Asia-Pacific

Japan’s Lower House Vice-Speaker Banri Kaieda to Visit Beijing from July 22; NPC Talks Scheduled With Aim to Restart Japan-China Relations

Yomiuri Shimbun file photos
From left, The Japanese national flag, The Chinese national flag

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:39 JST, July 5, 2024

Banri Kaieda, the vice speaker of the House of Representatives, will visit Beijing from July 22, it has been learned.

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Banri Kaieda in 2022

Kaieda is planning to hold talks with senior members of China’s National People’s Congress during the visit, with the aim of calling for more active dialogue between lawmakers of both Japan and China, according to sources.

Kaieda will stay in China until July 26. Among the senior officials he is scheduled to meet is Zhao Leji, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee and third in line in the Chinese Communist Party.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and worsening bilateral relations, a legislature exchange committee between delegates from the House of Representatives and the NPC has not met since January 2020. Kaieda will propose resuming it.

Kaieda will be accompanied by members of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Japanese Communist Party. He is planning to visit Xian in Shaanxi Province as well.