Japan urges China to sway global issues

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda (R) shakes hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao upon his arrival at the Diaoyutai guesthouse in Beijing yesterday. China and Japan pledged on Friday to build on their rapidly warming ties as Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met the Chinese leadership, but a dispute over maritime gas fields remained unresolved.Photo: AFP

Japan urged China to use its growing influence to make an impact on key global issues such as climate change as the visiting Japanese prime minister opened a day of summit talks yesterday with Chinese leaders.
The countries have a history of animosity stemming from disputes over territory, resources and wartime history, but Yasuo Fukuda's four-day visit his first as prime minister follows several friendly meetings between leaders and a Chinese warship's historic port call to Japan.
"In the long history of our relations, there has never been a time when Japan and China has had more influence or responsibilities in Asia and the world," Fukuda said at a joint news conference with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. "We face a big opportunity going forward."
The two held friendly talks on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit last month, and Wen said he felt bilateral relations had entered a season of "spring."
Fukuda was to meet later Friday with President Hu Jintao. An afternoon speech at the prestigious Peking University was to be broadcast live on television, Japanese officials said.
"China is now becoming a big economic power so those two big economic powers in East Asia should jointly contribute to the stability and development of Asia and the world," said Mitsuo Sakaba, press secretary for Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura.At the top of Fukuda's agenda was climate change, with topics such as energy efficiency and projects to help China tackle pollution that is increasingly felt across the sea in Japan.
"China is the major emitting country of greenhouse gases. So without Chinese engagement in programmes of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, any international effort will inevitably be without effect ... without China," Sakaba said in an interview.
"We want to engage China in concrete terms in the programmes of reducing emissions," he said, though he added that there would be no announcements of funding.
Industries in China are notorious for their inefficiency, requiring more coal or other energy sources to produce the same amount of output as a plant in Japan.
Other topics will include a long-running dispute over China and Japan's competing claims to gas reserves in the East China Sea, which both nations hope to exploit to feed their fuel-hungry economies.
"We will continue negotiations and aim for a resolution as quickly as possible," Fukuda said after meeting with Wen.
Fukuda planned to talk with Chinese leaders about North Korea, a close ally of Beijing that has been accused of abducting Japanese citizens during the 1970s and '80s.
Japan also has expressed its concern about surging Chinese military spending and wants more transparency from Beijing. Sakaba said Japan wished for more military exchanges, but did not answer a question on whether Fukuda had asked to visit any military sites. None was on his itinerary.