China foreign minister seeks more exchanges with Japan

December 30, 2017

Beijing- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday expressed his hopes to boost exchanges between China and Japan to help the two countries improve their relations.

During talks in Beijing with a group of Japanese lawmakers, including Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, Wang welcomed the Japanese side's positive attitude toward China shown at a two-day meeting of the two nations' ruling parties in Xiamen, Fujian Province, southeastern China, through Tuesday.

Calling for more bilateral exchanges, Wang said he hopes that the Japanese government will also show such an attitude.

In response, Nikai said that he will make efforts for this.

On the North Korean situation, Wang claimed that the country's nuclear and missile programs and U.S.-South Korea joint military drills both need to be suspended.

Nikai also met with Zhi Shuping, minister at China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

They exchanged views on Japan's rice exports to China and easing of China's import restrictions on Japanese foods introduced after the March 2011 accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s tsunami-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in northeastern Japan.

A positive response was given by China, according to officials at the Japanese embassy in Beijing. Jiji Press