Japan Warns China of ‘Implications’

TOKYO —  Japan, breaking out of its cautious stance over unrest in China, said Tuesday that the Beijing government should be “fully cognizant of the international implications” of the army crackdown on the pro-democracy movement.

Kazutoshi Hasegawa, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian Affairs Bureau, told Parliament, “We haven’t determined the exact death toll, but according to a Chinese Red Cross source, as a result of the Chinese government action on June 4, about 2,600 people died.”

“The fact was that many people were killed and those killings were verified by the staff members of the (Japanese) Embassy,” said chief Foreign Ministry spokesman Tazio Watanabe.

“It is our hope that the Chinese government will be fully cognizant of the international implications of the developments . . . and of its own status in international society,” Watanabe told foreign correspondents.