China Criticizes Japan Over Visit by Uighur Leader

“We are very dissatisfied with the Japanese government’s decision to let Rebiya carry out her separatist activities in Japan, disregarding China’s serious objections,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement yesterday.

Japan’s position is that Kadeer was invited by private citizens and not by the government, Takeshi Akamatsu, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said today.

China’s government blames Kadeer, head of the Washington- based World Uighur Congress, for clashes between ethnic Uighurs and Han Chinese that left almost 200 people dead in Urumqi, capital of China’s westernmost Xinjiang province. Kadeer denies the claim.

Kadeer started a five-day visit to Japan today and plans to meet with officials from the country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party to seek support for Uighurs, Agence France-Presse reported. She plans to speak to the media tomorrow, it said.

China expressed its views on Kadeer’s visit to the Japanese government through its embassy on July 23, Akamatsu said in a telephone interview.