TOKYO, April 18 (Reuters) - Tibet has become an
international issue, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told
visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Friday,
challenging Beijing's repeated assertions that it is a domestic
matter.
Asked during his visit about recent riots in the region and
the subsequent clampdown by the Chinese government, Yang has
repeatedly said it is a domestic matter and blamed the Dalai
Lama, the exiled spiritual leader, for the lack of dialogue.
Yang said he wanted Fukuda to understand the true nature of
the Dalai Lama, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a
statement about the meeting.
"Prime Minister Fukuda stated our country's position and
said it was necessary to face the fact that it had become an
international problem and that he wanted China to do all in its
power to make sure it does not affect the Olympics," the
statement said.
Fukuda added that Japanese police would guard the Olympic
flame carefully during the torch relay set for April 26 in the
city of Nagano, the statement said.
The relay has descended into chaos in some countries as
pro-Tibet demonstrators tried to put out the flame.
Japan has already made clear it will not welcome the
blue-clad Chinese paramilitary guards who have been criticised
elsewhere as being heavy-handed in their guarding of the torch.
Yang thanked Fukuda for his support of the Beijing
Olympics. He added that the Chinese government was open to
talks with the Dalai Lama if he abandoned separatism, violence
and efforts to disrupt the Olympics, the ministry's statement
said.
Yang's visit is intended to pave the way for a trip by
President Hu Jintao next month, which will be the first to
Japan by a Chinese president in a decade, but it has been
overshadowed by the issue of Tibet.
Yang complained in a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister
Masahiko Komura on Thursday that Japan was the only Asian
country to make demands on the issue, domestic media quoted
Komura as saying.
The Buddhist Zenkoji temple in Nagano on Friday said it had
decided not to host the start of the city's Olympic relay,
partly because it had received many messages of concern about
Tibet, an official said.
(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds)