- Title: Japanese Emperor and Empress meet Vietnamese widows of WWII soldiers
- Date: 2nd March 2017
- Summary: HANOI, VIETNAM (MARCH 2, 2017) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ROYAL COUPLE MEETING WITH FORMER EXCHANGE STUDENTS
- Embargoed: 16th March 2017 08:42
- Keywords: Hanoi Japanese Emperor Akihito Vietnam visit
- Location: HANOI, VIETNAM
- City: HANOI, VIETNAM
- Country: Vietnam
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Royals
- Reuters ID: LVA004669NHAD
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Japanese Emperor Akihito and his wife, Empress Michiko met the surviving widows of Japanese veterans who fought in Vietnam during World War Two on Thursday (March 2).
Japan occupied Vietnam from 1940 to 1945.
When World War II ended, rather than return home, some 600 former soldiers stayed and was recruited by late revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh to bring military expertise to fight the French.
Some of those who married Japanese soldiers saw their husbands go home in 1954. They were not allowed to take families.
Since the end of the Cold War, the relationship between Vietnam and Japan has improved.
Japan has been Vietnam's biggest aid donor over four decades, Vietnam's investment promotion agency says. For private investment, it ranks second to South Korea.
"We cannot change the past. We cannot change history. There was a darker time in our relationships, but after hundreds of years, trade and cultural relationships between Japan and Vietnam were formed and built. In recent years, Japan and Vietnam have shared the same goal, which is peace, cooperation and prosperity, without any conflict in interests. The two country have every condition to be each other's strategic partner," said Nghiem Vu Khai, a former exchange student in Japan and the chairman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Association.
Both Vietnam and Japan have maritime territorial disputes with China and fear its growing regional weight. Both also back the Trans Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, whose future is in doubt after the U.S.'s withdrawal.
Although Akihito has no political power, his overseas trips often have diplomatic overtones.
His first visit to Vietnam follows one in January by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who promised Vietnam six new coastguard patrol vessels, among other things.
Akihito is scheduled to meet Vietnam's General Secretary of the Communist party Nguyen Phu Trong on Friday (March 3). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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