de facto top leader from the late 1970s to early 1980s,
visited Japan in 1978 when Japan and China concluded a peace and friendship
pact. While he was in Japan at that time, Deng proposed leaving the settlement
of the issue to the next generation.
The Senkaku Islands are a group of uninhabited islets located in the East China
Sea between Okinawa and Taiwan. They are part of the city of Ishigaki in
Japan's Okinawa Prefecture.
China and Taiwan placed claims on the islands after offshore resources around
the islands came to light in the early 1970s, according to the Japanese
government.
In 1992, China incorporated the islands as its territory in its territorial
waters law.
==Kyodo
2010-10-26 23:19:42