Japan-China Relations
Meeting between the Leaders of Japan and China on the Occasion of the APEC Peru 2016
On November 20, commencing at shortly after 11:00 a.m. (local time; shortly after 1 a.m., November 21, Japan time) for approximately 10 minutes, Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, who is visiting Peru (Lima) to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting, held a meeting with Mr. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, within the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting venue. The overview is as follows.
This meeting came about as result of the two leaders approaching each other naturally at the venue immediately after an informal dialogue with the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was held as a side event to the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting.
1. Prime Minister Abe stated the following:
(1) As President Xi stated in Hangzhou in September, I intend to take the opportunityof the 45th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China next year and the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People’s Republic of China in the following year to improve Japan-China relations.
(2) H.E. Dr. Li Keqiang, the Premier of the State Council of China, will visit Japan for the first time on the occasion of the Japan-China-Republic of Korea (ROK) Trilateral Summit Meeting scheduled to be held this year, but I hope to make it a fruitful visit in the context of bilateral relations between Japan and China as well. Additionally, I also hope we can promote people-to-people exchanges.
(3) It is my wish to build a stable relationship from a broad perspective while managing areas of concern appropriately.
2. In response, President Xi stated the following:
I am impressed by Prime Minister Abe’s comment to take the opportunity of next year and the following year to improve our relations. It is important for Japan and China to improve the relationship by continuing to holdsuccessive productive discussions, managing appropriately areas of concern, and fostering the sentiments of both citizens, in line with the four basic documents and four points of November 2014, based on amicable views.