Japanese trade minister heads to China
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-21 14:47

Japan's trade minister was heading to Beijing on Tuesday for talks with his Chinese counterpart, officials said, in an effort to repair relations badly frayed by disputes over undersea gas deposits, World War II history and other issues.

The meeting would be the highest-level contact between the two since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi enraged Beijing in October by visiting a Tokyo war shrine that China considers a glorification of Japan's wartime militarism.

Japanese Trade Minister Toshihiro Nikai, who was to leave later Tuesday, had also requested a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, but China has not responded, said Kyoko Kato, an official of the Trade Ministry's Northeast Asian section.

Nikai's meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai was expected on Wednesday, Kato said. Kato refused to comment on the agenda, but Japanese news reports have said the first order of business would be the conflict over gas exploration in the East China Sea.

China has extracted gas from one of several fields in the East China Sea, triggering protests from Japan, which fears the reserves might run dry. Previous talks aimed at resolving the issue have produced little progress.

Koizumi, however, said he hoped the meeting would help chart the path for better relations between the two countries.

"I am an advocate of friendly relations between China and Japan," he told reporters. "Therefore, I have asked that they talk carefully about what is necessary for future-oriented, friendly relations."

Relations between China and Japan have plummeted over a spate of disputes in the past year, including a row over the death of a Japanese consulate worker in Shanghai and differing interpretations of Japan's invasion of China in the lead-up to World War II. The two countries are linked by billions of dollars of trade, aid and investment.