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China, Japan ties strained over islands at summit

29 October 2010 18:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. China criticized Japan on Friday for raising the issue of disputed islands at an Asian summit, apparently setting back efforts by Asia’s two biggest economies to get relations back on track, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Ties between China and Japan deteriorated last month with the detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain by the Japanese coast guard after their boats collided near disputed, resource-rich islands in the East China Sea.
The two sides had taken steps to mend ties and speculation swirled over whether Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao would hold a one-on-one meeting at the Asia-Pacific summit in Hanoi.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry said they were due to meet on Friday evening but a Chinese official later said that was untrue.
"Their actions have damaged the atmosphere," Chinese Foreign Ministry official Hu Zhengyue told reporters in Hanoi, referring to Japan’s raising of the Diaoyu islands.
Japan calls the islands the Senkakus.
"They are responsible for everything," Hu said, adding Japan had released untrue information about the bilateral meeting.
Wen and Kan appeared stiff and avoided eye contact when they lined up for photographs with other leaders.
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara had earlier told reporters an hour-long meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, on the sidelines of the summit was held in a "very good atmosphere, in a calm and in a forward-looking manner."
The flareup over the disputed islands is the latest in a string of rows to strain ties between the neighbors.
A Japanese Foreign Ministry official said both foreign ministers had repeated their claims to the uninhabited isles.
Both governments have to heed public opinion in their countries where age-old suspicion runs deep, partly from Japan’s wartime occupation of parts of China. Protests against Japan broke out in two inland Chinese cities in recent days.
In Japan, Kyodo news agency reported that suspicious containers of red liquid were sent to the Chinese embassy and consulates. At least one of them turned out to be harmless.
RARE EARTHS
In Hanoi, Maehara also said he expressed Japan’s concern about China’s policy on rare earths, and that Yang assured him China would not use the minerals as bargaining tools.
In Hanoi, Maehara also said he expressed Japan’s concern about China’s policy on rare earths, and that Yang assured him China would not use the minerals as bargaining tools.
Chinese restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals, vital for the manufacture of high-tech goods and over which China has a near-monopoly on global production, have alarmed Japan and other countries around the world.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who arrived in Hanoi late on Friday and will join the summit of 16 Asian countries on Saturday, earlier called for China to ensure the rare earth trade would continue unabated.
A Japanese official quoted Wen as saying China wanted to continue providing rare earth minerals to the world, and to do so in a sustainable way that would not violate World Trade Organization rules.
"Premier Wen commented that China has seen over-development for a long time and that China wants to continue providing rare earth to the world," the official said.
The rift between China and Japan is one of several disputes casting a shadow on efforts to boost economic cooperation in a region, increasingly seen as the world’s engine of growth.
China also has disputes with several neighbors over boundaries in the South China Sea, an area key for international shipping and possibly rich in oil and gas.
Global currency troubles are not officially on the agenda but the issue has come up on the sidelines with leaders of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) wary about being caught up in a currency war between China and the United States.
A main challenge for some Asian economies is to manage robust capital inflows that have supported recovery from a short recession during the global crisis, but pose a risk by strengthening currencies and undermining export competitiveness.
"Our concern, as a small country, is when the pendulum swings the other way, what is going to happen," Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima told reporters.