Japanese Minister of Foreign Affaris Yoshimasa Hayashi, meeting his Chinese counterpart yesterday, spoke of the importance of peace in the Taiwan Strait and urged Beijing to promptly release a detained Japanese national.
Hayashi’s meeting with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang (秦剛) was the first visit to Beijing by a Japanese foreign minister in more than three years, as the two rival Asian powers seek common ground amid rising regional tensions.
The Japanese minister said he conveyed Tokyo’s grave concerns over an increase of China’s military activity, including its closeness with Russia and its maritime presence in the East China Sea.
Photo: Kyodo via Reuters
“We both affirmed the importance of continuing to have a dialogue on issues including national security,” Hayashi said.
He said he spoke to Qin about the “importance of ensuring peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” Beijing said that Qin told Japan “not to interfere in the Taiwan issue or undermine China’s sovereignty in any form,” stressing that Taiwan is “the core of China’s core interests.”
Japan lodged a diplomatic complaint in August last year after five ballistic missiles launched by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, in response to then-US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Meanwhile, an employee of Astellas Pharma Inc was detained in China for unknown reasons, a company spokesperson said a week ago.
At least 16 other Japanese have been detained in China on suspicion of spying since 2015, Japan’s Kyodo News has reported.
“I made a protest against the recent detention of a Japanese person in Beijing, and made a strong point of our position on the matter, including the early release of this national,” Hayashi told reporters.
Qin said that China “will handle [the case] according to the law,” a readout from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Hayashi said Japan is seeking transparency over the legal process regarding detentions and has asked for China to secure a fair and safe business environment.
After Tokyo on Friday announced export restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment, following the US, Qin told his counterpart “not to play accomplice to an evildoer.”
Hayashi told reporters that the restrictions “are not aimed at any specific country.”
Despite their differences, China and Japan agreed to restart trilateral talks with South Korea, Hayashi said, calling the agreement “an important achievement” from his meeting with Qin.
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