Text/Fat guy eggplant
According to a report on January 23, at a press conference held a few days ago, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announced a heavyweight news: Japan will send a large-scale economic delegation to visit China officially.
Since 1975, the Japanese government and business circles have organized economic delegations to visit China almost every year, but due to various factors such as the epidemic and the political situation, the last time a Japanese economic delegation visited China was in the fall of 2019. This will also be the first visit to China by the Japanese economic delegation in four years, which is of great significance to Sino-Japanese relations.
(Lin Fangzheng announced that he would send a delegation to visit China)
And this time, the Japanese side can be said to attach great importance to this matter, and the scale of the personnel dispatched can be called "luxurious"-
It has been learned that the delegation has more than 80 principal members, and the nominal head of the delegation is Takao Shinto, chairman of Nippon Steel and chairman of the Japan-China Economic and Trade Association, and he is accompanied by Masayo Tokura, chairman of Sumitomo Chemical, and Ken Kobayashi, adviser to the Mitsubishi Group.
But there are not only "bigwigs" in the business community in this delegation.
(The Japanese economic delegation arrives at Haneda Airport for a flight to China)
In this delegation, there are also many "big figures" in Japanese politics, the most famous of which is obviously the 87-year-old former president of the Liberal Democratic Party, former Japanese deputy prime minister and speaker of the House of Representatives Yohei Kono, who is also the father of Taro Kono, the current minister of digital transformation and former defense minister of Japan. In addition, Danny Tamaki, the current governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan, was also in the delegation, and he also expressed his hope to visit Fujian Province, which has a "history of friendly exchanges with Okinawa for more than 600 years." This is also the second time he has set foot on Chinese soil since July last year.
It is reported that this luxurious delegation will stay in China for at least four days, and the total number of people will reach more than 100. Japan's NHK news network quoted the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying that although the theme of the delegation is "economy," high-level politicians in the delegation will also meet with high-level Chinese officials.
(Okinawa Prefecture Governor Danny Tamaki is here again)
The first issue to be solved when the Japanese sent such a "luxurious" delegation to China this time was the issue of seafood trade between Japan and China.
Because Japan forcibly started the operation of discharging nuclear sewage into the sea despite the opposition of the international community, China had to urgently announce the suspension of the import of aquatic products of Japanese origin, which is almost equivalent to choking Japan's "lifeblood". China used to be the largest exporter of Japanese aquatic products, but because of the nuclear wastewater incident, Japan's exports of aquatic products to China plummeted by 86%, resulting in the Japanese government having to urgently provide subsidies to fishing companies. One of the main purposes of Japan's delegation this time is to lobby the Chinese side to lift the relevant restrictive measures.
(Japanese fishing companies hit hard by nuclear wastewater incident)
Japan's high-level delegation to China is also sending an important signal to the outside world, that is, Japan is willing to continue to engage in dialogue with China in various fields centered on the economy, so as to ensure that Sino-Japanese relations will continue to develop in a stable and positive manner. This is likely to be one of the main purposes of the visit to China by Japanese government officials accompanying this "economic delegation."
Moreover, it is worth noting that the visit of the Japanese economic delegation is a direct result of the previous dialogue between the foreign ministers of China and Japan. Earlier, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Uekawa had said in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Japan hoped to hold security talks with China in the near future to further communicate closely on various issues and ensure that "neither side poses a threat."
(Japan Foreign Minister Kamikawa Akiko)
Japan's dispatch of an economic delegation to China this time has undoubtedly created a good environment and atmosphere for further high-level political dialogue between China and Japan. We have reason to believe that in the near future, it is possible for China and Japan to conduct direct dialogue and communication in the field of security, which will "make a breakthrough" for Sino-Japanese relations and ensure that there will be no armed conflict or war between China and Japan.
On the whole, since the beginning of the dialogue between China and Japan in various fields and the meeting of officials at various levels last year, the Kishida cabinet has significantly "moderated" its China policy, which is conducive to the warming of Sino-Japanese relations. However, it should be noted that on issues such as the South China Sea, the Diaoyu Islands, and the Taiwan Strait, Japan is still firmly on the side of the United States, and has not made a clear commitment to neutrality to China. This may also be the biggest "roadblock" to the further warming of Sino-Japanese relations in the coming period.