Economic issues are expected to top the agenda when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping
China is Japan’s largest trading partner and despite meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of numerous international events, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had yet to travel to Beijing for a bilateral summit. All that changed Thursday, when the Japanese leader arrived in the Chinese capital to mark the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Japan-China Peace and Friendship.
It’s Abe’s first trip to Beijing since assuming Japan’s premiership six years ago.
Three days in China
During the three-day visit, economic issues are expected to rise to the top of discussions, although regional security issues related to the East China Sea and North Korea will most likely also get some attention.
The Japanese leader will sit down with Premier Li Keqiang Thursday and attend a reception to mark the 40th anniversary of the treaty. He then meets Xi on Friday, which will be the first Sino-Japanese summit since 2011.
Government officials and analysts expect the three-day summit will lay the groundwork for future meetings and a potential trip to Tokyo by Xi.
In a policy speech Wednesday, Abe said, “Tomorrow I will visit China. As we unflaggingly exchange summit diplomacy, I will also deepen the exchanges between the two peoples in all levels of activities from business cooperation to sports.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the bilateral summit was important and hoped that Beijing and Tokyo could move beyond the past to forge a new future.
“[We] will reconfirm that we are partners, not rivals; and reconfirm the consensus that we take each other as opportunities, not challenges; so that we could further improve and develop our ties, and at the same time deepen our mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields,” she said.
East China Sea and North Korea
When it comes to regional security issues, two of the most prominent topics for Tokyo and Beijing to discuss are competing territorial claims in the East China Sea and security concerns regarding North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
