Former Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya has held talks with China’s top diplomat and its top economic minister in the first official meetings between a Japanese politician and such high-ranking Chinese ministers since ties plummeted following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks last November about a Taiwan crisis.
Iwaya on Tuesday met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, who steers the country’s economic policy, at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, media reports said. Details of the talks were not immediately available.
A day earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iwaya in Beijing that bilateral relations are facing “a severe situation” and must again be “normalized,” according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
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