China puts aside tensions to ask Japan for help

China has asked Japanese soldiers to deliver earthquake aid in what would be the first significant military contact between them since the Second World War.

It would involve Japanese forces airlifting tents and other relief supplies to quake-hit areas in central China.

Japan invaded China and set up a puppet regime in Manchuria in 1932, then conquered larger areas of the country before being defeated by the Allies in 1945. Many Chinese still resent Japan for its military aggression at that time.

Since the war, Japan has sent only a small group of defence experts to China to dispose of chemical weapons abandoned by Japanese troops.

Although post-war relations between China and Japan have been tense, the two countries have grown closer in the past 18 months. Japan was the first foreign nation that China turned to for help after the May 12 quake.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Japan was considering using a military plane and surplus tents and blankets.

"Our understanding is that the request is to fly a plane belonging to the Self Defence Forces to deliver its tents and blankets to a Chinese airport," he said. "A decision shouldn't take too long, and we are working on it now."

Tokyo sent a 60-member civilian emergency rescue team days after the quake struck China's Sichuan province, followed by a medical team last week.