Vice Premier cancels meeting with Koizumi
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-23 11:08

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi has cancelled a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that had been billed as a way for the two nations to help resolve tensions between them.

"As per the guidance of the Chinese government, she has to return this afternoon due to urgent domestic duties," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the Japanese government spokesman.

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi speaks at the 11th International Conference on 'The Future of Asia' in Tokyo May 23, 2005. [Reuters]

Officials would not elaborate on the reasons for the cancellation of the meeting, which was set for Monday afternoon.

But Tokyo Television, quoting government sources, said Wu wanted to avoid discussions of Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni shrine, a sanctuary to war dead in Tokyo.

Chinese President Hu Jintao had met Sunday in Beijing with senior lawmakers of Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party and warned them that visits to the Yasukuni shrine were endangering ties.

The shrine is dedicated to 2.5 million Japanese who died in the country's wars, including 14 top war criminals from World War II.

Koizumi has visited the shrine every year since taking office in 2001, with the last visit on January 1, 2004. His visits have angered China and South Korea, which suffered bloody occupations by Japan last century.

Last week, however, Koizumi indicated he would pay another visit to the shrine.

Wu also cancelled a meeting with Katsuya Okada, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

But a foreign ministry official said she would keep a scheduled lunch with Hiroshi Okuda, who heads the largest business lobby, Nippon Kendanren, and is chairman of Toyota Motor, Japan's biggest company.

China last year became Japan's biggest trading partner, with Japanese firms drawn to China's vast pool of cheap labor and growing middle-class market.

Wu arrived in Japan last week to attend the World Exposition in the central province of Aichi.

She also met with business leaders in Aichi's main city of Nagoya and called for talks to reach a bilateral free-trade agreement, an idea the Koizumi government reacted cautiously to.

No timetable yet on yuan reform

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi (R) shakes hands with Hiroshi Okuda, Chairman of the Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), before a luncheon in Tokyo May 23, 2005. Wu cancelled a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi scheduled for Monday and cut short her trip to Japan, Japanese officials said. [Reuters]

Vice Premier Wu Yi said on Monday that China remains committed to reforming its currency but no timetable has been set for when the reform will take place.

"We will not reform the yuan until the time is right even if there is external pressure," Wu told a conference in Tokyo, speaking through an interpreter. "As for when to reform the yuan, there is no timetable yet," she said when asked about Beijing's stance on widely awaited reforms in the yuan.

China has kept the yuan's value in a narrow band around 8.28 to the U.S. dollar since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

Critics say the rate gives Chinese exports an unfair competitive advantage, and Beijing is facing increasing pressure from the United States and other countries to allow it to appreciate.

Washington, the most aggressive advocate of a more flexible yuan, has been urging China for two years to modify its pegged currency regime and has raised the threat of potential trade retaliation if it continues to delay.

Wu said that given China's economic development, Beijing is fully committed to reforming its exchange rate regime regardless of external pressure.

But she stressed that every country has the right to choose it own exchange rate regime as well as appropriate currency levels in line with its national interests.

"We are now preparing for the reform of the yuan's exchange rate system. For such reforms to take place, we need good economic conditions ... and we need to do it under tight control," she added.

Wu said Beijing has been reforming state-owned banks, for instance, to make it easier for authorities to reform the yuan, as well as strengthening the banking sector by injecting capital.

"Also, we need to realise risks involved in reforms of the foreign exchange rate regime."

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