Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, began talks in Beijing on Wednesday, as the two nations aim to increase mutual high-level visits while maintaining communication amid continuing tensions.
Earlier in the day, Iwaya met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and is scheduled to attend the “Japan-China High-Level People-to-People and Cultural Exchange Dialogue,” aimed at fostering mutual understanding. This marks the second such gathering since its launch in 2019.
For Iwaya, visiting China for the first time since taking office in October, it marks his first meeting with Wang. The previous visit by a Japanese foreign minister to the neighboring nation was made by Yoshimasa Hayashi in April 2023.
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya (L) and Chinese Premier Li Qiang meet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Dec. 25, 2024. (Kyodo)
The talks come after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to promote “mutually beneficial” and “stable” relations and to arrange foreign ministers’ reciprocal visits “at an appropriate time” during their first summit in November in Peru.
The two governments also affirmed in September that China will gradually relax its blanket ban on Japanese seafood imports while taking part in monitoring activities under the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The ban was introduced shortly after the release of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began in August last year, a move strongly opposed by Beijing.
Still, disputes between the two Asian powers persist, including the intrusion of Chinese vessels into Japanese territorial waters around the Tokyo-governed, Beijing-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, as well as the detention of Japanese nationals over espionage allegations.
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