A senior Japanese foreign ministry official is set to visit China amid a widening rift over comments Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae made in relation to Taiwan.
The director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Kanai Masaaki, is expected to arrive in China on Monday.
During the visit, Kanai is expected to meet with officials including the Director-General of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Liu Jinsong.
It is believed Kanai intends to explain that Takaichi’s remark over a Taiwan emergency did not deviate from Japan’s position regarding Taiwan. He is expected to urge China to try to keep differences between the two countries from affecting exchanges of people.
Kanai is also expected to lodge a strong protest against a social media post by the Chinese consul-general in Osaka in response to Takaichi’s remark.
Some members of Japan’s ruling and opposition parties have called for measures against the consul-general, including deporting him as a “persona non grata.”
Kanai is expected to urge the Chinese side to respond appropriately.
Both Japan and China have summoned each other’s ambassador to lodge a protest. Beijing recently urged Chinese nationals to avoid traveling to Japan.
The Japanese government intends to watch China’s moves through exchanges between senior foreign ministry officials in the hope of preventing tensions from escalating.