Chinese, Japanese leaders agree to rescue ties

JAKARTA, Sunday (Reuters) The leaders of China and Japan agreed to mend ruptured ties during ice-breaking talks in Jakarta though Chinese President Hu Jintao said Japan needed to learn from its wartime past.

They met a day after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made an unusually public apology for Japan's past atrocities in Asia during a summit of Asian and African leaders in the Indonesian capital.

Ties between the Asian giants had deteriorated to their worst since the normalisation of relations in 1972, putting at risk economic links worth $212 billion in annual trade.

"If the appearance of serious problems in Sino-Japanese relations is not handled properly ... not only will it be detrimental to China and Japan, but it will also affect the stability and development of Asia," Hu told reporters.

"Remorse expressed for the war of aggression should be translated into action. (Japan) should never do anything again that would hurt the feelings of the Chinese people or the people of other Asian countries."

Koizumi said he had had a frank and meaningful exchange with Hu, adding the two had agreed not to debate Japan's wartime history or visits by Japanese politicians to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo, both sources of much of the friction.

"We were able to confirm at the meeting that, rather than criticising each other's past shortcomings and aggravating antagonistic feelings, we should make efforts to develop the bilateral friendship," Koizumi told a news conference after the one-hour talks. "Japan and China need each other now more than ever before."

Hu said differences between the countries needed to be resolved through dialogue. Japan also needed to meet its commitment not to support independence for Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province, Hu added.

The two leaders shook hands as they met in a hotel ballroom. Koizumi used both hands and appeared relaxed while Hu was stiff and expressionless.

When they sat opposite each other at a long table, Koizumi told Hu about his trip earlier in the day to the tsunami-hit province of Aceh.Meanwhile Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura hailed the ice-breaking talks in Jakarta between the leaders of China and Japan, but he warned Beijing against more anti-Japan demonstrations.

"It has a great meaning that the leaders of the two countries reaffirmed the importance of Sino-Japanese relations, not only for the two countries but also for Asia and the world," Machimura said on a Fuji Television current affairs programme.