Japan PM Voices 'Serious Concerns' to Xi Over South China Sea Issue

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed "serious concerns over the situation surrounding the South China Sea, Hong Kong and Xinjiang" to Chinese President Xi Jinping in the pair's first in-person talks, Tokyo's foreign ministry said Saturday.

At the talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru, the pair also agreed to "work towards realising mutual visits by respective foreign ministers, as well as the high-level dialogue on cultural exchange and economy at an appropriate timing". The bilateral meeting follows Ishiba keeping his job as prime minister in a parliamentary vote this week despite having recently led the ruling coalition to its worst general election result in 15 years.

Relations between Japan and China have worsened as Beijing builds up its military capacity in the region and Tokyo boosts security ties with the United States and its allies. In the meeting, Ishiba also "conveyed serious concerns over the Chinese military's growing activity", while stressing "the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait is extremely important to Japan and the international community", the foreign ministry said.

China has ramped up military pressure on self-ruled Taiwan in recent years to pressure Taipei into accepting its claims of sovereignty, which the island's government rejects. Xi, meanwhile, said he hoped Japan would work with China to "properly handle major issues of principle such as history and Taiwan" and "manage differences constructively," according to a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

China and Japan, "whose economic interests and industrial and supply chains are deeply intertwined," need to "pursue win-win cooperation and maintain the global free trade system as well as stable and unimpeded production and supply chains," Xi said.

Another recent flashpoint in bilateral ties was the fatal stabbing in September of a 10-year-old Japanese schoolboy in Shenzhen. Ishiba urged Xi to "strengthen measures to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens" living in China, while Xi promised that the "safety of foreign nationals including Japanese people will be secured," Japan's foreign ministry said.