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Koizumi says China, S. Korea will regret not holding summit talks+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, April 25_(Kyodo) _ Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he thinks China and South Korea will come to regret their refusal to hold summit talks with Japan, as a result of his visits to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine. "There must come a time when they will regret they have said they do not want to hold summit talks due to this issue," Koizumi told reporters, reiterating that he "cannot understand" the positions of Beijing and Seoul. The premier made the remarks when asked on the eve of his administration's fifth anniversary if he plans to visit Yasukuni on the Aug. 15 anniversary of the end of World War II, as he pledged in taking office. He has never visited the shrine on the day. "Because the other side has to save face, this problem will likely take time (to resolve)," the premier said, reiterating that he plans to visit Yasukuni this year, but did not say when. While repeating that he is an advocate of Japan-China friendship and is ready for talks "any time" with both neighboring countries, Koizumi said, "For the sake of this friendship, critics of my Yasukuni visits are saying China is against it. They say we have to listen to what China says." Chinese and South Korean leaders have refused to hold summit talks with Koizumi ever since he made his fifth annual visit to the shrine last October, despite their repeated protests already lodged with Tokyo. Koizumi claimed Tuesday the leaders of other countries with whom he has had talks have "all understood my argument and said it is China and South Korea that are unusual." Regarding South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun's special statement in which he outlined a hard-line policy on bilateral issues with Japan, including a dispute over a pair of Sea of Japan islets and his Yasukuni visits, Koizumi called for a resolution through dialogue. "I think it is a matter of discussing what realistic measures exist for a resolution on the basis of the recognition that Japan-South Korea relations are important, although various problems cannot be resolved at once," he said. In Seoul, Roh said in a live TV broadcast that Japan's claim to the South Korea-controlled islets, called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, is "intolerable" and that he would "deal strongly" with the Yasukuni and other issues. In a related move, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told reporters after a meeting with Koizumi, "The United States likes to see friendly relations between Japan and China, and on the other hand some of the issues are really issues of a special nature for Japan." "But I personally expect the relations over a period of time will improve, and the economic relations between Japan and China are already very good," Kissinger said. |