Amid China's provocative military activities in Taiwan Strait, Japan Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Thursday spoke with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, and said that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are important.
During the talk, Hayashi also expressed concern about the repeated intrusions of ships sent by Beijing into Japanese waters near the Senkaku Islands, Kyodo News reported.
This was the first conversation with Wang since Hayashi became Japan's top diplomat on November 10.
During the call that lasted about 40 minutes, Hayashi also voiced "serious concern" over human rights issues in Hong Kong and China's far-western Xinjiang region, Kyodo News reported citing the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
According to Kyodo News, Japan and China will mark the 50th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral diplomatic ties next year. But their relations remain tense over territorial, security and wartime issues.
The Senkaku Islands are administered by Japan but claimed by China, which calls them Diaoyu.
Meanwhile, Taiwan is a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. Despite being governed separately for more than seven decades, China has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war.
( With inputs from ANI )
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