Japan, China eye vice foreign ministerial talks from Sept. 22

TOKYO, Sept. 13 Kyodo

Japan and China are making final arrangements for holding bilateral vice foreign ministerial talks for two days from Sept. 22 to discuss issues such as resuming summit talks, Japanese government sources said Wednesday.

The meeting, if realized, is to be attended by Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi and Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, they said.

The main topic is expected to be realizing a summit between Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, who is thought likely to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in late September, and Chinese President Hu Jintao, the sources said.

China has refused to hold a summit with Koizumi over the Japanese premier's repeated visits to war-linked Yasukuni Shrine.

Abe meanwhile has shown his willingness to hold a summit possibly before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meeting in mid-November in Hanoi.

Issues to be discussed during the meeting will also include disputes over gas exploration in the East China Sea and resumption of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programs, they said.

The vice foreign ministerial meeting will be the first session under the bilateral Comprehensive Policy Dialogue framework between the two countries in about four months. The dialogue is designed to discuss bilateral and regional concerns.

Abe is expected to win in the Sept. 20 election to pick the successor to Koizumi as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and hence as Japan's premier in an election at the Diet late this month.

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