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Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi protested in a meeting Sunday with his Chinese counterpart the detention of a Japanese national in Beijing and raised “strong concern » about China’s escalating military activity near Taiwan and around Japan.
Hayashi is on a two-day visit in China, becoming Japan’s first diplomat to make the trip in more than three years as frictions grow between the countries. He also met Chinese Premier Li Qiang and top diplomat Wang Yi later Sunday.
During his talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Hayashi demanded an early release of an employee of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma, who was detained in Beijing last month over what the Chinese Foreign Ministry described as spying allegations. Neither side has offered further details about the man nor the allegations against him.
Hayashi told reporters he raised “serious concern” about China’s increasingly assertive maritime activity in the East and South China seas, and stressed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
He said he also expressed grave concern about Beijing’s increased joint military activity with Russia around Japan while Moscow wages war against Ukraine, and urged China to act responsibly for global peace.
Hayashi said he told Qin that their countries have the possibility of improved cooperation in economic, cultural and people exchanges, but also face “many problems and serious concerns » and that “Japan-China relations are currently at an extremely important phase.
