Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing yesterday urged Japan to remove political obstacles to Sino-Japanese relations so that bilateral ties can be put back on the normal track.

The Chinese foreign minister was apparently referring to the repeated visits by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a controversial war shrine, which honours convicted Class-A World War II criminals.

"The Japanese leader should make a correct political judgment in a responsible way," he was quoted by Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV as telling his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso in Kuala Lumpur.

Koizumi has made an annual pilgrimage to the shrine five times since he took office in April 2001, severely straining Japan's relations with its neighbours, including China and the Republic of Korea (ROK).

China is refusing to hold talks with Japan until the visits to the shrine stop.

Li and Aso met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur, only their second meeting since May 2005.

They held their first discussion in a year in May on the sidelines of an Asian economic conference in Doha, Qatar.

The two foreign ministers agreed that the two countries should improve their ties in line with spirit in the three Sino-Japanese political documents, the Phoenix TV reported.

On the issue of Pyongyang's nuclear programme, Li said both countries pledged to make joint effort to push for an early resumption of the Six-Party Talks.

China and Japan will work together to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and achieve the goal of denuclearization there, Li said.

His comments came as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has refused to rejoin the six-nation nuclear talks until the United States drops financial sanctions.

"There can be no such a thing as six-way talks," DPRK foreign ministry spokesman Chung Sung-il told reporters after its Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

"As we have already said, the United States should first lift its financial sanctions on us...if they want to see the six-way talks resume at an early date," Chung said.

Pyongyang's announcement follows feverish diplomacy aimed at arranging an informal session of the Six-Party Talks on its nuclear programme at the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Source: China Daily