Word war fuels fresh hostility between Japan and China

Historic rivals China and Japan were locked in a war of words yesterday after the Japanese Government accused Chinese spies of being responsible for the suicide of one of its diplomats.

The unnamed official, who was based in Japan's consulate in Shanghai and committed suicide in May last year, left suicide notes claiming he was being blackmailed by a Chinese intelligence agent over his relationship with a hostess in a karaoke bar.

The allegations, first voiced on Wednesday by a spokesman for the Japanese Foreign Ministry, caused fury in Beijing, which yesterday denounced them as "vile" and a "smear" on China's image.

The furore threatens to plunge Sino-Japanese relations to a new low. Chinese anger over Japan's failure to apologise for its actions during World War II, Japanese concerns over China's increased military spending and a dispute over the ownership of islands rich in natural resources have exacerbated friction between Asia's two major powers this year.

Having dismissed reports in the Japanese press about the diplomat's suicide as "groundless", Beijing was forced on to the defensive by the Japanese Government's claims.

"This is completely out of ulterior motives and we express our strong indignation at the vile behaviour of the Japanese Government, which deliberately smears China's image," said China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.

Tensions between China and Japan had already come close to breaking point last week, after Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso accused China of posing a "considerable threat" to Northeast Asia. Aso claimed that China was spreading fear in the region by increasing spending on its military.

Beijing responded by describing his remarks as "highly irresponsible".

According to Japanese reports, the deceased diplomat was responsible for communications in the Shanghai consulate. The highly sensitive post involved encrypting classified information before it was sent to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo.

In one of his suicide notes, the diplomat claimed that his relationship with a karaoke bar hostess had led to him being pressured by a Chinese intelligence agent to reveal details of the flights used to carry classified documents back to Tokyo and to pass on information about consulate staff.

"We believe people with the Chinese security authorities conducted regrettable actions," said Japan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yoshinori Katori. Katori said the intelligence agent's actions violated the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and that the Japanese Government had lodged four protests with Beijing over the incident.

In one of the notes he left behind, the official made it clear that he could not countenance passing on secret information to the Chinese.

"If I were to do more, I would have to sell Japan. I cannot sell my own country," he wrote. Instead, he chose to commit suicide.

Japan has the highest suicide rate in the industrialised world.

Despite the fact that China and Japan are each other's biggest trading partners, the relationship between the countries has foundered in recent months.

Chinese anger over the failure of Japan to apologise for such infamous events as the Rape of Nanjing, when 300,000 Chinese civilians were slaughtered by the Japanese Army in 1937, boiled over in April.

Chinese rage over Japan's actions during World War II has been further fuelled by the repeated visits of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Japan's war dead but also convicted war criminals.

The two countries are also disputing possession of a tiny group of islands in the East China Sea. Known as the Senkaku to the Japanese and the Diaoyu to the Chinese, the islands hold vast natural gas reserves.

China has also refused to support Japan's quest for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, while Japan has infuriated China by saying it regards Taiwan as a "mutual security concern".

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