China opposes India joining hands with Japan

China supports India's candidature for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council but New Delhi's joining forces with Japan has a "serious problem" for Beijing, leading Chinese scholars on South Asia said here.

"India is an important partner to China. China will support India's membership in the UN Security Council," Vice President of the Institute for South Asian Studies under the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, Professor Ren Jia said.

"China has long expressed its desire to see India as a permanent member of the UNSC. But India's joining the G-4, which includes Japan has created a serious problem for the China," Ren told PTI in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan province.

The membership of India and that of Japan are two different issues, she stressed, indicating that Beijing is unwilling to back Tokyo's bid to become a permanent member in view of the serious differences over the issue of history and 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.

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