MK sports Korea 2024. Photo: AFP" src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2024/2024-12-26/eae05f9b-4915-418e-a536-726348192a4a.jpeg" />

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) holds talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on December 25, 2024. Photo: AFP

 Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya in Beijing on Wednesday.

Noting that China-Japan relations are at a crucial stage of improvement and development, Li said China is willing to work with Japan to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, promote the sustained and healthy development of bilateral relations, and achieve more new results in pragmatic cooperation, according to Xinhua News Agency. China and Japan are close neighbors that cannot be moved away from each other, and the two countries have made a solemn commitment to being cooperative partners rather than threats to each other, he said.

Iwaya said that Japan is willing to make joint efforts with China to strengthen exchanges at all levels, especially people-to-people exchanges, promote mutually beneficial cooperation and improve public opinion toward each other, comprehensively advance strategic relations of mutual benefit, and build constructive and stable Japan-China relations, per Xinhua.

Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Iwaya also held talks on Wednesday and the two foreign ministers attended the second meeting of High-Level Consultation Mechanism on People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges between China and Japan, during which 10 important consensuses were reached, according to a statement released by the Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday.

The 10 consensuses reached by China and Japan include vigorously promoting youth exchanges, building more platforms for exchanges between their sister cities, strengthening sports exchange and cooperation, supporting continued cooperation in the film, music, publishing, animation, and gaming industries, strengthen cooperation in media and think tanks, and engaging in exchanges between women's organizations to share experiences on promoting the joint development of men and women, and the two countries will work together to make the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, a platform for communication and friendship between the peoples of two countries.

Chinese experts reached by the Global Times said the visit by Iwaya is an important step in the improvement of China-Japan relations, indicating the Ishiba administration's positive view of the importance of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Japan, and of maintaining stable and healthy relations with China.

Crucial stage

When introducing background and program of Iwaya's visit, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ming said on Tuesday that in November this year, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba held a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima. They agreed to maintain high-level exchanges and make good use of high-level dialogue mechanisms in the fields of economy and culture.

Noting that the significance of China-Japan ties goes beyond bilateral, Wang said at the meeting with Iwaya that Asia will be more stable when China-Japan relations are stable so that it can play a more important role in the world.

Iwaya said Japan is willing to enhance mutual trust, coordination and cooperation with China, increase the positive agenda in bilateral relations, and reduce pending issues.

Wang reiterated China's opposition to Japan's ocean discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water, stressing that Japan should fulfill its international obligations and commitments to China, establish a long-term international monitoring mechanism, and allow China to sample and test independently.

Lü Yaodong, deputy director of the Institute of Japanese Studies from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that Iwaya's visit demonstrated Tokyo's willingness to advance the strategic relationship of mutual benefit in the overall interest of China-Japanese relations, which was an important step toward restoring ties.

The face-to-face communication between senior officials of the two countries on a wide range of issues suggests that China-Japan relations, after their low point under the era of Abe and Kishida administrations, are likely to bounce back, Lü Chao, an expert on the East Asian studies at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Both sides expressed desire to develop friendly relations and pragmatically resolve differences ... As neighbors, the people of China and Japan have a deep understanding that cooperation benefits both countries and confrontation hurts both, Lü Chao added. 

Pragmatic approach 

Iwaya's trip to Beijing, according to the Kyodo news, marks his first visit to China as Japan's foreign minister. The last time a Japanese foreign minister traveled to China was in April of last year when Yoshimasa Hayashi made the trip, according to the report.

For some experts, Iwaya's visit continues the momentum of China-Japan relations stabilizing and warming up. From a broader geopolitical landscape, Iwaya's China visit came just ahead of US power transition in January. 

Compared to the Kishida administration era, the Ishiba government is more pragmatic and flexible in dealing with China, as they are clearly aware of the need to hedge the risk and balance uncertainty from the US by improving relations with China, said Xiang Haoyu, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies. 

Echoing Xiang, Lü Yaodong said there's a window for Beijing and Japan to fix ties. Besides the balance approach in diplomacy, Ishiba administration, which struggled in domestic affairs, is probably eyeing on the détente with China, the world second largest economy, as a focus and highlight of their work. 

Both China and Japan are facing uncertainty brought by the change of government in the US, but also hope to turn the uncertainty into an opportunity to improve relations and activate various kinds of cooperation, said Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences. 

At a Tuesday press briefing ahead of the Beijing visit, Iwaya stressed that China-Japan relations are "one of the most important bilateral ties" for Japan, and express the hope to reaffirm a mutually beneficial strategic relationship and a constructive and stable relationship between the two countries, according to the Jiji Press. 

Noteworthily, on the same day, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Tuesday that strengthening his country's alliance with the US is key to regional security, the AP reported.  

Ishiba government's pursuit of stable and constructive relations with China and not seeking for intense confrontation, does not mean that Japan has adopted a fully balanced strategy between China and the US, but to roll back its one-sided stance towards the US a little bit, Xiang said. 

Although the Ishiba govt also seeks to consolidate Japan-US relations, the positive aspect is that Tokyo recognizes the importance of maintaining a healthy and stable relationship with China at the same time, Da said. "Cooperation between China and Japan is not only beneficial to China and Japan and their peoples, but also to the stability and development of the region."