CHINA / National
Japan to end freeze on China aid loan
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-06-05 07:17
Japan mulls lifting the freeze on aid loans to China for fiscal 2005 in a
strong push to rectify its crippled foreign policy plagued by faltered
ties with neighboring China.
China's Minister of foreign affairs Li Zhaoxing, left, and Japan's
Foreign Minister Taro Aso, second left, arrive for a bilateral talk at
the opening of The Fifth Asian Cooperation Dialogue Conference held in
Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday, May 23, 2006. Others unidentified. [AP]
The move on the part of Japan is apparently aimed at giving a boost to
mending the soured sino-Japanese relationship, after Chinese Foreign
Minister Li Zhaoxing agreed last month on the sidelines of the fifth
ministerial meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue in Doha to promote
exchanges in economic, defense and other areas.
Li Zhaoxing said at the May meeting that the Chinese government has
attached great importance to developing Sino-Japanese friendship and is
ready to promote good-neighborly and cooperative ties with Japan based on
drawing on lessons from the history and looking to the future.
Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine which honors 14 top war
criminals has made the bilateral relationship at the ebb.
"A trend toward in improvement in Sino-Japanese ties is developing," said
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso. He added that extending yen loans
would further accelerate such moves.
The end to the loan freeze will be confirmed by Japan's top
decision-making panel on foreign aid strategy comprising Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Foreign Ministry Taro Aso and other ministers
sometime this week.
At the same time, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso plans to visit
Beijing sometime after the Group of Eight summit in Russia in mid-July,
in a bid to mend mutual ties.
The amount of yen loans to China has been declining since peaking in
fiscal 2000, with the figure coming to 85.9 billion yen for fiscal 2004.
The Japanese government is also considering reducing the yen loans for
fiscal 2005.
The Japanese Cabinet traditionally approves yen loans during the fiscal
year they are earmarked for. However, the procedure was put on ice in
fiscal 2005 due to the frosty state of bilateral ties.
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