A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers will visit China next week for a potential meeting with senior ruling Communist Party officials, sources familiar with bilateral relations said Wednesday, marking the first such exchange since a diplomatic dispute worsened the two countries’ ties last November.
The delegation, including Gaku Hashimoto of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Shinichi Isa of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, will make a four-day visit to China from Monday, the sources said.
The relations between the two Asian neighbors have deteriorated since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in parliamentary remarks last November that Japan would act in the event of an attack on Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island claimed by China, in support of the United States.
Angered by her comments, Beijing has been increasing pressure on Tokyo, implementing trade curbs and urging its citizens not to visit Japan among other measures. China has also criticized Takaichi’s defense buildup policies, claiming that her country has seen the rise of “neo-militarism.”
The dispatch of Japanese lawmakers to China is apparently intended to help mend the strained bilateral ties. In June, Hashimoto, son of the late Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, held talks with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Hua Chunying in Beijing.
Hashimoto, an acting chief of the Japanese Association for the Promotion of International Trade, visited the Chinese capital following the death earlier in June of former House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono, who headed the business group.
Former Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, who succeeded Kono as the head of the association, is expected to lead the group to China in late September, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, about 80 business representatives from western Japan’s Kansai region plan to visit China in late November to December after the country hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Shenzhen around mid-November, according to sources close to them.
