Japan / China / Russia Tensions at APEC Summit

Leaders of China & Japan held first formal talks since clashing two months ago over disputed islands, in hastily arranged attempt to patch up differences btwn two Asian powers.
 
Nov. 16, 2010 - PRLog -- The leaders of China and Japan held their first formal talks on Saturday since clashing two months ago over disputed islands,

in what appeared to be a hastily arranged attempt to patch up differences between the two Asian powers.

The leaders of Japan and Russia, who have also sparred recently over the Kurile Islands in the Pacific, also met Saturday, but appeared to remain divided.

The meetings took place on the sidelines of a summit meeting of 21 Asia-Pacific nations that Japan hosted over the weekend.

The 20-minute meeting between the Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, and the Chinese president, Hu Jintao,

was announced at the last minute, and appeared to yield little of substance.

However, Japanese officials called it significant that the two had met at all,

after Beijing had appeared to rebuff repeated attempts by Tokyo to bring the two together for formal talks.

Ties between the neighbors, long troubled by the bitterness over Japan’s militarism in the 1930s and 1940s,

hit their lowest point in years in September after Japan arrested a Chinese fishing trawler captain near disputed islands in the East China Sea,

known as the Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

China responded by

•   suspending midlevel diplomatic talks;
•   cutting off exports of rare earth metals, which are vital for many high-tech products;
•   and seizing four Japanese businessmen.

Japan released the captain two weeks later, but China demanded an apology and compensation;

Tokyo responded by demanding that Beijing pay for damage to a Japanese coast guard vessel that Japan said had been rammed by the Chinese trawler.

Since then, Japanese officials had been trying to arrange talks between the leaders in an effort to improve ties,

but the most they could manage was two brief, informal encounters during multilateral summit meetings.

Diplomatic analysts have said Beijing appeared to be taking a tough stand toward Tokyo
to appease domestic public opinion within China, where the standoff incited nationalistic protests.

At the start of Saturday’s meeting, both leaders appeared stiff and mirthless, briefly shaking hands and then exchanging formal pleasantries.

The mood contrasted with that of a meeting Mr. Kan held earlier with President Obama ...

To read more at http://www.economywatch.com, go to: http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-...

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