China-Japan Approaches Trump Uncertainty...Will Xi Jinping's State Visit Be Accomplished?

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that the Japanese government has made stabilizing relations with China a diplomatic task this year and is seeking the timing of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit.

The Japanese government plans to first invite Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi next month, which will be about four years since November 2020 if Wang Yi's visit to Japan materializes.

In addition, while looking at the impeachment situation in Korea, the government plans to invite Li Chang, the prime minister of the State Council of China, to hold a Korea-China-Japan summit after the spring.

In the midst of such a move to stabilize relations, the main focus is President Xi's state visit to Japan, which was put on hold in 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19, the newspaper said.The only visit to Japan since President

Xi became president in 2013 was to Osaka to attend the 2019 G20 summit, and the Japanese prime minister's visit to China has not taken place in more than five years since then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in December 2019.

In this regard, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba appeared on TBS last month and expressed his desire to visit China, saying, "It is very important to go to China."

This is interpreted as a move to seek to stabilize relations with China at a time when the second Trump administration's Asian policy is uncertain.

In fact, China has also been relatively conciliatory to Japan since last fall, agreeing to resume imports of Japanese seafood and including Japan as a visa-exempt country.

"China is obsessed with state visits," a Japanese foreign ministry official said. "There are many obstacles, but we have to create an environment where we can speak honestly with President Xi."

However, citing military and security issues between China and China, the newspaper said, "There is also an opinion within the Japanese government and the ruling party that President Xi should be invited as a state guest and treated carefully."