Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, and President of China, Xi Jinping. (Image via The Japan Times)

Japan, China postpone meeting for Xi's visit

According to diplomatic sources on Wednesday, a high-ranking officials’ meeting supposedly held in later February was postponed due to the viral outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) originating from Wuhan, Hubei Province, Central China.

The news might signal that the spring state visit of President of China, Xi Jinping, might be delayed.

The delayed vice-ministerial meeting on economic partnership was supposed to lay the groundwork to what Japan and China would achieve by Xi’s visit, arranged for early April.

The meeting was deemed “very important” as China is expected to finalize on whether they will go ahead with the state visit after considering the outbreak situation in the coming weeks and the sentiments from the Japanese people.

However, should the state visit be realized, it will hail a further improvement in bilateral ties between Japan and China which was strained over wartime history and territorial dispute. Xi is expected to not only meet Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, but also having a banquet with the Emperor of Japan, Emperor Naruhito.

As the COVID-19 has spread from Wuhan to more than 20 countries, many countries are reconsidering bilateral working-level meetings with Beijing, as the government itself is struggling to fight the outbreak. The Chinese government admitted the “shortcomings and deficiencies” in responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Currently, the virus has killed over 2,000 in China and infected over 74,000.

The conservative party said that it would be inappropriate for Xi to visit Japan in this situation. However, Japan’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, said that both countries will make necessary preparations as the state visit will proceed as planned.

Source: https://bit.ly/2V6ljE9