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TOKYO : Japan will extend special treatment to Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, breaking with protocol to allow him to meet Emperor Akihito in a hastily arranged audience, officials said Friday.
"He (Akihito) will meet the Chinese vice president on the morning of Tuesday," a palace spokesman said.
Xi, widely seen as being in line to succeed President Hu Jintao in 2012, is scheduled to visit Japan for three days from Monday.
The Imperial Household Agency has normally demanded that applications by foreign visitors to meet the emperor be filed at least one month in advance.
But Xi's request for an audience with the emperor was made on November 26, according to Japanese media.
The protocol has been in place because of the health of Akihito, 75, who underwent an operation for prostate cancer in 2002, media said.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made a special request that the emperor meet the Chinese guest despite the short notice, his right-hand man and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said.
"It would be important for the friendly relationship between Japan and China, so I asked the head of the Imperial Household Agency to do the favour if the emperor's health condition permits," Hirano told reporters.
Prime Minister Hatoyama, whose centre-left Democratic Party of Japan took power in an electoral landslide in September, has pledged stronger ties with Asia.
But the exceptional move raised eyebrows among Japanese media which said it may be construed as using the emperor for political purposes.
Under the post-war constitution, Akihito and members of the world's oldest monarchy serve a largely ceremonial function and are barred from being engaged in political activities.
Many Asian countries still hold bitter memories of the past aggression of Japan under Akihito's father, the late Emperor Hirohito.
The party's powerful secretary general, Ichiro Ozawa, led a delegation of more than 600 people to China earlier this week and met President Hu.
- AFP /ls
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