Japan chief: Northeast Asia united for Tokyo Games

Despite high-stakes territorial rows the countries of northeast Asia put their differences aside to help Tokyo win the 2020 Olympics, Japan's sports chief said Monday. Japan's official relations with China and South Korea are shaky due to island disputes. But sporting relations are good, Japanese Olympic Committee president told a news conference. "In the 2020 bid campaign, we received very much cooperation from China and South Korea. I say there is no doubt about it," he said. "At present, we have very friendly relations with both China and South Korea when it comes to exchanges in sporting circles," he said. Takeda, who served as president of Tokyo's Olympic bid committee, was speaking about how the Japanese capital beat Madrid and Istanbul last month in the race to host the 2020 Games, as well as discussing its preparations for the event. Japan and South Korea are squabbling over the ownership of a pair of islands in the sea between them, while Tokyo and Beijing are locked in a worsening row over islands in the East China Sea. Despite a busy diplomatic calendar since he came to power last December, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has formally met neither Chinese President Xi Jinping nor Korea's Park Geun-Hye. "With the time as it is, it is more important to use the power of sport as the basis of building friendly relations among the countries," Takeda told reporters. "We have already had exchanges in athlete training and held training matches with these countries. I have an idea to go ahead with more top-level competitions than ever as we are preparing to stage the Olympics in Tokyo." Japan, once Asia's dominant sporting nation, has slipped to third place in the region during recent international meets. "China and South Korea are strong in certain sports and our national federations in these sports are very keen" to promote such exchanges, Takeda said. "We want to further strengthen such bridges." Source: AFP