Takeo Akiba, secretary-general of Japan's National Security Secretariat, met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday and apparently discussed a possible summit between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Ishiba has expressed a willingness to meet with Xi on the sidelines of a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru and a summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Brazil, both later this month.
Akiba told reporters after his meeting with Wang that the two sides had in-depth discussions on how to communicate at high levels, including leaders.
In his meeting with Wang, Akiba expressed concern about the safety of Japanese people in China, referring to cases including the fatal stabbing of a Japanese boy in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.
Akiba called on Beijing to show a concrete path to resume imports of Japanese fishery products. He and Wang also discussed violation of Japanese airspace by Chinese military aircraft.
The Japanese diplomat also expressed serious concerns about strengthening cooperation between Russia and North Korea, including Pyongyang's dispatch of troops to Russia.
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