China-Japan ties
Yasuo Fukuda's recent visit to China is a reflection of the fact that Fukuda looks forward to warming ties with China and the fact that by improving relations with China, he also looks to bolster his own position ( in effect, this would help him overshadow some of the domestic problems he has been facing, to a certain extent). While his predecessor looked to adopt a more tougher stance towards China, Fukuda is certainly not following suit. And this was clearly reflected by the refusal of his government to meet the Dalai Lama in November last year (when he visited Japan). The excuse given by his govt. was that Dalai Lama was not "important" enough and hence they could avoid meeting him.
Hu Jintao (the Chinese President) also knows that he might be invited to the G-8 summit which is most likely to be held in early July in northern Japan. And in the summit , climate change is likely to top the agenda. Hence that would mean that China is likely to face criticism due to its poor pollution record. So China will be looking forward to Fukuda to at least provide them with some support (more precisely "friendly" covering).On his recent visit(to China), Fukuda's baseball playing with the Chinese premier and his repeated statements centring on improving co-operation between
Japan and China is also a manifestation of his intentions.
And the warm welcome he was given by the Chinese only made things much clearer.
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