China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi to visit Japan ahead of possible Xi Jinping trip
- Three-day visit comes ahead of Chinese President’s planned attendance at G20 summit in Osaka next month
China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi will visit Japan for three days from Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
The visit is likely to work out details of President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to Japan for this year’s summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Osaka in late June, sources familiar with bilateral relations had said last week.
Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, is likely to meet the country’s national security adviser Shotaro Yachi on Thursday and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the following day, according to the sources.
Xi’s visit, if it goes ahead, would be his first since he came to power in 2013 and the first by a Chinese head of state since Hu Jintao in November 2010.
Yang and Yachi will also hold the sixth China-Japan high-level political dialogue.
At this dialogue, which is an annual consultation plan agreed on by the two sides, they will exchange views on China-Japan relations and issues of common concern, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing.