links for 2007-04-22

Japan will join the United States in its complaint to the World Trade Organization about violations of intellectual property rights in China with the status of a “third party” or an “observer,” government sources said Friday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is unlikely to visit a controversial war shrine during a festival in late April as he wants to continue to improve ties with China, Kyodo news agency said quoting aides.

Japan is responsible for the conditions in which women were forced to serve as sex slaves to Japanese soldiers during World War II, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in an interview with foreign press organizations,