NIPPON


 

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-Lung's latest trip to Japan has affected Japan-China ties, with Beijing canceling at the last minute a bilateral meeting of agriculture ministers.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi avoided going into detail in a press conference on Friday, stating only, "We understand that (the ministerial meeting) was not held due to scheduling conflicts of both sides."

Chinese agriculture minister Han Jun was set to visit Japan to hold a meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, on Tuesday, after a trilateral agriculture ministers' meeting involving the two nations plus South Korea held in Incheon near South Korea's capital, Seoul, on Monday.

Many within the Japanese government consider Lin's Japan visit in late July to be the reason for the cancellation.

The Taiwanese side has said that the foreign chief had made a personal visit to Japan. During the trip, however, he held talks with Keiji Furuya of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who heads a suprapartisan group of Japanese lawmakers aiming for stronger Tokyo-Taipei relations, and other Japanese officials.