Xi Jinping congratulates Ishiba on his election as Japan’s new prime minister

Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a congratulatory message to the new Prime Minister of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba, according to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, following his election in Parliament.

Xi said in the message sent on Tuesday that he is willing to promote “strategic and mutually beneficial” bilateral relations and strive to build constructive and stable ties, according to a statement released by the ministry.

Calling China and Japan “neighbors separated by a strip of water,” Xi said the two countries should “follow the path of peaceful coexistence, friendship for all generations, mutually beneficial cooperation and common development” for the good of the fundamental interests of its people.

The Chinese leader stressed that he hopes Japan will respect the principles and consensus of the four political documents signed by both countries. One of the documents, the 1972 joint communiqué, stipulates that Beijing is the only legitimate government of China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory.

Xi Jinping celebrates the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China

The comment seemed like a warning to Ishiba, who visited Taiwan in August as co-chairman of a delegation of Japanese lawmakers and met with its leader, Lai Ching-te.

Lai on Tuesday congratulated Ishiba on his election as Japan’s prime minister, according to a statement issued by a spokesperson for the Taiwanese presidential office, expressing confidence that Taiwan and Japan will continue to strengthen friendly ties and contribute to regional peace and stability.

Although China and Japan agreed last month to gradually lift China’s ban on Japanese seafood products, tensions remain over issues such as the recent stabbing death of a 10-year-old Japanese boy in Shenzhen and the detention of Japanese nationals allegedly involved in espionage activities.

Top Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said Wednesday that he considered Xi’s congratulatory message to Ishiba on his inauguration day as “a positive message” for bilateral relations.

Noting that there are “various possibilities as well as many challenges and concerns” between Japan and China, Hayashi told reporters that the government wants to promote the strategic and mutually beneficial bilateral relationship and build constructive and stable ties.