FM meet ends in deadlock

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi once again expressed China's stern stance over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea during the first ministerial meeting between China and Japan since Tokyo's "purchase" of the islands.

The meeting was held at the request of the Japanese side Tuesday on the sidelines of the general debate of the UN General Assembly in New York.

During the talks, Yang told his Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba that Japan's "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islets was "a gross violation of China's territorial sovereignty, an outright denial of the outcomes of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and a grave challenge to the post-war international order," said a statement on the website of China's foreign ministry.

Yang stressed that the Japanese side stirred up the current tensions and must take full responsibility. He urged Japan to face reality and stop having illusions, and take concrete measures to correct its mistakes and stop all activities that undermine China's territorial sovereignty.

According to Kyodo News, Gemba told reporters the atmosphere in the hour-long meeting was "severe," and urged China to exercise restraint over the island row.

Though the two sides failed to narrow their differences, they agreed to maintain consultations on the issue of the Diaoyu Islands and bilateral ties.

"There is no magic bullet in foreign diplomacy. We need to hold talks through various channels taking into account a broad perspective," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference in Tokyo Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The ministerial meeting came on the heels of consultations held by Chinese vice foreign minister Zhang Zhijun and Japanese vice foreign minister Chikao Kawai in Beijing on Tuesday, during which neither party backed down over the tensions.

Huang Dahui, director of the Center for East Asia Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times that neither side was expected to make any major concessions amid the row as they were being watched closely by the public on both sides.

"Unlike unexpected incidents such as the boat collision in 2010, the disputes over the Diaoyu Islands have been simmering for months. It will take a while for tensions to cool down," said Huang, adding that the two sides ought to create the right conditions by keeping channels of communication open.

China postponed a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties with Japan, but an official at the Japan-China Economic Association said Toyota Motor Corp Chairman Fujio Cho and Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of Japanese business lobby Keidanren, and other representatives of Japan-China friendship groups would attend an event on Thursday in Beijing, Reuters reported.

The current political climate in Japan makes it impossible for Tokyo to change its position before the next general election, Huang said.

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Japan's largest opposition party, elected former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as its new leader, which may allow him to stage a comeback for the premiership.

Abe, 58, who became Japanese prime minister in 2006 and quit after a year due to health problems, beat former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba in a tight race on Wednesday.

While China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Wednesday declined to make a comment on Abe's election, saying that it was Japan's internal affair, observers said China should be vigilant, given Abe's conservative leanings.

Feng Zhaokui, an expert on Japanese studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday that a victory by the LDP would mean Japanese politics further tilting to the right, and Sino-Japanese relations would face more difficulties.

Abe would stick to the US-Japan alliance, and seek an amendment to the constitution to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, said analysts.

Huang further noted that China should be vigilant against the LDP's position over historical issues, but expected that Abe wouldn't abandon Japan-China strategic and mutually beneficial relations, which were first raised during his ice-breaking trip to China in 2006.

Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany's largest daily, said in an article last week that Japan's willful neglect of its wartime crimes was the reason behind its repeated territorial rows with neighbors.

The article said Japan has never made an effort to come to terms with its wartime past, either denying the atrocities or downplaying them with empty phrases such as "it was just war."

"Although the Japanese government expressed several times their regret over the incidents in the war, those pseudo-apologies were always followed by relativizations," it said.