A planned meeting of the Japanese and Chinese foreign ministers has been canceled by Beijing.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi had been scheduled to meet on Thursday afternoon in Cambodia, where they are taking part in a series of foreign ministerial meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The planned meeting would have been the first face-to-face talks between Japanese and Chinese foreign ministers in about 21 months. China notified Japan of its cancellation shortly before the meeting was supposed to take place.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying cited a joint statement issued on Wednesday by the Group of Seven foreign ministers as the reason for the cancellation.
The G7 statement expresses concern over what it calls China’s “threatening actions,” including military drills, in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
Hayashi had intended to express concern about China’s increasing maritime activity and call for its self-restraint.
He had also hoped to confirm the importance of Japan-China economic cooperation, as next month will mark the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
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