Xi, Takaichi vow to improve China-Japan ties in first meeting
Caught between China trade ties and US security pact, Japan faces rising great-power tensions
[SEOUL] China’s President Xi Jinping and Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had their first formal meeting on the sidelines of the Apec conference on Friday (Oct 31), as tensions spanning from trade to security continue to simmer between the two countries.
Xi said he was ready to maintain communication with the Japanese leader and to advance ties between China and Japan, according to Xinhua News Agency. Takaichi responded by saying “China is an important partner for Japan. We both have an important responsibility to promote peace and prosperity in the region and globally.”
China is Japan’s largest trading partner while the US provides Tokyo with crucial security guarantees, which forces Japan into an awkward balancing act when China and the US are increasingly at loggerheads.
A number of bilateral issues also continue to simmer, including China’s increasing military activity around a disputed cluster of islands called the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, trade restrictions including on the export of rare earths, as well as concerns over maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Takaichi’s ties with politicians in Taiwan and her previous visits to a shrine in Tokyo that is associated with Japan’s past militarism add a further element of tension to the talks.
Still, Xi and Takaichi stuck to the diplomatic groundwork laid out in previous meetings between leaders of the two nations. At the top of the meeting, they reaffirmed the stance of pursuing “strategic and mutually beneficial ties” as well as a “constructive and stable relationship”.
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“I have made principle and action my political creed. I would like to continue straightforward discussions with chairman Xi and deepen our relationship as leaders,” Takaichi said in the meeting, which lasted slightly less than half an hour, according to the Japanese government.
Although known for her hawkish stance on diplomacy, Takaichi appears to be taking a more pragmatic approach after becoming prime minister. In a sign of her shifting stance, she skipped her usual visit to the Yasukuni shrine.
Despite that decision, China still appears to be weighing up the new leader. In a break from recent practice, Xi has not yet publicly congratulated Takaichi on her election to the premiership, despite sending words of congratulations to her predecessors soon after they became prime minister.
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The talks come in a year when China has continued to demonstrate its growing presence in the region. In June Beijing sent two aircraft carriers into the Pacific simultaneously for the first time, underscoring China’s growing military reach and increasing worries in Tokyo after they were spotted inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
While it is unknown yet if Takaichi mentioned that or other territorial disputes, it is likely she touched on the issue of recent curbs on the export of critical minerals. While those were put in place as leverage in the trade war between China and the US, the slump in shipments also affected other economies including Japan, South Korea and the European Union.
The supply of rare earths, 17 elements that are crucial to the manufacturing of cars and chips, is likely to be a topic of particular interest for Takaichi, whose previous experience includes a stint as economic security minister.
Even as a meeting between Xi and US President Donald Trump on Thursday resulted in the promise of a temporary reprieve in the restrictions by China, key members of Takaichi’s Cabinet spelt out Tokyo’s continued concern about the curbs.
In a call to China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, Japan’s new Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi expressed strong concern, as did Japan’s Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa in a meeting with China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economy Cooperation meeting in South Korea.
“I expressed strong concern over the severe impact on the global supply chain, including Japan, caused by China’s export controls on rare earths. We strongly urged China to take appropriate measures,” Akazawa told reporters after the meeting.
For China, Takaichi’s visits to Taiwan, including a trip with a parliamentary delegation in April, are a likely source of concern. Beijing will also want to try to limit Tokyo’s willingness to cooperate with Washington on efforts to build supply chains not involving China and to restrict access to high-tech chip technology and supplies.
Following the call between Motegi and Wang, China’s government spokesperson said that Beijing valued statements from Takaichi that Japan did not intend to decouple from China.
We hope Japan will “work with China to uphold the political foundation for bilateral ties and continue to improve and develop China-Japan relations in the right direction.,” spokesman Guo Jiakun added. BLOOMBERG
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