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Koizumi Blames China and South Korea for Rift



 
 
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Old January 5th 06, 07:41 PM posted to alt.astronomy
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Default Koizumi Blames China and South Korea for Rift

Koizumi Blames China and South Korea for Rift

By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: January 5, 2006
TOKYO, Jan. 4 - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi squarely blamed China
and South Korea on Wednesday for worsening relations with Japan,
accusing them of interference in Japan's domestic matters.

In a nationally broadcast news conference for the new year, Mr. Koizumi
defended his annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, the memorial to
Japan's war dead, although the visits have frozen Japan's diplomatic
relations with its neighbors. The leaders of China and South Korea have
refused to meet Mr. Koizumi as a protest over his visits to the shrine,
which also honors top-ranked war criminals and is considered a symbol
of Japanese militarism in Asia.

"I can't understand why foreign governments would intervene in a
spiritual matter and try to turn it into a diplomatic problem," Mr.
Koizumi said, adding that he visited the shrine to pray for peace.

The comments, which drew immediate condemnation from Seoul, came as
Tokyo and Beijing are embroiled in a bitter dispute over the suicide of
a Japanese diplomat in Shanghai in 2004. The remarks amounted to
another sign that after a year of rising tensions and Japan's growing
estrangement from the region, all sides appeared to be hardening their
positions.

South Korea's foreign minister, Ban Ki Moon, responded to Mr. Koizumi
by saying bluntly that Japan's leaders needed a "better understanding
of history" and should earn the "trust and respect of other countries."
Because of the Yasukuni dispute, South Korea's president, Roh Moo Hyun,
did not visit Japan last year, as he had in previous years.

There was no immediate comment from Beijing.

The growing rivalry between China and Japan was punctuated in recent
days by the feud over the diplomat's suicide. A Japanese newsweekly
reported recently that the diplomat killed himself after he was
blackmailed into providing secret information by a Chinese agent who
threatened to reveal his affair with a bar hostess.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry attributed the death to "regrettable
actions by local Chinese security authorities" in violation of the
Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. China denied the charge,
accusing Japan of trying to "smear China's image."

Mr. Koizumi's tough talk tapped into a growing resentment and fear of a
rising China among ordinary Japanese. Business and personal exchanges
are greater than ever, as Mr. Koizumi himself pointed out, but the
diplomatic friction has also begun to change public opinion.

According to a government survey released at the end of last year, only
32.4 percent of Japanese said they had "friendly feelings" toward
China. The figure, down 5.2 percentage points from the previous year,
was a record low.

Japanese public opinion also grew less favorable toward South Korea,
with 51.1 percent expressing positive sentiments, down 5.6 points from
the previous year. Japan's positive feelings toward South Korea had
increased annually in the previous four years, reflecting improving
ties, which took a turn for the worse last year over Yasukuni and other
issues.

 




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