Xi Jinping on Friday said China and Japan should address “sensitive” issues between the two countries effectively and in a timely manner.

Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks as he met with Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of the New Komeito party, on Friday morning. The New Komeito party is the smaller of Japan’s two ruling parties.

Yamaguchi, who arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, is the first senior member of Japan’s ruling bloc to travel to China since the Japanese government announced it would “purchase” part of the Diaoyu Islands in September, a move that soured bilateral relations.

“China’s stance on the Diaoyu Islands is consistent and clear,” Xi said, urging the Japanese side to respect history as well as reality and make joint efforts with China to seek effective methods for appropriately controlling and resolving problems through dialogue and consultation.

While the China Daily report chose to quote Xi emphasizing consistency in China’s stance on the islands, New York Times coverage notes that the leader’s comments were soft when compared to previous official statements:

China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, offered Japan a conciliatory tone during a meeting with a senior Japanese politician on Friday in an apparent effort to reduce the escalating tensions between the two countries over islands in the East China Sea.

In some of his first remarks on China’s foreign policy since becoming secretary general of the Communist Party, Mr. Xi told the Japanese lawmaker, Natsuo Yamaguchi, “The Chinese government remains committed to China-Japan relations,” according to an account provided by China’s Foreign Ministry.

Mr. Xi urged both sides to “look at the larger picture” and “push relations forward,” the Foreign Ministry said, language markedly more restrained than the combative exhortations from military officials and state-run media since the dispute over the islands erupted four months ago.

Natsuo Yamaguchi, the envoy who met with Xi, represented Japan’s new coalition government led by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, a man whose “hawkish” campaign statements concerning the Diaoyu Islands were a cause for concern in China. Japanese coverage of the meeting notes that Yamaguchi delivered a letter on Abe’s behalf requesting a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders, and that Xi responded agreeably. From The Asahi Shimbun:

During their hour-long discussion, Yamaguchi handed Xi a letter from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe requesting a summit meeting between the two new heads of government.

“I will seriously consider a high-level dialogue,” Xi responded. “To do so, arranging the proper environment is of vital importance.”

Upon returning to Tokyo, Yamaguchi expressed optimism about an eventual resolution to the territorial dispute. Reuters reports:

Japan takes a broad view of the issue and believes tensions can be resolved between the two countries, he told reporters before returning to Tokyo after a four-day visit.

“Japan wishes to pursue ties with China while looking at the big picture,” Yamaguchi said he told Xi, who is set to take over as China’s president in March.

“I firmly believe our differences with China can be resolved,” Yamaguchi said, adding that he did not directly discuss the islands issue with Xi.

“We agreed that it is important to continue dialogue with the aim of holding a Japan-China summit between the two leaders,” he added, though no specific details were given. “Secretary Xi said he will seriously consider a high-level dialogue with Japan.”

Another report from Reuters tells of an imminent U.N. investigation into the validity of China’s claims on the group of islands:

The United Nations is planning to consider later this year the scientific validity of a claim by China that a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea are part of its territory, although Japan says the world body should not be involved.

It was not immediately clear if the U.N. involvement would increase the likelihood the China-Japan dispute would be resolved peacefully. But launching an international legal process that should yield a neutral scientific opinion could reduce the temperature for now in Beijing’s spat with Tokyo.

In a submission to the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, China says the continental shelf in the East China Sea is a natural prolongation of China’s land territory and that it includes the disputed islands.

As China and Japan appear to be softening their rhetoric, Taiwan – another claimant to sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands – is reasserting its claims. The Asahi Shimbun reports on confrontation between the Japanese Coast Guard and a fishing boat full of Taiwanese activists on January 24:

The fishing boat, accompanied by four Taiwanese cutters, entered the contiguous zone off Japan’s territorial waters around the islands, but was chased off by the Japan Coast Guard using a water cannon. The uninhabited islands, called Diaoyutai in Taiwan, are effectively administered by Japan but are claimed by both Taiwan and China.

[...]The “Chinese Association for Protecting the Diaoyutais,” which sent the fishing boat, is a group of political activists, four of whom hold fishery certificates. Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said there was no reason to block the boat from leaving port, because the action was lawful.

[...]A Taiwanese Foreign Ministry source indicated the authorities approved the latest departure because the Ma administration was eager to assert Taiwan’s role and presence at a time when the United States, Japan’s ally, and China have come to loggerheads over the Senkakus issue.

“We have to assert ourselves whenever China takes a strong stand,” the ministry source said.

But Taipei has also been careful not to give the impression, either at home or abroad, that China and Taiwan are joining hands over the Senkakus dispute.

