By Zachary Keck
Japanese officials no longer believe China will agree to a meeting between Shinzo Abe and Xi Jinping at APEC.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are unlikely to formally meet at an upcoming regional summit next week, according to Japanese media reports.
Citing unnamed Japanese officials, Kyodo News Agency reported on Wednesday that Xi and Abe are unlikely to hold a formal meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leadership meeting in Beijing next week. “It is not zero percent, but it is extremely difficult,” Kyodo quoted “a source close to the Japanese government” as saying. This is something of a reversal from last month when Japanese officials were optimistic that the first official meeting between the two leaders would take place on the sidelines of APEC.
Japanese and Chinese officials have been engaged in intense behind-the-scenes negotiations over the last several months aimed at holding a meeting between Abe and Xi at APEC. China has refused to hold a meeting between Abe and Xi since the two leaders came into office in 2012 unless the Japanese leader made certain concessions on the Senkaku/Diaoyu Island dispute and issues relating to Imperial Japan’s actions during WWII. Japan, on the other hand, has insisted that the two leaders meet without any preconditions.
Read the full story at The Diplomat