China yesterday expressed dissatisfaction over recent Japanese statements that permission was not granted to seize people who had rushed inside the Japanese Consulate in Shenyang in Northeast China last week.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said on Monday there was no truth to Chinese allegations that consular officials had given their consent for five people to be seized from inside.
This clearly does not conform to reality, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan yesterday, adding that a Japanese "conclusion" on the events does not hold water.
The events, as recorded by Luo Tianguang, director-general of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, refute Japan's version, Kong said.
According to Luo's account, five persons of unknown identity tried last Wednesday to force their way into the Japanese Consulate in Shenyang through the main gate. Chinese armed police officers on duty took measures to intercept them, but two still rushed onto the consulate grounds, Luo said.
With the clear consent of Ken Miyashita, deputy consul of the Japanese consulate, Chinese guards entered the consulate and brought the two persons out, Kong said.
Miyashita nodded and permitted the entry of the Chinese police with a gesture to enter and when asked whether intruders could be taken away, he agreed with a bow and said it was okay in Chinese, Kong said.
The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo also reiterated on Saturday that Chinese police were acting with permission from the Japanese consul who consented after consulting his superiors. The Chinese actions were aimed at protecting the consulate.
Japanese officials said the Chinese guards at its consulate violated diplomatic conventions by seizing two men, two women and a girl after they had crossed the threshold of the consulate.
The people said they were from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), but Chinese officials are still verifying their identities.
According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the receiving state is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the consular premises against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the consular post or impairment of its dignity.
Kong also said the cases of three DPRK citizens who entered a US consulate and two who entered Canada's embassy seeking asylum last week had been resolved.
Kong said that the two incidents had been properly handled according to international and domestic laws.
(China Daily May 15, 2002)
