Japan, China agree to regular summits on landmark visit

by Kyoko Hasegawa and Harumi Ozawa Wed May 7, 11:15 AM ET

TOKYO (AFP) - The leaders of Japan and China agreed Wednesday to resolve a territorial row and start regular summits to ease decades of tension, pledging that Asia's two largest economies would not see each other as a threat.

Paying the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Tokyo in a decade, President Hu Jintao praised Japan's "peaceful" role in world affairs and offered to lend two pandas to the capital's zoo.

Relations between the countries have been mired by disputes over Japan's wartime aggression and the dispute over ownership of gas fields in the East China Sea.

But Japan counts on China as its top commercial partner, while Beijing is eager to ease regional friction as it seeks a greater global role.

"China and Japan have no other way but to take the path of peace, friendship and cooperation as neighbours and countries with significant influence to Asia and the world," Hu told a press conference with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

In a joint statement, Hu and Fukuda said they "confirmed that the two nations are cooperative partners, not threats, to each other" and share responsibilities "for the world's peace and development in the 21st century."

It called for the two countries' leaders to hold summits once a year alternating between Japan and China and pledged cooperation on fighting global warming.

In a striking contrast to many previous meetings between the countries, the joint statement made no direct reference to Japan's invasion of China before World War II.

China refused all high-level contact with Japan for five years until 2006 in anger at then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to a Tokyo shrine that venerates Japanese war dead including war criminals.

The only other Chinese president to visit Tokyo was Jiang Zemin in 1998. He sparked anger in Japan by pressing for a stronger apology over the past and criticising Japan at a public banquet with Emperor Akihito.

On Wednesday, Emperor Akihito and other members of the imperial family gave Hu a red-carpet welcome and honour guard at their sprawling palace in central Tokyo.

The emperor later toasted Hu at a state banquet, wishing China success in hosting the Olympics in August.

The joint statement said that China considered Japan a "peaceful state" that has contributed "to the world's peace and stability" over the past 60 years.

It did not touch on the thorny territorial dispute over lucrative gas fields in the East China Sea.

But Fukuda said the two countries believed "a solution is in sight."

"We agreed to solve the issue as soon as possible," Fukuda told reporters.

Hu also said that the two sides were "beginning to see the larger picture in solving this issue."

Hu also met with business leaders, who announced on his visit that top Japanese and Chinese oil companies were planning a refining joint venture.

The trip to Japan is Hu's first overseas since China clamped down on major protests in Tibet in March, triggering an international uproar.

Fukuda said he pressed Hu to address international concerns by continuing talks reopened this week with representatives of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.

"I requested that China eliminate the concerns of the international community by continuing the talks and improving the situation," Fukuda said.

Japanese officials said that Hu used softer language in talks on Japan's long-held bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council but stopped short of supporting it. China is the only Asian nation with a prestigious permanent seat.

Fukuda, 71, is hoping that the visit will improve his government's approval ratings, which have tumbled to below 20 percent.

In one move that is likely to please the public, Hu agreed to lend Japan two pandas, a male and a female, for Tokyo's Ueno Zoo to replace the beloved Ling Ling, who died last week.

Joseph Cheng, a professor at the City University of Hong Kong, said that both Fukuda and Hu were weak -- the Japanese leader from domestic issues and Hu due to the Tibet uproar.

"So both find it difficult to make major concessions on issues like the gas fields," Cheng said.

"Instead, they have to rely on more symbolic issues like pandas," he said.