By Shannon Tiezzi
Yang Jiechi’s trip to Tokyo is a positive sign, but improvements in China-Japan relations still lack substance.
Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi is in Japan this week for high-level political talks. He meet with Japanese National Security Advisor Shotaro Yachi on Tuesday, marking the second round of talks between Yang and Yachi in 2015. Yang also met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday.
Yang’s trip to Toyko reciprocated Yachi’s visit to Beijing in July. At that meeting, and the one held this week, the two sides discussed a possible bilateral summit between Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was Yang and Yachi who helped pave the way for Xi and Abe’s handshake on the sidelines of the November 2014 APEC summit in Beijing. The third Yang-Yachi meeting in 12 months is a clear sign of thawing ties between Beijing and Tokyo.
However, thorny issues still plague the relationship. The July meeting was overshadowed by China’s negative reaction to Japan’s new security legislation passing the Lower House of the Diet (the bills have since passed the Upper House as well and become law). On Tuesday, it was history issues that threatened to overwhelm the meeting: Japan has protested UNESCO’s decision to register Chinese documents relating to the Nanjing Massacre in its “Memory of the World” program.
Though the obstacles to China-Japan relations haven’t gone anywhere, the return to dialogue is a clear indication that both sides want to improve their bilateral ties. China’s Foreign Ministry called the talks “an important measure taken by the two countries to enhance high-level strategic communication, build consensus and manage differences.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat