Tokyo, Beijing Officials Discuss Abe’s Oct. Visit to China

September 26, 2018

Suzhou, China- High-ranking Japanese and Chinese officials on Tuesday held detailed talks to set up Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to China next month to mark the 40th anniversary of the entry into force of the two countries' peace and friendship treaty.

Sino-Japanese relations are heading in a good direction, Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee, said at the outset of the meeting held in Suzhou, a city in the eastern China province of Jiangsu.

China and Japan need to make efforts so that the two countries can realize the long-term and stable development of their relations, including high-level officials' mutual visits, said Yang, who is China's top official for diplomacy.

Shotaro Yachi, head of the secretariat for Japan's National Security Council, noted that Abe is slated to visit China in the near future.

He added Japan wants Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the country, underscoring that Tokyo hopes the presidential visit will become a major opportunity to help develop the bilateral relationship.

According to a source accompanying Yachi, the Japanese official pointed out that there will be no real improvement in Japan-China relations without stability in the situation in the East China Sea.

Yang gave a detailed explanation on the current state of U.S.-China trade friction, the source said.

China claims sovereignty over the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The islands are known as Diaoyu in China.

At the meeting, Yachi and Yang reaffirmed the importance of realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and fully implementing U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions against North Korea. They also reconfirmed that Japan and China will closely cooperate over the matter. Jiji Press