Beijing rejected Prime Minister Naoto Kan's overture to meet Friday in Hanoi with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, because Japan had "ruined the atmosphere" for any talks, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported, citing No. 2 diplomat Hu Zhengyue.
Japan had tried hard to arrange the meeting in Hanoi on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China and South Korea, held to discuss regional issues. Kan had wanted to ease recently strained bilateral relations.
Hu suggested Friday that Japan "made untrue statements" about the contents of a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Tokyo counterpart, Seiji Maehara, held earlier in the day in Hanoi, Xinhua reported.