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Japan PM Vows to Strengthen Ties with China, Asia
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi held out an olive branch to China in his debut parliamentary speech on Monday, but mostly skirted around the tricky diplomatic issues facing his new administration.
In an apparent signal of his desire to strengthen ties with China, Koizumi said that relations with Beijing were among Tokyo's most important bilateral ties and vowed to boost cooperation with the giant Asian neighbour.
But Koizumi, who late last month won a landslide victory to become the nation's 11th prime minister in 13 years, also reiterated that the US-Japan alliance was the bedrock of Tokyo's diplomatic and security policy.
"Relations with China are among the most important bilateral relations for our country," he told parliament's Lower House.
"We hope China will take a greater part in international society and will continue to strengthen ties with them through occasions such as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (forum) scheduled in autumn in Shanghai," he added.
Japan has been locked in disputes with China over a string of issues, including a controversial visit to Japan last month by Taiwan's Lee Teng-hui and the government's approval of a school history textbook that glosses over Tokyo's wartime aggression.
Tokyo's ties with Beijing, never easy at the best of times, were already strained by a trade spat over imports of Chinese vegetables and textiles, which resulted in Japan imposing emergency import curbs on stone leeks, shiitake mushrooms and a special type of straw.
Controversial Issues UntouchedKoizumi has also said that he would make a pilgrimage to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which honours the nation's war dead.
Visits by cabinet ministers to the shrine are regularly condemned by Japan's Asian neighbours.
But Koizumi avoided mention of the issue on Monday as well as other controversial issues, such as changing the interpretation of the nation's pacifist Constitution to allow Japan to help its allies in the event of a foreign attack.
He has previously said that the ambiguous status of Japan's military was "unnatural, suggesting that constitutional change was needed.
"I tried to make it (the policy speech) as concise as possible. I wanted to concentrate on what I wanted to say," Koizumi later told reporters when asked why he did not include such issues in the speech.
"I said what I said on the Yasukuni or the collective security issue only because I was asked by reporters."
Echoing Japan's perennial post-war stance, Koizumi said US-Japan ties were the key to the nation's peace and prosperity and stressed the need for friendly ties with the rest of Asia.
"Japan's prosperity is based on Japan-US relations, which have functioned effectively," Koizumi told the Lower House of parliament in his policy speech.
"Using the Japan-US alliance as a basis, it is important that we maintain and develop cooperative relations with our neighbouring countries such as China, South Korea, and Russia."
The controversial school history textbook, approved by the Education Ministry last month, strained ties from not only with China but also with South Korea and DPRK.
"It is needless to mention the importance of our relations with South Korea, a country geographically closest to us and a country which shares the same democratic values. I will work to strengthen this relationship..."
Northern NeighborOn DPRK, Koizumi said Tokyo would keep up its efforts to resolve the thorny issues which have kept the two countries from establishing diplomatic ties.
"Regarding the humanitarian and security issues, we will try our best to resolve them through negotiations," he said.
Japan and DPRK have held three rounds of talks aimed at establishing diplomatic ties but have failed to make any tangible progress. The latest round was held last October.
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