Xi Jinping emissary Li Xiaolin ‘planning Japan visit to improve relations’

A senior Chinese official known as close to President Xi Jinping is considering visiting Japan next month, sources knowledgeable about the matter said.

If the visit by Li Xiaolin, the youngest daughter of former president Li Xiannian, is realised, the likelihood of her holding talks with senior Japanese politicians is high as the two countries are trying to improve relations at least slightly before this year's summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in November in Beijing.

Li, head of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, was Xi's "emissary" and met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo a day before he took office on December 26, 2012, people familiar with the situation said earlier.

Li, who has been a friend of Xi since they were children, also secretly met with Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, as well as Masahiko Komura, vice-chief of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, when she visited Tokyo in spring last year, according to the sources.

The official reason for Li's planned trip is to participate in an event aimed at promoting people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, the sources said.

In addition to the event in Osaka on September 22-23, she is considering attending a ballet with the theme of friendship between Japan and China on October 7 in Tokyo, the sources said.