Japan's new PM to visit China this week

Japan's new Prime Minister Naoto Kan is scheduled to visit Shanghai and Beijing later this week, to preside over the opening of Japan Day at the ongoing World Expo in Shanghai and talk with Chinese leaders in Beijing, sources said.

The People's Daily reported from Tokyo on Sunday that Kan will visit Shanghai on Saturday to celebrate Japan Day at the ongoing World Expo there.

Kan may also visit Beijing to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other top Chinese leaders, sources revealed.

Kan also plans to name a top businessman as ambassador to China, "one of the highest posts for diplomats", Japanese press reports said.

Japanese and Chinese commentators say the arrangements underscore the importance Kan attaches to China, as he has said Tokyo-Beijing ties would be "valued" during his administration, the Beijing-based China Daily reported on Monday.

The trip was actually arranged before former Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama's sudden resignation last week, it said.

On Thursday, Kan said the Japan-US relationship would remain the core of Tokyo's foreign policy.

"I think that Japan's diplomacy is founded on Japan-US relations, (but) at the same time, Japan is in East Asia and we are seeing a historic development in Asia," Kan said.

"Japan needs to go in the direction of building a trusting relationship with the US while placing particular importance on China. I think that is the correct way for Japan's future."

Besides visiting China on his first overseas trip, Kan is expected to officially appoint Uichiro Niwa, senior corporate adviser at trading house Itochu Corp as the Chinese ambassador, the Nikkei Daily reported.
The decision also reflects the effort by Kan's ruling Democratic Party of Japan to wrest power from the hands of bureaucrats, the Nikkei report said.

By People's Daily Online