China and Japan toned down the rhetoric yesterday, but both said it was up to the other to take steps to repair relations damaged by the detention of a fishing captain and a verbal fight over disputed islands.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tokyo had to make the first move to put diplomatic ties back on track after nearly three weeks of bitterness since Japan detained the fishing captain after his boat and two Japanese patrol boats collided near islands in the East China Sea.
“If Japan values its relationship with China, it should take concrete action to repair ties,” ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) told a regular news conference. When asked what specific actions Japan had to take, Jiang would not say.
“Safeguarding bilateral relations requires the two sides to meet halfway and requires Japan to take candid and practical actions,” she said.
She urged Tokyo to “stop its stalking or disruption of Chinese fisheries law enforcement management boats” patrolling the disputed waters, but offered no other specifics on what steps should be taken.
Tokyo said Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan had no plans to meet with his Chinese counterpart at an ASEAN-EU summit in Brussels next Monday and Tuesday.
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Tokyo was “not taking any action” to arrange talks for the two leaders.
“My impression is that it would be difficult for such talks to be arranged,” he said.
Maehara welcomed Kan’s decision to attend the meeting, reversing an earlier plan to miss it, because it is important for Japan to give the rest of the world a fairer picture of developments since the collision.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku also told reporters that conditions had not been met for a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), reiterating it was up to China to repair relations.
Wen and Kan did not meet in New York last week when both attended a UN gathering.
Kan’s government has come under fire at home for its decision last Friday to release the fishing boat captain amid intense Chinese pressure.
His release failed to ease tensions after China demanded an apology for his detention and compensation over the weekend.
Tokyo countered by demanding that Beijing pay for damage to the patrol boats from the collisions near the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), which the Japanese call Senkaku. Japan controls the islands but China and Taiwan also claim them.
Meanwhile, a top Japanese financial official said China’s ban on shipments to Japan of rare-earth metals crucial for advanced manufacturing threatens to undermine the Japanese economy.
Japanese trading company officials say China halted exports to Japan last Thursday of rare earths — exotic metals that are used in magnets, computer disk drives, components for hybrid cars and other high-tech products. Chinese officials denied there was a ban.
“The de-facto ban on rare-earths export that China has imposed could have a very big impact on Japan’s economy,’’ Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Banri Kaieda said. “We need to restore Japan-China ties, especially economic exchanges, as soon as possible.”
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