Japanese National Security Secretariat Director-General Takeo Akiba had met China’s top diplomat for seven hours of talks that covered topics including Taiwan and Russia’s war in Ukraine, a Japanese government official said yesterday.
Accepting an invitation from China, Akiba traveled to Tianjin, southeast of Beijing, to meet Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) on Wednesday afternoon, the official said.
Xinhua news agency also reported that the two had met, weeks before the countries commemorated the 50th anniversary of their normalized ties on Sept. 29.
Photo: AFP
Relations between Asia’s two largest economies are not always friendly, and have long been beset by issues ranging from wartime history to territorial disputes.
Japan in the past few weeks has protested Chinese missiles that it said landed in its exclusive economic zone during military drills around Taiwan, while China called visits by Japanese ministers to a controversial war shrine a “serious provocation.”
However, during the meeting, which included dinner, the two senior officials took the opportunity to discuss an array of geopolitical issues.
Akiba “conveyed Japan’s position” on Taiwan to Yang, and stressed the importance of “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait, the official said.
Their meeting was held two weeks after a visit to Taiwan by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi sparked a furious reaction from the Chinese government, which launched its largest-ever military drills around Taiwan.
Akiba echoed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in “condemning and protesting” Beijing’s recent show of military might, the official said.
Xinhua reported that Yang told Akiba that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, and the Taiwan question bears on the political foundation of China-Japan relations and the basic trust and good faith between the two countries.”
Yang also urged Tokyo to “shape up a right perception of China” and work with Beijing to “promote bilateral ties to be more mature, stable, healthy and stronger,” while striving to “eliminate internal and external interference.”
The unnamed Japanese official said the pair discussed North Korea and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Akia expressing “grave concerns” over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear weapons development programs.
Xinhua said the pair “exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern,” but did not give details.
The official said Akiba and Yang also talked about a perennial controversy over disputed islets in the East China Sea called the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan and China, and the Senkaku Islands in Japan.
Japan last month lodged a protest with China over a Chinese naval vessel sailing near the islands.
Akiba reiterated Japan’s position on the islets and China’s growing maritime assertiveness, the official said.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS