China: Talks need 'good atmosphere'
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-05-11 20:38
"It (a meeting) should have results aimed at improving relations," he was
quoted as saying.
Ties between the two nations have markedly soured since Koizumi began his
annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine in 2001, the year he took office.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso pauses
during remarks at a Center for Strategic and International Studies forum
on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 in Washington.
[AP] |
Wu said that holding a meeting would not mean that China was dropping the
issue.
"If there are people who think that talks ... prove that Prime Minister
Koizumi's shrine visits have no major impact on Sino-Japanese relations, that
would be wrong," he was quoted as saying.
The two nations are set to resume talks next week over a disputed undersea
gas field, the fifth round of negotiations that have so far proved fruitless.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Tuesday that Beijing
and Tokyo remain far from compromise over the gas fields under seas between the
two nations.
At the last round of gas talks in March, Japanese media said China proposed
joint development of an area around isles in the East China Sea claimed by both
sides.
Japan is likely to reject the plan at next week's talks, Kyodo said on
Tuesday.
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