Aso aims to confirm about resumption of six-party talks with China+

TOKYO, April 24 Kyodo -
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will make a two-day visit to Beijing from
Wednesday and aims to achieve a consensus with Chinese leaders that six-party
talks on denuclearizing North Korea should be resumed soon, government sources
said Friday.
In separate talks with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, Aso aims to
secure Chinese cooperation to work jointly on issues such as the abduction of
Japanese nationals by Pyongyang and the threat posed by its nuclear and missile
program, which was reinforced following an April 5 rocket launch by the North.
On Japan-China relations, the leaders are expected to agree to hold a
ministerial dialogue in the economic field in Tokyo in June, the government
sources said.
The leaders are also expected to exchange views on enhancing bilateral
cooperation on environmental problems, a Foreign Ministry official said.
The bilateral talks will come just after Aso was found to have made an offering
to Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni Shrine for its spring festival held earlier
this week, prompting China to convey its ''grave concern and dissatisfaction''
to Japan.
The shrine, dedicated to the war dead, is seen by Japan's Asian neighbors as a
symbol of Japan's militarist past because it also honors convicted war
criminals.
But a Japanese government source brushed aside concern that the incident may
adversely affect the talks, saying, ''It will not be an obstacle to the talks
and the Japanese side will not explain this issue (during the talks)'' because
the Chinese response has been restrained.
The Japanese and Chinese leaders are also expected to confirm a policy of
further promoting strategic and mutually beneficial bilateral relations and
agree to cooperate to overcome the current global economic crisis, the sources
said.
Other issues which are expected to be taken up in the talks are a proposed
joint gas exploration in the disputed East China Sea as well as a case last
year in which Chinese-made frozen meat dumplings made some people sick in
Japan, the Foreign Ministry official said.
==Kyodo