© josh rudolph for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cross-strait relatioins, diaoyu islands, Japan, Japan relations, maritime disputes, maritime security, Taiwan, territorial disputes
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Taiwan has relied heavily on US presidential support for its independent existence in a “one China” world, but recent steps toward warmer cross-Strait relations may mean Taiwan will need to depend less on Barack Obama when he’s president.

Earlier this month, China’s Chen Yun-lin became the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit the island since Chiang Kai-shek fled the mainland in 1949.

Mr. Chen, the Chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), was in Taipei for a five-day visit that marked a major diplomatic thaw after eight years of tension during the presidency of independence-minded Chen Shui-bien. The meeting featured four China-Taiwan agreements providing for direct air, shipping, and postal links, and food safety.

© Japhet Weeks for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beijing and Taiwan, chen yulin, cross-strait relatioins
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Chen, the most senior Chinese official to visit the self-ruled island in 60 years, finally left the Regent Hotel in the early hours after police struggled to keep back more than 2,000 protesters venting their anger at his visit.

A staff member at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, where Chen is staying, confirmed the envoy returned at about 2:30am (1830 GMT Wednesday).

Earlier, at least one policeman was injured in scuffles with the protesters, said the TVBS news channel.

Television footage also showed angry demonstrators surrounding a Chinese television reporter late Wednesday in an attempt to prevent her from leaving the hotel before the police intervened.

© Japhet Weeks for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chinese envoy in Taiwan, cross-strait relatioins, Taiwan independence
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

The attack on Mr Zhang was shown on television news broadcasts across Taiwan, and correspondents say the images are likely to inflame tensions between the pro-independence and pro-Beijing camps.

Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing was on a private visit to a Confucian temple in Tainan, Taiwan when he was physically and verbally attacked by pro-Taiwan supporters. The Taipei Times has a detailed description of what happened:

TV footage showed Tainan City Councilor Wang Ding-wu (王定宇) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) shouting “Taiwan wants independence” and “Taiwan is not part of China” during a shoving match with Zhang, who fell to the ground, losing his glasses. But it was not clear if Zhang tripped or was pushed down.

Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing loses his glasses and falls as he is jostled during a scuffle with pro-Taiwan protesters during a visit to the Confucius Temple in Tainan yesterday.

A protester wearing a green headband and black T-shirt with green letters and characters reading “Taiwan Team” and “Save Taiwan” then climbed onto the roof of the car Zhang was in and began jumping up and down. He then dropped to the hood of the car and began banging on it.

…

The Presidential Office, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) and Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) all expressed regret over the incident at the temple and condemned the harassment and violent behavior.

Zhang, who was part of a 21-member Chinese academic delegation attending the 2008 Cross-Strait Academic Symposium on Mass Communications and Image Arts at Tainan National University of the Arts, experienced a similar welcome yesterday before he was scheduled to give a speech at the university.

Read also: Do You Believe In Wang Ding-yu Or Your Lying’ Eyes? in the ESWN blog.

© jwu for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beijing and Taiwan, cross-strait relatioins, Zhang Mingqing
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Chinese tourists were first officially admitted to Taiwan in 2002. But visits are capped at 1,000 a day, and tourists must travel to the island via third locations because of restrictions on direct cross-strait flights.

But if Ma Ying-jeou, the president-elect, has his way, that will change.

Ma, who takes office on May 20, has promised to reach an agreement on more Chinese tourists and weekend cross-strait charter flights by early July, expanding to weekday charters by the end of the year and regularly scheduled flights by summer 2009. All this is part of his election pledge to stimulate the island’s laggard economy with closer cross-strait economic ties.

Under the plan, the cap would be tripled to 3,000 Chinese tourists a day, or more than 1 million per year. Last year, 320,169 mainlanders visited Taiwan, only 81,900 of whom officially came as tourists, according to Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council. The rest were listed as business travelers or “others.”

In a few years, Ma hopes, the cap could rise to 10,000 tourist visits per day. Tourist revenues will have benefits throughout the economy, he says, especially helping lower- and middle-income Taiwanese in the service sector.

© Japhet Weeks for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cross-strait relatioins, Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan tourism
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Let’s say that one day Beijing elects to attack Taiwan with all its military might, but Taiwan refuses to surrender despite mounting civilian casualties and considerable damage to roads, bridges, ports, airports and other key infrastructure.

Caught unawares, or at least unable to respond in time, Washington dispatches warships to the area and ratchets up the rhetoric. By the time these arrive, however, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ground and air forces have overcome the Taiwanese military in most locations and secured the Presidential Office, key military installations, the legislature and other important government buildings. The Americans, recognizing when a thing cannot be undone by military means, withdraw a certain distance and watch.[Full Text]

© Mo Ming for China Digital Times (CDT), 2006. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cross-strait relatioins
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall