A senior Chinese official told Japan it would not push for Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to have an audience with Emperor Akihito two days before the meeting was, against established timetable protocol, officially set, Chinese sources said Thursday.
Xi, touted as a future Chinese leader, was granted the audience Tuesday at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Much political wrangling surrounded the exceptional meeting, which the Democratic Party of Japan-led government arranged in breach of Imperial protocol.
The finding suggests that China, which had requested the audience with the Emperor in late November, was ready to forgo the meeting, and that the Japanese side made a political decision to bring it off, apparently reflecting the will of DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.