Japan and China to discuss fence-mending summit talks

TOKYO - Top diplomats from Japan and China were set to kick off a fresh round of talks on Monday on whether their leaders could move ahead with an ice-breaking summit meeting soon.

Relations between the two Asian neighbours are at their worst in decades, and China has refused to hold a leaders' summit with outgoing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi because of his visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen by Beijing as a symbol of Japan's militaristic past.

Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi and his Chinese counterpart, Dai Bingguo, were due to meet in Tokyo for a second day on Monday amid growing speculation that a leaders' summit would take place soon after Shinzo Abe formally succeeds Koizumi on Tuesday.

They held talks on Saturday as part of a sixth round of a so-called strategic dialogue.

Abe, a security hawk who advocates stronger ties with Washington, also wants to thaw the freeze with Beijing.

Dai was also expected to meet Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso later on Monday, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry officials declined to speculate on Monday's meetings, but one official said: "A summit meeting between Japan and China will be part of the agenda for the talks."

Koizumi last visited Beijing in 2001 and, although he has met Chinese leaders at international meetings, Beijing has refused two-way talks since April last year.

The highest ranking Chinese visitor to Japan in recent years was then-Premier Zhu Rongji in 2000.

The last round of diplomatic talks was held in Beijing in May.

Speculation has been rife that the Tokyo talks were aimed at paving the way for a summit between Hu and Abe, possibly in Hanoi on the sidelines of November's meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders.

Abe has defended Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni, which honours 14 wartime leaders convicted as war criminals along with Japan's millions of war dead.

However, he has declined to say whether, as prime minister, he would pay his respects there.

Ties between Japan and China, rivals for influence in Asia, have also been strained by friction over the development of gas fields in disputed parts of the East China Sea.

- REUTERS