President Hu Jintao's visit to Japan: some latest news

Yesterday, Japan’s Prime Minister and China’s President signed joint statements where the two leaders agreed to solve their territorial problems. They also agreed to hold an annual summit alternating between China and Japan and vowed to work jointly to stop global warming.

In a press conference, Yasuo Fukuda said that China and Japan had no other way but to take the path of peace and friendship and cooperation as neighbors. The two leaders said that they had confirmed that the two nations were cooperative partners, not threats to each other. In the conference, the leaders did not raise the gas field issue of East China sea but Fukuda said that the two countries had a solution in sight. President Hu also met with leaders of major Chinese and Japanese oil companies that were planning to launch a joint venture project.

On the same day, President Hu Jintao also met Japanese Emperor Akihito at the Tokyo Royal Palace. The President received a red carpet welcome and guard of honor. The emperor drank to the success of China in hosting the upcoming Olympics.

According to Japanese officials, President Hu did not show much interest in talking about Japan’s seat in the UN Security Council. Through this visit, both the leaders are trying to revive their image. Fukuda is trying to regain popularity; on the contrary, China is trying to regain its positive image as for the past few weeks the country has been facing international pressure regarding Tibet issue.

Today is the third day of President Hu Jintao’s five day visit. On the breakfast meeting, President Hu met with former Japanese Prime Ministers but Junichiro Koizumi was not invited. During his tenure as Japan’s Prime Minister, Koizumi went to the Yasukuni Shrine to pay homage to the dead soldiers of Japan. This created serious tension between China and Japan.

The President then went to the Waseda University. In his speech at the university, President Hu addressed the people of the two countries to forget their bitter war time history and build a broad partnership. International Herald Tribune reports:

The president's comments at the elite Waseda University on the wartime past were crucial, as Beijing has often accused Tokyo of failing to properly atone for its military conquests on the Asian mainland in the 1930s and 40s.

In his 30-minute address, Hu mentioned Japan's "militaristic invasion of China," but that it should not be dwelled upon.

"This unfortunate history not only caused tremendous suffering to the Chinese people but also gravely hurt the Japanese people," he said. "It's important for us to remember history, but this does not mean we should hold grudges."

While the President was delivering his speech, anti-China protesters had a fight with the police.A right-leaning alumni group of the university demanded to cancel the speech.

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Hu Jintao's visit to Japan: Will it truly start a long "warm spring"?

Japan and China are the two most powerful countries in Asia now. Unfortunately, these two countries do not have a good relationship. Japan’s Second World War massacre left deep wound in China. On the contrary, China’s continuous rise as a new power has always threatened Japan. For years, efforts have been made to ease the tension but nothing happened. Now, a new light of hope has emerged. For the past twenty months, officials of the two countries are trying to build a friendly relationship. As the ultimate sign of friendly gesture China’s President, Hu Jintao, has come on a five day visit in Japan on May 6^th. After China’s President Jiang Zemin’s visit in 1998, this is the first time any powerful Chinese official has visited China. President, Hu Jintao and Japan’s Prime- Minister, Yasuo Fukuda will attend a series of meetings where the two leaders will discuss about various business and political issues between two countries and draw out the future of Sino-Japanese relation.

Both Yasuo Fukuda and his father, former Prime Minister of Japan, Takeo Fukuda, were very much interested to build a good relationship with China. After Fukuda became Prime Minister, many Chinese people were very happy. Mr. Fukuda is known as a ‘Friend of China’.

China has replaced USA as the major trading partner of Japan. China is experiencing a rapid economic growth and it is hungry for new technology. On the other hand, China as a member of UN’s Security Council, is expected back Japan to be included as a member.

President Hu arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at noon. The two leaders then attended a dinner in Tokyo’s main park. During the dinner, President Hu offered to lend a pair of giant panda’s as a sign of friend ship.

However, many people on both sides are not very optimistic about all this. Hardcore nationalists of both countries oppose the idea of friendship or any kind of ties. Still, it is true that Japan and China are the two most powerful countries in Asia at present and if the people of these two great countries forgive each other for their past mishaps and focus on building a friendly relationship then great things can be accomplished.

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