Single case should not 'shadow' warming ties
By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-05 07:29

The warming of China-Japan relations should not be shadowed by the recent incident of poisoned dumplings, which is an "individually contrived case", Vice-Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said yesterday.

Wu made the remarks at a group discussion of the ongoing first session of the 11th national committee of the CPPCC in Beijing.

The case involved a report by Japanese media in January, which said 10 people fell ill after consuming frozen meat dumplings produced by the Tianyang Food Plant based in Hebei province.

The vice-minister said such incidents are hard to avoid given the two countries' close ties, reflected by a bilateral trade volume of more than $200 billion, which lags behind trade between China and the European Union.

To safeguard food security, Wu called for both sides to establish a long-term mechanism.

He said China-Japan relations are "at a new beginning" and have entered a favorable period of improvement and development, ahead of President Hu Jintao's visit to Japan this spring.

The first by a Chinese head of state to Japan in 10 years, the visit is an important opportunity for the further development of bilateral ties, he said.

"The visit will have a positive and deep impact on the long-term and stable development of relations," Wu said.

"Both sides are working closely on negotiation and communication for the upcoming visit."

After a cool period of nearly five years, the two sides have made mutual efforts to promote bilateral ties.

Six-Party talks

As to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Wu said there remain difficulties, including divergence in the concerned parties' understanding of Pyongyang's declaration of the nuclear program.

He said progress has been made to carry out the agreements reached during the Six-Party talks a year ago. In February last year, the six countries, namely China, Russia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, Republic of Korea and Japan, pledged to take an actions-for-actions approach towards the goal of freeing the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.

DPRK has been disabling its key nuclear facilities and other parties have provided aid, such as heavy oil and food, to DPRK, as the agreements dictate, Wu said.

He said the US has not fulfilled its commitment to the DPRK and has not implemented actions it has planned.

"It will take time to resolve these difficulties," Wu said.

Fighting corruption

The core of anti-corruption is how the developed world works with developing countries to provide technical and financial support, Wu, who headed a delegation to an anti-corruption convention in Bali, Indonesia in January, said.

He said such collaboration will also play a positive role in seizing corrupt officials who took public funds and are at large in foreign countries.

China has signed 92 bilateral legal and extradition agreements with more than 50 countries since it ratified the UN Convention against Corruption in 2003. It also set up last year the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention.

(China Daily 03/05/2008 page6)