Japan, China coordinating in-person summit

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, November 9, 2022

The Japanese and Chinese governments are coordinating efforts to hold a summit between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping this month, several government sources have revealed.

If the planned meeting takes place, it is likely to be held on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia on Nov. 15-16 or the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Thailand on Nov. 18-19, which Kishida and Xi are scheduled to attend.

An in-person Japan-China summit has not been held since December 2019.

Kishida intends to affirm the importance of building “constructive and stable Japan-China relations” with his counterpart, according to the sources.

Observers have noted an improvement in the relationship between the countries since the two leaders exchanged congratulatory telegrams on the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations in September.

However, a government source said there is a possibility summit coordination will continue until the last moment as, “China seems to want to see how Japan will respond.”

The Japanese and U.S. governments are also coordinating a summit meeting while the international conferences are taking place in Southeast Asia.