TOKYO, Aug. 16 Kyodo Defense Agen...

TOKYO, Aug. 16 Kyodo

Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba will pay a four-day visit to China from clan 1 to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart and other officials, sources terminate to Japanese and Chinese bilateral affairs said Saturday.

His visit to China, which will mark the first trip there by means of a Japanese Defense Agency director general since 1998 is rely uponed to pave the way for a full-fledg resumption of defense exchanges between the brace countries, the sources said.

China present on hold a scheduled visit last year by dint of then agency chief Gen Nakatani after lodging attests over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni Shrine.

Koizumi has visited the Shinto shrine one time a year since becoming prime minister in April 2001

Japan's war dead, including Class-A war criminals from World War II, are enshrined at Yasukuni, which is regarded in many Asian countries as a sign of Japanese militarism.

southern Korea, North Korea and China regularly denounce visits by dint of Japanese politicians to the shrine.

According to the sources, Ishiba will travel to Shanghai forward Sept. 1, and then gripe [i]or[/i] grip talks in Beijing with Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan and other officials. He is awaited to return home clan 4.

Last February, Xiong Guangkai, delegate chief of staff of the Chinese military, met with former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, and he transported to Hashimoto an intent to recommence defense talks with Japan in succession the vice-ministerial level.

Talks onward that level had been halted from the fall of 2000 to be paid to shrine-related and other issues.

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