Japan’s foreign minister to visit China for talks
Trip comes as Tokyo imposes export controls
TOKYO – Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Friday he will visit China this weekend for talks with his counterpart Qin Gang, becoming Japan’s first top diplomat to do so in more than three years amid growing friction between the two countries, including new Japanese export controls and the detention of a Japanese national in Beijing.
Hayashi hopes to “engage in a candid and in-depth exchange of views toward establishing a constructive and stable relationship” in the talks with Qin and other officials during his visit, he told a news conference.
His trip comes after Japan announced Friday that it will tighten export controls on 23 materials used for semiconductor manufacturing, seen as an effort to limit China’s access to advanced chipmaking technology, a step sought by the United States.
Hayashi is expected to demand the release of the detained Japanese national, discuss security concerns in the region and ask China to act “responsibly” on global issues including Russia’s war on Ukraine.
He noted an agreement between the leaders of the two countries to build constructive and stable ties. “Japanchina relations are facing many challenges and concerns, although there are various possibilities” for cooperation, Hayashi said.
Despite close economic and business ties between the two Asian powers, Tokyo and Beijing have been increasingly at odds in recent years as Japan considers China’s growing influence in the region a threat to its national security and economy.
“I believe it is important to build a constructive and stable relationship while we insist on our position on some issues, seek (China’s) responsible actions and continue our dialogue,” Hayashi said.
A visit by his predecessor, Toshimitsu Motegi, in 2019 was the last to China by a top Japanese diplomat, prior to China’s near-total closure of its borders amid pandemic control measures.
Commenting on Hayashi’s visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said it was in the “common interests of the two sides and the region to maintain the sound and stable development of China-japan relations.” Mao said Qin and other Chinese leaders would “have an in-depth exchange on bilateral relations and regional and international issues of mutual concern.”
However, in a reminder of the underlying tensions, Mao also criticized the new Japanese restrictions on exports of semiconductor manufacturing materials to China. “Politicizing … and weaponizing sci-tech and trade issues and intentionally undermining the stability of global supply and industrial chains would only hurt others as well as oneself,” she said.
Japan is among the U.S. allies that have followed Washington in restricting Beijing’s access to the sensitive technologies.
Japanese Economy and Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said the export controls were imposed to prevent the materials from being diverted to military use. He said the decision was made “to fulfill Japan’s global responsibility as a country possessing advanced chip technology” and not to target China or follow the U.S. move. Japan consulted with the United States, the Netherlands and other like-minded countries, Nishimura said.
An addition point of friction between the two sides is China’s detention of an employee of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma last month on suspicion of spying. Japan’s government has demanded his release and an explanation.