China, Japan Leaders Hold Reconciliation Talks

JAKARTA Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Saturday he wanted better relations with Japan but also told Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during ice-breaking talks that Tokyo needed to learn from its wartime past.

Koizumi said the one-hour talks in Jakarta were "very good" but he has yet to make further comments on the effort by Asia's economic powerhouses to repair relations that are at their worst in three decades.

The talks came a day after Koizumi made an unusually public apology for Japan's past atrocities in Asia.

"Remorse expressed for the war of aggression should be translated into action," Hu told reporters after the meeting, held at the end of an Asian and African summit in Jakarta.

"(Japan) should never do anything again that would hurt the feelings of the Chinese people or the people of other Asian countries."

Hu said differences between the two Asian giants needed to be resolved through dialogue. Japan also needed to meet its commitments not to support the independence of Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province, Hu added.

"We hope both sides will make efforts so that Sino-Japanese relations can be on a healthy and stable development track."

Asked how the meeting went as he left a Jakarta hotel where the talks took place, Koizumi waved and said: "Very good."

He was expected to hold a news conference later on Saturday.
The two shook hands as they met in a ballroom, Koizumi using both hands but appearing relaxed while Hu was stiff and expressionless. When they sat opposite each other at a long table, Koizumi told Hu about his trip earlier in the day to the tsunami-hit province of Aceh.

"I went to Aceh province today ... I saw that a roof of a two-storey building had been destroyed by the tsunami and realized how tall the waves were," Koizumi said before reporters were ushered out of the room.