Long farewell reunion: Japanese Foreign Minister Fang Hayashi visits China

China Newsweek reporter/Cao Ran

Published in the 2023th issue of China Newsweek magazine on April 4, 10

On April 2023-4, 1, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi visited China. On the 2nd, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the CPC Central Committee, met with Lin Fangzheng separately in Beijing, and Qin Gang, state councilor and foreign minister, held talks with Lin Fangzheng.

For Lin Fangzheng, foreign minister of the "Zhihua School", and Sino-Japanese relations, this trip is a reunion after a long absence. During the more than 20 years before becoming Foreign Minister, Lin Fangzheng, a member, secretary general and chairman of the Japan-China Friendship Parliamentary Alliance (JCC), visited China every time he took a vacation or during Japan's Golden Week. When Sino-Japanese relations improved, he strove to promote more economic and trade exchanges; When Japan's public opinion on China deteriorated, he advocated that "only by visiting China can we promote the improvement of relations."

In November 2021, Lin Fang announced at his first press conference as foreign minister that he had resigned as president of the Japan-China Parliamentary Union, which had served for four years, in order to "avoid unnecessary misunderstandings." This is his first visit to China since then. This is also the second visit to China by a Japanese foreign minister in more than three years since December 11; It is also the first foreign minister to visit China since Fumio Kishida became prime minister of Japan in 2019.

On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the conclusion of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Japanese public opinion has high hopes for Lin Fangzheng, and the specifications and details of this trip also remind the Japanese media of Kishida's ice-breaking trip seven years ago: in April 7, Fumio Kishida, then foreign minister of Abe's cabinet, arrived in Beijing to realize the first visit to China by a Japanese foreign minister in four years.

Both Fumio Kishida and Lin were met by China's premier, director of the Central Foreign Affairs Office, and foreign minister during their short trips. Fumio Kishida and then Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a four-and-a-half-hour meeting of China-Japan foreign ministers; According to the Japanese Embassy in China, Lin Fangzheng had a three-hour meeting with Qin Gang and a 4-minute working lunch on April 4. Japanese media said that the total duration of the meeting exceeded the originally scheduled two and a half hours.

What is more noteworthy is the long-term and positive communication between China and Japan before Lin Fangzheng's visit. In November 2022, Chinese and Japanese leaders held talks in Bangkok and reached consensus on maintaining high-level exchanges and dialogue. In February this year, Qin Gang and Lin Fangzheng held a telephone meeting to confirm that high-level dialogue and communication were maintained. That month, "regular consultations between diplomatic authorities" at the vice-ministerial level between China and Japan resumed in Tokyo. On March 11, China's Ministry of National Defense announced that according to the work plan agreed by the defense departments of China and Japan, the two sides have recently completed the construction of direct telephone lines for the sea-air liaison mechanism and will maintain communication on the opening arrangement.

Multi-field and multi-level changes point to a common theme: strengthening communication and promoting cooperation. Li Qiang said in a meeting with Lin Fangzheng on April 4 that China and Japan can fully expand the cake of economic and trade cooperation, strengthen cooperation in digital economy, green development, finance and finance, medical care and pension, etc., and achieve a higher level of mutual benefit and win-win results. Qin Gang expressed the hope that the Japanese side will establish a correct understanding of China, show political wisdom and responsibility, and work together with China to strengthen dialogue and communication, promote pragmatic cooperation, enhance people-to-people exchanges, properly manage differences, reduce obstacles and burdens in bilateral relations, and build China-Japan relations that meet the requirements of the new era.

In this regard, Lin Fangzheng expressed a positive attitude. He said that Japan and China have great potential for cooperation in a wide range of fields, and Japan is committed to promoting cooperation with China and will not adopt a "de-Sinicization" approach. The Japanese side is willing to work with the Chinese side to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, abide by the four political documents of Japan and China, and strengthen communication and practical cooperation at all levels.

However, Lin Fangzheng's trip was also accompanied by "noise". The Kishida administration, which has been trying to find a balance between China and the United States, has recently made a significant "right shift" in diplomatic and security strategies. In December, Japan's new security strategy positioned China as its "greatest strategic challenge," echoing the positioning of China as "the most important geopolitical challenge" in the new U.S. National Security Strategy. The day before Lin's trip, the Japanese government announced on March 12 that it planned to restrict the export of chip manufacturing equipment, which was regarded by public opinion as once again "following the United States and targeting China."

In this regard, Wang Yi pointed out when meeting Lin Fangzheng on April 4 that the current Sino-Japanese relations have maintained overall stability, but various noises and interference have appeared from time to time. The fundamental reason is that some forces in Japan deliberately follow the wrong China policy of the United States and cooperate with the United States to smear and provoke on issues involving China's core interests. This is strategically short-sighted, politically wrong, and even more diplomatically unwise.

China Newsweek, Issue 2023, 13

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