ID :
93712
Tue, 12/08/2009 - 09:06
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/93712
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Documents show Koizumi avoided talk on Yasukuni with Chinese leaders
TOKYO, Dec. 7 Kyodo - Junichiro Koizumi avoided discussing with top Chinese officials his controversial visit to Yasukuni Shrine during talks in Beijing in 2001 when he was prime minister, according to government documents disclosed upon request by Kyodo News.
The documents on the Oct. 8, 2001 meetings, which the Foreign Ministry released
recently, showed that then Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji
both explained to Koizumi in their respective meetings that his visit to the
Tokyo shrine, which honors the war dead along with war criminals, could hinder
ties between the two countries.
''The top government leader's visit to the shrine can seriously complicate
matters,'' said Jiang, while Zhu said the relationship between Japan and Asia,
including China, ''will not be improved fundamentally'' if Koizumi did not take
the issue seriously.
Koizumi did not respond to the remarks but said during the meetings that he
felt genuinely apologetic toward Chinese people who were victimized by the war,
an attitude some experts say may have led the Chinese officials to believe he
would not visit the shrine again after his first visit on Aug. 13, 2001.
''He should have carefully explained what he intended when he visited Yasukuni,
but he kept it ambiguous,'' said Akio Takahara, professor of modern Chinese
politics at the University of Tokyo graduate school, adding, ''I think the
Chinese side got the impression through the meetings that he would never visit
Yasukuni again, and that was a big misunderstanding.''
Koizumi, who took up the premier's post in April 2001, visited the shrine again
in April 2002, and made further annual visits through 2006, sparking anger
every time from neighboring countries, which see the shrine as a symbol of
Japan's militarist past.
Kyodo News requested the disclosure of the documents under the Access to
Government Information Act.
The same documents were disclosed to a university researcher in October 2008,
according to the Foreign Ministry.
==Kyodo
2009-12-07 23:40:05
The documents on the Oct. 8, 2001 meetings, which the Foreign Ministry released
recently, showed that then Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji
both explained to Koizumi in their respective meetings that his visit to the
Tokyo shrine, which honors the war dead along with war criminals, could hinder
ties between the two countries.
''The top government leader's visit to the shrine can seriously complicate
matters,'' said Jiang, while Zhu said the relationship between Japan and Asia,
including China, ''will not be improved fundamentally'' if Koizumi did not take
the issue seriously.
Koizumi did not respond to the remarks but said during the meetings that he
felt genuinely apologetic toward Chinese people who were victimized by the war,
an attitude some experts say may have led the Chinese officials to believe he
would not visit the shrine again after his first visit on Aug. 13, 2001.
''He should have carefully explained what he intended when he visited Yasukuni,
but he kept it ambiguous,'' said Akio Takahara, professor of modern Chinese
politics at the University of Tokyo graduate school, adding, ''I think the
Chinese side got the impression through the meetings that he would never visit
Yasukuni again, and that was a big misunderstanding.''
Koizumi, who took up the premier's post in April 2001, visited the shrine again
in April 2002, and made further annual visits through 2006, sparking anger
every time from neighboring countries, which see the shrine as a symbol of
Japan's militarist past.
Kyodo News requested the disclosure of the documents under the Access to
Government Information Act.
The same documents were disclosed to a university researcher in October 2008,
according to the Foreign Ministry.
==Kyodo
2009-12-07 23:40:05
