Japan, China agree on information exchange over swine flu

BEIJING, April 30 Kyodo -
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said Thursday that he agreed with Chinese
leaders to try to prevent the spread of the global swine flu epidemic by
exchanging information and joining hands on prevention measures.
At a press conference wrapping up his two-day visit to the Chinese capital, Aso
also said the two countries agreed to cooperate closely to try to restart the
stalled six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea.
Aso met with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday and Premier Wen Jiabao on
Wednesday.
''We agreed that Japan and China should cooperate in dealing with (the swine
flu epidemic), given the serious situation,'' Aso said.
''Depending on developments, Japan and China will exchange information in a
swift manner and cooperate over prevention methods,'' he said.
While Japan and China have yet to be affected, swine flu shot up the agenda of
the talks as confirmed cases of infection have been reported in more than 10
countries after the virus killed dozens of people in Mexico.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday raised its alert level to phase 5,
one notch below the highest phase, meaning that the world is facing an imminent
risk of a pandemic.
A Japanese government official quoted Hu as saying that he could not rule out
the possibility of the flu virus affecting China, adding that Japan and China
should cooperate as they are neighbors and face risks in that regard.
On North Korea, Aso said he agreed with the Chinese leaders to ''cooperate
closely for the resumption of the six-party talks.''
North Korea said it was pulling out of the multilateral framework in response
to the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its April 5 rocket launch,
further complicating the reopening of the already stalled negotiations.
North Korea said Wednesday it will carry out further nuclear tests, following
its first in 2006, if the U.N. Security Council does not apologize.
The Japanese government official quoted Hu as saying that while the six-party
talks are in ''a difficult phase'' after North Korea's strong reaction to being
censured by the U.N. Security Council, the parties should try to turn the
situation around through dialogue.
China is the chair of the talks that group the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia
and the United States.
Aso also said the two countries agreed to cooperate over ways to overcome the
global economic crisis, including by boosting domestic demand and preventing
protectionism.
The two countries, which hold the world's two largest foreign exchange
reserves, also agreed that they should work to secure the flow of funds to
developing countries through institutions such as the International Monetary
Fund, Aso said.
Aso's visit came after he made an offering at the war-related Yasukuni Shrine
in Tokyo, prompting an angry reaction from China. In their talks on Wednesday,
Wen reminded Aso of the sensitive historical issues between the two countries.
Hu also said Thursday that the two countries should ''appropriately deal with
frictions and differences of opinion,'' according to the Japanese official. The
issue of history ''should be dealt with appropriately in particular,'' he was
quoted as saying.
In both meetings, Aso replied that Japan's position has not changed from a
landmark 1995 statement in which then Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama
apologized and expressed remorse for Japan's colonial rule and atrocities
before and during World War II.
The shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, is seen by Tokyo's Asian neighbors
as a symbol of Japan's militarist past. It has been a source of discord in
relations between Tokyo and Beijing.
==Kyodo