Focus on the Korean peninsula

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on December 26 held talks with China's leaders during a visit to Beijing dominated by concerns over nuclear-armed North Korea after the death of Kim Jong-Il. China is North Korea's closest ally, and Noda has said safeguarding the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula is "in the common interest" of the two regional powers. Ties between the two nations have been dogged by economic and territorial disputes, with Tokyo repeatedly raising concerns over China's widening naval reach and growing assertiveness in the Pacific Ocean. But Kim's death has shifted the agenda to worries about nuclear-armed North Korea, where his untested son Kim Jong-Un appears to be taking the reins of power in the isolated communist state. Analysts say China holds the key to handling North Korea, where Japan has few ties overall, and fewer still to Kim's son. Kim's death "should not wrongly affect the peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," Noda told China's Premier Wen Jiabao during the talks, according to a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman. "Under this situation, the role of China is extremely important." State broadcaster China Central Television said Wen and Noda had agreed to restart stalled six-party talks on scrapping the North's nuclear programme at an early date. The six-party talks, chaired by China and also involving the two Koreas, the United States, Russia and Japan, have been at a standstill since December 2008. Noda's Democratic Party of Japan, which swept out the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in 2009, has largely supported stronger relations with China. On December 26 the Japanese leader met China's President Hu Jintao and top legislator Wu Bangguo, and expressed gratitude for the country's support in the wake of a devastating tsunami in March. Hu said Noda's first official visit to Beijing since he came to power in September was "of important significance" and would "further deepen the two countries' strategic mutually beneficial relations". China and Japan are still trying to heal diplomatic wounds from a year ago when Beijing reacted in fury over the arrest of one of its fishermen near the islands after he rammed his ship into Japanese coastguard vessels. During talks with Wen, both sides agreed to set up high-level consultations to discuss maritime affairs, including a thorny territorial dispute in the East China Sea, the Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said. Meanwhile discussions on a free trade agreement between Japan, China and South Korea would likely begin early next year, the spokesman said, without offering details.