THE year-end agreement between Japan and South Korea to resolve the issue of wartime "comfort women" which has been poisoning the relationship between the two countries, has been widely welcomed internationally, but not by China.

Asked to comment on the accord, under which Japan acknowledged responsibility and agreed to pay US$8.2 million to the surviving women, a Chinese spokesman responded: "The forced recruitment of the 'comfort women' is a grave crime against humanity committed by Japanese militarism during the Second World War against people of Asian and other victimised countries. The Chinese side always maintains that the Japanese side should face up to and reflect upon its history of aggression and properly deal with the relevant issue with a sense of responsibility."

Not a word was said about welcoming the improvement in relations between its two key neighbours, Japan and South Korea. This attitude was strikingly different from that two days earlier, when China was asked about an unexpected meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.