Asia-Pacific

Xi sends message expressing sympathy over death of Abe

Reuters file photo
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a meeting in Beijing in November 2014.

Jiji Press

11:10 JST, July 11, 2022

BEIJING (Jiji Press) — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday sent a message of sympathy to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida over the death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was gunned down the previous day, China Central Television reported.

Expressing his deep condolences over Abe’s passing, Xi said in the message that the former Japanese prime minister made contributions to improving China-Japan relations while in office.

Xi said that he deeply regrets the death of Abe, adding that he is ready to work with Kishida to continue developing a good neighborly friendship and cooperation between China and Japan.

Separately, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang paid tribute to Abe in a message sent to Kishida on Saturday. Li said that he hopes to cooperate with Kishida to strengthen communication and dialogue between them in order to promote the sustainable and stable development of the two countries’ relations.