Beijing - The Chinese President, Mr Jiang Zemin, returned home yesterday from a visit to Japan empty-handed on the political front but with a consolation prize - 390 billion yen (£2 billion) in pledged loans.
However, Beijing and Tokyo failed to close the book on their bitter second World War past during Mr Jiang's November 25th-30th visit - the first trip to Japan by a Chinese head of state.
