TOKYO – Japan should discuss a free trade deal with China while improving diplomatic ties through ministerial exchanges, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said in an interview aired Friday.
“I believe it is important to make efforts on the governmental level so that Japan and China will discuss a free trade agreement and other things, expand economic and trade ties and build win-win relations,” Maehara told NHK.
Japan’s relations with China plunged to the lowest point in years over a territorial dispute involving islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.
The row flared up in September as a Chinese fishing trawler collided with two Japanese coastguard ships near the uninhabited islets.
The two sides have worked to restore ties since the incident, which saw Beijing reduce political, cultural and economic exchanges with Tokyo.
Maehara said he hoped to improve the ties further through mutual visits by ministers, according to the public broadcaster.
“Prime Minister (Naoto) Kan or I may visit China, or China’s top leaders or Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi may visit Japan in the coming year,” he said in the interview.
Noting Japan was to host a foreign ministers’ meeting among Japan, China and South Korea in early 2011, Maehara said he may go to China around the trilateral meeting.
