Former Japanese leader Tomiichi Murayama arrives in Beijing
China-friendly Murayama is the third senior Japanese politician to visit Beijing in the past two weeks as both sides step up diplomacy
Former Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama kicked off a four-day visit to China yesterday in the latest diplomatic effort by both sides to ease bilateral tensions triggered by a territorial dispute in the East China Sea.
Murayama, 88, became the third senior Japanese political figure to visit China in two weeks, with both sides stepping up diplomatic efforts amid fears that armed clashes could erupt over control of the Diaoyu Islands, known as Senkakus in Japan.
The head of New Komeito, part of Japan's governing coalition, Natsuo Yamaguchi, visited Beijing last week and suggested a high-level summit during a meeting with Communist Party chief Xi Jinping . Former Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama also visited, paying respects to victims of the Nanking Massacre.
Murayama met the chairman of the China-Japan Friendship Association, former state councillor Tang Jiaxuan , after arriving Beijing, and would meet other government officials.
Nakatani Gen, a member of Murayama's delegation who served as the head of the Japan Defence Agency, said they would discuss the territorial dispute.
Like Yamaguchi and Hatoyama, Murayama is considered friendly to China.
Mainland analysts said they expected Beijing would hold Murayama in high regard because he had apologised for Japanese atrocities during the second world war. As Japan's prime minister, he delivered a speech in 1995 admitting that Japan had caused tremendous damage to the people of many countries.
