(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-02-11 10:28

Finance Minister Xie Xuren and his Japanese counterpart Fukushiro Nukaga have agreed to work jointly to end the controversy created by allegedly contaminated China-made dumplings.

Chinese Finance Minister Xie Xuren (L) shakes hands with Japan's Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga at the latter's office in Tokyo, February 10, 2008. [Xinhua]

At the first-ever ministerial-level meeting since the food scare in Japan, the two ministers vowed to "keep searching for the real cause" that made 10 people fall ill after eating the dumplings.

"We must cooperate in the investigation to get to the root of the problem and to prevent such an incident so that it doesn't become an obstacle to our friendship," Nukaga told reporters in Tokyo yesterday. "And he (Xie) said he completely agreed (with the idea)."

The two also agreed to hold another dialogue next month in Tokyo. Xie was in Japan to attend expanded discussions and meetings of the Group of Seven financial ministers. Representatives of Russia, South Korea and Indonesia were also invited to the deliberations.

The ministerial-level meeting came four days after Lunar New Year's Eve, when Chinese and Japanese officials met in Tokyo and said they were ready to cooperate in the investigation.

China is willing to fully cooperate and share information with Japan, Li Chunfeng, head of the five-member Chinese delegation, told reporters after the third round of talks at the Japanese Cabinet Office on February 6.

The country had set up a joint investigation team with Japan to get to the truth as soon as possible, Li said, calling for an objective attitude and scientific measures to solve the problem.

A joint investigation team that on Tuesday inspected the plant of Tianyang Food, which made the dumplings, did not find any "abnormality" with the production process.

"The plant (in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei) is very clean and well managed, and no abnormality was detected," Japanese delegation chief Harashima Taiji said on Wednesday.

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