Japan, China to Discuss One Belt, One Road Cooperation in Sept.

August 1, 2018

Tokyo- Japan and China are considering holding in Beijing in September the first meeting of a bilateral committee for discussions on private-sector cooperation for Beijing's One Belt, One Road development initiative for regions along the old Silk Road, it was learned Tuesday.

The governments of the two countries plan to pick a specific project for cooperation at the committee so that it will be formally selected at a possible summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese government sources said.

Abe hopes to visit China in October to hold a meeting with Xi, on the assumption that he will win a third term in a row as chief of the Liberal Democratic Party in the Japanese ruling party's leadership election in September and stay on as head of government.

The bilateral committee is expected to be co-chaired by Hiroto Izumi, special adviser to Abe, and Ning Jizhe, vice head of China's National Development and Reform Commission.

A railway project in Thailand is a candidate initiative that may be chosen by the committee, according to the sources.

The establishment of the committee, comprising representatives from the two countries' public and private sectors, was agreed on at a meeting between Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in May.

It will operate under an existing ministerial-level Japan-China economic dialogue forum, discussing private-sector economic cooperation in third countries.

The Abe administration is eager to support the One Belt, One Road initiative as the prime minister hopes to obtain China's cooperation in resolving the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals decades ago.

China, for its part, is apparently willing to keep a check on the United States, by facilitating cooperation with Japan, at a time when Beijing and Washington are in a tit-for-tat trade battle.

Abe hopes that his envisaged trip to China in October will lead to Xi's reciprocal visit to Japan, the sources said. Jiji Press