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Leaders of China and Japan Hold Long-Awaited Meeting Frosty Meeting at APEC Could Be Start of Thaw Between China and Japan
(about 5 hours later)
BEIJING — The leaders of China and Japan met and shook hands here Monday in a long-awaited and carefully crafted session designed as an important step in improving the two-and-a-half-year standoff between the two countries. BEIJING — The meeting between President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan lasted only 25 minutes, less than half the time usually given to formal encounters between the leaders of two nations. The names of the tiny islands in the East China Sea that are at the core of their frosty relationship did not pass their lips.
The meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minster Shinzo Abe at the Great Hall of the People was not intended to deliver any substantive progress on territorial and historical issues that have brought the two richest countries in Asia close to conflict and inflamed nationalist sentiments, according to officials from both sides. The two leaders tried a new beginning on Monday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, but the atmosphere could hardly have been cooler. Their countries’ flags, often the backdrop for such diplomatic meetings, were conspicuously absent, lest they convey an impression of amity.
“It was the first step for improving ties by returning to mutually beneficial relations based on common strategic interests,” Mr. Abe said after the meeting. Japanese officials said the two leaders met for about 30 minutes. And the body language? At the outset of the meeting, before they were seated, Mr. Abe spoke to Mr. Xi. The cameras caught the Chinese leader listening but not answering, turning instead for the photographers to snap an awkward, less than enthusiastic handshake.
In an account of the meeting, People’s Daily, the official state-run newspaper, said Mr. Xi told the Japanese prime minister that it was “obvious” why the relationship had suffered and urged Japan to abide by the spirit of a four-point accord released Friday. “Obviously Mr. Xi did not want to create a warm or courteous atmosphere,” said Kazuhiko Togo, director of the Institute for World Affairs at Kyoto Sangyo University. “It was a very delicate balancing act for Xi.”
The two men looked subdued and almost deliberately expressionless at the start of their encounter. Their handshake lacked the usual bonhomie between two leaders posing for photographers. If the Chinese leader smiled too much, he would antagonize the nationalistic audience at home, which has been led for more than two years to believe that Mr. Abe is not worth meeting, Mr. Togo said. If he glared, he would sour world opinion.
Mr. Xi had refused to consider a face-to-face meeting since becoming president in March 2013, but Mr. Abe, who was elected at the end of 2012, publicly asked in the past few months for the session. Japanese diplomats were dispatched to Beijing to arrange the encounter and to complete the accord released Friday, which is intended as a basis for better relations. The long-awaited encounter came three days after the two countries agreed to a formal document in which they recognized their differing positions on the East China Sea, including on the waters around the islands known as the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan.
The Chinese, as hosts of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that opened Monday, realized they could not snub Mr. Abe during his presence at the summit meeting, and agreed to the meeting, Chinese officials said. President Obama arrived in Beijing for the forum Monday morning. The two sides said that “following the spirit of squaring history” — an oblique reference to Japan’s brutal occupation of parts of China during World War II — they would seek to overcome the problems in the relationship.
While there was no practical outcome of the meeting, it gave added weight to a four-point accord announced Friday, Japanese and Chinese analysts said. The meeting on Monday was not intended to deliver any substantive progress on territorial and historical issues that have brought the two richest countries in Asia close to conflict and inflamed nationalist sentiments, officials from both sides said.
That accord said that both sides recognized they had different positions on the tense situation around the waters of the disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. It called for “dialogue and consultation” to “prevent the deterioration of the situation.” The two sides would strive to establish a crisis-management mechanism, the accord said. But Mr. Abe, who appears to have done most of the talking during the limited time given, asked for the early installation of a hotline that could help defuse possible clashes between Chinese and Japanese vessels in waters around the islands, said Kuni Sato, the press secretary for the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
That Mr. Xi and Mr. Abe met gives a “kick off” to what could be an exceedingly long process of discussions over the future of the uninhabited islands, and the disagreements over Japan’s repentance for atrocities in China during World War II, said Yang Xiyu, a senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies and a former Chinese diplomat. In general, Ms. Sato said, Mr. Abe told Mr. Xi that China and Japan should explore a relationship that was based on strong economic cooperation, better relations in the East China Sea and stability in East Asia.
