Japanese Lawmakers Visit Beijing       08/24 06:13

   

   TOKYO (AP) -- A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers headed to Beijing on 
Monday seeking to mend strained ties following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's 
comment on Taiwan that angered China and led to tensions that have spilled over 
into the economy.

   The group, which includes Gaku Hashimoto, a lawmaker of Takaichi's governing 
Liberal Democratic Party and a former health and welfare vice minister, and a 
lawmaker each from the Komeito and Centrist Reform Alliance opposition parties, 
will meet with Chinese Communist Party officials during a visit through 
Thursday.

   "Communication has been severed in all areas and we are beginning to see 
their impact in many areas," Shinichi Isa, a spokesperson for the CRA party, 
told reporters before leaving Tokyo's Haneda airport. "I hope we can somehow 
find a clue to restart a dialogue."

   Soon after taking office, Takaichi said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could 
constitute "a survival-threatening situation" for Japan that would justify the 
use of force, enraging Beijing.

   Isa, who has served as a diplomat at the Japanese Embassy in China, wrote on 
X earlier this month that bilateral ties have sunk to their worst since the 
1972 normalization of relations. He wrote that officials had always remained in 
communication even during previous lows: "Now all channels between officials 
and ministries have been cut off."

   The situation is not in the national interest of either side, Isa said at 
the time, and the Chinese side accepted a request from Japanese lawmakers for a 
"window for dialogue."

   China's Foreign Ministry last Friday noted "some people of insight from both 
Japan's ruling and opposition parties" are concerned about the state of 
China-Japan relations and hoping to make efforts to push them back on track. 
"We urge those running the Japanese government to take these voices seriously 
... and take concrete actions to create the necessary conditions for normal 
exchanges between the two countries."

   Takaichi's remark crossed what China considers a red line in its relations 
with other countries about Taiwan, which is a self-governing island that 
Beijing claims as its territory.

   Takaichi has not retracted her comment, but when marking Japan's World War 
II surrender on Aug. 15, she prayed remotely instead of visiting the 
controversial Yasukuni Shrine, seen by China and South Korea as lacking remorse 
for Japan's wartime militarism and atrocities.