State media damps hopes for Abe-Xi talks during Asia forum

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, China’s President Xi Jinping, Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye prepare to line up as they took part in the traditional “leaders’ family photo” on the final day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s bid for formal talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a regional summit in Beijing next week is unlikely to succeed, a commentary by China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency said.
The prospects for a first meeting between the two leaders during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting had risen after Abe met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Milan last month. With relations between the two countries strained by spats over territory and Japan’s World War II legacy, Abe may have to make do with a welcome rather than the initiation of dialog, according to the Xinhua commentary published Monday.
The article cited a string of what it termed provocations by the government in Tokyo during October, when three ministers and 110 lawmakers visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead, including some Class A war criminals. Abe also sent a ceremonial offering to the shrine and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga questioned some details of the nation’s forcible recruitment of thousands of sex slaves from other Asian countries during WWII, it said.
“It seems nothing more than a mere clumsy political stunt for the island country to advocate dialog and fence-mending with neighbors on the one hand, while sticking to the bigoted course of fomenting strife and misgivings on the other,” said the article, which appeared under the byline of “Xinhua writer Zhu Dongyang.”
While Abe has visited about 50 countries since taking office in December 2012, he has failed to bring about a meeting with Xi amid historical disputes with China. Japan and China have been embroiled in a row over control of a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.
Abe has mentioned his hopes for a bilateral meeting with Xi during APEC several times over the past few months, even as coast guard vessels and planes from both countries frequently tail one another around the disputed islands. The two countries in September resumed talks on a communication mechanism aimed at avoiding unforeseen incidents.
“The moment hasn’t arrived yet for formal talks between China and Japan,” said Jiang Lifeng, senior research fellow at the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. “Handshaking, an exchange of greetings or a casual chat for 10-15 minutes are all possibilities, and they may even reiterate their stances to each other. But there won’t be much beyond that.”
Japanese officials had made a three-point proposal to China in an effort to secure an Abe-Xi summit, the Mainichi newspaper said last month, citing several government officials. At any meeting, Abe would agree to say that although disputed islands in the East China Sea were Japanese territory, he was aware China had its own assertions and the two sides would hold talks to resolve the issue, the newspaper said.
Xi will “undoubtedly receive the Japanese leader with etiquette and hospitality, despite chronic territorial rows and historical feud with Tokyo,” the Xinhua commentary said. “However, that does not necessarily mean Abe’s long-sought formal talks with Xi during APEC would come true, which demands Abe extend good faith and take real action to create the proper atmosphere. Unfortunately, bilateral relations, constantly troubled by Japan’s attempts to wash off its war-time atrocities, have not seen such action from Japan even when the trans-Pacific meeting is soon to come.”
Japan’s cabinet yesterday approved a statement saying the nation had not made an agreement with China to stop senior ministers from visiting Yasukuni, Kyodo News reported. The statement was compiled in response to a written inquiry from an upper house lawmaker.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said nothing had been decided about bilateral meetings with China at APEC, either between ministers or leaders.
“We are continuing quiet efforts to improve the relationship between the two countries,” he told reporters this morning, according to the ministry web site. “Since this is a meeting in Beijing, we would very much like to bring this dialog about.”

japan tells china to stop alleged coral poaching

Japan’s foreign minister urged China yesterday to take measures to stop Chinese fishermen from poaching red coral in Japanese waters.
Fumio Kishida said that as many as 200 Chinese fishing boats were seen last Thursday near populated Japanese islands, 440 kilometers south of Tokyo Bay, and Japan had complained to China about it.
The boats have been sailing north from near the Ogasawara islets, 1,800 kilometers south of Japan’s mainland, since mid-September. Their movement toward the more populated Izu islets and the mainland has raised concerns of Japanese residents.
Kishida said five poaching-related arrests have been made since September. The illegally gathered red coral can fetch high prices on the black market in China.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Monday that the illegal harvesting of red coral was prohibited and that Chinese authorities would keep enhancing supervision and law enforcement.
Japanese Defense Minister Akinori Eto said the coast guard and police were handling the matter. Isabel Reynolds and Ting Shi  , Bloomberg