The Hindu : Japan, China welcome meeting

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 07, 2004

International

International - India & World

Japan, China welcome meeting

By P.S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Jan. 6. Welcoming the latest meeting between the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, Japan today expressed the "hope that the two countries will sustain talks so as to further enhance their relations."

The Japanese Foreign Minister, Yoriko Kawaguchi, said Tokyo "highly regards the series of measures taken by both [India and Pakistan] to improve their relations since last year."

Japan, which tends to closely monitor the substance and atmospherics of the India-Pakistan engagement or the lack of it at any given time in view of Tokyo's interest in the security of the sea lanes in and near the Gulf region, hailed the Musharraf-Vajpayee meeting as a "significant" development that could help "improve their bilateral relations and stability in the region."

China, which on Monday welcomed and appreciated the Vajpayee-Musharraf meeting, has said that "it serves the fundamental interests of both peoples [India and Pakistan] and conforms to the universal aspiration of the international community." As the only permanent member of the United

Nations Security Council from Asia, China took note of "the efforts made by the leaders of both countries [India and Pakistan] to improve their relationship."

A spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said: "As a friend and neighbour of both countries [India and Pakistan], China sincerely hopes that both countries could maintain the current momentum of relaxation and devote themselves to regional peace, stability and development."

On a different diplomatic front of overall relevance to China's neighbourhood policy, Beijing today indicated that the second round of talks between the special representatives of India and China, as regards their boundary dispute, might be held later this month.

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