Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are scheduled to meet this Thursday for the first time in Thailand since taking office, as announced by the Japanese government.
The meeting will take place within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum to be held in Bangkok, the Thai capital, as confirmed by the Japanese government spokesman, Hirokazu Matsuno.
The two leaders have held telephone talks in the past after Kishida was elected prime minister of Japan, according to reports in ‘The Japan Times’. Xi had previously met with the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in December 2019.
Last September, China and Japan marked 50 years of diplomatic relations, although relations have generally been overshadowed by tensions over territorial disputes between the two.
Tension between the parties has increased recently, especially in the wake of China’s military exercises near Taiwan, which reportedly resulted in several missiles falling in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. In addition, Tokyo has protested China’s activity in the vicinity of the Senkaku Islands, also known as Diaoyu.
The war in Ukraine has also deepened divisions, with Japan backing Western allies who oppose Russia’s moves.
