Japan PM Takaichi heads to China for first visit amid deeply strained ties

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will visit China for the first time since taking office to attend the Apec summit in Shenzhen next week. — AFP pic

First Published: Friday, 13 Nov 2026 1:14 PM MYT

TOKYO, Nov 13 — Japan said today that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would visit China next week for the first time since she took office last year, attending an Asia-Pacific summit in Shenzhen.

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

“Prime Minister Takaichi is scheduled to visit the Philippines and China from November 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.

Ozaki said that while at APEC, Takaichi will 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.

Multiple Japanese media reported that Tokyo had also asked Russia for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin at the gathering.

Relations between Tokyo and Moscow are at a low point after a Japanese journalist was arrested in Russia on spying allegations last month and assets belonging to Japan Tobacco were seized in the country.

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

Ozaki said a Quad meeting — including the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the US — is being arranged on the sidelines of Asean.

China reacted furiously to Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan, which came just weeks after she took office.

Beijing warned its citizens against travel to Japan and imposed trade restrictions that have reportedly led to big drops in supplies of vital rare earth minerals to Japanese firms.

Takaichi last month 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. — AFP