Tokyo – Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda sent a message to Chinese President Hu Jintao asking him to resolve the Tibet issue through dialogue, a Japanese minister was quoted as saying.
Environment Minister Ichiro Kamoshita reportedly told Japanese reporters in Beijing that he delivered the spoken message when he met Hu on Saturday on the southern Chinese island of Hainan on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia.
“I delivered the message from the prime minister that encouraged China to improve the Tibet situation,” Kamoshita told Japanese reporters, as quoted by local media here.
“The Japanese government has been telling China about the importance of dialogue,” he said.
In response, Hu highlighted the importance of a successful Beijing Olympic Games for China, Japan and the global community as a whole, Kamoshita said.
Tibetan exiles in India say more than 150 Tibetans have been killed in China’s crackdown on the protests against its rule of the Himalayan region. Beijing says Tibetan “rioters” have killed 20 people.
The clampdown has provoked anti-China demonstrations abroad, with activists targeting the Olympics torch relay as it passed through Europe and the United States last week ahead of the August showpiece.
