Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing yesterday urged Japan to remove political obstacles to Sino-Japanese relations so that bilateral ties can be put back on the normal track.

 

Li was apparently referring to the repeated visits by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a controversial war shrine, which honors convicted class-A WWII war criminals.

 

"The Japanese leader should make a correct political judgment in a responsible way," he was quoted by Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV as telling his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso in Kuala Lumpur.

 

Koizumi has made an annual pilgrimage to the shrine five times since he took office in April 2001, severely straining Japan's relations with its neighbors, including China and South Korea.

 

China is refusing to hold talks with Japan until the visits to the shrine stop.

 

Li and Aso met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur. The two foreign ministers held their first discussion on the sidelines of an Asian economic conference in Doha, Qatar this May.

 

They agreed that the two countries should improve their ties in line with spirit in the three Sino-Japanese political documents, the Phoenix TV reported.

 

On the issue of Pyongyang's nuclear program, Li said both countries pledged to make joint effort to push for an early resumption of the six-party talks.

 

China and Japan will work together to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and achieve the goal of denuclearization there, Li said.

 

His comments came as North Korea has refused to rejoin the six-nation nuclear talks until the US drops financial sanctions.

 

"There can be no such a thing as six-way talks," North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Chung Sung-il told reporters after its Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

 

"As we have already said, the US should first lift its financial sanctions on us ... if they want to see the six-way talks resume at an early date," Chung said.

 

Pyongyang's announcement follows feverish diplomacy aimed at arranging an informal session of the six-party talks on its nuclear program at the ASEAN Regional Forum.

 

(China Daily July 28, 2006)