China hints at opposition to Japan on UN seat
(AP/China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-01 19:13

China hinted on Thursday it would oppose Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, days before a visit by Secretary-General Kofi Annan that will address plans to reform the body.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi leaves the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in October 2005.[AFP]

Japan's lobbying for a permanent seat on the council was one of the factors behind a wave of anti-Japanese protests in China earlier this year that were the latest manifestation of old resentments between the Asian giants over Japan's wartime aggression.

"We support U.N. Security Council reform but we believe reforms should give priority to developing countries so they can have better participation in international affairs," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news conference.

"We think only those countries that can face up to history and take responsibility for their actions can play a greater role in international affairs," he said, adding Japan needed to win the trust of its neighbours.

Annan will visit China from December 4-7, and will discuss proposals to reform the Security Council with Chinese leaders.

China advocates reform of the council through democratic consensus and in August threatened to veto a plan to enlarge the body if reform measures were put to a vote.

On Wednesday, Cui Tiankai, director-general of the foreign ministry's Asian affairs department, said poor relations with Japan were harming prospects for regional cooperation, ahead of the inaugural meeting of the East Asia Summit in Malaysia on December 14.

China opposes Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni shrine for the war dead, which it sees as a symbol of Japan's World War Two aggression. It also objects to the revision of a history textbook China says whitewashes Japan's World War Two atrocities.