Japan’s concern about China military activities conveyed at Seoul meet

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and Chinese Premier Li Qiang shake hands ahead of their talks in Seoul on May 26, 2024.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he conveyed Japan’s “serious concern” to Chinese Premier Li Qiang in their talks on Sunday about China’s recently increasing military activities, days after it conducted two days of drills around Taiwan.

Kishida also asked Li for an immediate lifting of Beijing’s blanket ban on Japanese seafood products, imposed after the discharge of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant began in August 2023.

With Japan-China ties marred by several disputes, Kishida held the first formal bilateral meeting with Li, who took up the current post in March 2023, on the sidelines of a trilateral summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Monday.

“We confirmed the direction toward a mutually beneficial strategic relationship as well as constructive and stable Japan-China ties,” Kishida told reporters, adding that they had “meaningful discussions.”

Kishida said he told Li that Japan believes stability in the Taiwan Strait is “crucial” not only for the region but also for the international community. China has called its military exercises a “strong punishment” for those seeking the island’s independence.

The military drills followed last Monday’s inauguration of Taiwan’s new President Lai Ching-te, whom China denounces as a separatist. He is the leader of the ruling, independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.

China’s Foreign Ministry said Li told Kishida that Taiwan is the “core” of Beijing’s interests and a “red line” that must not be crossed.

As for the water release, the International Atomic Energy Agency submitted a report in July 2023 to Japan saying that the discharge aligns with global safety standards and would have a “negligible radiological impact on people and the environment.”

But China has criticized Japan for releasing “nuclear-contaminated” water into the ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which suffered meltdowns after a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

With Japan requesting China to analyze effects of the water release from a scientific perspective, Kishida said he agreed with Li that the two countries will accelerate talks on the issue at the working level.

In November last year, Kishida had agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping at their summit in the United States that Tokyo and Beijing would hold expert consultations to solve the water discharge row.

Kishida also said he called for the removal of a buoy installed by China within Japan’s exclusive economic zone near the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku Islands, claimed by Beijing, in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.

Chinese vessels have repeatedly intruded into Japanese territorial waters around the uninhabited islets in the East China Sea. Beijing calls them Diaoyu.

On the regional security front, Kishida and Li exchanged views on how to address issues related to North Korea, which has been developing nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

Earlier this month, a South Korean official said the nation’s military has detected that the North is likely preparing to launch a reconnaissance satellite using ballistic missile technology, a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Kishida, who held bilateral talks with Yoon before meeting with Li, told the Chinese premier that Tokyo hopes Beijing will “play an important role” in easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, according to a Japanese government official.

At a separate meeting, Li agreed with Yoon to establish “two-plus-two” security talks involving senior Chinese and South Korean foreign and defense officials and to resume negotiations to expand a bilateral free trade agreement, the two governments said.

Regarding Taiwan, Yoon was quoted by Beijing as saying Seoul has respected the mainland’s “one China” policy. Taiwan and China have been governed separately since they split as a result of a civil war in 1949. Beijing claims Taiwan is part of China’s territory.