The Japanese government spokesman has postponed the visit to Japan this spring due to the spread of the new Corona virus, a government spokesman announced on Thursday.
"The state visit of President Xi will be organized at an appropriate time for both sides," Yoshihide Soga told reporters in Tokyo, adding that a new date will be set through diplomatic channels.
He added that «the biggest challenge at the present time for our two countries is to prevent the spread of the new virus. It is necessary to make this our priority. ”
For his part, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Legian announced that "the two parties agreed on the necessity of ensuring that President Xi Jinping's state visit be at an appropriate time and in the appropriate atmosphere in order to be successful."
Shi Jinping had formally agreed to invite Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to make this visit in June 2019 during the G20 summit in Osaka, western Japan.
This visit was supposed to constitute a new station in improving diplomatic relations between the two countries, which began since the state visit of Abe in the fall of 2018 to China and was the first for a Japanese Prime Minister since 2011.
The last state visit of a Chinese president to Japan was in 2008, which was undertaken by Hu Jintao.
Due to the spread of the new Corona virus, the Japanese government, on the other hand, intends to impose a two-week quarantine on all people from China and South Korea, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Thursday.