Visit of Yamaguchi boosts hopes of repairing ties: China Daily editorial

The Komeito party, the junior coalition partner of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has long maintained a tradition of friendly exchanges with China. It has often played a role in sustaining and promoting China-Japan exchanges, even during periods of strained bilateral relations.

Daisaku Ikeda, founder of Komeito, who passed away on Nov 15, long advocated for the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. He proposed the formal recognition of the People's Republic of China as early as 1968.

Natsuo Yamaguchi, the current leader of Komeito, has carried on that tradition, acting as an envoy of friendship when ties between the two countries have encountered difficulties. In recent years, Yamaguchi has delivered no fewer than five personal letters from Japanese prime ministers to the Chinese leader expressing their messages of goodwill and cooperation, aiming to bridge the differences and disputes between the two countries.

He arrived in China for another bridge-building visit on Wednesday. His latest visit, originally scheduled for August, is expected to set the stage for a resumption of dialogue between the LDP-Komeito coalition and the Communist Party of China, after both sides broke off talks in 2018.

The visit comes hard on the heels of face-to-face talks between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is also the leader of the LDP, on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in San Francisco last week, in which both sides affirmed the strategic relationship between the two countries.

The timing of Yamaguchi's rescheduled visit suggests that the two neighbors are looking to build on the two leaders' exchanges to try and inject momentum into the mending of their relations.

Ties between the two countries became strained after Japan became a player in Washington's geopolitical strategy to contain China, and they took a nosedive after politicians in Japan uttered irresponsible remarks about China's Taiwan. Japan's release of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean has also created consternation for its neighbor.

But no matter how commendable Yamaguchi's visit to Beijing is, the coalition in Japan needs to realize that mending relations with its neighbor depends on what the Japanese government does to verify its sincerity in this regard.

China, of course, hopes that the Japanese government will take substantial steps to improve ties instead of just paying lip service to the notion.

The Japanese government should be clear where to toe the line when it comes to the core interests of China, particularly on the Taiwan question.

China appreciates what Yamaguchi and his predecessor Daisaku Ikeda have done for the development of ties between the two countries. We sincerely hope that Yamaguchi's visit this week will help turn the page in China-Japan relations.