Japan Diet Speaker Conveys Concerns about UN Chief’s China Visit

New York (PNA/Kyodo) — Japanese lower-house speaker Tadamori Oshima on Monday met U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to convey Tokyo’s concern over his plan to attend events in Beijing commemorating what China calls its victory in its war against Japanese aggression.

Oshima said the secretary general told him that “he has visited various places on the occasion of the 70th anniversary (of the end of World War II) and he believes that is necessary to learn from the past and to build peace in the future.”

Ban told Oshima that he takes note of the “feelings of the Japanese people,” said the Japanese politician who met Ban at the U.N. headquarters.

Ban attended events marking the war’s end in European cities earlier this year. He is set to attend commemorations to be held in Beijing Thursday.

When asked by a reporter about Ban attending the Chinese events including a military parade, the U.N. chief’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, “I think you know the commemorations in different countries take different forms and the secretary general is attending this commemoration as he attended the commemorations in Moscow as well as in Kiev and as in Poland.” (PNA/Kyodo) FFC/SSC