Japan tipped to ask China to revive reciprocal summits

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono is expected to call on China to resume reciprocal visits by the two countries’ leaders, a Japanese government official said, with bilateral relations showing signs of improvement despite a lingering territorial dispute.

Kono, who arrived in Beijing on Saturday, is scheduled to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and State Councillor Yang Jiechi, the nation’s top diplomat, as the two nations mark the 40th anniversary of the signing of a peace and friendship treaty.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping have yet to exchange official visits due to the row over the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku Islands, a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea that Beijing claims and calls the Diaoyus.

During the meetings in Beijing, Kono, was also aiming to make arrangements with China to hold as soon as possible a trilateral summit also involving South Korea, which Tokyo wanted to host last year, the foreign ministry official said.

North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear ambitions are also likely to be on the agenda, as Japan has asked China to exercise leverage over Pyongyang and play a key role in realising denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Kono is visiting China for the first time as foreign minister. His trip is the also first by a Japanese foreign minister since his predecessor, Fumio Kishida, visited in April 2016.