Aso trip delay 'not due to dispute'

By Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-18 08:04

China and Japan are still discussing the date of Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's planned visit to the mainland, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, dismissing reports that China had requested a delay "due to a territorial dispute".

"China and Japan are discussing the date through diplomatic channels. The issue of delaying or canceling the visit does not exist," Qin Gang, the ministry's spokesman, said at a regular news briefing.

Japan's Mainichi newspaper reported Tuesday that China had requested Japan to cancel Aso's three-day trip, scheduled to start on March 27, due to the lingering dispute over the Diaoyu Islands, five uninhabited islets located between Taiwan and Okinawa.

Beijing had lodged harsh protests with Tokyo after Aso remarked last month that China's Diaoyu Islands were part of Japanese territory, and hence covered by the US-Japan security treaty.

On the same day, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said in Tokyo, "It has become difficult for the prime minister to visit (China) in March.

"This is because of circumstances in China, as well as here but both sides remain committed to meeting soon."

Hideo Tarumi, director of the China and Mongolia division at Japan's Foreign Ministry, calling the Mainichi report "totally wrong", said it was "preposterous" to say that the territorial dispute was the reason for postponing Aso's visit, Bloomberg reported.

"We've been negotiating with China for a meeting in the first half of this year should Aso be able to visit because of the elections here in September," Tarumi said.

"No date had been set, not even for March. We'll continue to co-ordinate for an early meeting."

Meanwhile, Qin sent his best wishes to Pakistan, where a political turmoil recently ended.