Japan’s top diplomat heads for China, seeking better ties

TOKYO: Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki will visit China on Monday and Tuesday for talks with senior officials, the latest in a series of efforts by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to improve relations soured by a bitter territorial row.

The hawkish Abe, who cemented his grip on power in an upper house election last week, has since then been signaling a desire for dialogue – even though Japan has raised its assessment of the risk of China’s military buildup and maritime assertiveness.

On Friday, Abe called for an unconditional meeting between Japanese and Chinese leaders – a proposal he repeated on Monday, according to Kyodo news agency. It said Abe had instructed diplomats to work towards that goal.

On Sunday, Isao Iijima, an adviser to the premier, told reporters that Abe could soon hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said no schedule had been set.

“As Prime Minister Abe has repeatedly said, he wants a mutually beneficial, strategic relationship and the door is always open for dialogue.

“However, there is no immediate schedule for a leadership summit,” Suga told a news conference on Monday.

Often fragile Sino-Japanese ties have been seriously strained since September, when a territorial row over tiny islands in the East China Sea flared following Japan’s nationalization of the uninhabited isles.

Concern that Abe, who came to power in December, wants to recast Japan’s wartime history with a less apologetic tone has added to the tension.

“Vice Minister Saiki will visit China on July 29-30 and exchange views with Chinese officials,” a Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said. He did not give further details.

China’s Foreign Ministry responded to Abe’s overture on Friday by saying its door was always open for talks but that the problem lay in Japan’s attitude.

Japan should “stop using empty slogans about so-called dialogue to gloss over disagreements”, the ministry said in a statement faxed to Reuters.