Japan scraps aid plan over Beijing criticism
Updated
![Premier Wen Jiabao (L) and Japan's Yasuo Fukuda (R). China's leadership has reportedly rebuked quake assistance provided via Japan's military. [AFP]](http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/img/news/base/japan_china_wenfukuda_afp_0.jpg "Premier Wen Jiabao (L) and Japan's Yasuo Fukuda (R). China's leadership has reportedly rebuked quake assistance provided via Japan's military. [AFP]")
Premier Wen Jiabao (L) and Japan's Yasuo Fukuda (R). China's leadership has reportedly rebuked quake assistance provided via Japan's military. [AFP]
Japan has cancelled plans to use its military to send aid to earthquake-affected areas of China, citing criticism from some government officials in Beijing.
Tokyo had hoped to fly in tents and blankets in what would have been its first deployment to China since the end of World War II.
Commentators also say it would have been a positive step in strengthening Sino-Japanese ties, strained over their wartime past.
Japanese media outlets say the plan has been postponed, but there is still a chance the aid will be sent by chartered commercial planes.
The AFP newsagency says Japan was unable to get a consensus from within the Chinese government.
The quake, which hit southwest China's Sichuan province, killed more than 68,000 people and displaced 15 million others.
