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Japan and China fail to close gap on thorny issues after ‘pointless’ Kishida-Xi meeting
- The Japanese PM did not push Xi ‘very hard’ over issues such as the Fukushima-linked food ban and Taiwan, an analyst says
- Several media reports, however, say the meeting was an important step towards thawing Japan-China’s frosty ties
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A meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the Apec sidelines in California last week has been dismissed by Japanese media and analysts as “pointless”.
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It has also been suggested that Beijing pushed harder for the meeting – the first between the two leaders since November 2022 – to go ahead at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit because Xi had hoped to encourage more Japanese firms to do business in China to offset its weak domestic economy.
In an editorial on Monday headlined “Kishida-Xi meeting did not achieve anything”, the conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper said while key issues were outlined in the 65-minute session on November 16, neither leader made any effort to move forward on “the top issues plaguing Japan-China relations”.
Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University, said he had low expectations ahead of the meeting. “The important part of the meeting was … the optics of the two leaders meeting in person,” he said.
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