Putin visiting Tokyo on May 11, to ink nuclear pact among other agreements; Taiwan protests Japanese diplomats comments on its political status; Beijing insists its nuclear policy and strategy were ‘very transparent’
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    • Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, ahead of his three-day visit to Japan beginning from May 11, told members of the Japanese media in Moscow that in addition to a nuclear power pact between the two countries, he would also present a list of economic cooperation projects that will be jointly undertaken between the two countries1.

    Taiwan strongly protested the comments of Masaki Saito, a Japanese diplomat and head of Japan's Interchange Association, to the effect that its political status was not settled. The incident threatened to dent relations between the island and its former colonial ruler2. China also voiced strong dissatisfaction regarding the remarks3.

    Days after Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso appeared to portray China's modernization of its nuclear arsenal as a threat, Beijing insisted that its nuclear policy and strategy were "very transparent4.”

    In other developments, a member of the Japanese House of Councillors, Aihara Kumiko, on May 5 handed over an apology letter in Fushun, a city in northwest China's Liaoning Province. The letter was signed by 24 other Japanese MPs expressing deep regrets to the survivors of the Pingdingshan massacre, in which more than 3,000 Chinese civilians were killed by Japanese soldiers on September 16, 1932. The letter was signed by 10 members of the lower house and 14 of the upper house5.

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