Japan's defense chief to visit China next month: report

TOKYO (AFP) Aug 16, 2003
Japan's Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba will make a four-day visit to China from September 1 to hold talks with Chinese officials including Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan, a report said Saturday.

Ishiba's visit would mark the first trip to China by a Japanese defense agency director general since 1998, Kyodo News said, quoting sources close to Japanese and Chinese affairs.

Last year China postponed a scheduled visit by then agency chief Gen Nakatani to protest Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo.

The shrine is widely seen as a symbol of Japan's former militarism, particularly since 1978 when it enshrined 14 convicted Class-A war criminals including wartime prime minister General Hideki Tojo.

Koizumi made his third trip since becoming premier to Yasukuni in a surprise visit in January this year, drawing harsh criticism from China, South and North Korea.

Ishiba will first travel to Shanghai on September 1 and go to Beijing for talks with Cao, according to Kyodo.

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