Japan-China leaders’ talks fail to reach agreement. Kyodo News: Takaichi Sanae may be left out in APEC

Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae. (Bloomberg file photo)

In order to facilitate a formal meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Summit to be held in Shenzhen, China, from November 18 to 19, the two parties reportedly failed to reach an agreement on coordination work.

Japan's Kyodo News reported on the 10th, citing multiple people involved in Japan-China relations, that China had rebounded on Sanae Takaichi's response to a congressional inquiry about "something happened in Taiwan" in November last year and had never changed its stance of refusing dialogue.

Chinese sources pointed out that Japan will be the only country among the major participants not to hold talks with Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping will treat leaders of the United States, Russia and other countries favorably, and Sanae is expected to be left out in the cold.

The Japanese government still intends to fight until the last moment to hold talks with Xi Jinping. However, outsiders believe that a more pragmatic approach is to seek opportunities to shake hands or have brief contact with Xi Jinping at the APEC summit.

Xi Jinping is expected to hold the third U.S.-China leaders’ meeting this year with U.S. President Donald Trump in Shenzhen, and will also hold individual meetings with leaders of various countries. Trump also said he expected to hold his first meeting between the leaders of the United States, China and Russia with Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Japan-China relations have continued to deteriorate since Gao Shi issued relevant congressional questions. Even if the one-year anniversary expires on the 7th of this month, the deteriorating trend has not stopped.