Beijing [China], December 25 Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya on his first visit to China after becoming minister on Wednesday began talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing, as per Japanese state media.
The two countries aim to increase mutual high-level visits while maintaining communication amid continuing tensions, Kyodo News reported.
Earlier Xinhua reported that Wang Yi and Takeshi Iwaya will hold foreign ministers' talks and attend the second meeting of the high-level Consultation Mechanism on People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges between China and Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chinese President Xi Jinping had during their summit in November in Peru on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and agreed to promote "mutually beneficial" and "stable" relations and to arrange foreign ministers' reciprocal visits "at an appropriate time."
Announcing the Japanese minister's visit China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning at a press conference said that China attaches importance to Iwaya's visit adding that China stands ready to build a constructive and stable China-Japan relationship fit for the new era, Global Times reported.
Disputes persist between China and Japan with the "intrusion of Chinese vessels into Japanese territorial waters around the Tokyo-governed, Beijing-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, as well as the detention of Japanese nationals over espionage allegations," Kyodo News reported.
This is Iwaya's first visit to China as Japan's top diplomat, according to Kyodo. The last time a Japanese foreign minister travelled to China was in April 2023 when Yoshimasa Hayashi visited Beijing.
The two sides may exchange views on promoting exchanges through visa policy relaxations and other issues, according to NHK.
During Iwaya's visit, the two sides are expected to affirm China's readiness to lift a ban on imports of Japanese seafood, which was imposed due to the discharge of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea as per Kyodo.
China and Japan launched the high-level consultation mechanism on people-to-people exchanges in November 2019, with both sides vowing to push for greater development of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries in the new era, Xinhua reported.
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