Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Sunday that Japan
is committed to further enhancing its relations with China.
A strategic Sino-Japanese partnership based on mutual respect is
in the interests of both countries and will contribute to regional
stability, Komura told a group of high-profile diplomats at a key
security conference in the southern German city of Munich.
Japan should seize the opportunity of a state visit to Japan by
Chinese President Hu Jintao in spring to push bilateral relations
to a higher level, Komura said.
"China is a key player not only in Asia but in the international
community," he said, noting that many global issues, including
climate change and the fight against terrorism, can not be
effectively addressed without China's involvement.
Komura welcomed China's constructive role in solving the nuclear
issue of the Korean peninsula within the framework of six-party
talks.
The minister also warned that any unilateral attempts to change
the status quo across the Taiwan strait could spell tensions in the
region.
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who visited China in
December, has described 2008 as "a very rare opportunity" for the
development of Sino-Japanese relations.
The year 2008 marks the 30th anniversary of a Sino-Japanese
friendship and peace treaty, which was signed by Fukuda's father,
former Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda, and the late Chinese
leader Deng Xiaoping in 1978.
The three-day annual security meeting, which kicked off on
Friday, is scheduled to address a range of the world's most thorny
issues.
Some 300 high-profile diplomats, including NATO Secretary
General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates
and the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana,
attended this year's meeting.
(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2008)
