If the China-Japan summit is held, it will be only one year since November last year.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida departs for San Francisco, USA on the 15th to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit (15-17). Taking this as an opportunity, we are also coordinating a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
According to Japanese public broadcasters NHK and Asahi Shimbun on the 15th, Prime Minister Kishida is scheduled to depart for San Francisco that night.
Previously, on the 14th, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno announced at a regular press conference that Prime Minister Kishida would visit San Francisco from the 15th to the 19th.
Prime Minister Kishida plans to call for the need for energy transition to realize a carbon-free society and the importance of promoting fair and transparent trade and investment at the meeting.
We also plan to share awareness of the problem that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has on the global economy and appeal for cooperation from each country to improve the situation.
In particular, Prime Minister Kishida is making final adjustments to hold a bilateral summit with President Xi on the 16th (local time).
On the 9th, National Security Director Takeo Akiba visited China and had a meeting for about 3 hours and 30 minutes with Wang Yi, a member of the Communist Party’s Central Political Bureau and Minister of Foreign Affairs. They exchanged opinions on the realization of the China-Japan summit, etc.
Prime Minister Kishida is meeting with Director Akiba every day, including last weekend, to make final adjustments to realize the China-Japan summit.
If the China-Japan summit is realized, it will be the first in about a year since it was held at the APEC summit held in Bangkok, Thailand last year.
This meeting is attracting attention as it is held at a time when China-Japan relations have deteriorated.
There are many pending issues between the two countries, including the issue of the Senkaku Islands (Chinese name: Diaoyu Islands), an area of Sino-Japanese territorial disputes, the issue of discharging contaminated water from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (treated water as Japanese government name) into the ocean, and the issue of detention of Japanese citizens in China. There is. China is even imposing an embargo on Japanese seafood in protest against the discharge of contaminated water into the ocean.
Prime Minister Kishida is expected to ask President Xi at the meeting to lift the embargo on Japanese seafood. However, an executive from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared his negative thoughts with Asahi, saying, “There are no signs that the issue will be resolved now.”
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Kishida has a strong desire to meet with President Xi.
Prime Minister Kishida met with Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of the ruling coalition Komeito, at the Prime Minister’s residence on the 14th.
Representative Yamaguchi reported to Prime Minister Kishida that he would form a Chinese delegation to visit Beijing on the 22nd and 23rd of this month.
According to Representative Yamaguchi, Prime Minister Kishida said, “I really want to create an opportunity for dialogue” with President Xi.
According to Fuji News Network (FNN), Representative Yamaguchi asked Prime Minister Kishida to send a personal letter to President Xi. Representative Yamaguchi said that Prime Minister Kishida readily accepted.
Originally, Representative Yamaguchi was scheduled to visit China in August. However, the schedule was postponed due to China’s refusal to discharge Fukushima contaminated water into the ocean, saying, “It is not the right time.” Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company began discharging contaminated water into the ocean on August 24.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.