Japanese premier calls for ‘frank’ summit meeting

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for a “frank” summit meeting with China and South Korea in an attempt to resolve historical and territorial disputes that have led to tensions in the East Asian region.

“We should hold a summit meeting and have a frank discussion,” Abe said in a Sunday interview with public broadcaster, NHK, a couple of days after Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida called for similar talks.

Intense arguments during past year have prevented Japan, China and South Korea from holding any high-level talks, with Beijing and Seoul accusing Tokyo of showing a lack of regret for Japan’s World War II wrongs.

South Korea and China were angered by Abe’s visit last month to a shrine in Tokyo that counts 14 senior war criminals among the 2.5 million souls it commemorates.

Meanwhile, China and South Korea regard the Yasukuni war shrine as a symbol of Japan’s wartime aggression in Asia.

In his Sunday remarks, Abe reiterated that he visited the shrine in an effort to make a pledge against war and, like other leaders around the world, to pray for those who lost their lives for their country.

“I want people to think about whether this is wrong. If they think about it, I think the misunderstanding will go away,” he stated.

Two separate territorial disputes over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, which Beijing and Seoul say have their roots in Japan’s early imperial ambitions, have also soured relations.

The Japanese prime minister further stated that a summit should be held “all the more because there are these issues.” However, he added that Tokyo will not agree to any concessions over the disputed issues as a precursor to discussions.

“It would be unreasonable if Japan must clear hurdles for summit talks.”