China asks Japan to send its military

[FT_news]

In what would be the first Japanese military deployment in China since World War Two, China has sounded out Tokyo about sending military planes to the quake zone

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[annjd]

Dear CC--see below:

Analysts said use of a military aircraft would help to improve Japan’s image among ordinary Chinese and could help to build trust between the two nations’ militaries.

“It has great symbolic meaning,” said Shi Yinhong, professor of international politics at Beijing’s Renmin University, adding that the mission would be possible in part because of the diplomatic warmth created by a visit this month to Japan by Hu Jintao, China’s president.

Chinese media have also given appreciative coverage to the efforts of the Japanese earthquake teams, the first foreign rescuers allowed into the country after Beijing dropped initial reluctance to accept such assistance.

Many Chinese were particularly touched by a widely published news photograph of a rescue team bowing in silent prayer to a corpse they had retrieved from the rubble. One Japanese official suggested that popular reaction had helped change the diplomatic context, making a military role in aid delivery possible.