China's defence minister to visit Japan this year

Tokyo, June 13: Chinese Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan is likely to visit Japan this autumn, in the latest sign of warming ties between the Asian neighbours, a defence ministry spokesman said today.

The visit would be the first of its kind in almost a decade, and will likely be followed by a visit by a Chinese warship to a Japanese port for the first time ever.

The ministerial visit is likely to take place in September and the port call in October, the Nikkei newspaper said.

The establishment of defence ties between the two nations was held back for years by rocky bilateral relations, caused in part by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to a war shrine seen by many in Asia as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

His successor, Shinzo Abe, moved swiftly to try to repair ties by visiting Beijing weeks after taking office in September.

A Japanese naval vessel will probably be dispatched to pay a reciprocal visit to China next year, the Nikkei said.

Japanese officials hope to make use of the opportunity to push for more transparency on China's ballooning defence spending, and will explain to the Chinese side that the joint US-Japan missile defence network is not aimed at any particular country, the Nikkei said.

China's military spending outstripped that of Japan last year, climbing to an estimated 49.5 billion dollars from 44.3 billion dollars in 2005 and making it the biggest military spender in Asia, according to a Swedish study published on Monday.

Japanese Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma said yesterday it was natural for defence spending to rise as the Chinese economy expanded, but repeated a call for Beijing to be more open on defence spending.

Reuters>