East Asia powers still have issues

This was the first such meeting for the new leader of Japan, Premier Yukio Hatoyama, who is calling for an East Asian Community, which is also backed by the two other countries.

In a joint statement after their discussions, the three countries reaffirmed their commitment “to the development of an East Asia community based on the principles of openness, transparency, inclusiveness as a long term goal.”

Hatoyama had announced during the election campaign that if elected he would not visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japanese war criminals as well as other war dead. This announcement was welcomed by both Beijing and Seoul, which strongly objected to former Japanese leaders visiting the shrine.

However, Japan still has territorial disputes with both China and South Korea and there is little sign that these can be resolved any time soon. Japan claims the Takeshima, or Tokdo, islands which are controlled by South Korea. And it controls the Senkakus, which is claimed by the Chinese and known to them as the Diaoyu Islands.

Moreover, the Beijing talks showed that Sino-Japanese differences over other issues that bedeviled the relationship last year, such as poisonous dumplings imported from China, have yet to be resolved.

The Senkaku-Diaoyu dispute is actually less over the tiny uninhabitable rocks than over the resources under the seabed of the East China Sea. China and Japan signed an agreement last year that they would undertake joint development of undersea resources, but there is as yet no agreement as to where and when such exploitation should begin.

According to Japanese accounts, Hatoyama urged the start of negotiations for a treaty that would allow joint development to start. However, his Chinese counterpart, Premier Wen Jiabao, was quoted as saying that while he hoped officials from the two countries could meet soon, he added that public sentiment in China had to be taken into consideration.

There is strong anti-Japanese sentiment among the Chinese population, just as there is strong anti-Chinese sentiment among the Japanese public.

On another issue, that of poisonous Chinese dumplings, the two countries have agreed to ministerial-level talks on food safety. However, the Chinese seem unwilling to acknowledge that they were responsible for those who were sickened in Japan after eating pesticide-laced dumplings. Wen was quoted as saying that there was still no “conclusive evidence” though China was willing to strengthen cooperation in the investigation.

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