According to sources, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida refused to meet with former Chinese ambassador to Japan Kong Xuanyou before he left office at the end of February. The picture shows that on January 12, 2023, Fumio Kishida spoke at a press conference during his visit to Canada. (Dave Chan/AFP)
[The Epoch Times, March 26, 2023](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Zhang Ting) Japanese media Kyodo News quoted multiple sources as confirming that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida refused to meet with Kong Xuanyou, the former Chinese ambassador to Japan, before he left office at the end of February. The unusual move demonstrates the level of tension in bilateral relations between China and Japan.
Several of Kong’s predecessors had met with the Japanese prime minister to say goodbye before leaving office, but this time Kishida broke with that practice, the source said. The reason is that Chinese ships have repeatedly entered the waters near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands (the mainland calls the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islands), and suspected Chinese spy balloons have been flown over Japan, which have worsened public sentiment in Japan.
The CCP has always claimed sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands and has repeatedly sent ships into the waters near these islands, which has aroused Japan’s dissatisfaction.
Sources told Kyodo News that around January this year, Kong Xuanyou asked the Japanese government to meet and say goodbye to Fumio Kishida, but Tokyo rejected Kong’s request on the grounds of a “schedule conflict” with Kishida and reassigned Japanese Foreign Minister Lin Fangzheng ( Yoshimasa Hayashi met with Kong Xuanyou, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not make the meeting public.
Kong Xuanyou’s post as ambassador to Japan was taken over by Wu Jianghao, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China in March this year.
A government source said that rejecting Kong Xuanyou’s request “does not pose any problem in terms of diplomatic protocol” because the prime minister ranks above the ambassador.
Former Japanese ambassador to China Yutaka Yokoi was unable to meet with Xi before he leaves office in 2020, and Japan believes a “reciprocal approach” is necessary, the source said.
As China and Japan commemorate this year the 45th anniversary of the 1978 bilateral peace and friendship treaty, Tokyo and Beijing are discussing stabilizing relations by allowing Lin Fangzheng to visit China. However, growing rivalry between China and Japan’s main security ally, the United States, Beijing’s military pressure on Taiwan, and China’s close relationship with Russia during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine all contribute to the volatile bilateral relationship.
The Kishida government made it clear that the CCP is Japan’s biggest security threat and doubled defense spending, including the purchase of missiles that can strike other countries. This is Japan’s largest military build-up since World War II and the biggest change in Japan’s security policy .
This week, Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping visited Russia. On the same day he met with Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida paid a high-profile visit to Ukraine and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This is in stark contrast to the CCP’s support for Russia.
Responsible editor: Lin Yan#