Japanese Prime Minister Kan Yoshihide and Chinese President Xi Jinping plan to hold a telephone conversation on Friday (Sept. 25). The Japanese media Kyodo News reported on Tuesday (September 22) that Kan is in the final stages of coordinating for the call. Several Japanese government sources have told Kyodo News.
The unnamed government sources said the talks are aimed at further expanding relations between the two countries. According to Kyodo, the two leaders are also expected to discuss Xi’s state visit to Japan.
Xi was scheduled to visit Japan in April, but his visit was postponed due to the neoconavirus outbreak. At a press conference on March 5, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that the two countries decided to coordinate Xi’s visit through diplomatic channels at a time deemed appropriate by both sides.
Observers note that this will be the first phone call between the Japanese prime minister and the Chinese president since May 2018. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke to Xi on May 4 of that year to communicate with him about the relationship between the two countries.
Kan reportedly wanted the phone conversation to make clear his intention to focus on China. Xi is also said to be looking forward to the development of Japan-China relations.
Analysts note that for Kan, he needs to maintain a delicate balance between Japan’s relations with the United States and China amid heightened tensions between the United States and China. This is precisely the issue that Kan will need to consider carefully before his call.
Japan and China have long-standing disagreements over a number of issues, including their territorial disputes over islands in the East China Sea. It is expected that during the call, the two sides will exchange views on the issue of Chinese official vessels sailing into the waters near the Senkaku Islands (known as the Diaoyu Islands in China), as well as on the issue of Hong Kong. The two sides are also expected to agree on the idea of cooperation in dealing with the neo-crowning epidemic.
Kan, who became Japan’s first new leader in nearly eight years last week, has been on the phone with world leaders since taking office. Kan and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke for the first time on Sept. 20, and the two sides agreed to further strengthen the U.S.-Japan security alliance to jointly address the coronavirus pandemic.
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