LEAD: Koizumi wants Chinese to stop booing Japan at Asian Cup

0 Comments | Asian Political News, August 9, 2004

TOKYO, Aug. 3 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH COMMENTS BY KOIZUMI, HOSODA)

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday urged Chinese people not to let political issues affect the Asian Cup, currently being held in China, as ruling lawmakers seek an official protest over the booing of the Japanese soccer team and its fans there.

''Political feelings should not be brought into sport events,'' Koizumi told reporters at his office.

Koizumi played down the idea that his visits to Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni Shrine are the main reason for the feelings of resentment expressed by Chinese spectators at the matches, saying, ''I don't think that is the only reason.''

''Sport events are festivals of friendship, so I want them to welcome Japanese players and other foreign players,'' he said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda called on China to look into the causes with Japan, before further hurt is done to the feelings of both peoples.

''Unless we both pay attention to this, it will be difficult to improve public sentiments once they have been damaged,'' he said. ''I think both countries should examine (the causes) and give consideration (to the issue).''

Earlier in the day, senior lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party met and urged the government to protest to China over the booing at all four of Japan's matches played in Chongqing.

Chinese spectators jeered the Japanese national anthem, booed Japanese players and fans, and even threw things at them -- behavior many believe is rooted in feelings of resentment toward Japan for its wartime aggression in China.

LDP Deputy Secretary General Mineichi Iwanaga expressed concern over anti-Japanese sentiment in China and questioned whether the Olympic Games can really be held in Beijing in 2008.

''The government should protest firmly,'' said Toshio Kojima, also a deputy secretary general, while Kyoko Nishikawa, director of the party's Women's Affairs Division, said the booing was ''the result of anti-Japanese education in China.''

LDP Secretary General Shinzo Abe said he would respond to the issue after discussions with officials at the Prime Minister's Office. Abe conveyed the party's opinions to Hosoda by phone on Tuesday, party members said.

Chongqing, which was the provisional capital of the government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, was hit by Japanese air raids during World War II.