Chinese foreign minister warns relations with Japan risk going backwards
- Wang Yi told his Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa that the two countries have reached a ‘critical phase’
China-Japan relations are at a “critical stage” and risk going backwards, Beijing’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned on Friday.
He told his Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa that he hoped Tokyo would take an “objective and correct” view of China and pursue a “positive and rational” approach, according to the foreign ministry in Beijing.
“Currently, the China-Japan relationship is at a critical stage where if it fails to move forward it regresses. China’s policy towards Japan has always been stable and consistent,” said Wang, urging the two countries to work together to safeguard the political foundations of their relationship.
Japan’s foreign ministry said: “The two foreign ministers confirmed that they will continue to build up … persistent communication, including mutual visits by foreign ministers at each other’s invitation.”
The talks between the two, held on the sidelines of a meeting of Association of Southeast Nations foreign ministers in Laos, were their first since November.
They followed this week’s visit to Tokyo by Chinese foreign vice-minister Ma Zhaoxu, which saw the resumption of a dialogue mechanism that had been suspended for over four years.
Apart from the long-running grievances over Japan’s wartime record and the territorial dispute in the East China Sea over the Diaoyu Islands (known in Japan as the Senkakus), Beijing has recently been angered by Tokyo’s increasing support for US efforts to pressure China, including efforts to limit its access to advanced microchips.
