TOKYO (AFP) — Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Thursday rejected Japanese pressure over the Tibet situation, reiterating that it was a domestic issue in which foreign countries should not interfere.
Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told a joint press conference that he had urged Yang during talks here to "increase transparency and stressed the importance of dialogue" to resolve the Tibetan problem.
But Yang rebuffed the call, saying he had told Komura "that the Tibetan issue is China's domestic issue" at a meeting that had aimed to lay the groundwork for a visit by President Hu Jintao that was confirmed for May 6-10.
"The door is always open to dialogue," Yang said, adding that obstacles to talks lay with Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and his supporters.
"If they are sincere enough and they abandon a policy of independence for Tibet and stop violent activities and stop interfering with the Olympics, we are ready to talk with them," he said.
China has repeatedly blamed people close to the Dalai Lama for orchestrating unrest in Tibet, which it says is a deliberate attempt to sabotage the upcoming Beijing Olympics, and accuses him of seeking independence for Tibet.
The Dalai Lama denies the charges and says he only wants "meaningful autonomy" for the Himalayan region to preserve Tibet's language, culture and environment within China, and does not seek independence.
China has made no secret of its displeasure at the Dalai Lama's frequent visits to Japan, most recently this month, although he was not met by any Japanese leaders.
Generally improving relations between Tokyo and Beijing have also been strained by a health scare over Chinese-made dumplings and an ongoing dispute over lucrative drilling rights to gas fields in the East China Sea.
Japan hopes that Hu's visit next month will take relations between the two countries to another level of cooperation, said Komura.
"This means not only friendly bilateral ties but also that the two countries contribute to Asia and the international community as a whole," he said.
It will be the first visit here by a Chinese head of state in a decade, and only the second ever.
Although once-icy relations between the two Asian neighbours have thawed recently, Hu's visit could be clouded by the issue of Tibet, with Japan repeatedly calling on Beijing to resolve the problem peacefully.
Violence erupted in Tibet on March 14 after protests days earlier to mark the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region.
Exiled Tibetan leaders say more than 150 people have been killed in a Chinese crackdown on the unrest. The Chinese government says that Tibetan "rioters" killed 20 people.
Yang reiterated China's view that "splittist groups" were behind the unrest.
"It is not a problem of ethnicity nor region nor human rights. It is about splitting the country," he said.
Since taking office in September, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has tried to further ease strains in relations between the Asian powers, which hit rock-bottom just a few years ago.
Yang earlier had expressed "great pleasure" that relations are improving between the two giants, which are more intertwined economically than ever before despite often tense diplomatic relations.
China refused all high-level contact with Japan during the 2001-2006 premiership of Junichiro Koizumi due to his annual visits to a shrine that venerates Japanese war dead including war criminals.
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