China-Japan Photo: VCG

Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the upcoming APEC meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday. This will be the first official meeting between the two leaders, which is of great significance, according to the foreign ministry.

Following discussions between China and Japan, Xi will hold a bilateral meeting with Kishida during the 29th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Bangkok, and the two sides will exchange their views on China-Japan relations and global and regional issues of mutual concern, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a routine press conference on Wednesday.

China and Japan are neighbors and both important countries in the region, and 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan relations, Mao said. The two sides should adhere to peace and friendship, deepen cooperation and properly manage differences to build china-Japan relations that meet the requirements of the new era, Mao said.

Some Chinese experts said that maintaining high-level dialogue mechanism is crucially important to maintain a good atmosphere for communication while drawing clear redlines on matters concerning China's core interests. 

"The China-Japan relations is now at a critical junction as they face growing challenges but there are also many opportunities to cooperate in stabilizing supply chain and pushing forward the regional economic recovery. If they could properly handle the bilateral relations and manage the differences, the relations will develop in a positive direction," Da Zhigang, director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Otherwise, the divergences could go out of control and become a destructive force amid the impact of China-US rivalry, Da said. 

Kishida made some "absurd accusation" against China during the latest East Asia Summit in Cambodia ahead of G20 and APEC. He criticized China for "violating Japan's sovereignty," accusing it of continuing to take actions that heighten regional tension in the South China Sea. 

In addition, Kishida also expressed so-called concerns over the human rights matter in China, touching on questions related to Hong Kong and Xinjiang. 

While it's necessary to keep a high-level communication between the two countries, it's also important to draw up the redline on China's core interests during this first in-person meeting, which will help the China-Japan relations to develop in a sustainable way, Da noted. "The two countries have many areas to cooperate but need to manage their divergences," he said.