Koizumi offers apology to Asia
Muninggar Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Japan's prime minister apologized on Friday for his country's aggression during World War II, in an effort to ease tensions with China and win support for Japan's bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
"In the past, Japan, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations," Junichiro Koizumi said during the opening of the two-day Asian-African Summit in Jakarta on Friday, echoing previous apologies by Japanese leaders.
Speaking before leaders from more than 100 countries from the two continents, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, Koizumi said, "Japan squarely faces these facts of history in a spirit of humility."
The apology comes amid a decline in relations between Japan and China following the Japanese government's approval of a history textbook that whitewashes the country's wartime atrocities. Violent anti-Japanese protests have been held in numerous Chinese cities.
Koizumi later told reporters that he expected to meet with President Hu Jintao for talks on Saturday.
But a Chinese official said on Friday that China could not confirm a meeting between Hu and Koizumi would take place on the sidelines of the summit.
"We cannot confirm (it). The foreign ministries of the two countries are still talking," Kong Quan, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said during a news conference in Jakarta.
Discussing aid, Japan promised to provide official development assistance (ODA) of 0.7 percent of its gross national income to developing countries to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Since 1978, Japan has been the top ODA donor to Asia, Japan's foreign ministry says. It has disbursed more than US$100 billion in official development assistance since 1960.
Koizumi also addressed the interests of developing African nations, announcing plans to double its ODA to African nations over the next three years. Most of the assistance will be in the form of grants.
Japan has disbursed a total of some $24 billion in aid to African nations since 1960, its foreign ministry said.
The prime minister also said Japan considered "peace building to be of great importance" because peace and security are the basis for economic development.
"The United Nations, particularly the Security Council, needs to be reformed so that the organization reflects the realities of today's world. Japan will cooperate to the fullest to take a decision on the reform of the Security Council," Koizumi said.
China has said Japan should not be eligible for a seat on the Security Council until it atones for its World War II atrocities.
Koizumi is scheduled to visit tsunami-hit Aceh on Saturday before leaving for Bandung to mark the 50th anniversary of the Asia-Africa Conference.
While Koizumi was seeking to ease tensions with China in Jakarta, 80 Japanese lawmakers visited a controversial shrine dedicated to the nation's war dead on Friday despite objections by China, Associated Press reported.
Although there were no Cabinet ministers among the group, China's foreign ministry expressed "strong dissatisfaction over the negative actions of some Japanese politicians".