KYOTO — Just days before the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum gather in Yokohama, Japan's worsening relations with two of the bloc's members threatened to overshadow the APEC finance ministers' summit in Kyoto on Friday and Saturday.
Neither the Chinese nor Russian finance minister showed up, with Beijing and Moscow sending vice ministers instead.
Their absence was seen as a rebuke to Japan over recent events related to long-standing territorial disputes, and some at the meeting were left wondering whether the absence of the Chinese minister in particular will affect the scheduled visit of President Hu Jintao to the APEC leaders' summit on Nov. 13 and 14.