The Chinese Shame of Olympic Saga Deepens -- Japan Tells China Tibet is
International Issue
Japan Tells China Tibet is International Issue
Reuters
Apr 19, 2008
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Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. (Koichi Kamo****da/Getty Images)
TOKYO¡ªTibet has become an international issue, Japanese Prime Minister
Yasuo Fukuda told visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on
Friday, challenging Beijing's repeated assertions that it is a domestic
matter.
Asked during his visit about recent riots in the region and the
subsequent clampdown by the Chinese government, Yang has repeatedly said
it is a domestic matter and blamed the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual
leader, for the lack of dialogue.
Yang said he wanted Fukuda to understand the true nature of the Dalai
Lama, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement about the meeting.
"Prime Minister Fukuda stated our country's position and said it was
necessary to face the fact that it had become an international problem
and that he wanted China to do all in its power to make sure it does not
affect the Olympics," the statement said.
Fukuda added that Japanese police would guard the Olympic flame
carefully during the torch relay set for April 26 in the city of Nagano,
the statement said."
For full coverage please see Repression in Tibet
The relay has descended into chaos in some countries as pro-Tibet
demonstrators tried to put out the flame.
No welcome for Chinese paramilitary
Japan has already made clear it will not welcome the blue-clad Chinese
paramilitary guards who have been criticised elsewhere as being
heavy-handed in their guarding of the torch.
Yang thanked Fukuda for his sup****t of the Beijing Olympics. He added
that the Chinese government was open to talks with the Dalai Lama if he
abandoned separatism, violence and efforts to disrupt the Olympics, the
ministry's statement said.
Yang's visit is intended to pave the way for a trip by Hu Jintao next
month, which will be the first to Japan by a Chinese leader in a decade,
but it has been overshadowed by the issue of Tibet.
Yang complained in a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko
Komura on Thursday that Japan was the only Asian country to make demands
on the issue, domestic media quoted Komura as saying.
The Buddhist Zenkoji temple in Nagano on Friday said it had decided not
to host the start of the city's Olympic relay, partly because
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