“The gaps between the two sides are too big to handle let alone narrow,” in such a meeting between the two leaders, Mr. Yang said. Mr. Abe talked about the need to curb Ebola, and about cooperation on dealing with North Korea. He also squeezed in, as an example of cultural exchange, a mention of his attendance last month at a Chinese ballet company’s performance in Tokyo, according to Ms. Sato.
Talks about ownership of the islands would not start for a very long time, said Yoshihide Soeya, professor of political science at Keio University in Tokyo. Mr. Xi had refused to consider a face-to-face meeting since becoming president in March 2013, but Mr. Abe, who was elected at the end of 2012, publicly requested the encounter in the past few months. Japanese diplomats were sent to Beijing to arrange the meeting and to complete the accord released on Friday, which was intended as a basis for better relations.
Since taking control of the islands from the United States in 1972, Japan has consistently refused to concede that there is any dispute over sovereignty. China says the islands were taken from them by Japan at the end of the 19th century. The Chinese, as hosts of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that opened on Monday, realized they could not snub Mr. Abe during the summit meeting, and they agreed to the encounter, Chinese officials said. President Obama arrived in Beijing for the forum on Monday morning.
“Serious talks about the sovereignty issue concerning the islands will not happen for many years to come,” Mr. Soeya said. The four-point accord had effectively “sidelined” the issue, he said. That Mr. Xi and Mr. Abe met gives a “kickoff” to what could be an exceedingly long process of discussions over the future of the uninhabited islands, and over the disagreements over Japanese repentance for atrocities in China during the war, said Yang Xiyu, a senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies and a former Chinese diplomat.
As officials and analysts from each side pored over the careful wording of the accord, both sides promoted their own interpretations, scoring points for their own advantage. “The gaps between the two sides are too big to handle, let alone narrow,” in such a meeting between the two leaders, Mr. Yang said.
“Each side made the same amount of concessions,” said Kazuhiko Togo, the director of the Institute for World Affairs at Kyoto Sangyo University. “It prepared the gate for the two sides to walk through.” Since taking control of the islands from the United States in 1972, Japan has consistently refused to concede that there is any dispute over sovereignty. China says the islands were taken from it by Japan at the end of the 19th century.
Mr. Togo said it would be impossible for Mr. Abe to announce publicly that he would not visit the Yasukuni Shrine, the large shrine in central Tokyo that honor’s the nation’s war dead, including convicted war criminals. Such a pledge would antagonize his conservative political base. On the question of what China sees as Japan’s lack of repentance for its occupation of China, Mr. Togo of Kyoto Sangyo University said it would be impossible for Mr. Abe to announce publicly that he would not visit the Yasukuni Shrine, a site in central Tokyo that honors the nation’s war dead, including convicted war criminals. Such a pledge would antagonize his conservative political base.
“Abe cannot say he will not go, but it doesn’t mean he will go,” Mr. Togo said.“Abe cannot say he will not go, but it doesn’t mean he will go,” Mr. Togo said.
Some Japanese analysts said they believed Mr. Abe’s visit to the shrine last December was sufficient to satisfy his domestic constituency, allowing the prime minister to focus on developing a modicum of a working relationship with China. Some Japanese analysts said they believed that Mr. Abe’s visit to the shrine in December of last year was sufficient to satisfy his domestic constituency, allowing the prime minister to focus on developing a modicum of a working relationship with China.
Even though the four-point document appeared to be evenly balanced giving each side face, the Chinese government got the upper hand, said Ren Xiao, director of the Center of Chinese Foreign Policy Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. Even though the four-point document agreed to by both countries appeared to be evenly balanced to give each side “face,” the Chinese government got the upper hand, said Ren Xiao of Fudan University in Shanghai.
Japan contends that there is no dispute over the islands, and that it keeps total control. But the four-point accord’s declaration that there were different positions over the islands “fulfilled China’s requirement,” he said. That was a sufficient concession that there was a conflict over the islands, he said. Japan contends that there is no dispute over the islands, and that it maintains total control of them. But the four-point accord’s declaration that there were different positions over the islands “fulfilled China’s requirement,” he said. That was a sufficient concession that there was a conflict over the islands, he said.