China and Japan agreed for Beijing's top diplomat to visit in 2025, adding to signs that the two countries are working to repair ties that have been strained in recent years.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi would make the trip at the earliest suitable date, the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo said in a statement on Wednesday. The visit would be the Chinese foreign minister's first to Japan in more than four years.
Earlier in the day, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi met Iwaya Wang in Beijing. The two agreed to take more measures to promote tourism between the countries, the Chinese government said in a statement. They also reaffirmed the importance of deepening security communications, the Japanese statement said.
Iwaya also met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
China has embarked on a diplomatic charm offensive with U.S. allies and partners in recent months. Some foreign policy analysts link the shift to a desire by China for stability before the change in US leadership.
China is Japan's largest trading partner and Chinese tourists were a major source of revenue for Japanese companies before the pandemic. Yet Beijing is also Tokyo's biggest security problem, largely because of concerns that the Chinese military poses a threat to Japan's archipelago in the southwest. Japan also worries it could become involved in a conflict over nearby Taiwan.
During the meeting with Wang, Iwaya called for the early release of Japanese nationals detained in China, the ministry in Tokyo said. Ties between the countries have become clouded in recent years due to high-profile detentions of Japanese in China. In one case, a Japanese executive of Astellas Pharma Inc., who was detained in Beijing, was formally charged with espionage crimes.
Also a test for relations, in September this year a Japanese schoolboy in southern China died after being stabbed, prompting senior Japanese officials to ask Beijing to deal with “untruthful and malicious” internet posts targeting them country.
In a sign of efforts to ease ties, China said in September it would take steps to end a ban on Japanese seafood imports, a move taken in response to Japan's plan to use treated radioactive dumping water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.
The Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday that China is considering lifting its ban in the first half of 2025. Chinese Premier Li Qiang could visit Japan in May or June, which could give Beijing an opportunity to inform Tokyo it would lift the ban, the newspaper said. , citing Chinese government officials who did not name it.
With help from Akemi Terukina and Jing Li.
This article was generated from an automated feed from a news agency without any changes to the text.