According to a report published by Asahi Shimbun on March 2 in Tokyo the Japanese government has offered its plans to China on reducing its yen loans to China, main part of which is for its official development assistance to China, in several stages starting from this year.

By 2008 Japan will stop offering fresh yen loans to China in principle. In 2000 the development assistance loans offered by the Japanese government to China reached 227.3 billion yen, the highest in its history. After this, loans to China have been reduced annually in a big margin. The loans were reduced to 108 billion yen in 2003, the major part of which was loans in Japanese yen valued at 96.7 billion while the rest was for aid given gratis and technical cooperation, accounting for a very small proportion. The plan proposed by the Japanese government will start this year. Japan will cut its yen loans to China by 10 to 20 billion yen annually. The Japanese government will hold talks with the Chinese side on the issues of reducing the concrete offering quotas and areas. The final policy will be made later this month.

The Japanese government said the Chinese side has basically agreed to the cessation of the yen loans to China. However there exist differences between the two sides on the suspension period.

By People's Daily Online