Kan, Wen speak informally, regret canceled summit

HANOI, Oct. 30 (Kyodo) - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met briefly on
Saturday and expressed regret that they were unable to hold a bilateral summit
in Hanoi on the sidelines of East Asia Summit meetings, a senior Japanese
official said.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama told reporters that Kan and Wen
had an informal meeting for about 10 minutes while in a waiting room for EAS
leaders before the summit began in the morning. The two leaders' brief
conversation was not planned and came naturally.
Fukuyama said both leaders ''shared the view that it was extremely
regrettable'' that summit talks were not held, and agreed to ''create an
opportunity'' to sit down and talk hereafter.
The two leaders also underscored the importance of private sector exchanges and affirmed their continued efforts to achieve strategic, mutually beneficial relations, the Japanese official said.
Kan and Wen last had an informal talk in Brussels on Oct. 4 on the fringes of an Asia-Europe summit, and their official bilateral talks were supposed to be set for Friday until China canceled them at the last minute.