Japan PM to attend Asia-Europe meet amid China feud

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan will attend a meeting of Asian and European leaders in Brussels next week, the top government spokesman said on Tuesday, as Tokyo struggles to find a way to repair deteriorating ties with China.

Japanese ruling party officials had earlier said Kan would skip the meeting because of an extra parliament session that begins on Friday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said Japanese diplomats might try to arrange a meeting between Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who will also attend the gathering, if the environment was right, but added: "The ball is in China''s court."

Japan's detention of a Chinese trawler captain has sparked renewed tensions between Beijing and Tokyo, highlighting the fragility of relations between Asia's biggest economies, although the captain was released and returned home on the weekend.

The spat has raised concerns about damage to Sino-Japanese trade ties at a time when Japan is becoming increasingly reliant on China's dynamism for growth.

Experts have said the sudden bitter feud between Tokyo and Beijing will likely push Japan to mend ties with close ally Washington and reach out to other countries in the region that are also wary of an increasingly aggressive Beijing.

Sino-Japanese ties have long been plagued by mistrust born of China's bitter memories of Japan's past military aggression.

But Tokyo is hardly alone in worrying about China's growing assertiveness. China claims swathes of the South China Sea, where Taiwan and several of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also assert sovereignty.

The Nikkei business newspaper in an editorial on Tuesday, urged Kan's government to reach out to other countries that share concerns about China's naval activities, such as ASEAN.

"We would like Prime Minister Kan to develop summit diplomacy through the series of international gatherings that begin next month," the newspaper said.

Sengoku told the news conference that it was desirable for maritime disputes to be addressed in multilateral as well as bilateral forums - a stance China has rejected. But added it was not clear if such matters would be on ASEM's agenda.