A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers, including one from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s governing party, yesterday headed to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials for the first time since ties between the two Asian rivals deteriorated after Takaichi’s comment on Taiwan angered China.The group, which includes Gaku Hashimoto, a lawmaker of Takaichi’s governing Liberal Democratic Party and a former health and welfare vice minister, and a lawmaker each from two opposition parties Komeito and the Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA), is to meet with Chinese Communist Party officials during their visit through Thursday.“Communication has been severed in all areas and we are beginning to see their impact in many areas,” Shinichi Isa, a top spokesperson for the CRA party, told reporters before leaving Tokyo’s Haneda airport. “I hope we can somehow find a clue to restart a dialogue.”
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi offers flowers at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Tokyo on Aug. 15 on the 81st anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.
Isa, who has served as a diplomat at the Japanese embassy in China, wrote on X earlier this month that bilateral ties have sunk to their worst since the 1972 normalization of relations. He wrote that officials had always remained in communication even during previous lows: “Now all channels between officials and ministries have been cut off.”
