Japan signals end to China aid

Japan should stop giving economic aid to China soon because it no longer needs it, Japan's Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura has said.

Mr Machimura told parliament that China's rapid economic growth meant it would soon no longer need assistance.

Economic aid to China has been steadily dipping, but still stood at 108.02bn yen ($1.05bn) in 2003.

Some in Japan see China as a future competitor, adding to already-strained relations between the two countries.

"While China's economic development continues, we will trim [economic assistance]" Mr Machimura told the House of Councillors, according to Kyodo news agency.

"In the near future, it will be appropriate that China graduates from our official development assistance (ODA)," he told the session to review the upper house's report on the fiscal 2003 budget.

Tokyo has cut aid to Beijing for three straight years, and India has overtaken China as the top recipient of Japanese assistance.

Mr Machimura's remarks follow China's alleged submarine incursion into Japanese waters two weeks ago, and a continuing row over repeated visits by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the country's Yasukuni Shrine.

The shrine is dedicated to the souls of the country's war dead, including convicted war criminals, and is viewed by other Asian nations as a symbol of Japanese wartime aggression.