TOKYO - Japan’s top diplomat Yoshimasa Hayashi will visit China this weekend, the first such visit in over three years, the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo said on Friday.
The April 1-2 trip will include talks with Mr Hayashi’s Chinese counterpart, Mr Qin Gang, the ministry said, and will be the first time a Japanese foreign minister has visited since December 2019.
China sees Mr Hayashi’s visit as important and in the interests of good ties, Ms Mao Ning, a spokesman at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a regular briefing in Beijing.
“China and Japan are close neighbours and it is in the common interest of both countries and the region to maintain healthy and stable relations between the two countries,” Ms Mao said.
Japan’s Defence Ministry on Friday announced that a planned military hotline between the two countries to foster trust and avoid contingencies is now operational.
Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have been tense in recent years, with Japan wary of China’s growing military power in the region.
But last November, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of a summit in Bangkok and pledged to continue high-level contact.
Tokyo has accused Chinese vessels of increasing incursions into Japanese waters, including near the disputed islands that Japan calls the Senkakus and Beijing the Diaoyus.
This week, Tokyo also called for Beijing to release a Japanese businessman held by the Chinese authorities on unspecified allegations of violating domestic laws.
Wary of growing Chinese military clout and spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Japan has overhauled its defence and security strategy.
In 2022, it announced plans to lift defence spending to 2 per cent of gross domestic product by 2027.
As the world’s second- and third-largest economies, China and Japan are key trading partners, and before the Covid-19 pandemic there had been plans for Mr Xi to make a state visit to Tokyo.
But relations have soured significantly since as Beijing bolsters its military, projects power regionally and beyond, and takes a harder line on territorial rivalries. AFP, REUTERS
