KYODO NEWS



 

China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, and Takeo Akiba, Japan's chief national security adviser, held marathon talks in Beijing on Monday and agreed to maintain dialogue at various levels, including between their leaders and foreign ministers, Akiba told reporters.

Their meeting was intended to lay the groundwork for the first summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who took office on Oct. 1, and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an international gathering to be held in South America later this month, according to Japanese government sources.

After the talks, which lasted for four and a half hours, Akiba said the two sides shared the view that they will promote "strategic and mutually beneficial ties" and a "constructive and stable relationship."

Ishiba is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit from Nov. 15 to 16 in Peru and the Group of 20 leaders meeting from Nov. 18 to 19 in Brazil.

Wang urged Japan to take concrete actions to implement an important consensus that the two Asian neighbors are "cooperative partners" and "do not pose a threat" to each other so as to promote the steady and long-term development of bilateral relations, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

Akiba, head of Japan's National Security Secretariat, said he clearly conveyed to Wang Japan's positions over a host of issues that have strained bilateral ties, including the resumption of Japanese marine product shipments to China and measures to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals living in China.

The two countries agreed in September that China will gradually lift its ban on seafood imports from Japan, which was imposed after the release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the sea began in August 2023.

The Chinese ministry said the two sides agreed to accelerate the implementation of the bilateral political consensus reached in September.

Tokyo has strongly urged Beijing to take steps to ensure the safety of expatriates following stabbing incidents in Suzhou and Shenzhen earlier this year, during which a Japanese mother and a child were injured, and a Japanese schoolboy was killed, respectively.

The top Japanese national security official also said he discussed with Wang situations surrounding the Korean Peninsula and expressed Tokyo's "serious concern" over deepening cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow. North Korean troops have been dispatched to Russia to aid its war against Ukraine.

On the economic front, the two sides shared the view that the development of China and Japan is "closely linked and highly complementary," and their economies should not be "decoupled," the Chinese ministry said.

Amid concern in Japan over China's growing military activities, including its first breach of Japanese airspace in August, Wang emphasized that Beijing has been "unswervingly following the path of peaceful development," while maintaining a defense-oriented policy.

Akiba and Wang held phone talks on Oct. 21. The Japanese official also visited the Chinese capital in November last year to meet Wang and finalize arrangements for a meeting between then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Ishiba's predecessor, and Xi in San Francisco later that month.