Japan conveys concern to Beijing over China’s military activities – Observer

The Japanese government this Thursday expressed “serious concerns” to Beijing regarding Chinese military activities in the East and South China Seas, adding that Japan is “attentive” to the situation around Taiwan.

On a visit to Beijing, the Japanese Foreign Minister, Takeshi Iwaya met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yiwith the two countries reaffirming their desire to promote “beneficial and stable” relations, in a context of growing regional tensions, according to reports in the Japanese press.

The two leaders also agreed to “make Foreign Minister Wang’s visit to Japan a reality at the right time as soon as possible next year,” a Japanese diplomatic statement said.

The Japanese minister, on his first official visit to China since taking office last October, conveyed the Wang Yi that Japan hopes to overcome the “challenges” and “reduce concerns by increasing cooperation and collaboration,” according to Japanese news agency Kyodo.

Earlier in the day, Iwaya also met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, with whom he agreed to work to establish “mutually beneficial and stable” relations, according to Kyodo.

China and Japan have an important trade partnership, but rising military spending and territorial rivalries in the East China Sea have deeply affected relations.

Tokyo, a longtime ally of the United States, has considerably increased its defense spending in recent years, in a context of increased military maneuvers by Beijing, especially around Taiwan, close to Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

In August, the Chinese air force made its first confirmed incursion in Japanese airspace.

A few weeks later, a Japanese warship crossed the Taiwan Strait, which China refuses to consider international waters.

Chinese diplomats say stability in Asia depends on ties with Japan

Beijing’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean at the end of September has once again provoked the ire of Tokyo, which claims it had not been warned in advance.

The security situation in the region is becoming “increasingly serious,” Japanese Defense Minister General Nakatani said in early December during a meeting in Tokyo with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Relations between Beijing and Tokyo are historically complex and marked by territorial, commercial and historical disputes.

Japan’s brutal occupation of certain Chinese regions before and during World War II remains a persistent point of contentionwith Beijing accusing Tokyo of not recognizing and sufficiently repair the suffering inflicted.

The Chinese education system and official Chinese discourse place great emphasis on this historical period in order to reinforce patriotic feelings.

Visits by Japanese officials to Tokyo’s Yasukuni shrine, which honors war dead, including convicted war criminals, regularly evoke Beijing’s ire.

Relations between the two powers were further affected in 2023, when Beijing banned the consumption of Japanese seafood following the discharge of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.

However, in September, China announced that it would gradually resume imports of Japanese seafood, a conciliatory gesture highlighted on Tuesday by the Chinese diplomacy spokeswoman.

“China is ready to work with Japan,” insisted spokeswoman Mao Ning at a regular press conference on Tuesday.