China and Japan reaffirm “strategic relationship” in rare talks between the two leaders

Nov 17 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to seek mutually beneficial relations in their first direct talks in a year, a sign that Asia’s two largest economies are looking to repair strained relations. .

The two leaders also discussed China’s ban on Japanese seafood and the high-profile case of a Japanese businessman detained in China during their hour-long talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco on Thursday evening.

The two countries should “focus on common interests” and reaffirm their “mutually beneficial strategic relationship and give it new meaning,” Xi told Kishida as they sat across from each other at a table flanked by their delegations.

In a joint statement issued in 2008, Japan and China agreed to continue a “mutually beneficial relationship based on shared strategic interests” aimed at ensuring frequent leadership exchanges on issues such as security.

But the phrase has become less used in recent years, as the two historical rivals have clashed over a series of issues such as territorial disputes, trade tensions and Taiwan, the democratic island that Beijing claims as its own.

More recently, relations between the two countries have been tested by China’s ban on Japanese seafood following Tokyo’s decision to release treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea in August.

Speaking to the media after the talks, Kishida said he strongly urged Xi to drop the embargo and also sought the quick release of the businessman, which dealt a major blow to their close economic ties.

China’s official Xinhua news agency quoted Xi as saying that Japan should take concerns about water leakage from Fukushima seriously and handle the discharge in a responsible manner.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry said that the two sides also pledged to hold high-level dialogues on economic issues and welcomed the launch of a new framework for discussing export controls.

China, along with the United States, is Japan’s largest trading partner.

The meeting of Kishida and Xi came on the heels of a long-awaited summit between US President Joe Biden and Xi, where the two superpowers agreed to open a presidential hotline and resume military communications between the two militaries, among other things.

Kishida also met with Biden at the summit where they discussed issues including the “common challenges” they share with China.

China’s push to reaffirm ties with Japan may be driven in part by Tokyo’s close ties with arch-rival Washington, said Rumi Aoyama, an expert on Japan-China relations.

“I think there is a desire to drive a wedge between Japan and the United States by establishing the so-called strategic relationship with Japan amid the confrontation between the United States and China,” said Aoyama, director of the Waseda Institute for Contemporary Chinese Studies.

On the sidelines of the APEC Summit, Kishida also met with South Korean President Yeon Suk-yeol in their seventh meeting this year. The two leaders promised to push for deeper cooperation and discussed shared concerns such as North Korea’s missile tests.

Yoon, Kishida and Biden also held a brief trilateral meeting on Thursday.

Leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum are in San Francisco for the 30th summit from November 15 to 17.

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