Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for a family photo during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S., November 16, 2023. Portal/Carlos Barria LICENSE
Nov 17 (Portal) – Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida committed to fostering mutually beneficial ties in their first face-to-face talks in a year, a sign that Asia’s two largest economies are trying to put the strained relationships back in order.
During their hour-long talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco on Thursday evening, the two leaders also discussed China’s ban on Japanese seafood and the high-profile case of a Japanese businessman jailed in China.
Countries should “focus on common interests” and reaffirm and give new meaning to their “strategic relationship for mutual benefit,” Xi told Kishida as they sat across from each other at a table, flanked by their delegations.
In a joint statement in 2008, Japan and China agreed to pursue a “mutually beneficial relationship based on shared strategic interests” to ensure regular leadership exchanges on issues such as security.
However, the phrase has been used less frequently in recent years as the historic rivals have clashed over a range of issues, including territorial disputes, trade tensions and Taiwan, the democratic island that Beijing claims.
Most recently, relations were tested by China’s ban on Japanese seafood after Tokyo’s decision in August to dump treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.
In comments to the media after the talks, Kishida said he had urged Xi to lift the ban and also called for the businessman’s quick release, dealing a major blow to their close economic ties.
Xi said Japan should take concerns about the water release from Fukushima seriously and handle the discharge responsibly, China’s official Xinhua news agency said.
The two sides also pledged to hold high-level dialogues on economic issues and welcomed the introduction of a new framework to discuss export controls, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
Along with the USA, China is Japan’s most important trading partner.
The Kishida-Xi meeting followed a highly anticipated summit between US President Joe Biden and Xi, where the two superpowers agreed, among other things, to set up a presidential hotline and resume military-to-military communications.
Kishida also met Biden at the summit, where they discussed topics such as “common challenges” they share with China.
China’s push to reaffirm ties with Japan may be due in part to Tokyo’s close ties with its arch-rival Washington, said Rumi Aoyama, an expert on Japan-China relations.
“I think there is a desire to drive a wedge between Japan and the United States by establishing a so-called strategic relationship with Japan amid the U.S.-China confrontation,” said Aoyama, director of the Waseda Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies .
On the sidelines of the APEC summit, Kishida also met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in his seventh meeting this year. The pair vowed to push for closer cooperation and discussed common concerns such as North Korea’s missile tests.
Yoon, Kishida and Biden also held a brief trilateral meeting on Thursday.
Leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum are in San Francisco Nov. 15-17 for the 30th summit.
Reporting by Mariko Katsumura, John Geddie, Kaori Kaneko and Sakura Murakami in Tokyo and Ethan Wang in Beijing; Writing by John Geddie; Edited by Stephen Coates and Raju Gopalakrishnan
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