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China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Japan from November 24 to 25 and reached some consensus with Japan on strengthening economic and social exchanges. At the same time, there are still differences between the two sides on the disputed islands of the Senkaku Islands (Senkaku Islands).
In recent months, the confrontation between the United States and China has intensified. In Asia, China’s relations with its neighbors have also been put to the test. Wang Yi’s visit to Japan coincided with the transition period of the US government.
During his visit, Wang Yi held talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. This is the first time that Yoshihide Suga has met with a high-level Chinese party since he became prime minister. Wang Yi is the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Japan since Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, visited Japan in February this year.
Wang Yi also met with Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsunobu, Liberal Democratic Party General Secretary Toshihiro Nikai, and former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. He continued to visit South Korea after leaving Japan.
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Diaoyutai, Diaoyu Islands, Senkaku Islands
A trip to Japan during the low period of Sino-US relations.
Kyodo News quoted a Japanese foreign affairs official as saying that Wang Yi and Toshimitsu Motegi had a “fairly long” discussion about US-China relations, but did not reveal specific details.
Japan is a very important ally of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region. Today, China and the United States are still very tense over trade, security and human rights issues. How US President-elect Biden will unfold America’s international strategy after taking office is the focus of global attention.
Lin Quanzhong, a professor at the Center for Japanese Studies at Wuhan University, believes that Wang Yi’s choice to visit Japan at the time of the US regime change is a “decisive move”, and this is the “time to breathe ” from China.
Lin Quanzhong told BBC Chinese that this is “China seizes an opportunity for its strategy and intends to win over Japan and prevent the United States from joining Japan against China.”
Many analysts believe that the obvious difference between Biden and Trump is that Biden tends to bond with allies. After taking office, he is expected to use this to revive America’s global leadership and continue to compete with China.
Lin Quanzhong said: “In the Asia-Pacific region, the Biden administration is likely to join Japan, Australia, New Zealand and other countries to build a strategic network to contain China, and Japan is a very strong foothold. important”.
He believes that Sino-Japanese relations have developed well in the past two years and the exchange of visits between the two heads of state has been restored. However, due to the new corona epidemic and the Hong Kong problem, this trend has been broken and has not improved so far. Professor Lin has lived in Japan for almost 20 years and served as a Research Associate at the Institute of Modern History at Academia Sinica in Taiwan.
Image source,CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / POOL / AFP via Getty Images
On October 6, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (right) and US Secretary of State Pompeo (left) met in Tokyo.
In October this year, the foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, Australia, and India held a security dialogue meeting in Tokyo to discuss the situation, including the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and highlighted the promoting a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, which is seen as a defense. The latest strategy to block China.
Furthermore, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Australian Prime Minister Morrison announced last week that they basically reached an agreement on the signing of the “Reciprocal Access Agreement.” This is a historic defense agreement reached between the two countries under the Indo-Pacific strategic framework.
The Japanese public’s perception of China has recently deteriorated. According to data released on November 17, nearly 90% of Japanese have a “bad” impression of China, which is five percentage points more than last year.
Chinese President Xi Jinpingyuan planned to visit Japan this spring, but the plan was shelved after the outbreak. Since then, in the high-level dialogue between China and Japan, the outside world is concerned about when to restart the plan, but so far it has not been mentioned.
Kyodo News quoted Japanese officials as saying that during Wang Yi’s visit to Japan, there was still no discussion about when Xi Jinping would make a state visit to Japan.
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Conversations between the Foreign Ministers of China and Japan.
China and Japan strengthen cooperation in economic and other areas
During his visit to Japan, Wang Yi reached some consensus with the Japanese side, including the resumption of the passage of businessmen from the two countries within this month, which will allow short-term visitors to communicate normally without isolation. The two sides also agreed to hold a ministerial economic dialogue next year to strengthen cooperation in the fields of technological innovation, energy conservation and environmental protection, health care, electronic commerce, etc.
According to China’s “Xinhua News Agency”, Wang Yi said that the current “international landscape is rapidly evolving and the world has entered a period of turbulent change,” and China and Japan “are close neighbors separated by a narrow strip of water and long-term partners. It is necessary for timely strategic communication. ” Kyodo News reported that Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said he hoped the agreement to resume business travel “will help revitalize the economies of Japan and China and promote mutual understanding.”
China is Japan’s largest trading partner and these two neighboring countries seek to strengthen economic ties. Earlier this month, 15 countries, including China, Japan and South Korea, signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), which is the first free trade agreement signed by China, Japan and South Korea.
During Wang Yi’s visit to Japan, China and Japan agreed to jointly promote the early entry into force of the aforementioned agreement and actively promote the process of negotiation and regional cooperation of the China-Japan-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
China and Japan also agreed to strengthen cooperation in other areas, including mutual support to host the Tokyo Olympics and the Beijing Winter Olympics; establish an interdepartmental consultation mechanism for Sino-Japanese cooperation on food, agricultural and aquatic products; establish a consultation mechanism on climate change policies between the two countries; and conduct maritime affairs next month. High-level consultations; endeavor to open a direct telephone line through the air and sea link mechanism between the two defense departments this year.
Lin Quanzhong believes that China is actively improving relations with Japan, and the results achieved by the foreign ministers of the two countries mean that China “has achieved initial results in preventing Japan’s fall to the United States.”
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In September 2012, near the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea (called the Senkaku Islands in Japan), a Japanese coastal frigate (below) sprayed water on Taiwanese fishing boats.
The issue of the Diaoyu Islands “speaks their own words”
However, during the meeting, the foreign ministers of China and Japan also discussed the issue of the disputed island of Diaoyu, and the positions of the two sides showed obvious differences.
Toshimitsu Motegi said at the joint press conference: “I conveyed Japan’s position on the Senkaku Islands issue and strongly urged China to take positive action. I (with Wang Yi) confirmed that I will continue the dialogue (on this issue).” .
Wang Yi reiterated China’s position, saying that it should “firmly safeguard its sovereignty.” China has always believed that “the Diaoyu Islands are China’s inherent territory.”
According to a Nikkei (Nikkei) report on Nov. 19, the total number of days a Chinese official ship was found in the waters around the Senkaku Islands this year was 300, setting a new all-time record. Katsunobu Kato called the matter “extremely serious” and has lodged a severe protest through diplomatic channels.
During his visit to Japan, Wang Yi made a strong statement on related issues. He said: “In recent times, some Japanese fishing boats of unknown origin have repeatedly and frequently entered the sensitive waters of the Diaoyu Islands, and the Chinese side has to respond as necessary.”
China, Taiwan and Japan claim Diaoyutai as their territory (Credit: BBC)
It is worth noting that when Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga expressed his congratulations over the phone with Biden on November 12, Biden confirmed that Article 5 of the “US-Japan Security Treaty” applies to the defense of the Senkaku Islands. According to this clause, if Japan is attacked by force, the United States and Japan must face it together.
During Wang Yi’s visit to Japan, the two sides agreed to open direct phone calls to the maritime and air liaison mechanisms between the two defense agencies within this year to avoid unexpected conflicts caused by tensions on the islands.
Lin Quanzhong believes that since China is actively improving Sino-Japanese relations, it will endeavor to reach a tacit agreement with Japan to avoid a repeat of the Diaoyu Islands conflict.
However, judging from Wang Yi’s hardline statement, Professor Lin believes that China and Japan “have not reached a substantive tacit understanding on this issue, and the two sides are in a state of saying different things, which is concerning. ”
