Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told Xi Jinping on Thursday he had “serious concerns” about China’s military activities in the Asia-Pacific region and its cooperation with Moscow, and called for the ban on Japanese seafood imports to be lifted.
“I also expressed our serious concerns about China’s increased military activities near Japan and its cooperation with Russia,” Mr. Kishida said after meeting Mr. Xi for the first time in a year.
“I reiterated the extreme importance of cross-strait peace for the international community and Japan,” Kishida told Japanese television channels after their meeting in San Francisco, Japan. Sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.
“With regard to the East China Sea, I once again expressed our serious concerns and called for the immediate removal of (Chinese) buoys installed in Japan’s EEZ,” Mr. Kishida also announced, referring to the country’s exclusive economic zone.
He also said he had “urged for a calm response based on science and the immediate lifting of restrictions on the import of Japanese food products.”
China banned imports of Japanese seafood after Japan began discharging treated water from the crashed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean in August. Beijing accused Tokyo of treating the sea like a “sewage canal.”
Russia followed suit and also banned Japanese imports.
Japan insists the releases are safe, a view supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations regulator.
However, Kishida added that he and Xi “agreed to seek solutions through dialogue and discussions based on a constructive attitude.”