Japan's Sanae Takaichi to attend APEC in first China trip as PM

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will visit China next week for the first time since she took office, attending an Asia-Pacific summit in Shenzhen, Tokyo said on Friday (Nov 13).

The trip comes at a time of particularly fraught relations between the rival nations after Takaichi suggested in November last year that Tokyo may intervene in any attack on the island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.

"Prime Minister Takaichi is scheduled to visit the Philippines and China from Nov 16 to 19 to attend ASEAN-related summit meetings and the APEC summit," said deputy chief cabinet secretary Masanao Ozaki.

The visit to China will be her first since becoming prime minister in October last year.

At APEC, Ozaki said Takaichi would discuss issues such as "trade and investment, regional economic integration, economic and energy resilience, the digital economy ... and present Japan's position on these matters".

But all eyes will be on any interaction with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Analysts say that a bilateral summit between the two leaders is very unlikely. 

Before the Shenzhen trip she will head to Manila for a meeting of the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Ozaki said a Quad meeting - which would include the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the United States - is being arranged on the sidelines of ASEAN.

China reacted furiously to Takaichi's comments on Taiwan, warning its citizens against travel to Japan and imposing trade restrictions that have reportedly led to big drops in supplies of vital rare earth minerals to Japanese firms.

Last month, Takaichi called China an "important neighbour" and pledged to build a stable relationship in a policy address.

But she added that Japan would also "firmly assert our country's positions" and "strongly call for responsible behaviour".

While Beijing has refused to have ministerial talks with Takaichi's government, Xi sent a message of condolence to the family of former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda after he died last month, describing him "a longtime friend of the Chinese people."

In September, China's top diplomat Wang Yi said ties with Tokyo were "waiting to be normalised again" as he met former Japanese foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya, who was leading a trade delegation in Beijing.