Chinese foreign chief sounds positive about Xi Japan visit

March 9, 2019

Beijing--Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday took a positive stance on a possible visit to Japan by President Xi Jinping in June.

At a press conference on the sidelines of an annual meeting of the National People's Congress, Wang said that the bilateral relationship is entering a steady development phase, naturally allowing high-level exchanges between the two Asian neighbors to proceed smoothly.

Tokyo expects Xi to pay his first visit to Japan as China's leader in June, on the occasion of a Group of 20 summit in the western city of Osaka. To pave the way for the anticipated trip, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono hopes to travel to China in April and arrangements are under way.

Wang stressed his eagerness to strengthen ties between Japan and China, saying the potential for bilateral cooperation is growing.

The Japan-China relationship has been improving recently, in the shadow of U.S.-China trade friction.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, during his visit to Beijing last October, clarified his government's stance of promoting cooperation with China on third-country markets. The Xi administration welcomed the move.

On Friday, Tokyo announced that a Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer will participate in a ceremony in the eastern China city of Qingdao next month to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Navy.

Wang noted, however, that the bilateral relationship has only just started to improve. He urged Japan to face up to history issues in good faith and take an objective view of reality.

When tensions between the two countries were elevated following Japan's nationalization of East China Sea islets, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, Wang, a former ambassador to Japan, had made hard-line remarks toward Japan.

Elsewhere in his annual press conference, Wang judged the second U.S.-North Korea summit, held in Hanoi last week, to be an important step in the process of finding political solutions to issues on the Korean Peninsula.

He stressed that denuclearization of the peninsula is possible if the dialogue continues to advance in the current direction. Jiji Press