China says immediate consulate dispute solved

Asian Political News, May 27, 2002

BEIJING, May 23 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING WITH VICE PREMIER'S REMARKS)

China and Japan have achieved a ''preliminary solution'' to their diplomatic row over five North Korean asylum seekers seized by Chinese police at a Japanese consulate earlier this month, Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen said Thursday.

Qian also indicated he does not want to see the incident cast a long-lasting pall on Beijing's ties with Tokyo, telling a Sino-Japanese friendship forum in Beijing it was only a ''minor aspect of Japan-China relations.''

The former foreign minister also warned of the potential difficulties involved in trying to deal with large groups of North Koreans seeking asylum at other nations' diplomatic missions in China.

''It is possible to have countermeasures for three to five people at a single embassy or consulate, but it would not be possible to deal with 100 to 200 people,'' he said.

Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan indicated China wants to draw a line under the diplomatic tussle, saying there is no need to hold further talks on the matter.

''There is no need for China to hold consultations with other countries. No other country has any right to interfere,'' Kong told a regular news briefing.

He said the problem has been solved ''according to international and national laws in a humanitarian spirit.''

The spokesman also formally recognized their nationality as North Korean.

The five North Koreans arrived in South Korea via the Philippines early Thursday following a two-week standoff between Japan and China over the seizure of the asylum-seekers by Chinese police at Japan's Consulate General in Shenyang, northeastern China, on May 8.

China has consistently denied Japan's charge that the police entered the consulate without consulate officials' permission.

Kong also called on Japan to approach the problem calmly and objectively, while indicating that China has shown reserve in handling the issue to avoid a major diplomatic falling-out with Japan.

''I want to emphasize that in handling this situation, China has consistently adopted a calm, objective and responsible attitude, while placing importance on overall Sino-Japanese ties,'' he said.

''We hope Japan can also adopt the same attitude in considering this problem and in handling this problem,'' he added.

Footage showing two screaming North Korean women and a small girl being dragged from the consulate by Chinese police raised a political storm in Japan, where it was repeatedly shown on TV news reports.

The other members of the group, two brothers, evaded police and rushed to the visa section inside the Japanese compound, but were removed by Chinese police some 10 minutes later.

While putting pressure on the sometimes awkward ties between China and Japan, the diplomatic fracas has also put Japan's Foreign Ministry officials under the spotlight.

On the same day as the failed attempt by the five to seek asylum in the Japanese consulate, two other North Korean asylum-seekers successfully entered the U.S. consulate by scaling a wall. They were later flown to South Korea via Singapore.

When North Koreans are discovered in China after crossing over the countries' porous border, it is standard practice for Chinese authorities to forcibly repatriate them to face uncertain futures in their impoverished country.