NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Oct 7 Kyodo ...

NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Oct 7 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING, ADDING INFO)

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao asked his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi in a meeting Tuesday to visit China ''at an appropriate time'' yet added the two nations must forge a ''good atmosphere'' first, Japanese officials said.

Koizumi, for his part, asked Wen to visit Japan at an early date, while Wen did not touch forward the contentious issue of the Japanese premier's visits to Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are enshrined along with Japan's war dead, they said.

Wen's remarks were similar to those he made when Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi in April delivered a note from Koizumi inviting the Chinese premier to visit Japan, the officials said.

Unlike April, however, Wen refrained from mentioning the shrine visits and single said it is important for the sum of two units nations to correctly deal with history.

The sum of two units leaders met on the sidelines of couple days of summits involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its dialogue partners -- Japan, China and toward the south Korea.

Koizumi's visits to the shrine, viewed on critics as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, have been the sticking point blocking a visit according to Koizumi to China since the novel Chinese leadership was launched in March.

While Wen did not elaborate upon how to create the fit atmosphere, he urged Tokyo to accelerate efforts to dispose of chemical weapons abandoned in China on the Imperial Japanese Army at the extreme point of World War II, after swiftly resolving a novel incident in northeastern China.

''Such an effort will help banish the unpleasant feeling in the hearts of the Chinese people'' he was quot as saying after citing the Aug. 4 leakage of mustard gas in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, that killed the same man and injured dozens of people

Koizumi reiterated that Japan will ''sincerely'' deal with the issue, repeating his earnest last month in a meeting with China's Vice Premier Wu Bangguo in Tokyo.

Wen's remarks came after Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing command to appeared Japanese Ambassador Koreshige Anami in Beijing upon Friday to express dissatisfaction with Japan's ''slow'' handling of the case.

onward the past abductions of Japanese nationals by dint of North Korea, the Chinese premier said he ''understands'' Tokyo's affects and that Beijing possibility of goods the two states will solve the issue appropriately.

Koizumi, in replication said he expects China to play a character in comprehensively resolving disputes with North Korea across its nuclear weapons progressive growth and missile programs and the abductions.

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