Japanese and Chinese Diplomats to Discuss Key Issues

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa is considering a plan to meet with Wang Yi, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Communist Party of China and Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the 23rd (local time) during her visit to the United States.

The agenda is likely to include the attack that killed an elementary school student in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, and the gradual resumption of imports of Japanese seafood by the Chinese government.

Foreign Minister Kamikawa plans to request China to prevent a recurrence of the elementary school student death and ensure the safety of Japanese nationals in China.

Additionally, Japan plans to request information regarding specific facts and motive for the crime.

Japan also plans to urge China to promptly lift the ban on seafood imports it imposed in response to the release of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean.

The focus is on what stance China will take at this first China-Japan foreign ministers’ meeting since the agreement to resume fishery product imports.

Issues such as Chinese military aircraft violating Japanese airspace and the release of Japanese nationals detained by Chinese authorities could also be discussed.

Vice Minister Wang and Foreign Minister Kamikawa met in Vientiane, Laos in late July this year on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshifumi Tsuge will visit Beijing, China from today to the 24th in relation to the death of a Japanese elementary school student.

Deputy Minister Tsuge plans to meet with Chinese government officials to request that the safety of Japanese nationals be ensured and the truth behind the incident be revealed.