Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan "will pay a five-day visit to
Japan" from August 29, Japan's Kyodo News quoted unnamed diplomatic
sources as saying at the weekend.
Officials are arranging a meeting between Cao and his Japanese
counterpart Yuriko Koike on August 30, the sources said.
The Chinese side is yet to confirm the visit, but Chinese
experts on Sino-Japanese relations see the possible visit as an
important step toward advancing bilateral ties.
"A defense minister-level visit will be another constructive
signal for overall development of Sino-Japanese relations," Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences researcher Jin Xide said.
Shen Shishun, an expert with China Institute of International
Studies, said the visit "will be a powerful response" to worries
whether Japan will continue efforts to improve its ties with China
after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suffered a devastating defeat in
upper house elections.
Shen said the possible high-level defense exchange will promote
bilateral understanding and remove Japan's misunderstanding over
China's defense spending.
"I believe military (or defense) exchanges are more important
than exchanges in the economic and trade sector," he said.
Cao and Koike are expected to discuss reciprocal visits by the
Chinese navy and Maritime Self-Defense Forces, and the setting up
of a hotline between the two countries' defense authorities, Kyodo
quoted the sources as saying.
Such a meeting will be the first between Japanese and Chinese
defense chiefs since Shigeru Ishiba and Cao met in China in
September 2003.
Abe agreed with Chinese leaders to boost bilateral defense
exchanges when he visited China last year.
Bilateral defense exchanges had been suspended earlier partly
because of former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's
annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war
dead, including 14 class-A criminals.
(China Daily August 14, 2007)
