The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit took place in San Francisco during the week. While the Biden-Xi meeting was front and center, a face to face meeting between Japanese and Chinese leaders was also very important.
China and Japan are the two largest economies in the region, and the two countries share a contentious history. Japan’s successful Westernization made it embark on conquests in China, culminating in World War II. Reuters reports:
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida committed to pursuing mutually-beneficial relations in their first face-to-face talks in a year, a sign that Asia’s two largest economies are looking to patch up strained ties.
The two leaders also discussed China’s ban on Japanese seafood and the high-profile case of a Japanese businessman detained in China during their hour-long talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco on Thursday evening.
China’s dominating advantage in the region is its economic and industrial might. It recently clashed with Japan over a seafood ban, but a more muted Chinese rhetoric could yield closer ties in the Pacific. Yahoo News has more:
The Asian neighbors later clashed over Japan’s ocean discharge of wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. Beijing responded to the disposal — which the International Atomic Energy Agency has said is safe — by slapping a ban on imports of Japanese seafood, hurting local fishing communities. Kishida’s schedule in the US is set to include an appearance at an event promoting Japanese seafood.
The friction has hurt sales in China for Japanese companies including cosmetics-maker Shiseido Co., which slashed its profit forecast last week. It has also been a factor in turning the Japanese public their most negative on China since 2014, according to a poll published last month.
The United States will have to carefully balance its attitude against China. Too much aggressive talk could eventually lead to armed conflict. On the other hand, too much cooperation between US allies and China could eventually break up security arrangements.
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