China and Japan are to resume routine talks amid continuing diplomatic tension over several issues, including a controversial war shrine in Tokyo.

The talks are set to take place on Friday and Saturday, in Japan.

The announcement followed comments at the weekend by Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso which angered Beijing.

Mr Aso said Japanese colonial rule was of benefit to Taiwan's educational system. China and Japan have also rowed over oil and gas and their history.

The talks will take place in Tokyo between Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi and Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, a Japanese foreign ministry statement said.

"The purpose of this session is to have better communication between Japan and China," the statement said.

It said the two sides would "exchange frank opinions about the bilateral relationship and regional issues".

They are the first talks between the two sides since October.

The latest spat between the Asian giants happened at the weekend, when Mr Aso suggested Taiwan had good educational standards thanks to Japanese rule during 1895-1945.

The previous weekend, Mr Aso angered China by calling on Japan's Emperor Akihito to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Japan's war dead, including several convicted war criminals.

Beijing is already annoyed by repeated visits by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the shrine.

Mr Aso later backtracked on the comments.

BBC News

Would "Frank opinions" be

"You faggot"
"STFU n00b"
"fu-k you"

??

Taro Aso doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

i think there'll be some improvements on the talk unless that Aso get rid of his retarded thinking.

Japan, stop visiting those faggot @$$ shrines.

Stop playing around with the textbooks.

Leave China's island alone.

For the love of God, apologize already.

lol they're never going to stop visiting the shrines, most you can hope for is the removal of the names of the war criminals.

Shouldn't be much more of that considering the opposition from the JTU and other Japanese last time.



They've been apologising since god knows when, its hardly likely to stop anytime soon

I meant an actual official apology. Not empty words. You can't really expect me to take the apology seriously when the Shrine and the Textbook stuff is all after 25 unofficial apologies already.

Hmm......I thought the Asia-Africa summit one was official? Was it not?
Got enough media attention anyway

As of yet, I don't think so. It's just another "we're sorry", but they're unwilling to cross the threshold.

They've made old official ones, not sure about the recent ones, the recent ones seem to make reference to the official one in 1995.

15 August 1995. Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama. "During a certain period in the not-too-distant past, Japan, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly those of Asia. In the hope that no such mistake will be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humanity, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology"


6 September 1997. Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. "In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Government of Japan expressed its resolution through the statement by the Prime Minister, which states that during a certain period in the past, Japan's conduct caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, including China, and the Prime Minister expressed his feeling of deep remorse and stated his heartfelt apology, while giving his word to make efforts for peace. I myself was one of the ministers who was involved in drafting this statement. I would like to repeat that this is the official position of the Government of Japan. During the summit meeting that I had during my visit to China, I have made this point very clear in a frank manner to the Chinese side.

^ I see, did that count as official?

Here's the wiki source:

In 1995, China also has received an official apology regarding World War II by Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, “During a certain period in the not-too-distant past, Japan, following a mistaken national policy, advanced along the road to war, only to ensnare the Japanese people in a fateful crisis, and, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations. In the hope that no such mistake be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology.”

"Although Koizumi openly declared — in a statement made on April 22, 2005 in Jakarta — "deep remorse" over Japan's wartime aggression (the latest in a series of apologies spanning several decades), many observers regard the apology as insufficient and not backed up by sincere action, with more than 80 Parliament members and a Cabinet minister making a pilgrimage to the Yasukuni Shrine just hours earlier. [2]"

Taiwan, LOL

I am sure many Taiwanese will agree with Aso-san's statements

Ah, I read the Wiki part about the 1995 one but not the recent ones, some of the 1995/97 ones seem official so I don't know why they carried on

I'm sure Koizumi is losing brain cells..........

Although former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama personally apologized for illegal war crimes in 1995, he failed to obtain support in the Diet for an official apology by a margin of almost 2 to 1. In fact, there was a national campaign in which 4.5 million signatures were gathered against Murayama's resolution for an apology.

That could be the reason why Tomiichi Murayama used the first person “I” throughout his apology to make it personal.

http://slate.msn.com/id/1066/

"Japanese politicians' reluctance to apologize stems from their fear of blaming ancestors and dishonoring war heroes. The government has always used the word hansei, regret, instead of owabi, apologize. Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama issued an official owabi apology on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II but soon after qualified his statement, stressing that it was a personal apology, not a national one. At the moment of Murayama's remarks, nine Cabinet members were conspicuously visiting a shrine to Japan's military dead--some of whom had been executed for war crimes."



This was from a different thread. I guess it was rejected.

Eugh....Japanese government
You get a decent guy with a bunch of d!ckheads.........just typical.
You'd think they'd realise that they're going to have to make up with the rest of asia whether they like it or not

^ Japan is very proud, and like China, is becoming nationalistic and isolationist. With the rise of Japan, it has tried to highten its status in the region.

If Japan apologizes, it loses face, and thus loses out to a country it once called backwards.

I would have thought it would be better to make one big official apology and clear everything up as opposed to a bunch of unofficial ones

Meh, I don't think it loses face by apologising, it would by stopping the visits to the shrine though.

quote from 2pac

I just hope one day Taro Aso will become the PM of Japan. Enough bull$hit already...

More of these discussions is good; but some sort of result needs to be reached.

While Japan has kind of 'apologised' unofficially, it's still a case of: "Continue the sorry's... Continue the misdeeds'

you know... 先说对不起；做错还来得急。