Japan's new Prime Minister Taro Aso plans to visit China in late October, eyeing his first summit with Chinese leaders since taking office last month, government officials said on Sunday.
Tokyo and Beijing are in talks to set up a meeting between Aso and Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, when Aso attends the summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Beijing on October 24 and 25, two officials said.
Aso has shot down speculation that he would call a snap election later this month, saying that he would first work to stimulate the economy.
"That allows Aso to attend the ASEM meeting, and the government is in the final stage of scheduling" the meetings with Hu and Wen, said a foreign ministry official who asked not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Aso is also likely to attend a ceremony to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the conclusion of a peace and friendship treaty between Japan and China, he said.
Aso did not once visit China while serving as foreign minister from October 2005 to August 2007 under Prime Ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe, according to Kyodo News.
Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Japan's wartime leaders along with its war dead, are widely blamed for souring relations with China. Aso is likely to affirm former prime minister Yasuo Fukuda's ambition to improve ties with the rest of Asia, and stress the need to cooperate on denuclearisation in North Korea, another government official said. The two sides may also discuss co-operation on food safety and lowering greenhouse gas emissions, he added.
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