Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first in-person talks on Friday — part of an effort to reassure each other through high-level dialogue as relations remain tense over a ban on Japanese seafood exports, China’s military moves near Japan and the safety of Japanese nationals in China.
With U.S. President-elect Donald Trump set to return to the White House after his stunning election victory earlier this month, both Beijing and Tokyo seem to be carefully evaluating what it could mean for the power balance in the Indo-Pacific region, as they seek to keep communications open to avoid miscalculations.
During the meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, the two leaders reaffirmed their aims to develop a “mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests” — phrasing that had been rarely brought up in recent years due to rising diplomatic issues.
It wasn’t until last year, when then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Xi met at the same summit in San Francisco, that the two sides were able to set the tone for their relations by returning to that phrasing.
In his opening remarks, Xi congratulated Ishiba on taking up his post, and said he appreciated the prime minister’s stance on promoting the two countries’ “mutually beneficial ties.” He noted the two countries are at a “critical moment” in improving relations, adding that he hopes ties can be “constructive and stable.”
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on Tuesday. | JIJI
Ishiba, meanwhile, called the relationship one “of great importance to the international community,” noting challenges and pending issues and saying that he hopes to establish ties with Xi that allow for “frank and ongoing” dialogue.
At the meeting, Ishiba reiterated Tokyo’s stance on regional security, with mentions the situation near the Japanese-administered, Chinese-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, as well as China’s intensified military activities around Japan, according to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo.
He also stressed that “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is extremely important for the international community,” while expressing “serious concerns” about the situation in the disputed South China Sea.
The prime minister also repeated Tokyo’s demands for an early removal of all import restrictions on Japanese seafood. Tokyo and Beijing had reached an agreement in September under which Beijing would “gradually resume” Japanese seafood imports in exchange for a stricter monitoring program that includes Chinese experts on Japan’s release of treated radioactive water from its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Aside from the shifting geopolitical landscape, both leaders are also facing domestic turmoil back home.
Ishiba, whose party suffered a thumping loss in last month’s Lower House election that saw the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition lose its majority, has been looking to form a minority government with limited support from opposition parties.
Both international and domestic audiences are closely watching his second appearance on the diplomatic stage since assuming office on Oct. 1, especially his encounters with Xi and U.S. President Joe Biden.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping waves upon his arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, in Callao, Peru, on Thursday. | AFP-JIJI
On the other hand, China, facing its worst economic situation in decades, has seen a spike in deadly crimes — including two targeted at Japanese children in China, for which Beijing has yet to provide details of the suspects’ motives.
Observers have associated these crimes with China’s anti-Japan education and conspiracy theories allowed to circulate against the local Japanese community on otherwise strictly controlled social media.
Just this week, a 62-year-old male driver rammed his car into a crowd in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, killing 35 and severely injuring 42, according to state media. The severity of the incident prompted Xi to issue a rare strongly worded directive to local authorities, and forced the Japanese government to scramble to confirm that none of its citizens was hurt.
Nevertheless, Ishiba was expected to stress the importance of a swift Chinese response to address widespread safety concerns shared by the Japanese community in the country, something that — coupled with Beijing’s intensified anti-espinage crackdown — has led to Japanese businesses shifting further away from investing in the country.
Ishiba was likely to urge Xi to provide clarifications on the previous two incidents that pertained to Japanese nationals, while calling for an early release of all Japanese nationals detained by Chinese authorities.
The meeting Friday comes a month after Ishiba and Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s first in-person meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Vientiane, Laos.
