Japanese defence chief eyes talks with China

Singapore, Jun 3: Japan hopes to hold military exchanges with China as a way to ease tensions between neighbours who have sparred recently over wartime history, Tokyo's defence minister said today.

Fukushiro Nukaga sought to assuage concerns that recent spats between Tokyo and Beijing stemming from Japan's 1930s invasion of China and overlapping maritime claims could be handled peacefully.

''We are considering exchanges in the defence field and other areas, in the belief that this region's security requires mutual coordination between Japan and China,'' he told the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security forum in Singapore.

''It is desirable to build a partnership through healthy competition, and I hope that beginning with defence exchanges, we can promote better ties,'' Nukaga said at a forum to which China did not send any senior officials.

Japanese missions in China were hit by violent protests last year and Chinese leaders have refused to hold summits with Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi over Koizumi's repeated visits to a Tokyo war shrine that many Asian countries say glorifies Imperial Japan's aggression.

But Nukaga said: ''Japan-China relations are going quite well, and I believe that the world's impression of relations somewhat overstates the degree of conflict.'' He cited strong and growing economic ties and said Japan would continue to promote China's economic development ''based on the view that Japan's prosperity is tied to that of our neighbours.'' Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Japanese counterpart Taro Aso met last week in Doha, Qatar, where Li said the two countries should continue to hold security and diplomatic talks.

REUTERS