JAPAN: Tokyo stresses claims to disputed islands, but continues to work with Beijing

Record ID: 463649

  • Title: JAPAN: Tokyo stresses claims to disputed islands, but continues to work with Beijing
  • Date: 6th October 2010
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (OCTOBER 05, 2010) (REUTERS) JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER SEIJI MAEHARA DURING NEWS CONFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHERS TAKING PICTURES OF MAEHARA NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER SEIJI MAEHARA SAYING: "The Senkaku islands are inherit Japanese territory; therefore, no territorial disputes exist in the East China sea." JOURNALISTS AT THE NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER SEIJI MAEHARA SAYING: "It is our desire to work and discuss with China ways to prevent such incidents from occurring again in the future. Our door to negotiations are always open." JOURNALISTS AT THE NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER SEIJI MAEHARA SAYING: "As you know, there are many many changes in our region. We see that there are new movements in North Korea to pass on power to a new generation of leaders. We must watch this situation very very carefully. When we look at the East Asian situation, strategically things are changing rapidly including the rise of China. Given this background, it's very important for us now to reconfirm the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance and to strive to strengthen it." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 21st October 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9QBC35TBQK9OAQWMSZPHW5944
  • Story Text: Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said on Tuesday (October 5) Japan will continue to work and discuss with China ways to improve strained ties, despite differences over the disputed islands at the heart of a bitter row.
    "The Senkaku islands are inherit Japanese territory; therefore, no territorial disputes exist in the East China sea," Maehara told a news conference held at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo, Japan.
    "It is our desire to work and discuss with China ways to prevent such incidents from occurring again in the future. Our door to negotiations are always open," he added.
    Sino-Japanese relations took a dive after Japan's Coast Guard detained the skipper whose boat collided with two Japanese patrol ships near the disputed but uninhabited islands in the East China sea.
    The islands are claimed by both countries and are near potentially huge oil and gas reserves.
    The Japanese foreign minister also expressed the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance especially in times of rapidly changing regional geopolitics.
    "As you know, there are many many changes in our region. We see that there are new movements in North Korea to pass on power to a new generation of leaders. We must watch this situation very very carefully," said Maehara.
    "When we look at the East-Asian situation, strategically things are changing rapidly including the rise of China. Given this background, it's very important for us now to reconfirm the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance and to strive to strengthen it," he said adding the importance of future joint-military exercises with the United States at sea.
    On Monday (October 4), the prime ministers of Japan and China met for the first time since the feud over the boat collision soured ties last month, and agreed to start high-level talks to repair relations.
    Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao met for 25 minutes in Brussels on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe summit.
    Kan, under heavy domestic fire for appearing to cave into Chinese demands in the row, did not say who would take part in the talks or when they would be held.
    Wen told Kan the islands -- called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China -- belonged to China but also said the two Asian giants must deepen their ties for the benefit of the people of the two countries, China's state media Xinhua said.
    The Brussels meeting may have sought to improve ties before Chinese President Hu Jintao's planned attendance in November at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be hosted by Japan in the port city of Yokohama, a Japanese source said.
    Analysts said, however, that it would not be easy to repair relations long plagued by China's bitter memories of Japan's wartime aggression and present rivalry over resources as well as mutual military suspicions.
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