Xi Visit to Japan Up in Air as Tokyo Toughens Stance

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)--A planned state visit to Japan by Chinese President Xi Jinping has been put on hold, with Tokyo toughening its stance toward Beijing over the Senkaku Islands in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa. There has been no progress on rescheduling the visit, postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, reflecting the Japanese government's frustration over China's activities off the Senkakus, claimed by Beijing. "The situation is very serious," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a press conference on Wednesday, referring to two Chinese government ships being spotted near the contiguous zone just outside Japanese territorial waters around the islands the same day. The Japan Coast Guard has found Chinese government ships sailing in the contiguous zone off the islands for a record 306 days this year so far. The Japanese government showed particularly strong concerns over the incident on Wednesday because it occurred on the same day as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held talks in Tokyo with visiting Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. In his meeting with Wang on Tuesday, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi called on China to take positive action in a bid to ease tensions related to the Senkaku Islands. Immediately after Motegi unveiled the request at a joint press conference, Wang claimed that Chinese ships have taken action as Japanese fishing ships entered sensitive waters. A state visit to Japan by Xi was confirmed in November last year in a meeting between then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Although the visit had once been arranged for early April, it was postponed in March due to the coronavirus crisis, with a possible rescheduling in autumn this year at the earliest in mind. But rescheduling process has not made any progress so far, sources familiar with the situation said. Suga and Wang did not discuss a Xi visit to Japan in their meeting on Wednesday, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Xi would be the first Chinese president to visit Japan as a state guest since such a trip by his predecessor, Hu Jintao, in 2008. Some officials of the Japanese Foreign Ministry and the ruling parties pin high hopes on a visit by Xi to help foster a stable bilateral relationship focusing on economic ties, the sources said. But conservative members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party strongly oppose a state visit by Xi, due chiefly to concerns over the Senkaku Islands and Hong Kong issues. Given that the Suga administration cannot ignore these concerns, a government source said arrangements for a visit by Xi should be made from scratch, adding that "such a visit would be difficult next year as well." END