Japan and China revive long-stalled talks with pledge to reset economic ties
Eight years on and Tokyo and Beijing are back at the negotiating table amid feats of a US-China trade war
Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Kono and his Chinese counterpart kicked off the first high-level economic talks between their nations in eight years on Monday, at a time of tense trade relations with the United States for both countries.
Concern is growing about a trade row between China and the United States in which the two nations have threatened each other with tariffs. Japan has come in for criticism from US President Donald Trump on trade and been hit with tariffs on steel and aluminium, but Japan has not yet threatened counter-tariffs.
China’s senior diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, is the first Chinese foreign minister to visit Japan in a bilateral context in nine years. He and Kono discussed a broad range of issues, including North Korea, Kono on Sunday night.
“In these eight years, both nations as well as the economic conditions surrounding them have changed greatly, even as our regional economic roles have increased,” Kono said at the start of Monday’s discussions, noting a need for a reset of their often-fraught bilateral ties.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged last year to reset the sometimes touchy relationship between Asia’s two largest economic powers.