China's ambassador assured Japan's prime minister Thursday that Beijing would take «necessary measures» to control rowdy anti-Japanese fans at the Asian Cup soccer finals, a government official said. Vocal fans at the tournament currently being held in China have jeered at Japanese players, booed during Japan's national anthem and hung banners criticizing Tokyo for invading other Asian countries before and during World War II. «China will take necessary measures as the host country, so please be at ease,» Ambassador Wu Dawei told Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, according to Koizumi spokesman Yu Kameois the defending champion. In Beijing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman accused Japanese media of exaggerating hostility from Chinese fans. «According to our understanding, order on and off the field has been good and the atmosphere lively at the matches involving Japan,» Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry's Web site Thursday. «It has to be pointed out that some Japanese media exaggerated and made an issue of the acts of a few people and even linked them with politics,» Kong said, adding: «We express our regret over this.» Kong didn't identify specific reports. On Thursday, Koizumi told Wu he hoped the final would be conducted «based on spirit of the sportsmanship and it will become a game that both Chinese and Japanese can enjoy.»
