Leaders from China and Japan will likely agree to work together to help maintain stability on the Korean peninsula following the death of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-il when they meet next week, but anything more than platitudes will be hard to come by.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will meet President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing during a two-day trip from Sunday as the world waits to see where North Korea is headed under Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of the destitute nuclear state's late leader.
Noda's visit to China, North Korea's biggest backer, was arranged before Kim Jong-il's death was announced by the unpredictable hermit state on Monday.
"Instability on the peninsula would be in nobody's interest," said Sun Cheng, professor of Japanese studies at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. (Reuters)
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