Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi met with his new Chinese counterpart Qin Gang in Beijing on Sunday after more than three years without face-to-face talks between top diplomats from the two countries, who are locked in a wide range of issues, from territorial disputes to historical grievances to differences over international loyalties.
On the table, the two diplomats will discuss issues such as China’s territorial claims in the East China Sea or Japan’s close cooperation with the United States in the face of the traditional Sino-Russian alliance, both factors that led Japan to announce, in December last year, its most ambitious national security strategic plan since the end of World War II after decades of a «self-defense» culture.
The two countries are also at odds over new restrictions on the export of semiconductor manufacturing equipment from Japan and the discharge of contaminated cooling water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor in the Pacific. In addition, the recent arrest of an employee of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas on espionage charges in China is further straining relations.
In his opening remarks, Hayashi explained that it is »increasingly important» for Japan and China to maintain »constructive and stable» bilateral relations despite »many challenges,» the official Japanese news agency Kyodo reports.
Qin, for his part, noted that this year marks the 45th anniversary of the signing of the 1978 bilateral Treaty of Peace and Friendship and that »right decisions» must be made to honor the spirit of the pact. The Chinese minister pledged to work with Hayashi to promote further exchanges and dialogues so that the two countries can »move forward by removing obstacles.»
This meeting follows rapprochement talks held by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok in November to ease tensions between the two countries.
It should be recalled that, in another effort at conciliation, the two countries also established on Friday a hotline between their security forces after years of planning in this regard, to avoid possible misunderstandings in the event of incidents.
Hayashi is scheduled to meet China’s foreign policy chief Wang Yi and Premier Li Qiang on Sunday afternoon. He will be the first Japanese minister to meet with Li, who took office as chief executive last month.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
