A nonpartisan group of Japanese Diet members for Japan-China friendship is visiting Beijing. The lawmakers are expected to hold talks with China’s high-ranking officials over pending bilateral issues.
A delegation of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians’ Union is making a three-day trip to the Chinese capital from Tuesday. The group is headed by a former secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Nikai Toshihiro.
On the first day, Nikai and other participants visited Tsinghua University, the alma mater of Chinese President Xi Jinping. They met the school’s top official, Qiu Yong, who is the secretary of the Chinese Communist Party’s Tsinghua University Committee, and others.
Nikai said it is the parliamentary group’s first visit to China in about five years and expressed his pleasure at the opportunity to renew old friendships.
The delegation plans to hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Liu Jianchao, the head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee. The group is also making arrangements to meet a member of China’s top leadership.
The visiting lawmakers are expected to discuss China’s suspension of Japanese seafood imports following the release of treated and diluted water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
They are also likely to bring up the lack of resumption of visa exemptions for short-term stays by Japanese citizens. The program was suspended in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Other topics will include Beijing’s detention of Japanese nationals for alleged spying activities.
The delegation may also address Japan’s confirmation on Monday of the first violation of Japanese territorial airspace by a Chinese warplane.