Japan keen to get relationship back on track to stay a player in negotiations over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has begun a visit to Japan described as a major step forward in improving frosty relations, as Tokyo tries to stay involved in a flurry of international diplomacy over North Korea.
Wang met his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono for talks that were expected to touch on economic relations, territorial disputes in the East China Sea and ways to push Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.
“I would like to regard [Wang’s visit] as a major step forward in our efforts towards improving Japan-China relations,” Kono told Wang at the start of their meeting at the Iikura Guest House.
Wang said his visit was China’s answer to “positive” messages and policies by Japan.
“We are also faced with some complex and sensitive elements,” said Wang, a former ambassador to Tokyo.
“But together with Japan’s efforts… we would like to bring China-Japan relations back on a path of sustainable and normal development.”
The world’s second and third-largest economies have a fraught relationship, complicated by long-standing disputes over maritime claims and Japan’s wartime legacy.
But Tokyo is eager to get the relationship back on a firmer footing, especially as it fears being shut out of negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear programme in which Beijing is likely to be a major player.
