Japan Foreign Minister Hayashi to visit China, first time in over 3 years

Tokyo [Japan], March 31 (ANI): Japan Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is all set to visit China on a two-day trip, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan confirmed on Friday.

Hayashi, who is all set to visit Beijing for the first time in over three years since 2019, will kickstart his trip on April 1. The visit of Japanese FM comes at a time when ties between the two nations remain tense over issues including Beijing’s recent detention of a Japanese businessman and a territorial row, Kyodo News reported.

Kyodo News reported citing the official sources said that Hayashi will meet with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang for the first time since Wang Yi’s replacement by the former Chinese ambassador to the United States in late December.

According to the sources, Hayashi will probably demand that China free the Japanese person who has been jailed since the beginning of the month on accusations of engaging in espionage.

Relations between the two Asian countries have become tenser as a result of the imprisonment of an employee of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma Ltd.

Chinese coast guard warships have frequently violated Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands, which are governed by Japan and are located in the East China Sea but are claimed by China as Diaoyu.

The trip was arranged after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to set up Hayashi’s trip to China during their initial face-to-face meeting in Bangkok in November, Kyodo News reported.