Monday, June 13 2005 09:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: New Delhi's joining forces with Japan is posing a 'serious problem' for Beijing, although China supports India's candidature for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), leading Chinese scholars on south Asia said yesterday (Jun 12, 2005).

"The permanent membership of India and that of Japan are two different issues," Prof Ren Jia, vice president of the Institute for South Asian Studies under the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, said.

Beijing is unwilling to back Tokyo's bid to become a permanent member in view of the serious differences over historical issues.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to the controversial Yasukuni shrine, where 14 Class A war criminals convicted by an Allied war tribunal are honoured with Japan's 2.5 million war dead is a sore point with China.

"What we are opposed to is Japanese leaders paying homage to the Yasukuni shrine and Japan's absurd attitude on the history issue. The fact that Japan brought scourges to other countries cannot be glossed over or denied," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said recently.

"Only by correctly treating history can Japan win the trust of people in other Asian countries, including the Chinese people," he said.

Ren and Prof Wang Chongli, director of the Institute for South Asian Studies, pointed out that China supports UN reform as well as a stronger role of the UN and multilateralism, so as to better address global challenges.

Ren and Wang both noted China and India had similar or almost identical positions on major international issues and bilateral ties have strengthened and improved since Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited New Delhi in April 2005.

"We don't have any big conflicts," Ren said adding that Sino-Indian cooperation was an important factor in maintaining global as well as regional peace and security.

However, India joining the G-4 has complicated matters, Ren as well as Wang stressed.

"We think that the move by a few countries of forcing an immature plan has made UN reform deviate from the right track and has seriously affected the development of reforms as well as the preparation for the summit in September," Jianchao said.

"China, like many other countries, is worried about it, and is firmly opposed to the move of forcing the plan by these countries," Jianchao said when asked to comment on the revised G-4 resolution.

China opposes the approach to set a time limit for the council reform or force a vote on a consensus-lacking proposal, he said.