Warring giants in fragile truce

JAKARTA - The leaders of China and Japan pulled relations between the Asian giants back from the brink at a weekend meeting, but analysts say bitter memories of Japan's wartime history and rivalry for influence will keep ties fragile.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appear to have papered over their countries' worst row in three decades during talks in Jakarta, a day after Koizumi made an unusually public apology for Japan's past atrocities in Asia.

"The leaders' summit went well, in that they were able to hold it. They avoided the worst-case scenario," said Kiyoshi Takai, a professor at Hokkaido University. "But China is saying 'match words with action' and that means the discussions will again return to the Yasukuni issue. So what Prime Minister Koizumi decides about that is the key," he said, referring to the controversial war cemetery shrine in Tokyo.

Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper added: "What seems to have happened is that a band-aid was applied to the wound to stop the bleeding.

"But the injury itself has not been treated at all. The risks are high that the wound will worsen and that it will open up again at some point."

Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura yesterday hailed the talks, but he warned Beijing against more anti-Japan demonstrations.

"It has a great meaning that the leaders of the two countries reaffirmed the importance of Sino-Japanese relations, not only for the two countries but also for Asia and the world," Machimura said."Having more anti-Japan demonstrations is not good for China."

During their one-hour meeting, held at the end of a gathering of Asian and African leaders in Jakarta, Hu told Koizumi that remorse expressed for Japan's wartime past should be translated into action.

Japan should "never do anything again that would hurt the feelings of the Chinese people".

Hu also urged Japan not to support formal independence for self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing has claimed as its own since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

Koizumi used both hands to shake the hand of a stiff and expressionless Hu and said later he and Hu agreed to make efforts to develop the bilateral friendship instead of aggravating antagonistic feelings.

Koizumi did not say if he would stop visiting the shrine which has been the source of much of the friction.

Machimura said Japan had stuck to its "one China" policy. "We have never said we will support Taiwan's independence," he said.

"The differences in their standpoints are still quite large," said Zhu Feng, director of the International Security Programme at Peking University.

"China still wants Japan to take concrete actions, for example, to stop the visits to the shrine."

Relations with China chilled markedly after Koizumi took office in 2001 and began annual visits to the shrine. He has not visited this year.

Ties between the Asian giants plunged to their worst since relations were normalised in 1972 after three weekends of violent anti-Japanese protests across China, putting at risk economic links worth US$212 billion ($290 billion) in annual trade.

The People's Daily said yesterday it was understandable for the masses to want to express their emotions after Japanese right-wing forces had hurt their feelings. It added: "Patriotism requires strong emotions but even more, it requires reason."

Asked about Chinese Government comments that action was more important than words, Koizumi said: "In the last 60 years we have became an economic superpower and not a military state. [We are a] peaceful nation reflecting on the experience of the war."

- REUTERS