By Shannon Tiezzi
China stressed there would be no one-on-one contact with the visiting Japanese delegation at this week’s symposium.
On Sunday, a spokesman for China’s navy announced that naval commander Admiral Wu Shengli will not meet with Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, the chief of staff of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Forces, during the Western Pacific Naval Symposium this week. This announcement contradicts earlier reports that the two men would meet during the symposium, marking the first such meeting between China and Japan’s naval chiefs since 2009. The snub also calls into question the possibility of a détente between China and Japan, despite some positive recent signs.
The Western Pacific Naval Symposium, to be hosted this year in Qingdao, China, has provided a miniature picture of the conflicting signals in China-Japan relations. First, Japan announced that it had not been invited to participate in a fleet review to take place in Qingdao alongside the symposium. In response, the U.S. said it would not send any ships to participate in the review. Ultimately, China cancelled the entire review in deference to the continuing search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. “Under such a special situation and atmosphere, China decided to cancel the multinational naval parade,” naval spokesman Liang Yang said in a statement.
However, China does intend to hold a joint maritime drill alongside the symposium, and Japan was pointedly not invited to this event. According to China Daily, Liang said that Japan was excluded from the drill because “a series of inappropriate actions by the Japanese government and leaders have severely hurt the Chinese people’s feelings.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat