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China & Japan Defence Chiefs to meet on Monday
Japanese Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and his Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie will hold a meeting in Hanoi on Monday, Kyodo news agency said, the latest sign of a thaw in the two nations' strained ties.
Kitazawa and Liang will hold talks on the sidelines of a regional gathering of defence ministers in the Vietnamese capital, Kyodo said on Sunday, quoting sources familiar with bilateral relations.
It will be the first ministerial level meeting since China suspended high-level exchanges with Japan in response to the detention of the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that collided with Japanese Coast Guard ships off disputed islands, Kyodo said.
China and Japan, Asia's two largest economies, have acted to ease tension following the stand-off over the uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. The detained skipper is back in China after being released.
On Sunday, the last of four Japanese employees of a construction firm who had been held on suspicion of illegally entering a military zone flew home after his release.
NHK public television showed Fujita employee Sadamu Takahashi arriving back in Tokyo. China's Xinhua news agency on Saturday said he had been released on bail.
Kyodo quoted him as telling reporters at the airport in Shanghai that he did not know why he was detained longer than the other three Fujita employees released on Sept. 30.
Katsuya Okada, Secretary General of the ruling Democratic Party, told NHK that China's position on the dispute over the islets had hurt its standing.
"Looking in the mid- to long-term, China suffered considerable damage," said. "They showed the world that they have a different political system,"
But Okada, a former foreign minister, also said it was a mistake to look at diplomacy in terms of "win-loss".
"It is at just such a time that we should debate calmly and mutually avoid stimulating public emotions."
UPDATE 1-Japan, China defence chiefs to meet Monday-media | Energy & Oil | Reuters
Japanese Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and his Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie will hold a meeting in Hanoi on Monday, Kyodo news agency said, the latest sign of a thaw in the two nations' strained ties.
Kitazawa and Liang will hold talks on the sidelines of a regional gathering of defence ministers in the Vietnamese capital, Kyodo said on Sunday, quoting sources familiar with bilateral relations.
It will be the first ministerial level meeting since China suspended high-level exchanges with Japan in response to the detention of the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that collided with Japanese Coast Guard ships off disputed islands, Kyodo said.
China and Japan, Asia's two largest economies, have acted to ease tension following the stand-off over the uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. The detained skipper is back in China after being released.
On Sunday, the last of four Japanese employees of a construction firm who had been held on suspicion of illegally entering a military zone flew home after his release.
NHK public television showed Fujita employee Sadamu Takahashi arriving back in Tokyo. China's Xinhua news agency on Saturday said he had been released on bail.
Kyodo quoted him as telling reporters at the airport in Shanghai that he did not know why he was detained longer than the other three Fujita employees released on Sept. 30.
Katsuya Okada, Secretary General of the ruling Democratic Party, told NHK that China's position on the dispute over the islets had hurt its standing.
"Looking in the mid- to long-term, China suffered considerable damage," said. "They showed the world that they have a different political system,"
But Okada, a former foreign minister, also said it was a mistake to look at diplomacy in terms of "win-loss".
"It is at just such a time that we should debate calmly and mutually avoid stimulating public emotions."
UPDATE 1-Japan, China defence chiefs to meet Monday-media | Energy & Oil | Reuters
