Summit breaks ice but freeze remains
by Agency Staff,
2014-11-11 05:54:41.0
BEIJING — The leaders of China and Japan held an ice-breaking summit on Monday after two years of dangerous animosity, as world leaders including Barack Obama gathered for an Asia-Pacific meeting spotlighting intensifying big-power rivalries.
Xi Jinping and Shinzo Abe met in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People in what the Japanese prime minister said was a "first step" towards repairing the fractured relationship between the world’s second-and third-largest economies.
US President Obama flew in still wounded by the Democrats’ defeat in the US mid-term elections and with relations between Washington and Moscow in deep freeze, while his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin arrived a day earlier and quickly signalled his desire for ever warmer ties with an assertive China.
The gathering is the biggest event yet hosted by the Chinese president, who took office last year and emphasised his country’s expanding world profile on Sunday by declaring a bright future for the vibrant Pacific Rim, with a confident China at its heart.
The annual two-day summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) bloc — which saw China stage a spectacular welcoming ceremony last night — typically sees pledges of amity and trade convergence, often balanced by tense sideline exchanges on festering geopolitical problems.
Beijing and Tokyo’s historically frosty relations have plunged to their lowest in decades over claims to Japanese controlled islets in the East China Sea.
Mr Abe told Japanese media he had asked Mr Xi to establish a hotline to prevent clashes at sea, adding, "I think we will start working on concrete steps towards it." The islands, however, were not specifically mentioned during the 30 minutes of talks, Kyodo news agency quoted a Japanese official as saying.
The meeting seemed strained, with footage of the leaders’ initial handshake showing them looking deadpan and Mr Xi not responding to Mr Abe’s greetings.
"Severe difficulties have emerged in Sino-Japanese relations in recent two years and the rights and wrongs behind them are crystal clear," the official news agency Xinhua quoted Mr Xi as saying.
Apec brings into focus the developing big-power rivalry involving Washington, Beijing and Moscow.
Mr Obama said in a speech the US "welcomes the rise of a prosperous, peaceful and stable China", while announcing a reciprocal deal to extend visitor visa validities to as much as 10 years. But he also reiterated US calls for China to ease trade tensions by opening its markets and loosening controls on its currency, and to respect human rights.
"We suggest that China do these things for the sake of sustainable growth in China and the stability of the Asia-Pacific region," he said.
Russia is under western economic sanctions over its seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region and role in that country’s separatist war. No Obama-Putin meeting is known to be scheduled, but Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has vowed to confront Mr Putin over Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
The West has accused pro-Russian rebels of blasting the aircraft out of the sky — 38 Australians were among the 298 dead — in July with a missile supplied by Moscow. Russia denies the accusations.
Russia and China have expressed impatience with a perceived American domination of world affairs, often vetoing or abstaining from US-led initiatives on the United Nations Security Council.
The often blunt-spoken Mr Putin told Apec delegates the two sides would seek to increase use of their yuan and rouble currencies, saying the dollar’s influence would "objectively decline". China and the US have already jousted in Beijing over differing visions of Asia-Pacific trade integration, adding to discord over rights, cyberespionage and territorial disputes.
The White House has said it expects "candid and in-depth conversations" between Mr Obama and Mr Xi.
As well as the row with Japan — a US security ally which Washington is bound by treaty to defend — Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea has rankled rival claimants to its waters.
Another likely topic between Mr Xi and Mr Obama is North Korea, after the surprise weekend release of two Americans jailed by the secretive state.
AFP
STRAINED: Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, second left, and his wife Akie, left, pose for photographs next to China’s President Xi Jinping, second right, and his wife Peng Liyuan during the Apec welcoming banquet at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre in the Chinese capital on Monday. Picture: REUTERS
BEIJING — The leaders of China and Japan held an ice-breaking summit on Monday after two years of dangerous animosity, as world leaders including Barack Obama gathered for an Asia-Pacific meeting spotlighting intensifying big-power rivalries.
Xi Jinping and Shinzo Abe met in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People in what the Japanese prime minister said was a "first step" towards repairing the fractured relationship between the world’s second-and third-largest economies.
US President Obama flew in still wounded by the Democrats’ defeat in the US mid-term elections and with relations between Washington and Moscow in deep freeze, while his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin arrived a day earlier and quickly signalled his desire for ever warmer ties with an assertive China.
The gathering is the biggest event yet hosted by the Chinese president, who took office last year and emphasised his country’s expanding world profile on Sunday by declaring a bright future for the vibrant Pacific Rim, with a confident China at its heart.
The annual two-day summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) bloc — which saw China stage a spectacular welcoming ceremony last night — typically sees pledges of amity and trade convergence, often balanced by tense sideline exchanges on festering geopolitical problems.
Beijing and Tokyo’s historically frosty relations have plunged to their lowest in decades over claims to Japanese controlled islets in the East China Sea.
Mr Abe told Japanese media he had asked Mr Xi to establish a hotline to prevent clashes at sea, adding, "I think we will start working on concrete steps towards it." The islands, however, were not specifically mentioned during the 30 minutes of talks, Kyodo news agency quoted a Japanese official as saying.
The meeting seemed strained, with footage of the leaders’ initial handshake showing them looking deadpan and Mr Xi not responding to Mr Abe’s greetings.
"Severe difficulties have emerged in Sino-Japanese relations in recent two years and the rights and wrongs behind them are crystal clear," the official news agency Xinhua quoted Mr Xi as saying.
Apec brings into focus the developing big-power rivalry involving Washington, Beijing and Moscow.
Mr Obama said in a speech the US "welcomes the rise of a prosperous, peaceful and stable China", while announcing a reciprocal deal to extend visitor visa validities to as much as 10 years. But he also reiterated US calls for China to ease trade tensions by opening its markets and loosening controls on its currency, and to respect human rights.
"We suggest that China do these things for the sake of sustainable growth in China and the stability of the Asia-Pacific region," he said.
Russia is under western economic sanctions over its seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region and role in that country’s separatist war. No Obama-Putin meeting is known to be scheduled, but Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has vowed to confront Mr Putin over Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
The West has accused pro-Russian rebels of blasting the aircraft out of the sky — 38 Australians were among the 298 dead — in July with a missile supplied by Moscow. Russia denies the accusations.
Russia and China have expressed impatience with a perceived American domination of world affairs, often vetoing or abstaining from US-led initiatives on the United Nations Security Council.
The often blunt-spoken Mr Putin told Apec delegates the two sides would seek to increase use of their yuan and rouble currencies, saying the dollar’s influence would "objectively decline". China and the US have already jousted in Beijing over differing visions of Asia-Pacific trade integration, adding to discord over rights, cyberespionage and territorial disputes.
The White House has said it expects "candid and in-depth conversations" between Mr Obama and Mr Xi.
As well as the row with Japan — a US security ally which Washington is bound by treaty to defend — Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea has rankled rival claimants to its waters.
Another likely topic between Mr Xi and Mr Obama is North Korea, after the surprise weekend release of two Americans jailed by the secretive state.
AFP
Post a comment