China’s top diplomat raises concern over risk of ‘backsliding’ in ties by Japan

Wang Yi urges Tokyo to eradicate interference in relations between the two countries

In positive signs, the two militaries set up a hotline and the Japanese foreign minister is expected in Beijing

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Top diplomat Wang Yi meets former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda in Beijing on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:00pm, 1 Apr 2023

China is concerned relations with Japan could go into reverse, with recent overtures failing to improve ties, according to Beijing’s top diplomat.

In a meeting with former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda in Beijing on Friday, Wang Yi, a Politburo member who leads the Communist Party’s general office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, also urged Japan to “eliminate interference from all sides”.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, “but today we have reason to be concerned about possible backsliding in Japan’s policy towards China and to question whether Japan continues to adhere to the direction of peaceful development,” Wang said.

“I hope that the Japanese side will remove interference from all sides, send a positive message that China-Japan relations are on a healthy development track and are revitalised, and create conditions for the full restart of post-pandemic interactions in all fields,” Wang said, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

In response, Fukuda, who served as Japan’s prime minister between 2007 and 2008 and was in China for the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan, said ties between China and Japan were “very important” and that the two sides should “maintain high-level contacts … enhance mutual understanding, eliminate misunderstandings and miscalculations”.

Already complicated by wartime history and territorial disputes in the East China Sea, relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been strained most recently by Japan’s growing alignment with the US’ containment strategy against China and Beijing’s stronger ties with Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine.