Satoshi Saeki Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent
Japanese Ambassador to China Koreshige Anami allegedly instructed his staff at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing last month to revise their seemingly optimistic opinion expressed about the Chinese economy in a report, sources close to the embassy said Monday.
"What if (Japanese) politicians looked at the report?" the sources quoted him as saying at a meeting at the embassy.
Anami's statement reflected his belief that the report should state a pessimistic view about the state of the Chinese economy to ensure the Diet would approve Japanese official development assistance to that country, according to the sources.
Anami allegedly said: "The way it's written might prompt an argument that China doesn't need official development assistance any longer."
The ambassador's alleged comment could provoke a backlash amid growing public pressure to review ODA projects in China after the recent row over the five North Korean asylum-seekers seized at the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, Liaoning Province.
Anami's comment reportedly was made during a regular weekly meeting of embassy officials. Anami criticized the report's optimistic evaluation concerning China's goal of attaining a gross domestic product growth of 7 percent, saying, "We must point out that China's economy isn't that strong."
In response to Anami's remarks, the the embassy's economic section revised the report, adding some pessimistic projections.
The economic report is updated quarterly and posted on the embassy's Web site.
In response to The Yomiuri Shimbun's request for an interview with Anami, his secretary said the ambassador does not grant individual interviews.
Shuichiro Mekata, minister and director of the embassy's economic section, said: "I don't think he used such expressions. However, the ambassador said the evaluation in the report was too lax and urged embassy officials to look at the reality of the economy."
Earlier, Anami became the center of criticism for his alleged instruction just hours before the five North Koreans entered the consulate general in Shenyang to expel "potential subversives" entering the compounds of the Japanese Embassy or consulates.