suchithkc
KYOTO, Japan - China asked Japan on Saturday for prompt and complete information on Japan's nuclear crisis, amid some criticism of Tokyo's handling of the situation.
Japan is struggling to deal simultaneously with natural disaster and a possible nuclear disaster, after a quake and tsunami smashed its northeast coast on March 11, killing more than 10,000 people and wrecking a major nuclear power plant.
Japan's neighbours have all offered help and expressed sympathy for its plight, but there has been some criticism at home and abroad at the level of information and the handling of the nuclear crisis, especially in its early stages.
Japan's foreign minister said after talks with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto that Beijing was concerned about information-sharing.
"I said we shared information as best as we can, but that I would work to strengthen that," Takeaki Matsumoto said after the brief talks, which had been scheduled before the quake struck.
"We've been forthcoming but they have requested prompt and complete sharing of information," he told reporters.
Matsumoto also confessed that he could not be optimistic about the events unfolding at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, where radioactive steam and possibly smoke have been rising into the air above what is left of the complex.
Asked what he had told South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi about the nuclear plant, he said: "I told him the truth that I can't say I'm optimistic, but we are sparing no efforts to correct the situation."
In the talks, which included bilateral meetings and lasted only a few hours, the three nations also agreed to work together to increase nuclear-power safety, though they gave no details.
Previously, the three neighbours' discussions on nuclear issues had been confined almost exclusively to reining in North Korea's nuclear programme.
No comments:
Post a Comment