"China Strengthens Relations with Japan With Trump's Appearance"

Japanese media, including the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, reported that China and Japan are seeking to stabilize relations through human exchanges ahead of the launch of the second U.S. administration of Donald Trump.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya was the first foreign minister to visit China in a year and eight months to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The two sides agreed to hold security talks between senior officials in the diplomatic and defense sectors, and that Wang will visit Japan early next year to hold high-level economic talks between China and Japan.

At the same time, Foreign Minister Iwaya expressed his intention to ease visa issuance to Chinese people at the "high-level human and cultural exchange dialogue between China and Japan" held after the foreign ministers' meeting.

Nikkei said Chinese State Council Prime Minister Li Chang, who met with Foreign Minister Iwaya ahead of the Sino-Japanese foreign ministers' meeting, used the word "weather," which means a desirable defense in Chinese, and expressed the view that Sino-Japanese relations would develop further next year.

He then explained that China has been rapidly strengthening its access to Japan recently, and that China's sluggish economy and the return of President-elect Trump are the background.

From China's perspective, Japan intends to boost consumption by increasing interaction as it is the second-largest trading partner after the United States, Nikkei said, adding that improving relations with Japan is expected to lead to strengthening its ability to negotiate with Trump.