(Bloomberg) — China and Japan agreed that Beijing’s top diplomat should visit in 2025, adding to the signs the two nations are repairing ties that have been strained in recent years.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi would make the trip at the earliest appropriate date, the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo said in a statement Wednesday. The visit would be the first by the Chinese minister handling foreign affairs in more than four years.
Earlier in the day, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya met Wang in Beijing. The two affirmed the importance of deepening communication on security and agreed to hold a security dialog, the statement said, adding that Iwaya called for the early release of Japanese nationals detained in China.
In recent months, China has embarked on a diplomatic charm offensive with US allies and partners. After Shigeru Ishiba became Japan’s prime minister in October, Beijing said it was ready for a “fresh start” with Tokyo. China has also signaled its intent to improve ties with India, the UK and Australia.
Some foreign policy analysts link the shift to a desire by China for stability ahead of the change of leadership in the US. Chinese President Xi Jinping told Ishiba in a November meeting in Peru that Japan and China share “a mutually beneficial strategic relationship and will build constructive and stable ties,” according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
China is Japan’s biggest trading partner and Chinese tourists were a significant source of income for Japanese businesses before the pandemic. Yet China is also Tokyo’s top security concern, primarily because of worries that Beijing’s military poses a threat to Japan’s southwest island chain. Japan also worries that it could be drawn into any conflict over Taiwan.
Ties between the nations have also been roiled due to high-profile detentions of Japanese people in China. In one instance, a Japanese executive at Astellas Pharma Inc. who was detained in Beijing was formally charged of espionage offenses.
Also straining relations, in September this year a Japanese schoolboy died in southern China after being stabbed, prompting senior Japanese officials to ask Beijing to deal with “untruthful and malicious” internet posts targeting their nation.
In a sign of efforts to soothe relations, China said in September it would move to end a ban on imports of Japanese seafood, a step taken in response to Japan’s plan to release treated radioactive water into the sea from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The Nikkei newspaper reported Monday that China is considering lifting its ban in the first half of 2025. Chinese Premier Li Qiang may visit Japan in May or June, which could provide an opportunity for Beijing to inform Tokyo it would lift the ban, the newspaper said, citing Chinese government officials it didn’t name.
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