2ND LD: China's Wang says N. Korea positive about 6-way talks

Japan Policy & Politics, Feb 17, 2004

BEIJING, Feb. 10 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING WITH ADDITIONAL INFO)

North Korea is likely to attend the upcoming six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program with a positive attitude, Wang Jiarui, head of the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party, said Tuesday in a meeting with the head of Japan's New Komeito party.

Wang, who visited North Korean leader Kim Jong Il last month, also said the chances are high that Japan and North Korea will hold bilateral talks during the second round of the six-way talks slated to start Feb. 25 in Beijing, New Komeito party officials said.

During a meeting with Takenori Kanzaki, the Chinese official also raised the issues of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine and deployment of troops to Iraq, which Beijing is closely observing given Japan's military past.

About his meeting with the North Korean leader, Wang was quoted as telling Kanzaki that he and Kim agreed the nuclear development issue should be resolved peacefully and should not be escalated.

For his part, Kanzaki, chief of the coalition partner of Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party, asked for Chinese cooperation in resolving the issue of North Korean abductions of Japanese at an early date.

''It is important to resolve the abduction issue in a comprehensive way. I'd like to solicit Chinese assistance,'' Kanzaki was quoted as saying in the meeting on the first day of his three-day visit.

The Japanese government plans to take up the abduction issue during the meeting by the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia, he said.

Wang, meanwhile, asked if Tokyo's ''decisive action'' in sending the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq despite opposition from many people would have any impact on Japan's exclusively defensive security policy, according to the officials.

Kanzaki responded, ''The mission is limited to humanitarian and reconstruction assistance. You may be worried, but this move will not change our defense-oriented policy.''

Regarding Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine which honors Japan's war dead as well as convicted World War II criminals, Wang urged that the two countries settle historical issues.

''There are issues that can not be avoided between China and Japan. We expect these issues of concern that lie between us to be resolved,'' Wang was quoted as saying.

Wang proposed that China send senior officials in early March to realize the launch of a bilateral framework to exchange opinions on historical issues and that the Chinese party and New Komeito enhance exchanges, and Kanzaki gave a positive response.

The Chinese official proposed the framework when policy chiefs of the Japanese ruling parties visited Beijing last month.

''Japan-China relations are getting more interdependent centering on economic aspects, and we want relations to deepen further,'' Kanzaki said.

However, Koizumi reiterated in Tokyo the same day that he has no plans to stop his shrine visits.

China has lodged a strong protest over Koizumi's visits to the Shinto shrine, which is seen by other Asian nations as a symbol of Japan's militarist past.

Since becoming prime minister in April 2001, Koizumi has visited the shrine once a year, saying he makes the visits to pray that Japan will never wage war again. He last visited it on Jan. 1 this year.

Kanzaki is slated to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday and hand him a letter from Koizumi proposing the two state leaders meet to ''frankly exchange opinions in the near future.''

Koizumi met Hu twice last year, but only in places other than their respective countries -- in May in St. Petersburg and in October in Bangkok.

Kanzaki is scheduled to also meet State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan on Wednesday and return home Thursday.