Diplomats Move to Thaw China-Japan Ties

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing refused again to apologize to Tokyo for protests in China last month that damaged Japanese diplomatic compounds and businesses.

However, Li and his Japanese counterpart, Nobutaka Machimura, acknowledged there had been “some improvement” in rocky relations between the two, agreeing that the region’s stability depended upon their mending ties, Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima said.

The two ministers, speaking Saturday on the sidelines of a two-day Asia-Europe meeting in Kyoto, Japan, also agreed to pursue discussions on how to compensate Japan for the damage, Takashima said.

“To some extent there was no agreement and to some extent there was, I would say, a certain improvement in the situation,” he said.

Relations sank to the lowest level in decades after violent anti-Japan protests erupted last month in several Chinese cities over Tokyo’s depiction of its wartime past and its push for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat.

It was the second time that Machimura had sought an official apology for the demonstrations as well as compensation for damage done by rioters. Li rebuffed a similar demand last month.

Despite surging trade between Asia’s two largest economies, differences over interpretations of World War II and a tussle for influence in the region have cooled political relations.

The two governments have feuded over the ownership of islands, gas exploration rights and the division of exclusive economic zones in the East China Sea.

Machimura and Li agreed to resume talks this month on those issues, including the possibility of jointly exploring natural gas resources.

They also agreed to set up a joint panel to study history, to iron out differences underlying Chinese accusations that Japan regularly whitewashes its wartime past. Both sides will name members to the panel by the end of the year, Takashima said.

Other thorny issues remained.

Li reiterated Beijing’s displeasure with the Japanese prime minister’s annual visits to a Tokyo shrine to soldiers that critics say glorifies Japan’s militarist past.

Li also criticized Tokyo’s stance that Beijing should refrain from invading Taiwan. The self-ruled island cut ties with mainland China in 1949, but Beijing still claims it as its territory.

Nevertheless, the two sides appeared increasingly willing to work out their differences as they face a more pressing concern: news that North Korea may be preparing to test a nuclear weapon.

Earlier, the two diplomats and their South Korean counterpart agreed to redouble their efforts to restart six-nation talks aimed at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Both U.S. and Japanese officials said Friday that they had information that might indicate North Korea was preparing to test a nuclear bomb. The communist nation spiked tensions earlier this week by test-firing a short-range missile toward Japan.

Those worries cast a shadow over the Asia-Europe gathering.

As the forum closed Saturday, the nations agreed that regional peace and stability hinges on resolving the North Korea nuclear crisis and called for an immediate, unconditional resumption of the six-party talks among the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas.