Japan, China plan first-ever mutual warship visits: report

TOKYO (AFP) Aug 18, 2003
The Japanese and Chinese governments plan to conduct the first-ever mutual visits by warships this year as they hope to resume stalled military exchanges, a report said Monday.

An accord on the mutual visits is expected to come at Japanese Defence Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba's meeting with Chinese Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said without citing sources.

Ishiba is to visit China from September 1, the economic daily said. It would be the first China trip by a Japanese defence minister since May 1998.

While stopping short of confirming the report, a defence agency spokesman said: "We hope to facilitate Japan-China exchanges as they have been stalled since last April."

In April last year, then Defence Agency chief Gen Nakatani postponed a planned trip to China after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi angered Beijing by visiting the controversial Yasukuni war shrine.

The Tokyo shrine is widely seen as a symbol of Japan's former militarism, particularly since 1978 when it enshrined 14 convicted Class-A war criminals including wartime prime minister General Hideki Tojo.

Kyodo news agency reported over the weekend Ishiba would make a four-day trip to China, first travelling to Shanghai on September 1 and going to Beijing for talks with Cao.

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