China to resume security dialogue with Japan
Beijing, Feb 20 (EFE).- China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin confirmed Monday that the vice foreign minister, Sun Weidong, will travel to Japan on Tuesday to take part in a security dialogue with Japanese representatives.
Wang stated that issues of common concern will be addressed during the meeting – a once-regular fixture which has not been held since Feb 2019 – according to Chinese media.
Both sides will exchange their views regarding security policies with respect to China-Japan relations in a comprehensive and profound manner, the spokesperson added.
Wang also announced that Sun will meet Japan’s senior deputy minister for foreign affairs, Shigeo Yamada.
On Feb 18, China’s ex-foreign minister Wang Yi – the senior-most foreign policy official – met Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced late on Sunday that Wang insisted to Hayashi that Japan needs to “eliminate external disturbances,” take decisions independently, and work with Beijing so that China-Japan relations “progress on the right track.”
Senior diplomat Wang – director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China – further urged Japan to manage the discharge of water contaminated in the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the sea with caution and consult neighboring countries and international organizations on the matter.
Meanwhile, Hayashi said that both countries are “partners” and “do not pose a threat to each other,” according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
He also expressed Japan’s commitment to “developing constructive relations” with China.
China-Japan relations have deteriorated over the past few years owing to issues like territorial disputes over the Senkaku Islands (named Diaoyu by China) in the East China Sea, currently under Japan’s control, or the aforementioned discharge of contaminated water.
Moreover, Japanese officials’ visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, linked to Japan’s militaristic past and source of diplomatic strife with various neighboring countries in Asia, have been condemned by China in recent years. EFE
aa/ia
