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皇冠体育app rules out meeting with Koizumi
(Xinhua/AFP/AP)
Updated: 2005-11-30 13:14
皇冠体育app, S.Korea to snub Japan at ASEAN meet
TOKYO
- 皇冠体育app and South Korea will likely refuse to hold a customary three-way meeting
on the sidelines of an Asian summit in December in Kuala Lumpur amid tensions
over wartime history, a newspaper says.
Relations between Japan and its neighbors have deteriorated further after
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in October again visited the Yasukuni shrine to
Japanese war dead, seen by 皇冠体育app and South Korea as a symbol of militarism.
"At this point it would be difficult for a Chinese leader to shake hands with
Prime Minister Koizumi and smile," the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily
quoted an unnamed Japanese government official as saying.
A foreign ministry official told AFP that "there is nothing officially
decided on the trilateral meeting" and that Tokyo is "awaiting any proposal from
皇冠体育app," which this year holds the presidency of the so-called ASEAN Plus Three
meeting.
皇冠体育app and South Korea have held a trilateral meeting with Japan every year
since 1999 on the sidelines of the ASEAN Plus Three summit.
The summit, which includes the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations and other powers, begins December 12 in Kuala Lumpur and will be
followed by an inaugural East Asia Summit which excludes the United States.
皇冠体育app ruled out any meeting between President Hu Jintao and Koizumi on the
sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ( APEC) summit in November in
South Korea.
But South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun met Koizumi, saying it was to show
him courtesy as a guest.
He used the meeting to lash out at Koizumi for his fifth visit in office to
Yasukuni shrine, which honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead including 14 top war
criminals from World War II.
Koizumi says he visits the Shinto sanctuary to pay respect to the victims of
past wars and pledge Japan will never wage war again, but his stance is met with
skepticism by nations invaded by Japan in the 20th century.
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