No Japan-China meeting planned at Europe summit
Japan's prime minister has no plans to meet with his Chinese counterpart at an Asian-European summit next week, Tokyo said Tuesday as it reasserted its sovereignty over disputed islands at the center of territorial row that have frayed ties between the two Asian trading partners.
Conditions had not been met for a meeting between Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku told reporters Tuesday, repeating that it was up to China to repair relations.
If conditions for such a meeting are met, the Foreign Ministry will "explore" the possibility of having bilateral talks on the sidelines of the ASEM summit, or Asia-Europe Meeting, to be held in Brussels on Oct. 4-5.
"But it is unclear whether we can have such conditions within one week," Sengoku said. "As I said yesterday, the ball is already in China's court."
Wen and Kan did not meet in New York last week when they were both attending a U.N. gathering.
Kan's government has come under fire at home for Japan's decision Friday to release the fishing boat captain amid intense Chinese pressure. The skipper was arrested earlier this month after colliding with two Japanese patrol boats near islands in the East China Sea that the Chinese call Diaoyu and
however Japanese call Senkaku. Japan controls the islands but China and Taiwan also claim them.
