Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Friday he will visit China this weekend for talks with his counterpart Qin Gang, becoming Japan’s first top diplomat to do so in more than three years amid growing frictions between the two countries, including a recent flap over the detention of a Japanese national in Beijing. Hayashi hopes to “engage in a candid and in-depth exchange of views toward establishing a constructive and stable relationship” at his planned talks with Qin and other officials during his April 1-2 visit, he told a news conference.
He is expected to demand the release of the detained Japanese national, discuss security concerns in the region and ask China to act “responsibly” on global issues including Russia’s war on Ukraine. Hayashi noted an agreement between the leaders of the two countries to build constructive and stable relations but said “Japan-China relations are facing many challenges and concerns, although there are various possibilities (for cooperation).” Despite close economic and business ties between the two Asian powers, Tokyo and Beijing have been increasingly at odds in recent years as Japan considers China’s growing influence in the region as a threat to its national security and the economy. “I believe it is important to build a constructive and stable relationship while we insist on our position on some issues, seek (China’s) responsible actions and continue our dialogue,” Hayashi added. His predecessor Toshimitsu Motegi’s December 2019 visit to China was the last such trip made by a top Japanese diplomat, just prior to China’s near-total closure of its borders amid strict pandemic control measures.
Commenting on Hayashi’s visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said it was in the “common interests of the two sides and the region to maintain the sound and stable development of China-Japan relations.” Mao said Qin and other Chinese leaders she didn’t name would “have an in-depth exchange on bilateral relations and regional and international issues of mutual concern.”