Chinese, Japanese diplomats meet ahead of possible Xi-Kishida meeting at Apec summit

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets Takeo Akiba, Japan’s top national security adviser, in Beijing
Talks between Xi Jinping and Fumio Kishida during the summit in San Francisco are being arranged, according to reports

China-Japan relations

Jane Caiin Beijing

Published: 5:03pm, 10 Nov 2023

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China’s top diplomat met Japan’s top security adviser in Beijing on Thursday, amid reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida might meet in San Francisco during the Apec summit next week.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Takeo Akiba, special adviser to the Japanese cabinet and secretary general of Japan’s National Security Secretariat, discussed planning for high-level dialogue between their countries, according to China’s foreign ministry.

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The Japanese government said the two diplomats discussed “issues of concern” between their countries as well as regional and international situations, and agreed to maintain close communication.

Talks between Xi and Kishida were being arranged around next Thursday in San Francisco on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, an unnamed source was quoted by Kyodo as saying.

Talks between Chinas’ top diplomat and Japan’s top national security adviser lasted 3½ hours on Thursday. Photo: Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Akiba and Wang talked for 3½ hours on Thursday, with preparations for the summit, set for November 15-17, believed to be on the agenda. After the talks, Akiba told reporters that “nothing has been decided” about the leaders’ meeting, Kyodo reported.

If it happens, the talks would be the first one-on-one meeting between Xi and Kishida since November last year in Bangkok when they affirmed stable bilateral ties on the sidelines of the Apec forum. It was the first time leaders from the two nations had met face to face in three years.

During their meeting, Wang and Akiba agreed to “maintain communication and strive to bring bilateral relations back to the track of sound and stable development”, according to the foreign ministry.

02:22

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Wang also discussed China’s views and concerns over the release of the Fukushima water into the sea, and Taiwan, stressing that Tokyo should take concrete action if it was sincere about hoping to improve China-Japan relations, it said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that Beijing hoped Tokyo would “honour its statement about seeking constructive and stable relations with China” and “create the environment and atmosphere” needed for the two countries to engage in high-level exchanges.

Kishida’s government has been aiming to resume high-level communications with China, while Beijing is keen to seek cooperation on technology amid US export curbs of advanced chips. At the end of September, China, Japan and South Korea agreed to revive a trilateral summit which had been suspended since 2019 due to the pandemic and strained ties.

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Relations between China and Japan have deteriorated in recent years, with Tokyo increasingly concerned about perceived threats by Beijing towards Taiwan. Diplomatic friction worsened in August over the release of treated waste water from the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was struck by a tsunami in 2011.

“A Xi-Kishida summit would bode well for relations,” an international affairs analyst from the mainland said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“China should take the opportunity to warm the ties, instead of pushing Japan further away, and avoid economic and technological isolation.”