China and Japan need 'frank' talks to find common ground, Tokyo's envoy tells security forum

China and Japan should increase "frank" communications, Tokyo's top envoy to Beijing said on Saturday, as the two Asian neighbours grapple with disputes ranging from the East China Sea to Japan's alignment with the US.

"Japan and the US are allies and our relationship is very close, but in reality, there are many, many negotiations under the table," Kenji Kanasugi, Japanese ambassador to China, said during a panel discussion at the World Peace Forum in Beijing on Saturday.

"I once worked in Tokyo to coordinate economic matters with the US, and Japan and the US are not the same, and the interests of Japan and the US are not the same, so there are many differences under the table that need to be managed by different departments, and we manage the difference well," Kanasugi said through translators at the event organised by Tsinghua University.

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"The same is true for Japan and China, that we should have a frank dialogue to find common ground."

With ties already complicated by wartime history and territorial disputes in the East China Sea, relations between the two countries have come under added strain on a range of fronts in the past year.

China is Japan's biggest trading partner and the economy was once seen as a potential driver for better political ties. But last year, trade between China and Japan dropped 10.7 per cent compared to a year earlier, with bilateral investment growth also slowing.

In addition, Beijing banned imports of Japanese seafood in August following the release of treated water from the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant, dealing another blow to trade.

On the diplomatic front, Beijing was riled in April when US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to strengthen security ties, with pledges to "maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait".

A month later, Japan's lawmakers enacted legislation to establish a "security clearance" system designed to prevent leaks of classified economic information - a move made with China in mind.

On Saturday, Kanasugi, who assumed the office in January, said ties between China and Japan should not be confined to security matters.

Exchanges between the two peoples and local governments could play a role to stabilise ties, he added.

"As we all know, government-to-government relations are sometimes in a very difficult state, and there could be a lot of fluctuations in government-to-government relations between Japan and China, but cooperation between local governments and exchanges between the two peoples could make an influence and improve bilateral ties."

Kanasugi also tried to ease concerns about the safety of Japanese nationals in China, following a knife attack against a Japanese woman and her child at a bus stop in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, earlier this month. A Chinese woman was stabbed trying to protect the pair and died later in hospital.

He said preliminary investigations showed that the case was a random attack.

"We are still investigating why such a case occurred and are looking into the reasons for it," he said.

"At this point, we feel that this is a very random incident and not a case against Japan, so we would also like to have more evidence to explain this to the domestic audience in Japan."

He also urged Beijing to resume a visa-free policy for Japanese nationals that was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. Similar schemes have been resumed for people from Singapore and Brunei.

Cheng Yonghua, the Chinese ambassador to Japan between 2010 and 2019, agreed that the two governments should "work together" to encourage people-to-people exchanges.

"I don't think that this is a big issue and that it can be resolved gradually by enhancing dialogue at the political level," Cheng said when asked what was blocking the resumption of Beijing's visa-free programme with Japan.

"If both sides show some sincerity and goodwill, this issue can be resolved."

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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