The foreign ministers of China and Japan met in person for the first time since their countries became locked in a dispute over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan.
Japan’s top diplomat Toshimitsu Motegi said on Thursday that he had a chance encounter one day earlier with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila.
“I had an opportunity to exchange greetings briefly with Foreign Minister Wang Yi inside the conference venue. We spoke about bilateral relations,” Motegi told reporters. “Beyond that, since this concerns diplomatic exchanges, I would prefer to refrain from commenting further.”
China has rebuffed high-level diplomatic meetings with Japan since Takaichi said in parliament last year that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be an existential threat for Japan. That characterization angered Beijing because it would provide justification for Japan to deploy troops, according to Tokyo’s guidelines for handling regional crises.
Since then, Beijing has imposed and gradually escalated an economic sanctions campaign to try to force Takaichi to retract her remarks, while also accusing her administration of pursuing militarization. Takaichi has refused to reverse her comments, which were unusual in a public setting but reflected longstanding Japanese government thinking.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular briefing on Thursday that China had “no arrangements” planned with Japanese officials at the ASEAN summit.
The exchange between Wang and Motegi appeared to take place spontaneously.
“It just so happened there was an opportunity for contact as our delegations were passing each other between meetings,” Motegi said. The two men spoke without interpreters, he added, without specifying which language they used. Both are fluent English and Wang also speaks Japanese.
Japanese Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa said in May that he’d had a brief chat with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on the sidelines of a regional meeting of trade chiefs in Suzhou, an exchange Chinese officials later denied took place.
The next opportunity for leader level dialogue would be the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen this November. So far, Takaichi doesn’t plan to try to meet President Xi Jinping at that event due to frustrations over personal attacks China has directed at her, Bloomberg previously reported citing people familiar with the situation.
Motegi stressed on Thursday, however, that his country remains “open to dialogue at every level.”
“Japan and China both bear major responsibilities for peace in the region,” he added. “For that reason, I believe it’s extremely important that we continue our dialogue.”
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.