Ozawa meets Hu, vows to win majority in upper house poll

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BEIJING, Dec. 10 Kyodo -
Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, met
with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on Thursday and voiced his
determination to win the House of Councillors election next summer.
''The fight to liberate our country has not yet finished. We have a final
battle next summer,'' Ozawa said, characterizing himself as the ''chief
commander'' in his party's fight to win a majority in the upper chamber.
Ozawa is on a two-day visit to Beijing through Friday accompanied by more than
600 people, including around 140 DPJ lawmakers and about 400 DPJ supporters.
The trip is part of regular exchanges between the DPJ and the Chinese Communist
Party, whose general secretary is Hu.
''We are preparing for the battle in July, recruiting soldiers, training them
and aiming for victory,'' Ozawa was quoted as telling Hu by a DPJ lawmaker.
''I would like to do my best as the chief commander up until the end of 'the
liberation war','' Ozawa said. ''By winning a majority in the House of
Councillors, we (the DPJ) can build the ground to hold frank, candid and bold
discussions with China and deepen bilateral relations.''
The DPJ scored a landslide victory against the long-governed Liberal Democratic
Party in the House of Representatives election in August, giving it a
comfortable majority in the lower house.
In the upper chamber, however, the DPJ only has a majority with the help of its
two coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party.
During the 30-minute meeting, Ozawa and Hu agreed to boost relations between
the DPJ and the Chinese Communist Party and to further promote friendly
bilateral ties through exchanges of lawmakers.
Ozawa said the talks ''will lead to the development of a friendly relationship
between the two countries,'' while Hu described Ozawa as an old friend of China
who has contributed a lot to bilateral ties.
Hu told Ozawa that his three meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio
Hatoyama since the launch of the DPJ-led government in September have helped
upgrade the two nations' strategic and mutually beneficial relations, according
to DPJ lawmaker Goshi Hosono.
Ozawa and Hu did not discuss political and economic issues such as the safety
of Chinese-produced food or a bilateral dispute over gas field development in
the East China Sea, Hosono told reporters.
In a separate meeting, Ozawa and Lu Hao, first secretary of the Communist Youth
League of China, agreed to boost exchanges between young people of the two
countries.
Ozawa is scheduled to travel to Seoul on Friday. He plans to meet with South
Korean President Lee Myung Bak over dinner on Saturday before returning to
Japan on Sunday.
==Kyodo
2009-12-10 23:10:41