Japan-China Foreign Ministers Telephone Talks

February 16, 2005

1. On February 16, 2005, Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura held telephone talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Zhaoxing of the People's Republic of China, in which they first exchanged greetings for the Lunar New Year. The following is a summary of what was discussed thereafter.
2. With regard to the Japan-China relations, the two ministers agreed to promote active cooperation between the two countries in order to further develop their bilateral relations for this year. Foreign Minister Li then extended an invitation to Foreign Minister Machimura to visit China, to which Foreign Minister Machimura expressed his wish to visit when convenient for him and further invited Foreign Minister Li to visit Japan. Foreign Minister Li responded that he too wished to visit at a time convenient for him.
3. With regard to the North Korea issue, Foreign Minister Li stated that China was greatly concerned with the announcement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea dated February 10 and that it was important to resume the Six-Party Talks at the earliest date possible since reaching a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue through the Talks is beneficial to all countries. Foreign Minister Li further stated that China intended to continue its cooperation with Japan for the realization of a peaceful solution through the Six-Party Talks. In response, Foreign Minister Machimura noted that the recent announcement issued by North Korea was extremely deplorable and that Japan could not by any means accept the possession of nuclear weapons by North Korea, and therefore Japan would do everything in its power to achieve a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue. Foreign Minister Machimura then conveyed his expectation for China to take on an even greater role on this issue. On the abduction issue, Foreign Minister Machimura, while recognizing the understanding and cooperation provided by China thus far, requested for China to call on North Korea to take a positive and sincere approach towards its solution.