Japanese Overseas Minister Takeshi Iwaya met with prime Chinese language leaders Wednesday throughout his go to to Beijing, the primary for the reason that heads of the 2 nations met at a summit in Peru final month, in an effort to make constructive inroads within the bilateral relationship.

The 2 neighbors have had a tense relationship in recent times. On the prime of Iwaya’s agenda is China’s ban on Japanese seafood in response to the discharge of handled radioactive wastewater into the ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant, in addition to China’s more and more assertive army exercise within the East and South China Seas.

Iwaya met with China’s premier, Li Qiang Wednesday in addition to Wang Yi, his Chinese language counterpart.

“At present the China-Japan relations are at a essential interval of enchancment and growth,” stated Li, in his remarks. “ China is prepared to work along with Japan to maneuver in direction of the vital route proposed by the leaders of the 2 nations.”

“I need to construct a relationship the place the individuals of each nations really feel that Japan-China relations have developed and progressed in a constructive route,” stated Iwaya, forward of his assembly with Wang.

His journey comes simply earlier than U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is to take workplace in January.

Tokyo considers the Japan-U.S. alliance the lynchpin of its diplomatic and safety insurance policies, a tone emphasised previously 4 years beneath U.S. President Joe Biden’s route, but it surely’s unclear how Trump will affect the alliance.

Japan has revamped its strategy to protection i n response to Chinese language actions in recent times, boosting army spending and shifting away from a precept of self-defense. Earlier this 12 months, Japan protested when a Chinese language army airplane flew into Japan’s airspace, whereas in the summertime, a Chinese language survey ship sailed into Japanese territorial waters.

Whereas how U.S.-China relations come out beneath the Trump administration is unclear, Japan is looking for stability in its relationship with its neighbor and hopes to develop ties in areas of mutual curiosity, together with the economic system and the aged care trade.

Iwaya advised reporters earlier than his departure Tuesday that he will even maintain bilateral high-level individuals and cultural trade talks, joined by the training ministers from the 2 sides.

“The connection with China, our neighboring nation, is one among Japan’s most vital,” Iwaya advised reporters Tuesday. Although there are lots of points and considerations, Japan and China share a wide range of potentialities, he stated. “The 2 nations share vital obligations for the peace and prosperity of the area and the worldwide society.”

Iwaya, a safety skilled, can be anticipated to reiterate his concern about Japanese nationals detained in alleged spying allegations.

Japan maintains that the water discharged from the Fukushima plant is handled and diluted to ranges a lot safer than worldwide requirements and adequately monitored, however China calls the water contaminated.

Japan and China agreed in September to work towards easing the seafood ban by permitting China in multinational sampling missions beneath the framework of the Worldwide Atomic Power Company.

Chinese language specialists joined an IAEA monitoring mission to Fukushima in October, when China took water samples from the ocean simply off the coast of the Fukushima plant, in addition to the water discharge system on the plant, for evaluation.

Nevertheless, no breakthrough is anticipated throughout Iwaya’s go to.

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AP author Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report from Tokyo.