JAPANESE Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping of his country’s willingness to create brighter Japan-China ties for the sake of the next generation.
Kishida and Xi held bilateral talks during the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC Summit – an annual forum of world leaders that seeks to promote trade, investment, and economic development among nations around the Pacific Ocean.
Both leaders agreed to settle their differences such as resolving the dispute over wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant through peaceful dialogue.
Kishida said both sides will deal with the wastewater dispute at an expert level and urged Xi to end a ban on imports of Japanese seafood imposed in August 2023, right after Japanese authorities released treated wastewater in the Pacific Ocean.
Xi for his part called for the establishment of a China-Japan relationship that meets the demands of the new era.
Japan and China have normalized ties in 1972 but their decades-old diplomatic relations have been tainted with differences on several issues ranging from semiconductors to nuclear waste, territorial dispute, and the fate of Japanese citizens detained in China.
The meeting between Kisgia and Xi coincides with the 45th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship.
