China, Japan leaders to hold first face-to-face talks

BANGKOK: The leaders of China and Japan will hold their first face-to-face talks in three years on Thursday, after North Korea fired the latest in a record-breaking missile blitz that has sent nuclear fears soaring.

Chinese President Xi Jinping flies in to the talks in Bangkok from a G20 meeting in Bali where US President Joe Biden pressed him to use his influence to rein in Pyongyang's activities.

As Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida prepared to meet, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile and warned Washington and its allies to expect a “fiercer” military response.

The pair will meet on the sidelines of a summit of the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) focused on pandemic recovery and the global economic turmoil unleashed by the war in Ukraine.

Kishida's office condemned the latest launch by the North, which adds to a flurry that began earlier this month and has included an intercontinental ballistic missile. Seoul and Washington have warned the North could be preparing to carry out a nuclear test -- which would be its seventh.

Biden held a three-way summit in Phnom Penh last week with allies Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to discuss the latest drama with the North.

The trio issued a joint statement warning that any new nuclear test would be met with a “strong and resolute” response, without giving further details.

China and Japan -- the world's second and thirdlargest economies – are key trading partners, but relations have soured as Beijing bolsters its military, projects power regionally and takes a harder line on territorial rivalries.

Chinese missiles fired during massive military drills around Taiwan in August are believed to have fallen within Japan's exclusive economic zone, and Tokyo has protested at what it calls growing aerial and maritime violations in recent months.