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Submitted by ctv_en_6 on Wed, 05/31/2006 - 12:00
On the sidelines of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue meetings in Doha, Qatar, the foreign ministers of Japan, China and the Republic of Korea (RoK) met with each other to discuss measures to resolve disputes between Japan and its two North East Asian neighbouring countries.

Despites great efforts, they failed to achieve positive results as there were still certain disputes, particularly over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to the Yasukuni Shrine.


These ministerial meetings were of special significance in the face of growing tensions between Japan and two North East Asian countries – China and the RoK.


This was the first official meeting between Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing in the last year since Mr Aso took his minister post. This was also the first official meeting between the two foreign ministers of Japan and the RoK to open up the possibility of resuming bilateral negotiations on sea disputes between the two sides after six years of interruption.


At the meeting, the foreign ministers of China and Japan agreed that the two countries will strengthen strategic dialogues and work together to remove political obstacles to their relations. They also maintained that Beijing and Tokyo should "deepen" economic and trade cooperation and continue to conduct security dialogues, as well as military-to-military exchanges to increase mutual trust.


After meeting for one and a half hour, the foreign ministers of Japan and the RoK agreed to conduct dialogues on the disputed Takeshima islets, which the RoK calls Tokto in mid June. Mr Aso said that Japan's plans to conduct a marine survey near the isles in April only made bilateral relations between the two countries temporarily tense and expressed hope that the two countries would develop comprehensive relations towards the future. Responding to Mr Aso’s call, RoK Foreign Minster Ban Ki Mun said he also hoped that the two sides would quickly resolve all difficulties and develop cooperation relations to a certain extent.


However, the disputes over historical concepts, particularly over the visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, continued to put a damper on the two ministerial meetings between Japan and China and between Japan and Korea.


Despite strong objections from China and the Republic of Korea, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso tried to defend Japan’s idea of visiting the shrine. He said that the visits were conducted for personal purposes and criticised the combining of a personal religion with political affairs. Mr Aso, one of nominees for the post of Prime Minister, even stated that he would consider visiting the Yasukuni Shrine.


As such, the disputes over visits to the Yasukuni Shrine have remained a major stumbling block to the development of Japan-China and Japan-Korea relations. The shrine honours 2.5 million Japanese soldiers who fought in World War II and is considered a symbol of Japanese militarism by both China and the RoK.


Since becoming Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Koizumi has paid five official visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. Recently, he even said that he would visit the shrine on August 15, known as the date of Japan’s surrender in World War II.


The disputes over visits to the Yasukuni Shrine have not only damaged political relations, but also negatively impacted on economic relations between Japan and China and Korea. Chairman of the Japanese Association of Corporate Excutives Keizai Doyukai recently called on Prime Minister Koizumi to stop visiting the shrine, saying that his action would not benefit the sun-rise country.

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