The Chinese government has announced plans to rein in domestic reporting about Japan in an effort to improve bilateral relations. According to the Straits Times, “The move comes at a time of worsening public sentiment in both countries towards the other due to historical issues, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines war criminals along with the war dead… Mr Zhao Qizhen, head of China’s State Council Information Office, told Japanese reporters recently that, as a socialist country, China was guiding the mass media on reporting about Japan. ” The full article is available via Asia Media.
Prime Minister Wen is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Koizumi in Hanoi this week. An Asahi Shimbun article about the deteriorating relations between the two countries is here.
