Media, 'Tokyo asks Beijing for reassurances on Takaichi's treatment at Apec'

Japan is working to prevent Chinese President Xi Jinping from giving Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi a cold welcome at the Apec summit, scheduled to be held in Shenzhen on 18 and 19 November. This was reported by the Japan Times, which recalls what the first meeting between the two leaders will be like after the diplomatic crisis triggered by the prime minister's statements on Taiwan.

According to anonymous sources cited by the newspaper, Tokyo has asked Beijing for reassurances that Xi will give Takaichi the same treatment as other leaders, at least with a handshake, and that he will lodge a formal protest for any anomalous initiative.

In 2014, the Japan Times recalls, when China hosted Apec, Xi shook hands with then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but in that case the thaw had been prepared months in advance.

Relations between the two countries are at their lowest since normalization in 1972. The rift dates back to November 2025, when Takaichi said that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could pose an existential threat to Japan, a position long shared by Japanese leaders but never expressed publicly. Beijing reacted by limiting the export of rare earths, crucial for the Japanese semiconductor and car industries, inviting its citizens not to travel to Japan and curbing imports of fish products.

For Eurasia Group analyst Jeremy Chan, interviewed by the newspaper, Beijing's rhetoric in the last year has been focused against the prime minister, increasing the risk of humiliation at Apec, between a possible protocol downgrading, seating arrangements and group photos. Finally, the chances of a face-to-face meeting are judged to be extremely low: contacts should be limited to institutional moments, such as the leaders' dinner. A trilateral meeting between Xi, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is also expected at the summit, finally recalls the Japan Times, which for Tokyo fuels the fear of isolation from Washington, its only formal ally.