China continued a diplomatic chill with Japan over the weekend by ruling out a leaders’ meeting at the coming G20 summit in South Africa amid heightened tensions.
“I can tell you that Premier Li Qiang does not have a meeting arrangement with Japanese leaders,” Mao Ning , a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, said in response to a question at a regular media briefing on Monday.
The G20 summit, to be held on November 22 and 23, could potentially set the stage for Li to meet his Japanese counterpart amid quickly souring ties over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent remarks on potentially intervening in a Taiwan conflict.
A senior official in Japan’s foreign ministry left for Beijing on Monday in a bid to calm the escalating spat.
Masaaki Kanai, head of the ministry’s Asian and Oceanian affairs, will meet with officials, including his Chinese counterpart Liu Jinsong.
Kanai was expected to explain that Takaichi’s remarks over a Taiwan emergency did not deviate from Japan’s position regarding the island, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
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