Amid rising bilateral tensions, Japan has quietly dispatched one of its top foreign ministry officials to China, to try and ease the hostilities, following the political fallout between Tokyo and Beijing after the two Asian powers were engaged in a series of brief military and diplomatic confrontations.
Japan and China flag (photo:IANS)
Amid rising bilateral tensions, Japan has quietly dispatched one of its top foreign ministry officials to China, to try and ease the hostilities, following the political fallout between Tokyo and Beijing after the two Asian powers were engaged in a series of brief military and diplomatic confrontations.
Masaaki Kanai, director-general of Japan’s Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, is expected to meet Liu Jinsong, head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Asian Affairs Department, according to Japanese media.
The visit comes after both nations briefly caught themselves in a series of brief military-diplomatic scuffles.
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This includes Japan’s scrambling of fighter jets near its Yonaguni island after detecting a suspected Chinese drone flight near the Taiwan adjacent island, the constant incursions of the Chinese Coast Guard and Navy vessels around Japan’s Senkaku Islands, and a major diplomatic row prompted by the outburst by a Chinese diplomat in Japan, who in a veiled reference to Prime Minister Senae Takaichi, violently threatened the leader.
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Declining to comment on Kanai’s trip, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, attacking China, reiterated that Beijing’s recent actions contradict the spirit of the agreements discussed at Takaichi’s meeting with Xi Jinping late last month. “The announcements are incompatible with establishing a stable and constructive relationship,” he said.
China-Japan relations were greatly strained recently, after PM Takaichi, earlier this week told lawmakers that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan would prompt military action from Japan. The comments caused massive uproar in Beijing, which has stepped up both its maritime patrols and inflammatory political rhetoric in response.
The diplomatic mission may serve as a prelude to potential bilateral leader-level contacts, as PM Takaichi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang are both expected to attend the Group of 20 summit in South Africa later this week, where they could mitigate tensions by directly engaging in the highest-level talks.
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