Japan's new foreign minister vows to patch ties with China
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Japan's new Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida listens to questions at a news conference at the foreign ministry in Tokyo on Dec 28, 2012. Mr Fumio Kishida said on Friday he would work to patch up ties with China, soured over a bitter territorial row that has blighted relations for months. -- PHOTO: AFP
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's new foreign minister said on Friday he would work to patch up ties with China, soured over a bitter territorial row that has blighted relations for months.
"I believe it is very important to have good communication between the two governments, as well as between two foreign ministers," Fumio Kishida said in an interview with journalists.
"It is primarily important that I, as foreign minister, make the effort to deepen communications between the two countries," he said.
Kishida, seen as a relative dove in the government of hawkish new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, begins the top diplomatic job as ties with China show few signs of improving following an ill-tempered territorial stand-off.
