The lingering territorial dispute between China and Japan over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea is set to deal yet another blow to the already gloomy outlook for China's biggest trade fair amid weak global demand and rising protectionism.
Prospects for trade between Asia's two biggest economies were "not optimistic", fair spokesman Liu Jianjun warned yesterday, with the number of Japanese buyers attending the Canton Fair, which starts today, likely to drop as a result of the diplomatic row over the disputed Diaoyu Islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan.
More than 6,200 buyers from Japan attended the previous fair in April, ranking eighth among 213 countries. Liu expects there will be fewer arriving in Guangzhou for the fair, which runs until November 4 but was reluctant to give a specific estimate.
"Both China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines have cut flights between China and Japan, and that will of course reduce the number of Japanese traders," he said.
Two of Japan's biggest airlines, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, have also cut back on flights between the two countries.
"This year, we actually made greater efforts in the hope of attracting more buyers from Japan, but the Diaoyu Islands incident has disrupted the plan, which will also lead to a drop in trade volumes between the two countries at the fair and hurt Chinese exporters," Liu said.