Around 500 Japanese business leaders will accompany Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he visits Beijing this week, amid an ongoing China-U. S. trade feud that is hurting industries on both sides. A Japanese government official speaking Monday on routine condition of anonymity said Abe’s three-day visit starting
Around 500 Japanese business leaders will accompany Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he visits Beijing this week, amid an ongoing China-U. S. trade feud that is hurting industries on both sides.
A Japanese government official speaking Monday on routine condition of anonymity said Abe’s three-day visit starting Thursday will mark a further step in returning bilateral relations to a “normal trajectory” following a 2012 spat over ownership of uninhabited East China Sea islands.
China is Japan’s biggest trade partner and that relationship has taken on added importance following President Donald Trump’s decision to raise tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods. Beijing responded with its own tariff hikes on $110 billion of American imports.
The official said North Korea will also be among the issues the two leaders discuss.
China is the North’s most important ally, but has enforced economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council aimed at forcing Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program and ballistic missile tests.
The official said Japan also wants North Korea to address the issue of Japanese citizens it is suspected of abducting as a condition for improving relations with Tokyo.
