Wang Yi, Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Office of the Chinese Communist Party and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Yoko Kamikawa, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, held a China-Japan foreign ministers' meeting on the 26th in Vientiane, Laos, according to major Japanese foreign media.
This was the first face-to-face meeting between the heads of foreign affairs of China and Japan in eight months since they met at the China-Japan-South Korea foreign ministers' meeting in Busan at the end of November last year.
During the approximately 50-minute meeting held on the occasion of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) related foreign ministers' meeting, Director Wang said in his opening remarks, "We want to promote discussions between the two countries so that we can overcome difficulties together."
Minister Kamikawa emphasized, "There are not only possibilities but also many difficult issues between the two countries," adding, "It is necessary to continue multilayered and persistent dialogue so that we can move forward through mutual efforts."
During the meeting, the two ministers engaged in a renewed confrontation over the major issue between the two countries: the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (referred to by the Japanese government as 'treated water') into the ocean.
According to Kyodo News, Minister Kamikawa explained the safety of the contaminated water discharge to Director Wang and apparently requested the lifting of China's import ban on Japanese seafood products, which was taken as a countermeasure by China.
In contrast, Director Wang reiterated the demand for the establishment of a long-term contaminated water monitoring system involving relevant countries. However, after the meeting, Director Wang expressed to the Japanese press that "if possible, it is necessary to find a solution at an early stage" regarding the contaminated water issue.
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