Wang Yi: China-Japan relations at a critical juncture

Relations between China and Japan are at a "critical moment". The foreign policy chief of the Communist Party of China, Wang Yi, said today, as he received Japan's former foreign minister Yohei Kono at the head of a delegation in Beijing of the Association for the Promotion of International Trade. Wang said in building ties both countries must eliminate "external interference" and see each other as partners and not threats, according to a report from China's foreign ministry, quoted by the South China Morning Post. . It also urged the Japanese side to oppose "decoupling" efforts and make a contribution to improving and developing ties, signaling that Japan had made "negative moves" on the Taiwan issue.

Relations between Japan and China have soured in light of the geopolitical context, with the US pulling the strings of its regional allies in the face of growing Chinese power, and due to the territorial dispute between the two Asian giants. Earlier this week, Wang covertly attacked the United States for stoking anti-China sentiment in Japan and South Korea, saying "a certain major power outside the region" seeks to sow discord. Furthermore, in a trilateral meeting, in asking Tokyo and Seoul not to follow the American sirens, he also made a statement that was rather criticized because it was judged openly culturalist. “No matter how blonde we dye our hair or how sharp we make our nose, we can never become European or American, we can never become Western,” Wang said.

“We need to know where our roots lie”. Japan in March announced the imposition of export controls on some types of advanced Chinese semiconductor manufacturing equipment, along with the United States and the Netherlands. China has asked Tokyo to end the restrictions, saying they would hurt trade ties between the two countries.